The bishop was convicted in connection with failure to follow through with what he promised and the dictates of the reporting requirement in the statute when “father” Ratigan was accused of crimes involving children. Due to previous settlements by the diocese, Bishop Finn clearly knew he was to report all such cases to the police or the child abuse hotline and he didn’t. Bad decision. Wrong decision.
In this case, firing this person who flouts the law of the church, good decision. I support him.
The bishop did report. However, being an adult with responsibilities beyond harassing the Catholic Church, he first took time to understand what exactly had happened himself, and having done so he reported it.
Either the mandated reporter law makes all of them criminally liable for every second they take to report, or it is selective persecution of the religious group the government does not like.