Friday 14 October 2011

Paedophile Clerics - Bishops still don't "get it"

From web site of Diocese of Kansas City-St Joseph
I read a news item in The New York Times today, U.S. Bishop Is Charged With Failing to Report Abuse.  Allegedly Bishop Robert Finn,  Bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph, was informed in December, 2010 by a computer technician of inappropriate pictures of children on the computer of a diocesan priest, Father Shawn Ratigan, but waited 5 months until May before taking these to the police. At the indictment today the good bishop pled not guilty and  said in a statement: “We will meet these announcements with a steady resolve and a vigorous defense.”

Digging a little bit around the article I came across two community updates from Bishop Finn dated May 20 and 27 of this year. The first is a personal apologia that seeks to explain how Bishop Finn's actions were reasonable to any clear thinking person - except the parent of a little girl who might have been abused by Shawn Ratigan. A few things in the communication of the 27th got my attention.

I must also acknowledge my own failings. Yesterday evening, I read, for the first time, the memorandum prepared in May 2010 by our principal at St. Patrick School.  There, she reported her concerns about Shawn Ratigan’s inappropriate behavior with children at her school.

In the following days, Diocesan Vicar General Msgr. Murphy gave me a brief verbal summary of the report and his meeting with Shawn Ratigan, which had occurred immediately after the report was received.  Msgr. Murphy told me that he had thoroughly discussed these concerns with Shawn Ratigan, and how he was to change his behaviors. Shawn Ratigan expressed both the willingness and the desire to make these changes.

To the best of my knowledge, no one on my staff, other than Msgr. Murphy, read the report.  Hindsight makes it clear that I should have requested from Msgr. Murphy an actual copy of the report.  And, so, I also have to change.
Please understand that at the time of the May 2010 report, we had no knowledge of any inappropriate photographs or images in Shawn Ratigan’s possession. Those were not discovered until December 2010.

This is astounding. The bishop's humility is laudable but it is far exceeded by his and the vicar general's naiveté and ignorance, both of which, in my opinion, are culpable given the positions of authority and responsibility which they hold. If they are truly that naive then they are not fit for the office they hold.

Maybe they were not yet aware of the "inappropriate photographs or images"  but the diocese was first warned about Father Ratigan’s inappropriate interest in young girls as far back as 2006. Hello?

When the Diocese of Kansas City ~ St. Joseph reported its concerns about Father Shawn Ratigan to the Kansas City Police Department on May 12, we set into motion a series of events that have provoked feelings of concern, anger and shame.

Shawn Rattigan
The day after the bishop was informed of the "inappropriate" images of children in December, Father Ratigan attempted to commit suicide and left a suicide note "apologizing to the children, their families and the church."  There can be no doubt that the vicar general and the bishop were both aware of what had happened and the causal proximity to the reporting of the photographs . Why did they wait until May for the diocese to report its concerns to the police? From December to May nothing was done by the bishop or the vicar general to warn parents or protect the children with whom Father Ratigan still came into contact. Why? Why? Why? Instead, the bishop relied on Father Ratigan's word, which he broke to the detriment of young children, and his self-control of which nothing more needs be said. Giving the "protection" of a priest from shame and legal consequences priority over the good of the victims, innocent children, is a perpetuation of the root cause of what got the Church into this mess in the first place.

After all that has happened - the Pope issuing multiple statements of remorse on behalf of the Church; the Pope meeting with victims; the Pope addressing bishops; priests going to jail; priests being removed from ministry; courts ordering dioceses (including that of Bishop Finn) to pay millions of dollars compensation to victims of clerical abuse; dioceses going bankrupt; bishops, including Bishop Finn, promising to immediately report anyone suspected of being a pedophile to law enforcement authorities;  mental health professionals repeatedly testifying that pederasts and pedophiles are one of the most difficult groups to rehabilitate - they still  don't "get it." They are still more interested in giving an umpteenth chance to priests who "express both the willingness and the desire to make these changes" than to showing basic human, let alone pastoral, concern for the care and protection of the victims - young children.

I'm sorry. I just don't "get it."

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