Opus Dei Bishop Finn criminally convicted by civil law must also undergo Vatican canonical penal process: Catholic group formally asks Pope Francis

February 22, 2014

Catholics have gathered together and signed a formal petition Pope Francis to bring Bishop Finn to canonical penal process.  An online petition of more than 110,000 people worldwide ask for Finn's removal or resignation was also sent to the Vatican. Finn is the first and only Bishop criminally convicted by civil law in the USA for his failure to report to police a pedophile priest, Ratigan, who now sits in federal prison.  According to Connell, a member of the victims' advocacy group Catholic Whistleblowers,  he found  in his mail on Friday the letter from the Apostolic Nuncio to the U.S. that he had received and forwarded to the Vatican their formal request for a canonical penal process to investigate Finn, the bishop of the Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., diocese who obstinately cling on to power. (see news compilation below).

Meanwhile in Rome (where the Jesuit Pope and the Jesuits sit in the lap of luxury as they theologize and write books which only a few priests can understand), reports from Rome’s Aktuell and Dutch Zeit say that the Jesuit Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome head of the psychology institute, Hans Zollner, is hoping for a decision from Pope Francis this week to establish a new sexual abuse commission for the Catholic Church to start a new research project on sexual violence.  A new research project, again, another idle-talk and talk-is-cheap commission, what for? Why don’t they study the “living Hell” the Sacraments of Confession and Eucharist left behind from the 20^th century of the Vatican JP2 Army – the John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army of thousands of bestial pedophile priests – inflicted upon hundreds of thousands of little boys (and girls) of Biblical Proportions they harmed?   What about research and search for justice for hundreds of thousands of victims who will suffer for life and no papal blessing can heal them and no money can buy them peace and healing?  What about search for true justice - by excommunicating Bishop Finn the first criminally convicted Bishop in the USA and just punishment for Cardinal Mahony who covered-up the most numbers of pedophile priests in the history of the JP2 Army in Los Angeles?  read our article, Los Angeles files. Mahony must be jailed as Nazis caught in their old age and retirement http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2013/01/los-angeles-files-mahony-must-be-jailed.html

Another commission, well, that’s what the Jesuits are good for as they try to divert attention away from the UN’s condemnation on the Vatican’s crimes against children in the 20^th century – Catholics should learn from Holocaust victims and punish all Cardinals, Bishops and Popes who covered-up and condoned thousands of pedophile priests in the JP2 Army – John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army

This new commission proves the Jesuits as Masters of Vatican Deceits in action. Read our related article, Pope Francis Top 10 Vatican Deceits. Francis cloned @3.13.13 inside Vatican Titanic as Jesuit Mask of Vatican Evils. “Bergoglio. Basura. Vos sos la dictadura.” http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2013/03/pope-francis-top-10-vatican-deceits_30.html  .

 

The Vatican continues to rebuffs the UN by saying the Holy See is responsible only for the 800 gay residents of the Vatican country and that the Pope has no power over Catholic churches worldwide. The Jesuits in their strategy to deny the Vatican crimes of the 20^th century and canonize John Paul II who was most responsible for its cover-up wants the world to forget-the-past two Opus Dei Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI RAT-zinger who both covered-up the JP2 Army including Bishop Finn.  Why doesn’t the Gregorian Pontifical University study and publish articles and books on how Opus Dei’s most senior Bishop Finn covered-up the pedophile priests Ratigan who now sits in federal prison without parole and convince Pope Francis to excommunicate him.  Why don’t the Jesuits heed the letters of Catholics, including a nun, who have written a letter to Pope Francis to discipline Bishop Finn? see news updates compilation below. 

Read our related articles, Vatican Vipers attack UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. The Failure of the Sacraments. Letter to a Christian Nation (USA) http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2014/02/vatican-vipers-attack-un-committee-on.html

Abolition of Vatican concordats – written by Jesuits who are missionaries and spies in many countries http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2013/10/abolish-vatican-concordat-in-dominican.html

Women.Legion of Christ.OpusDei.Francis Hypocrisies...Legion of Christ feeds Vatican Mammon Beast. Opus Dei Mafia of Cardinals and Bishops. G-8 Cardinals are phony reformers recycling old Vatican Deceits http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2013/10/women-legion-christ-opusdei-francis.html

Los Angeles Files. Mahony must be jailed as Nazis caught in their old age and retirement  http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2013/01/los-angeles-files-mahony-must-be-jailed.html

Read our new blog Pope Francis the CON Christ. Pretender & Imposter of Jesus. Merlin hoax CANNOT CLONE JESUS or dogs http://pope-francis-con-christ.blogspot.ca/

The RED DEVILS and the BLACK BISHOP

These "slimy bastards" Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston, Cardinal Mahony of Los Angeles, Opus Dei Bishop Finn… those thousands of little boys and little girls who had the grave misfortune of loving and revering these human pieces of filth...I’m ashamed to be of the same faith as these evil, malicious creeps.  To prove that he was "the Great" John Paul II PAPAL FARTed at us Bostonians and took Cardinal Law to Rome to be the High Priest of the Mother of all Basilicas, that is why Cardinal Law is the Achilles Heel of John Paul II, read more here http://jp2m.blogspot.ca/2011/05/heil-satanas-jp2-patron-saint-of.html

Bishop Finn is the first criminally convicted high hierarchy Bishop and he must be excommunicated like King Henry

Victims in USA - Attackers - Responsible Leaders

Pearl Harbor - 3,000 victims - 170 planes - Admiral Yamamoto

WTC & 9/11 attacks - 3,000 victims - 19 Muslims - Osama bin Laden

Priest pedophilia - 15,736 victims - 6,100 pedophile priestscovered-up by Bishops, Cardinals, Popes John Paul II, Benedict XVI-Cardinal RATainger, Opus Dei

9/11 victims 3,000. JP2 Army 100,000s. May Day: both Hitler and bin Laden Announced Dead on May 1 on John Paul II Beatification Day B-Day  http://jp2m.blogspot.ca/2011/05/911-victims-5000-jp2-army-100000s-may.html.   

Opus Dei Bishop Finn to become like Cardinal Bernard Law - to be promoted to Rome?

Bishop Finn is one of the first Opus Dei ordained Bishop in the USA and therefore he has seniority to become a Cardinal.  Finn will cling on to power and use all the resources of the Vatican Mammon Idol to achieve that red hat of Cardinal Bernard Law.  Opus Dei will not allow the laity, SNAP and victims of pedophile priests to prevent Bishop Finn from achieving that cardinal red hat -- just like Opus Dei - via John Paul II - did not allow Boston’s laity to have the final say on the status of Cardinal Bernard Law -- after he disgracefully resigned as Archbishop of Boston after being forced out by the brave laity and priests of Boston.  The laity is at the bottom of Opus Dei’s Catholic Church rank who are there to only to “pray, pay, obey” – like slaves rowing at the bottom of the Vatican Titanic St. Peter’s Barque.   

The Vatican Dictator Opus Dei protects its own Vatican Princes members very well and therefore promoted Cardinal Bernard Law to be the High Priest of St. Mary Major in Rome.  Being a Bishop is the highest rank in Opus Dei - which is why there is always an Opus Dei Bishop in Rome -- the only religious order to have acontinuous Bishop in Rome!  Nevertheless, Catholics in the USA and worldwide should imitate Boston on how we got rid of that Red Devil slimy bastard Cardinal Bernard Law – as we Bostonian proudly did oust him ‘out of sight and out of our land forever’.

Both Bishop Finn and the Vatican are using the same technicality to avoid facing justice.  The Vatican said today it is not complying to the UN's demand for its investigative files on child sex abuse worldwide because they did not happen within the city of the Vatican - just as Bishop Finn is saying the pedophile priest he covered-up did not do it within  church perimeter.  Read our related article  - Vatican rebuffs UN! Catholic Church not the moral authority of the world. Vatican Titanic in depth of ocean of moral bankruptcyhttp://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2013/10/the-catholic-church-is-not-worlds-moral.html

Popes, Cardinals, Bishops and priests may be able to clone instantly the flesh of God/Christ (they cannot clone cats and dogs) in the holy magic of the Eucharist --- but they must not be allowed to be above the law and secular justice, and they should not keep buying judges and politicians’ souls.  Convicted criminal Opus Dei Bishop Robert Finn is trying to cling on to power through “technicalities” as SNAP reports in MO - Victim appeals “bizarre” ruling and Clergy sex abuse victims are harshly criticizing Bishop Finn for his defense tactics in the litigation, see news updates below.   

Bishop Finn will and can buy the souls of judges and politicians just like his fraternal brother did in Los Angeles - Opus Dei Archbishop Gomez was able to buy the soul of Governor Jerry Brown who vetoed bill SB131 (but he could not buy all the souls of the Legislative Assembly and the Senate Floor who voted for the bill), read more here Ex-Jesuit Gov.Jerry Brown vetoes SB131,invokes Roman law, perpetuates cover-up of 20th Century JP2 Army who stabs the heart of Jesus’ mother http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2013/08/california-bill-sb-131-must-win-next.html

Bishop Finn can buy all the lawmakers souls because he can afford it with the immeasurable wealth of the Vatican Mammon Beast controlled by Opus Dei since the 27 years papacy of John Paul II, read our related article here, Vatican Billions: its history, sources, and assets today worldwide. BOYCOTT the Vatican Museum and boycott ALL donations to the Vatican Catholic Church Reign of Terror http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2011/03/vatican-billions-holy-mass-tourism-for.html  ).

  

Bishop Finn was ordained as the first Opus Dei Bishop in the USA in view of becoming the first American Opus Dei Cardinal and eventually the first American Pope…so SNAP and victims have a big battle against Goliath-OD and the only way to disarm the Opus Dei power is to stop receiving Holy Communion from Bishop Finn and all priests.  Women especially have the powers to defeat Bishop Finn because they are the bulwarks of church goers – women must stop kneeling before Bishop Finn and stop kissing his ring and stop adoring the HOAX of the Eucharist. Every time a woman kneels before a Bishop or priest and receive communion, or go to see the Pope in the Vatican, somewhere in the world a child and a poor woman suffers and is oppressed more deeper in their lifetime of poverty, multiply that by 1.2 billion Catholics and the vicious cycle of Vatican dominion over poor countries is multiplied ad infinitum, read our related article, Abolition of Vatican Concordat in Dominican Republichttp://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2013/10/abolish-vatican-concordat-in-dominican.html  See explanation and images below why the Eucharist is sorcery because Bishop Finn and all priests and popes, cardinals and bishops have no power to clone cats and dogs and therefore they cannot clone God/Christ either.

The Opus Dei Plan

The Opus Dei Plan is to ordain Bishop Finn as a Bishop and then make him an Opus Dei Cardinal in the USA and then potentially be elected as the first “native Opus Dei” Pope.  It’s true that Pope John Paul II was the first Opus Dei Pope – as Opus Dei controlled his every word and every move for 27 years and look at the OD mess they left behind with the JP2 Army-John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army - which the Jesuits are now left to clean-up and salvage the Vatican Titanic sunken deep in the ocean of moral bankruptcy. Benedict XVI was the second Opus Dei pope but he and JP2 were diocesan priests and were not “native” official members of the fascist “saint” Josemaria Escriva’s Opus Dei Priestly Society of Holy Cross, read more herehttp://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2013/11/oratory-of-saint-joseph-pedophile.html

Pope Francis is The Last Pope as St. Malachy predicted (see book below) and Our Lady of Fatima in her Third Secret of Fatima also predicted in the total demise of the Vatican Temple like the Temple of Solomon – that one pillar will be left standing.  The hoax and sorcery of the Eucharist must end because popes and priests have been using it as the crux of  their cloning-of-Christ-sorcery power to oppress people and steal billions of dollars from poor countries that are already buried in debts, read how the Vatican does it through the Vatican Concordats in 175 countries more herehttp://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2013/10/abolish-vatican-concordat-in-dominican.html

Read our related articles:

 John Paul II the Holy Father of Lies! Cardinal Dziwisz book: “JPII knew nothing” about bestial pedophile priest Fr. Maciel is Vatican Titanic Deceits http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2013/11/john-paul-ii-holy-father-of-lies.html

Christ inspires and moves us to reveal the strategy of the Vatican Titanic which can only be recognized by discerning eyes and not to blind robotic eyes of “pray, pay, obey” stupid Catholics.   

UGLY John Paul II at the end of his 27 years papacy - God allowed him to become so ugly becuase he said nothing and did nothing to protect children from thousands of pedophile priests hence they are named after him as JP2 Army  http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2013/11/john-paul-ii-holy-father-of-lies.html

 

BISHOP FINN enabler of JP2 Army pedophile priest  Father Ratigan now in federal prison without parole

 BOYCOTT ORATORY OF SAINT JOSEPH IN in Montreal, Quebec, Canada

 http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2013/11/oratory-of-saint-joseph-pedophile.html

Oratory of SaintJoseph pedophile priests! Montreal: Second class-action suit targets Congrégation de Ste-Croix! Saints and Holy Cross cannot protect children!http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/ 

TOILETS of First Nations
First Nations have no running water and no toilets at home -- what a SHAME for a G-8 country of Canada! 

Outhouses near the band office of the Wasagamack First Nation in Manitoba. The outhouses are used year-round, even in the winter. More than 60 per cent of residents in the Cree community 600 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg lack indoor plumbing. (Karen Pauls/CBC)  read more below





The Oratory of St. Joseph today is also a money-machine temple for the idolatry of St. Joseph who is impotent -- he said nothing and did nothing to save and protect hundreds of students raped by Holy Corss Congregaiton priests and cleric brothers for more than 50 years, read more below.

Temple of the Oratory of St. Joseph now in a second class-action lawsuit for its CSC pedophile priests!!!

And now news has come out in Montreal’s newspapers that a second-class action lawsuit has been filed against the CSC or Congregation de Sainte-Croix for their pedophile priests among 6 CSC institutions in Montreal! The CSC new saint Brother Andre said nothing and did nothing to stop his confreres who were satiating their bestial lust inside his Oratory of St. Joseph.

Saint Brother André -- like the giant statues of St. Joseph -- hesaid nothing and did nothing to stop his CSC pedophile priests and brothers.  His miracles were "questionable" and he is the golden cash cow of the arrogant CSC priests aristocrats at the Oratory who sit idly in wealth, especially those poor Haitians like Claudel Petit-Homme! 

  Claudel Petit-Homme CANNOT clone cats and dogs…therefore  he cannot clone of the Son of God Jesus Christ !!!  

     

CSC priest Claudel Petit-Homme is an arrogant MAGICIAN, SORCERER claiming to be CLONING the flesh of God Jesus in the Eucharist HOAX --  
worse than HARRY POTTER, at least Harry Potter does not recreate God

CSC priest Claudel Petit-Homme is more proud than Lucifer and the Devil Serpent in the Garden of Eden for claiming to have the power to re-incarnate Christ…and then to EAT HIM!

http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2013/11/oratory-of-saint-joseph-pedophile.html

If God did not want mankind to eat of the Fruit of Tree of Good and Evil, God does not want mankind to be eating Christ’s flesh either.

For three years he worked as executive assistant to the Apostolic Nuncio in Haiti. (This means he is made of the same cloth as the hypocrite Vatican Deceits Empire Pied Piper!)

In December of 2007, the Congregation of Holy Cross assigned him to work in the office of Pastoral Ministry at Saint Joseph's Oratory.

These photos  illustrate the Smoke of Satan in the Oratory of St. Joseph just like it is in the Vatican Titanic, read our related article . 

The Catholic Church is not the world’s moral authority. The Vatican Titanic is sunken deep in the ocean of moral bankruptcy 

http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2013/10/the-catholic-church-is-not-worlds-moral.html

GIVE YOUR CATHOLIC MONEY TO

Red Cross

Doctors without Borders

100 Huntley Street daily TV

Joel Osteen

Kenneth Copeland Ministries

Life Today

Dr. David Jeremiah

Christ like oxygen is free, available and equal to all – reference Quebec Charter of Valueshttp://filipina-nannies-caregivers.blogspot.ca/2013/05/why-filipinos-support-quebec-charter-of.html Jesus is greater than religion Jesus > Religion Crossroads Christian Communications

 

The RED DEVIL

the "slimy bastard" Cardinal Bernard Law, those thousands of little boys and little girls who had the grave misfortune of loving and revering this human piece of filth...I’m ashamed to be of the same faith as this evil, malicious creep." But to prove that he is "the Great" John Paul II PAPAL FARTed at us Bostonians and took Cardinal Law to Rome to be the High Priest of the Mother of all Basilicas, that is why Cardinal Law is the Achilles Heel of John Paul II

http://jp2m.blogspot.ca/2011/05/heil-satanas-jp2-patron-saint-of.html 

But no matter how the Vatican Titanic’s religious Vatican Pied Pipers lie and lie that John Paul II “knew nothing”, secular history does not lie and secular history - especially Google -- has recordedthat John Paul II has two evil Achilles Heels, Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston and Fr. Marcial Maciel, and money cannot buy or erase this evil papal history and fact, read more http://jp2m.blogspot.ca/2011/05/heil-satanas-jp2-patron-saint-of.html

The Magic of the Eucharist and the chanting of the Rosary can be so intoxicating that Popes, Cardinals, Bishops and Priests are heartless and cold in the face of evil and their victims.Restore image of priests for obsolete doctrines,Vatican Concordats, narcissist “saint” John Paul II, Mass fake cloning of Christ religious spectacle?  http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2013/10/restore-image-of-priests-for-obsolete.html

Updated March 21, 2013

Sign the petition to hasten the resignation of Bishop Finn, read news update below.

The petition currently has 111,030 signers. 

www.BishopFinnPetition.com

Only in the Vatican Catholic Church (it's not Roman Catholic Church)  are criminals glorified, read more herehttp://jp2m.blogspot.ca/2010/03/john-paul-ii-miraculously-cures-his.html

Read our latest article

The Hague is above Pope, Vatican, Religion. The Hague must prosecute Benedict XVI now to prove secular International Justice reigns over ALL Religions and Despots

http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2013/03/the-hague-is-above-pope-vatican.html

Billion Dollar Christ & Apostles in Red now playing in Vatican. Evil impact of Papal Conclave: epidemic violence against women & perpetuity of poor countries 
http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2013/02/billion-dollar-christ-apostles-in-red.html


Updated October 13, 2012 
Feast of Fatima Miracle of the Sun that predicted the total demise of Vatican and St. Peter's Square that "not one pillar will be left standing".

Below are more images of Bishop Finn the Wolf in Sheep clothing and articles analysing his deceitful tactics to cling on to his hollow authority as Bishop and Opus Dei Golden Cow of Kansas City, Missouri.  See more images below our updated comments.

Bishop Finn said "Boys will be Boys" a compilation of news articles and analysis of this Opsu Dei guided remark. 

Updated September 16, 2012

There was a Walk the Talk to make Bishop Finn resign today in Kansas City, see news updates below.  We will see how they will succeed like us Bostonians who ousted Cardinal Bernard Law to leave Boston forever, out of sight and out of our land.  The problem of course is how, the last Tsar of the Vatican, Benedict XVI will try to protect his live Achilles Heel Bishop Finn, just like John Paul II protected his Achilles Heel Cardinal Bernard Law.  

Opus Dei Patron Saint of Pedophiles, Pederasts and Rapists : Prayer to Saint John Paul II = Opus Dei Pope #1.... Benedict XVI is Opus Dei Pope #2 http://jp2army.blogspot.ca/2011/04/john-paul-ii-saint-of-pedophiles-and.html

Updated September 9, 2012

Bishop Finn is now a proven criminal… but he refuses to resign. Bishop Finn violated both canon law and civil law in not reporting the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, who was found to have hundreds of images of child pornography on his computer.  For five months, Finn protected and covered up Fr. Ratigan who took photographs that included a girl’s naked vagina, upskirt images and images focused on the crotch…Five months is a long time and this proves that Finn had no morals and no compunction to those child victims of pornography, read news article below.  What other law violation is Benedict XVI waiting for in order to fire his live Achilles Heel?  read our related article

Bishop Finn is the live Achilles Heel of Benedict XVI…while Cardinal Bernard Law is the live Achilles Heel of John Paul II http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2011/10/bishop-finn-is-live-achilles-heel-of.html

In Hartford ,Connecticut, a priest was reprimanded for participating in a GAY marriage, while Bishop Finn was given a slap on the wrist for his heinous crime for shielding a pedophile priest, read news update article below, "A tale of two priests punished under canon law".  This proves that Canon Law and John Paul II and Theology are heartless and cannot protect children yesterday and today, read our related article 

Heil Satanas JP2 Patron Saint of Pedophiles, Pederasts Rapists-Priests! John Paul II is the same yesterday and today-- he cannot protect children

http://jp2m.blogspot.ca/2011/05/heil-satanas-jp2-patron-saint-of.html

Read news updates below on uproars for Bishop Finn's resignation

Updated September 8, 2012,  Birthday of Mary, the purest female creature to carry God in her blessed womb and give birth to Jesus…she is a total contrast to those Opus Dei Golden Cows Popes, Cardinals and Bishops and JP2 Army-John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army who are self-proclaimed wizards of reincarnating God in the FALSE flesh of Christ in the Eucharist, read more herehttp://stella0maris.blogspot.ca/ and herehttp://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2011/11/oc-diocese-buys-crystal-cathedral-as.html

Bishop Finn was found guilty by a layman judge which proves once again that the laity has more morals than the Vatican Titanic sinking in moral bankruptcy, read our related articlehttp://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2012/07/ncaa-penn-state-more-moral-than-vatican.html .  Bishop Finn should have a millstone tied to his neck and thrown into the depths of the sea as Jesus decreed to those who caused a child to sin.   Bishop Finn caused many children to sin by turning a blind eye as he covered-up convicted Fr. Shawn Ratigan who is now rotting in jail for life, read related articles below.   Jesus condemned only 3 kinds of people, the Pharisees whom he called “white sepulchers” inspite that they  “Pray, Pay, Obey” and followed the Moses' Leviticus Laws to the letter, the merchants at the Temple of Solomon (like Vatican Billionshttp://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2011_03_01_archive.html and Vatican Mammon  http://pope-ratz.blogspot.ca/2010/07/vatican-exposed-money-murder-and-mafia.html) and those who caused a child to sin condemning them with a millstone to be hung on their neck (like the John Paul II Millstone http://jp2m.blogspot.ca/) 

Bishop Finn was found guilty of endangering kids by refusing to report suspected child sex crimes to police.  For the first time in US history, a diocese is headed by a proven criminal…just like the Catholic Church and the Legion of Christ are headed by two criminals, Benedict XVI and Fr. Marcial Maciel, read more herehttp://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2012/03/benedict-ratzinger-marcial-maciel-are-2.html and http://jp2m.blogspot.ca/2011/10/fr-marcial-maciel-was-protected-by-john.html.

 
Catholic League Goliath-bully Bill Donohue was quick to defend Opus Dei Golden Cow Bishop Finn but now there is an uproar for Bishop Finn to resign as a Bishop (just like Cardinal Bernard Law resigned as Archbishop of Boston), see news updates below.  We’ll see how Benedict XVI, as a clone of John Paul II, will elevate Bishop Finn like Cardinal Bernard Law was elevated to Rome.

The trial of Bishop Finn was hastened on a 24-hour notice and inspite of pleas from SNAP, read president David Clohessy’s letter to the judge and prosecutor to delay any sentencing of embattled Bishop Robert Finn, should he plead guilty or be found guilty of concealing child sex crimes, Bishop Finn escaped jail time which is a clever maneuver from the Devil’s cunning PR stunt at the Vatican (see yellow highlighted important news articles).  Bishop Finn is a perfect clone of John Paul II, read our related article, Heil Satanas JP2 Patron Saint of Pedophiles, Pederasts Rapists-Priests! John Paul II is the same yesterday and today-- he cannot protect childrenhttp://jp2m.blogspot.ca/2011/05/heil-satanas-jp2-patron-saint-of.html 

Systemic abuse within Franciscan religious order: A compilation. Most famous FranciscanFather Benedict Joseph Groeschel blames victims (young boys) for seducing pedophile Franciscan Friarshttp://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2012/05/systemic-abuse-within-franciscan.html

  

Melinda Gates versus Benedict XVI: who’s more “like Christ”? Melinda Gates saves lives of 200 million women while Benedict XVI sits in out-of-touch-with-reality Vatican Thronehttp://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2012/07/vatican-titanic-hit-by-melinda-gates.html

May 1 & September 11 anniversaries for SNAP and JP2 Army victims. SNAP ad in New York Times should be framed and permanently exhibited in all churches, schools and children venues: U.S. Catholic Bishops and Child Sex Crimes

   http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2012/07/may-1-september-11-anniversaries-for.html 

Hypocrite Benedict silenced Fr. Tony Flannery, Brian D'Arcy – A compilation… but he does not silence Cardinal Bernard Law and JP2 Army – John Paul II Pedophile Priestshttp://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2012/04/hypocrite-benedict-silenced-outspoken.html

Updated August 18, 2012

Vatican henchman Bill Donohue has not said a word about Opus Dei Golden Cow Bishop Finn who covered-up pedophile priest Shawn Ratigan who pleaded guilty to 5 counts of child pornography each count punishable between 15 to 30 years in jail which could mean he will rot and die there.  Goliath bully Donohue is conducting insane lengths to defend and save Bishop Finn's position as Bishop.  As 
Frank Cocozzelli recently wrote:  Bishop Finn has many powerful friends on the Catholic Right. As a hard charging leader of what he has called "the church militant" and one of four American Opus Dei bishops, Finn is clearly one of their own. The fact that these activists want to save Finn's position as bishop at almost any cost, suggests that their goals for the Church as a bastion of religious and political authoritarianism takes precedence over everything else -- including the safety and well being of children. 

 Read news updates for August 18, 2012 below  with emphases added on  "Frank Cocozzelli on Father Ratigan's Guilty Plea and Dr. Donohue's Curious Silence"

Read our latest related articles:

Vatican attacks American nuns: A compilation. USA nuns live Gospel, serve the poor and sick...while Benedict XVI lives in luxury out-of-touch-with-reality in Vatican Bank Towerhttp://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2012/04/vatican-attacks-american-nuns.html

Goliath-bully Bill Donohue attacks David & SNAP & JP2 Army victims: A compilation. Being Anti-Catholic is necessary for justice, protection of children, women, the poor http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2012/03/goliath-bully-bill-donohue-attacks.html

JUSTICE RENDERED by SECULAR WOMAN! LYNN to JAIL for 6 YEARS! GUILTY VERDICT! Trial of William Lynn: A compilation. Philadelphia JP2 Army - John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army  http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2012/04/trial-of-willaim-lynn-compilation.html

NCAA & Penn State more moral than Vatican. Sports is more moral than John Paul II, Benedict XVI, Vatican Titanic sinking in moral bankruptcyhttp://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2012/07/ncaa-penn-state-more-moral-than-vatican.html

 

Melinda Gates versus Benedict XVI: who’s more “like Christ”? Melinda Gates saves lives of 200 million women while Benedict XVI sits in out-of-touch-with-reality Vatican Thronehttp://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2012/07/vatican-titanic-hit-by-melinda-gates.html

Opus Dei Golden Cow John Paul II statues worldwide vis-a-vis Paterno statue gone from Penn State. Only the Catholic Church glorifies criminals http://stella0maris.blogspot.ca/2012/07/opus-dei-golden-cow-john-paul-ii.html 

Updated August 2, 2012

So what will Opus Dei Goliath Bill Donohue say now months later after he carried out insane campaign hits all over Kansas City, Missouri, to defend Bishop Finn's criminal actions of covering up Rev. Shawn Ratigan, 46, who pleaded guilty today (instead of going into trial) for 5 out of 13 charges of child pornography that is punishable, for each count carries between 15 and 30 years in jail?  

Now that an Opus Dei Golden Cow Monsignor William Lynn is going to a secular jail for covering up pedophile priests (not into a convent of nuns as chaplain) it is time that secular justice will also send another Opus Dei Golden Cow, a higher one, a Bishop - Finn for having covered-up guilty Rev. Shawn Ratigan, read news articles updates below.  Imagine how Jesus Christ must feel within the evil hands of these "monsters dressed in clerical robes" victimizing the most vulnerable children.

Read our related article 

 

Updated April 7, 2012, Holy Saturday

No wonder, Goliath-bully Bill Donohue went overdrive to campaign for Bishop Finn and he sent letters to every existing organisation because he knew the secular court of Kansas City, Missouri could not be influenced by the Opus Dei nor be bought the Vatican Billions.  So finally, Bishop Finn will be the next Roman Catholic vicar who will stand trial (see news update below), while William Lynn is the first high ranking vicar in Philadelphia who is now in trial -- way to go for Holy Week as the Vatican Titanic Ship is sinking in moral bankruptcy, read our article of the Trial of William Lynn: A compilation. Philadelphia JP2 Army - John Paul II Pedophile Priests Armyhttp://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2012/04/trial-of-willaim-lynn-compilation.html

Updated February 9, 2012

Video of Bishop Finn

Abuse victims and SNAP are being attacked by lawyers for KC Bishop Robert Finn and pedophile priests. We're fighting hard to protect the confidentiality of victims, witnesses, whistleblowers, police, prosecutors, journalists and others who come to us for help. 

New abuse & cover up lawsuit is filed in KC

Parishioner attends meeting saying it did not go far enough for Bishop Finn

Details below at February 9, 2012 news update 

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Updated January 8, 2012

Under the image of the Divine Mercy, the favorite of Blessed John Paul II (who refused to glorify the Jesuit's image of the Sacred Heart devotion) Catholics are gathering to pray for Bishop Finn,the Golden Cow of the Opus Dei, hoping to dissuade the secular courts and secular judges from prosecuting him. This latest move of fanatic Catholics - led by the insane campaigns of Catholic League's Pied Piper Bill Donohue - demonstrates how Catholics are complicit to the most heinous crimes against children in the 20th century when they defend the Popes - John Paul II and Cardinal Ratzinger, the Princes of the Church like Bernie Law and Roger Mahony, who openly covered-up thousands of pedophile priests - the JP2 Army - during the longest papacy of John Paul II. So now Catholics in their blind faith for priests and Bishops (who they believe can reincarnate Jesus - but they cannot reincarnate dead cats and dead dogs)are openly defending Opus Dei Bishop Finn who has neither compassion nor compunction for children who are helpless victims of pedophile priests. Read our related article: Bishop Finn is the live Achilles Heel of Benedict XVI…while Cardinal Bernard Law is the live Achilles Heel of John Paul IIhttp://popecrimes.blogspot.com/2011/10/bishop-finn-is-live-achilles-heel-of.html

John Paul II has an army of Catholics who are praying the rosary daily but he was callous and coldehearted towards the victims of his JP2 Army - John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army - these Catholics refuses to see that the Rosary could not defeat JP2 Army John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army in the 20th Century ... unlike the Battle of Lepanto in the 16th Century http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/10/rosary-could-not-defeat-jp2-army-john_06.html

And these Catholics will now pray the rosary again for Bishop Finn...

The Opus Dei Golden Cows of the 20th and 21st Century got to go and Catholics must stop being complicit to the crimes of Popes, Cardinals and Bishops - once and for all.

Images updates for October 13, 2012

================================

Look at the magic of the Seven Sacraments all debunked.

Sacrament of Confession protects criminals and persecutes their victimshttp://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2012/11/sacrament-of-confession-protects.html

Ireland’s lawmakers also are defying the MAGIC-al powers of priests in the Sacrament of Confession, read our related articles herehttp://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2011/11/ireland-leads-nations-to-close-vatican.html 

The Sacrament of the Eucharist is Black Magic and Sorcery of the Flesh of Christ because the pope and priests cannot clone Dolly the sheep and therefore they cannot “clone Christ either”, read here and see images below.

The Sacrament of Baptism and Confirmation – did Christ baptise his Apostles?  Did Christ require his disciples to be first confirmed?  Did Christ require all those people he healed to be baptized by a priest? The fact is, Christ condemned all those High Priests in the Templeand called them Pharisees with all their on-time prayers and priestly robes.  These sacraments were invented by the Vatican in order to make the pope and priests indispensables just like they sold indulgences and threatened people with the fires of Hell unless they bought indulgences.  Not going to Sunday Mass used to be a mortal sin, today it’s only a handful of Days of Obligation that are left and soon there won’t be any more left.

And the Sacrament of the Holy Orders or priesthood is now proven a pedophile culture by the JP2 Army – John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army and it is now proven that priesthood is a gay culture, just look at Cardinal O’Brien’s immediate resignation and read The Homosexual Colonization of the Catholic Church http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2010/05/benedict-xvi-campaigns-against.html

.  Here’s Benedict and his Gorgeous Georg private secretary according to Italian gays and the recent report a few days before Benedict XVI resigns about the “gay network” inside the Vatican and in the City of Rome as Vatican Officials frolic in wild parties with male prostitutes, read news updates below.  Today, VaticanCatholic priests (not Roman Catholic) are like lepers – keep children away from them.  Learn from history.  Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.  Learn from the JP2 Army – John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army  http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2012/07/ncaa-penn-state-more-moral-than-vatican.html .Priests have no business touching children anymore.  Children are supposed to be hugged and loved by their parents and siblings, not by celibate men who have renounced all form of sex, and bodily contacts.

What else, the Sacrament of the Last rites?  This is the luxury left for the Opus Dei because their priests cater only to Opus Dei members. How many priests these days spend time giving the last rites in hospitals?   Look at the Oratory of St. Joseph where those arrogant and cruel priests boast and make Saint Brother Andre as their “poor” model but the reality is he is their golden cash-cow.  Brother Andre may have visited the sick during his heydays, but the Congregation de Sainte-Croix priests today do not visit the sick at all – because they are like the Pope sitting like King Midas of an empire of millions of dollars of candles lit by brainwashed people who are blindly praying to the Zeus statue of impotent St. Joseph who watched 50 years of sodomy on hundreds of students right before his eyes, and like John Paul II, he did nothing to stop them, and those candles only make those arrogant CSC or Holy Cross priests of the Oratory of St. Joseph more rich, read herehttp://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2013/01/csc-holy-cross-congregation-delay-18.html

And the Sacrament of Marriage, many young people these days opt to avoid the expensive rite of church weddings.

The Vatican Titanic is sinking in moral bankruptcy and nothing can salvage it because the FALSE GOD of the Vatican is the biggest Opus Dei Golden Cow JP2 John Paul II was an immoral pope for children and is the biggest lie about holiness and is the biggest hypocrisy worse than the Pharisees combined.http://stella0maris.blogspot.ca/

What morality can the Vatican preach?  The Theology of the Body by John Paul II – when he refused to speak up and defend children under his longest papacy watch?

What morality has the Vatican for children after more than 100,000 children were abused systemically covered-up by the Vatican hierarchy.

What moral voice does the Vatican has on women?  None!  The Vatican Billions support dictators and therefore through those despots allow the rape of thousands of women and girls.  The only-male hierarchy perpetuate misogyny and male VIOLENT power over women.

Rosary could not defeat JP2 Army John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army in the 20th Century ... unlike the Battle of Lepanto in the 16th Centuryhttp://jp2m.blogspot.ca/

John Paul II is the Pope of Injustice because he did absolutely NOTHING during his longest papacy to bring some justice to pedophile victims of Fr. Marcial Maciel and the80 pedophile priests of Cardinal Bernard Law, his Achilles Heels, read more herehttp://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/05/heil-satanas-jp2-patron-saint-of.html

Benedict XVI’s Consecration to Mary cannot protect children from pedophile priests http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2010/05/benedict-xvis-consecration-to-mary.html

Benedict XVI and Georg his GAY Private Secretary are GAYS.!.http://pope-ratz.blogspot.ca/2007/06/benedict-xvis-handsome-private.html

Priests and nuns are not holier than us and not better than us

Priests and nuns are not holier-than-you and not better-than-you. Priests and nuns are not holier or better simply because they recite a formula of holy prayers and have (hypocritical) vows of poverty, chastity and obedience to the Pope, Cardinals and Bishops especially who aided and abetted half a century of JP2 Army – John Paul II Pedophile Priests heinous crimeshttp://jp2m.blogspot.ca/2011_04_01_archive.html). 

Priests and nuns are not holier or better than lay teachers, nurses, social workers, doctors, lab technicians, the police, firefighters, workers at McDonalds and restaurants, janitors, all professions and laborers. 

No matter what good deeds the priests and nuns are doing, they are not holier-than nor better than -- the Red Cross workers and Doctors without Borders who are instantly everywhere in war zone or disaster areas regardless of race and creed – while those Popes, Cardinals and Bishops sit in the lap of luxury in the Vatican Palace and Bishops’ Palaces counting the Vatican Billions, and priests and nuns live in their comfy rectories and hushed million dollars convents, read here - The fantastic wealth of Irish Catholic religious orders revealed http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2011/07/fantastic-wealth-of-irish-catholic.html,

And Opus Dei million dollar houses of their priests and “numeraries” equivalent to nuns and religious brothers  http://www.odan.org/foundations.htm

“Holiness” is not measured by the holy prayers a person recites because Christ condemned those Holy Priests Pharisees precisely because they recited the most holy prayers from the Bible and He called them white washed sepulchres, read herehttp://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2011/10/boston-to-host-former-swiss-guards.html

“It is acts of mercy” that I desire, God said in the Bible, and “not material or animal holocaust”.   Christ got angry at those merchants selling those holy lambs for sacrifice in the Temple of Solomon, today that would be Holy Mass Tourism, read herehttp://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2011/03/vatican-billions-holy-mass-tourism-for.html  

Read about the impotent Zeus statue of St. Joseph who overlooked 50 years of sodomy in College Notre Dame here, BOYCOTT Oratory of St.Josephhttp://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2013/01/boycott-oratory-of-saint-joseph-candles.html

The “Holy Father“ Pope and his copy-cat “holy fathers” Catholic priests cannot clone Dolly the sheep and therefore they cannot clone Christ either, read our related article, OC Diocese buys Crystal Cathedral as flesh-factory of Christ... for wealthy God-flesh-eating Catholicshttp://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2011/11/oc-diocese-buys-crystal-cathedral-as.html

Well, the black magic holy words of a team of “holy priests” cannot clone Christ the Son God either, read about the Divine Trinity  http://pope-ratz.blogspot.ca/2010/12/gay-trinity-of-father-son-and-holy

Please take a look at the worse Roman Catholic Church pedophile priests attacks against more than 15,500 Americans … compared to the September 11, 2001 attacks against 3,000 Americans at theTwin Towers in New York.

Victims in USA - Attackers - Responsible Leaders

Pearl Harbor - 3,000 victims - 170 planes - Admiral Yamamoto

WTC & 9/11 attacks - 3,000 victims - 19 Muslims - Osama bin Laden

Priest pedophilia - 15,736 victims - 6,000 pedophile priestscovered-up by Bishops, vicars, others...

9/11 victims 3,000. JP2 Army 100,000s. May Day: both Hitler and bin Laden Announced Dead on May 1 on John Paul II Beatification Day B-Day  http://jp2m.blogspot.ca/2011/05/911-victims-5000-jp2-army-100000s-may.html.   

Look deeply into this image of Our Lady of Guadalupe defending and protecting children from the Serpent  ... compared to Pope John Paul II, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Cardinals, Bishops who coverd-up pedophile priests  

http://jp2m.blogspot.ca/2008/07/letter-to-opus-dei-pope-john-paul-ii.html The names of the transferring or covering up Bishops and Cardinals are: Roll Call Please!

 Pope

The Hague: Full text Criminal Charges against Dr. Joseph Ratzinger, Pope of the Roman Catholic Churchhttp://popecrimes.blogspot.com/2011/05/full-text-of-criminal-charges-against.html

 
The black belt means she is pregnant

\.

The womb of the Immaculate Conception of Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe carried Jesus this way

9-months gestation of Jesus the Son of God

READ more here about the pregnancy of Our Lady http://stella0maris.blogspot.ca/2010/01/magisterium-benedict-versus-holy-mary.html

 

DOLLY THE CLONED SHEEP

 The cloning process that produced Dolly 
http://www.youtube.com/embed/39BbcZVCx8I



BLACK  MAGIC  OF  EUCHARIST 

1-MINUTE  black magic of the cloning of Christ by sinful Vatican pope and priests

 Pope Francis, all Popes, Cardinals, Bishops and priests cannot clone cats and dogs and therefore they cannot clone Christ either.

 Transubstantiation or the Mass is a recent development . St. Peter and St. Paul and the Apostles never celebrated Mass and never “transubstantiation” the bread into the flesh of Christ, what they did was to preach about Christ. The Mass was a slow development from the 12th century through various liturgical reforms until the 20th century. It was only in 1215 at the Fourth Council of the Lateran that the Mass began to take form and in 1551 at the Council of Trent that transubstantiation became what it is today. The Vatican has come to use it as its main crux of power on earth deceiving Catholics and peoples of all faiths that only Popes and men-priests have the exclusive power to transubstantiate God’s flesh. 

Because of the Mass, the Vatican has gotten away with all kinds of heinous crimes, e.g. the Crusades, the Inquisition, the burning of women and witcheshttp://jp2m.blogspot.com/2006/11/john-paul-ii-revived-inquisition.html “For the sake of the Eucharist” and because of the shortage of priests, John Paul II, Cardinal Ratzinger-Benedict XVI, the Opus Dei who controls the Vatican, the Cardinals and Bishops shuffled pedophile priests from one parish to another. The rest is history: the John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army committed Holy ES Eucharist-and-Sodomy of Biblical proportions see the John Paul II Millstone http://jp2m.blogspot.com/.

  In the name of Hail Mary, we dare challenge and defy the Magisterium: No words pronounced by any finite-man can create an infinite-God! No words of the Pope and priests can re-create or re-incarnate Christ’s flesh. The words of sinful popes and priests are powerless and can never create God! Only Mary the Immaculate Conception deserved to bear God in her womb. No evil pope and evil priests is worthy to touch and hold God in their evil hands. The words of popes and Cardinals, Bishops and priests are mere clashing-cymbals of St. Paul see John Paul II the Great clashing cymbal of St. Paulhttp://jp2m.blogspot.com/2009/11/john-paul-ii-great-clashing-cymbal-of.html. See Benedict XVI to beatify John Paul II is “brought to nothing” by St. Paulhttp://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2009/11/benedict-xvi-to-beatify-john-paul-ii-is.html

No matter how we look at it, finite-man cannot create an infinite-God. Man can never create God’s flesh. Not in in-vitro fertilization of the scientific laboratories. Not in the sacred altars of holy Roman Catholic churches which by the way were the same pedophile altars of the John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army See the John Paul II Millstone http://jp2m.blogspot.com/

Rome, call us heretics and we don’t care because in Boston and in America, we have freedom of speech. It was our freedom of speech that got rid of criminal-Cardinal Bernard Law and sent him packing out of our sight and out of our land. But only you, Rome, you the Roman Catholic Church a.k.a. Magisterium would glorify criminals like Cardinal Bernard Law and John Paul II. No other American state has been able to replicate our courage as Bostonians who got rid of the first Cardinal caught guilty of the John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army in America. Yes, we caught the first SS officer of the Third Reich of the Roman Catholic Church … but he went into glorious exile in Rome because only in the Catholic Church are criminals glorified See The John Paul II Millstone John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army expands into Ireland &John Paul is elevated as "Venerable"... only in the Catholic Church are criminals glorified http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2009/12/john-paul-ii-pedophile-priests-army.html

Benedict XVI, from the Chair of Peter, thinks his papal letter will heal the victims and solve the problem of clergy abuse in Ireland. The fact is, Benedict XVI’s words are powerless. NO POPE has ever healed anyone. As this picture shows,

\

They came sick and they left sick.

There is NO "Apostolic" authority or succession here,

for NO Pope has EVER been able to heal like Peter or Paul did.

Opus Dei Goliath-bully Bill want to propagate Catholic Medieval Doctrine that all crimes of JP2 Army of pedophile priests are already forgiven and forgotten under the Sacrament of Confession that protects criminals and persecutes their victims, read herehttp://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2012/11/sacrament-of-confession-protects.html

 ===================================================

Prayer Rally Held for Bishop Accused of Abuse

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Fox 4

9:59 am, January 8, 2012, by Christie Walton

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A group says it praying for the highest ranking, Catholic official Saturday. Bishop Robert Finn, of the Diocese of Kansas City – Saint Joseph, is accused of failing to report child abuse suspicions.

Justice for Bishop Finn group members gathered in prayer under a symbolic statue, at Divine Mercy Park to say to those who doubt the bishop, that his charges should be dropped.

===
Supporters of Bishop Finn gather for prayer rally

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

By ROBERT A. CRONKLETON
The Kansas City Star

More than three dozen supporters of Bishop Robert Finn gathered for a prayer rally Saturday and held a news conference saying that the misdemeanor charge against him should be dismissed.

“This is not a cover-up and this is not a knowing endangerment of children,” said Michael Quinlan, a St. Louis attorney who spoke at the press conference held by the group Justice for Bishop Finn at Divine Mercy Park in the Northland.

Finn took the steps any reasonable person would have taken in the way he handled the case of the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, Quinlan said. Ratigan faces child pornography charges in Clay County and federal court. 

Finn has pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor charge of failing to report child abuse suspicions in Jackson County involving Ratigan.


===

Parishioners Seeking 'Justice For Bishop Finn'

KANSAS CITY (MO)
St. Joe Channel

[with video]

Reported by: Robert Lowrey

Saturday, January 07 2012

KANSAS CITY -- "I implore the government not to take away our shepherd from us," said Theresa Lynn, a member of Justice for Bishop Finn. 

This is a common message from those in support of Bishop Robert Finn.

The rally is part of Justice for Bishop Finn's goal of trying to prove Bishop Robert Finn's innocence. The organization is speaking out to government officials. 

Bishop Robert Finn of the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese is the highest ranking Catholic official to be held accountable for alleged misconduct.

He is charged with failing to report child abuse in Jackson County after Father Shawn Ratigan was arrested on charges of child pornography. Finn also worked out a deal with prosecutors in Clay County to avoid an indictment.

===

Updated December 10, 2011 The Star’s editorial | A victim’s courageous stand

Updated December 5, 2011 Photos of Bishop Finn and Fr. Shawn Ratigan and Special report: Who knew what in Kansas City child porn case (see news below)

December 2, 2011. Catholic League fanatic Bill Donohue is desperately campaigning for his Opus Dei Bishop-Golden Cow Bishop Finn by sending out an ad to every citizen (including bars and local businesses) in Kansas City, Missouri - the ad on Bishop Finn which the Kansas City Star refused to publish for $25,000. Kudos to The Kansas City Star who puts value on the safety and justice for children more than Bishop Finn’s rotten reputation and Catholic hypocrisy, read our related article, Bishop Finn is the Achilles Heelhttp://popecrimes.blogspot.com/2011/10/bishop-finn-is-live-achilles-heel-of.html

Kudos to The Kansas City Star who refuses to sell its soul to the Devil and refuses to sell Christ for 33 pieces of silver of Judas Iscariot…meaning it refuses to compromise its moral values and children for $25,000 money of Catholic League and Bill Donohue, read Opus Dei's USA mouthpiece Bill Donohue is paid $400,000 to belittle the New York Times and anyone against Opus Dei World Domination Agenda http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2011/04/opus-deis-usa-mouthpiece-bill-donohue.html

Kudos to The Kansas City Star who refuses to sell its soul to the wealthiest Vatican Bank and sell out American children to the Vatican Media Mafia and Vatican Pied Pipers and their deceptions, read the list of Catholic Pied Pipers in our related article, Benedict XVI Master Manipulator of the Media…the Pied Piper of Children deceiving them away from truth of his Crimes Against Humanity at The Haguehttp://popecrimes.blogspot.com/2011/11/benedict-xvi-master-manipulator-of.html

Three cheers to you Kansas City Star and may you be blessed with prosperity for your brave act for facing up against the Goliath Bully - Bill Donohue and the dirty money of the Vatican Evil Empire, read Read the Vatican Billions and their sources: Holy Mass Tourism for Each Generation. Miracles, Portents and Wonder for Salehttp://popecrimes.blogspot.com/2011/03/vatican-billions-holy-mass-tourism-for.html. 

Christ versus Benedict XVI

What would Jesus do? There are WWJD braclets everywhere. ThePope and Catholic priests always preach, “Follow Jesus and always ask yourself, ‘What would Jesus do’”… but we have all the answers to that; simply “pray, pay and obey” us...because the Pope is the representative of Jesus on earth. 

But apparently and obviously, Benedict XVI is doing everything contrary to what Jesus did. Just look at him and you will not see Jesus at all in his papal masquarades: Did Jesus wear red shoes and white robes and expensive cermonial papal robes and golden mitres that can feed 10 African Villages for years? Did Jesus speak in Latin and in long complicated doctrines? Did Jesus require his followers to go to theological universites in order to understand his simple parables and what he was preaching for their salvation? Did Jesus live in a palace like the Vatican that rivals Buckingham Palace and the Palace of Versailles? Read our related article Benedict XVI and Jon Sobrino http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2007/08/benedict-xvi-vicar-of-christ-and-jon.html

If Benedict XVI is truly the representative of Christ on earth, he should be the first one to obey and do what Christ said, "And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out. It's better to enter the Kingdom of God with only one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell." Benedict XVI should fire Bishop Finn and banish him from the face of the Catholic Church.

And as the most powerful pope, Benedict XVI should also cut off and fire Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston, the evil Achilles Heel of fast-track saint John Paul II, read Rome glorifies Bernard Law 80th birthday bash...only the Vatican can make the Devil’s Bowels smell like roses http://popecrimes.blogspot.com/2011/11/rome-glorifies-bernard-law-80th.html 


Bill Donohue's deperate campaigns for Bishop Finn

There are two segments of this article. The first part is about the insane desperate campaign by Bill Donohue, the $400,000-a-year CEO of Catholic League, who is sending out an ad about Bishop Finn to every citizen in Kansas City, Missouri including bars and local businesses - the ad which the Kansas City Star refused to publish for $25,000. The second part is about Bishop Finn who struck a deal with the secular court to avoid facing further charges in his cover-up of one of his dearly beloved pedophile priests, Fr. Ratigan, who possessed hundreds of porn photos of children in his diocesan laptop. When Bishop Finn saw those hundreds of pornographic images of children, he did not do or say anything to Fr. Ratigan...and he never cared or did anything to protect those children from pedophile priests.

The Catholic League in the USA is an arm of the Vatican Media Mafiaand they have all the money to squander to perpetaute lies about Bishops who cover-up pedophile priests. When Cardinal Bernard Law resigned as Archbishop of Boston, Pope John Paul II elevated him as High Priest in Rome to the St. Mary Major Basilica, 'the mother of all basilicas in Rome'. Bishop Finn was his "personal" advisor or chaplain at that time. Bishop Finn`s callous heart and numb conscience is rooted in the Vatican as he said Mass daily with John Paul II in his unrepentant last years on earth, read Bishop Finn's Opus Dei formative years at the Vatican in - Bishop Finn is the live Achilles Heel of Benedict XVI…while Cardinal Bernard Law is the live Achilles Heel of John Paul IIhttp://popecrimes.blogspot.com/2011/10/bishop-finn-is-live-achilles-heel-of.html

Catholic League is one of the ultimate traitors of the hundreds of thousands of children sexually abused by the Priestly Sodomy of Biblical Proportions committed by the JP2 Army a.k.a. B16 Army, read our related article Heil Satanas JP2 Patron Saint of Pedophiles, Pederasts Rapists-Priests! John Paul II is the same yesterday and today-- he cannot protect childrenhttp://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/05/heil-satanas-jp2-patron-saint-of.html

Bishop Finn aided Satanas JP2



Handout photo of Bishop Finn November 30, 2011

Opus Dei Bishop Finn and Opus Dei Cardinal Bernard Law

Opus Dei Bishop Finn is following the footsteps of Opus Dei Cardinal Bernard Law. Law who also was never prosecuted because he simply “confessed” in public that he aided and abetted 80 pedophile priests and transferred them from one parish to another and got away with it. Cardinal Law was forced to resign as Archbishop of Boston and but then was elevated as High Priest of St. Mary Major in Rome. And by whose advice? Bishop Finn who was the direct advisor of John Paul II. So the chicken has come home to roost. That is why Bishop Finn is the evil Achilles Heel of Benedict XVIhttp://popecrimes.blogspot.com/2011/10/bishop-finn-is-live-achilles-heel-of.html

"Civilization will not attain to its perfection until the last stone from the last church falls on the last priest".
 
Ěmile E. C. A Zola, 1840-1902, French novelist (Les Trois Villes; Rome, 1896)

It is time the United Nations end the theocracy country of the Vatican so that other theocracy countries can also follow suit.

November 22, 2011

The Vatican's own Nazis Regime against children

The German Nazis and the JP2 Army a.k.a. B16 Army - Benedict XVI Pedophile Priests Army are an inherently all-male hierarchy born out of the Devil’s Bowels that smell like roses in the Vatican and in the Roman Catholic Church worldwide. 

John Paul II and Adolf Hitler and Osama bin Laden are forever linked together in history - on May 1, read our related article 9/11 victims 3,000. JP2 Army 100,000s. May Day: both Hitler and bin Laden Announced Dead on May 1 on John Paul II Beatification Day B-Day http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/05/911-victims-5000-jp2-army-100000s-may.html

Under the longest papacy of 27 years of John Paul II in the latter half of the 20th century, the most heinous crimes against Catholic children were committed, the Priestly Sodomy of Biblical Proportions committed by the JP2 Army - John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army also known as B16 Army - Benedict XVI Pedophile Priests Army, named aptly after the 2 men who ruled the Vatican with their iron fists...and immoral consciences and callous hearts towards chidlren. Hence these two popes oversaw the Nazi version in the Roman Catholic Church.

John Paul II is the Hitler http://jp2m.blogspot.com/

Benedict XVI as Cardinal Ratzinger is the General of the Third Reich of the JP2 Army a.k.a.B16 Army http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/

Cardinals and Bishops are the Vatican Nazis who aided and abetted pedophile priests with Cardinal Bernard Law as their poster boyhttp://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/05/911-victims-5000-jp2-army-100000s-may.html

Vatican Pied Pipers: John L. Allen Jr., George Weigel, Bill Donohue 

Vatican Media Mafia: Catholic League, EWTN, Catholic News Agency, Zenit

To learn more and read the lists of the Vatican Pied Pipers and Vatican Media Mafia members, read our article Benedict XVI Master Manipulator of the Media…the Pied Piper of Children deceiving them away from truth of his Crimes Against Humanity at The Haguehttp://popecrimes.blogspot.com/2011/11/benedict-xvi-master-manipulator-of.html

Opus Dei Bishop Finn is the Vatican Nazi of the JP2 Army a.k.a. B16 Army

Opus Dei Bishop Finn is one of the foremost Vatican Nazis of the JP2 Army a.k.a. B16 Army and he is now cooking-up Devil’s Bowels making them smell like roses in Kansas City, Missouri by using his fancy holy words. By striking a brilliant deal with the law and avoiding further prosecution, Opus Dei Bishop Finn is like the Nazis who left Germany unscathed and then went on to hide their true identity and live a new life in North or South America. 

This Vatican Nazi past of Bishop Finn explains the root cause as to why he covered-up one of his pedophile priests, Fr. Ratigan, and why as an Opus Dei Bishop he never had (nor has) any compunction or compassion to the hundreds of children whose sexually naked photos he personally saw in the computer of his dearly beloved priest Fr. Ratigan, read our related article Bishop Finn is the live Achilles Heel of Benedict XVI…while Cardinal Bernard Law is the live Achilles Heel of John Paul II http://popecrimes.blogspot.com/2011/10/bishop-finn-is-live-achilles-heel-of.html

Opus Dei Bishop Finn did not flinch in the sight of pedophile photos of children because he is simply obeying Opus Dei rules regarding pedophilia - that it’s only a small statistics, read Opus Dei’s standpoint on priest pedophilia in our related articles below and Why John Paul II is Opus Dei's Patron Saint: analysis of conference at Holy Cross Pontifical University in Romehttp://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/04/why-john-paul-ii-is-opus-deis-patron.html

Opus Dei Bishop Finn is living la Vida Loca as described by Vatican Pied Piper John L. Allen Jr. in his Newsweek Magazine article Fast-Track Saint about John Paul II. 

John L. Allen Jr.’s most deceptive paragraph... This paragraph is strategically placed past midway after he builds his essay, the 9th of 13 paragraphs, and it is the heart his article: Those inclined to give John Paul the benefit of the doubt argue that the church has been on a learning curve and it’s unfair to judge him by today’s standards. Further, they say, by the time the American scandals erupted and Maciel’s guilt became clear, the late pope was already well into his twilight. His primary contribution to combating the scourge of clerical abuse, they argue, was inspiring a new generation of dedicated and holy priests, men who take their duty of standing “in the person of Christ” seriously, and who are therefore less likely to dishonor their vows. read our entire analysis herehttp://jp2army.blogspot.com/

It means that because of the inspiration of the new “saint” John Paul II, current and future priests will no longer commit pedophilia. Likewise, Bishop Finn covered-up Fr. Ratigan…but will no longer do it again in the future and agrees to a monthly visitation by the secular court, read news below.

Opus Dei Bishop Finn getting away with the Law like the Nazis is the Catholic brand of getting away with the law, that is why the Sacrament of Confession is a tool of Injustice - we explain it herehttp://jp2army.blogspot.com/2010/03/forgiveness-is-gizmo-of-injustice-to.html. 

Read also our related articles on what differentiates the secular justice system versus the Sacrament of Confession , Sins and crimes are not synonymous. Sinners and criminals are not one and the samehttp://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2010/05/sins-and-crimes-are-not-synonymous.html

Opus Dei Bishop Finn’s hidden Vatican Nazi identity is that in 2002, he became an Opus Dei member and first-hand advisor to John Paul II during the height of priest pedophilia eruption in Boston as Opus Dei Cardinal Bernard Law (also) avoided prosecution together with the confirmed 80 pedophile priests whom he publicly confessed to aiding and abetting and transferring from one parish to another. This special period of Bishop Finn’s life as personal advisor to John Paul II explains why John Paul II said and did nothing to stop priest pedophilia in his last trip to his last World Youth Day in Toronto, only an hour’s flight to Boston, inspite of Paris Arrow’s vision of the giant millstone tied to the neck of John Paul II during that WYD. Bishop Finn made sure that John Paul II -- until his death in 2005 - would have no moral support for children sexually battered by his JP2 Army a.k.a. B16 Army he had, read the vision here The 9/11 Decade and the JP2 Millstone 9th anniversary of Paris Arrow's vision of the death of John Paul II at the World Youth Day http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/09/911-decade-and-jp2-millstones-9th.html

Read our related articles

Opus Dei founder Josemaria Escriva stage-managed impostor Sr. Lucia & Fatima Third Message . Lucia was listed as deceased in 1948… http://popecrimes.blogspot.com/2011/11/escriva-stage-managed-impostor-sr-lucia.html

Boston to host former Swiss Guard’s seminar -based on the new “Vatican Trinity”.. Swiss Guards are the financial Navy Seals of the Vatican Bank http://popecrimes.blogspot.com/2011/10/boston-to-host-former-swiss-guards.html

Benedict used Hitler as mask in German Parliament. Nazis and Vatican are a “band of robbers”http://popecrimes.blogspot.com/2011/09/benedict-xvi-uses-hitler-to-divert.html

On the Lot: MR. John Paul II and MRS. Josemaria ODhttp://jp2m.blogspot.com/2007/06/on-lot-mr-john-paul-ii-and-mrs_09.html



The Hague: Full text Criminal Charges against Dr. Joseph Ratzinger, Pope of the Roman Catholic Church http:///

Victims in USA - Attackers - Responsible Leaders 

Pearl Harbor - 3,000 victims - 170 planes - Admiral Yamamoto 

WTC & 9/11 attacks - 3,000 victims - 19 Muslims - Osama bin Laden

JP2 Army - 15,736 victims - 6,000 pedophile priests - John Paul II & Benedict XVI & Opus Dei, the new Vatican Trinity 

JP2 Army victims around the world http://jp2army.blogspot.com/

Amnesty International Report Vatican “Torture, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment” on tens of thousands of children sexually abused by priests in Irelandhttp://popecrimes.blogspot.com/2011/09/amnesty-international-report-vatican.html

The 4 cornerstones of the Vatican: Narcissism, dysfunction, disconnection, elitismhttp://popecrimes.blogspot.com/2011/09/nazi-gold-and-vatican-how-rome-saved.html

Ireland condemns Vatican secrecy on Cloyne Diocese pedophile priests. Ireland vis-à-vis USA: the way they deal with crimes by the Vaticanhttp://popecrimes.blogspot.com/2011/07/ireland-government-condemns-vatican.html

Opus Dei controlled the 27 years papacy of John Paul II and is therefore the foremost guilty party who aided and abetted and covered-up the John Paul II Pedophiles Rapists-Priests Army. Opus Dei wrote most of John Paul II’s books and writings and to ensure their perpetuity as “All things Catholic”, they want JP2 to be beatified and canonized now by Benedict XVI so as not to take any chances on other future popes. The FACE of Opus Dei is John Paul II and the PHANTOM Spirit of Opus Dei is their founder St. Josemaria Escriva, read our related article John Paul II, Patron of Pederasts and Opus Dei – analysis of Joaquin Navarro-Valls’ reasons for JP2 beatification at Opus Dei conference in Romehttp://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/04/john-paul-ii-patron-of-pederasts-and.html 

The 15,736 victims is from the recent report of the US Catholic Bishops Conference harmed by almost 6,000 pedophile priests. Note that the victims of the JP2 Army are 5 times those of Osama bin Laden's 9-11, read more herehttp://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/05/911-victims-5000-jp2-army-100000s-may.html 

Read our related article The Nazis of Hitler and the Roman Catholic Church of Benedict XVI are similar: They both burn human beings in Auschwitz and in Hell http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2011/02/nazis-of-hitler-and-roman-catholic.html

Bill Donohue-Catholic League ad in New York Times is a brilliant strategy before the beatification of John Paul IIhttp://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/04/bill-donohue-catholic-league-ad-in-new.html

Opus Dei's USA mouthpiece Bill Donohue is paid $400,000 to belittle the New York Times and anyone against Opus Dei World Domination Agenda http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2011/04/opus-deis-usa-mouthpiece-bill-donohue.html

Other well-paid Vatican Pied Pipers like George Weigel and John L. Allen Jr.

George Weigel bashes Maureen Dowd and Bishop Spong. Benedict's edict on GAYS are worse than anti-Catholic bigotryhttp://popecrimes.blogspot.com/2011/07/george-weigel-bashes-maureen-dowd-and.html

Rupert Murdoch a supporter of paedophilia within our churches? He donated $10 Million for New LA Cathedral, buys Beliefnet religion sitehttp://popecrimes.blogspot.com/2011/07/rupert-murdoch-supporter-of-paedophilia.html

John Allen promotes monarchy of Catholicism. As Vatican Pied Piper he announces ‘Meet the new Crown Prince of Catholicism’http://popecrimes.blogspot.com/2011/07/john-allen-promotes-monarchy-of.html

John L.Allen Jr.Pied Piper of John Paul II deceives Catholics with his essay Fast-Track Saint in Newsweek -- with Vatican lunacy & Satanic timeline http://jp2army.blogspot.com/


John L. Allen Jr showers Cardinal Castrillon’s sex abuse cover up with roses that make the Devil's bowels smell good on Ratzinger Benedict XVI and JP2 http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/01/john-l-allen-jr-showers-cardinal.html

John L. Allen Jr supports Fr. Marcial Maciel and the Legion of Christ through his headline: 'True believers' on Maciel still kickinghttp://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/02/john-l-allen-jr-supports-fr-marcial.html

Pied Piper John Allen defends Vatican mythologyhttp://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/09/pied-piper-john-allen-defends-vatican.html

Benedict used Hitler as mask in German Parliament. Nazis and Vatican are a “band of robbers”http://popecrimes.blogspot.com/2011/09/benedict-xvi-uses-hitler-to-divert.html

It is time others start exposing the evil tricks and pathological lies of Bill Donohue and his hypocritical Catholic League. Here is one.

BILL DONOHUE AND THE CATHOLIC LEAGUE - EXPOSED

UNITED STATES
Anti-Catholic League

by David Fortwengler

Bill Donohue is president of the Catholic League. He claims the purpose of his organization is to “safeguard both the religious freedom rights and the free speech rights of Catholics whenever they are threatened.”

This report exposes the real motives of those involved with the Catholic League. They are an agenda-driven professional victims group that uses malicious and irrational assaults to smear anyone they feel is not speaking for the best interests of the Catholic Church. Period.

Over the past decade Donohue has repeatedly used his high-decibel speaking voice to dismiss truths about the church sex abuse scandal by denying and misrepresenting the facts, disrespecting the law, ignoring the message, and by calling the messengers Anti-Catholic.

The Catholic League creates their own version of events to minimize decades of gross institutional negligence and thousands of sexual assaults against children as simply the result of bias and prejudice against the Church. Donohue has gone so far as to call for a “Catholic revolt” against “the selective pursuit of priests, and the wholesale denial of their due process rights.” Never mind that there is no selective pursuit of catholic priests or denial of their due process rights, to justify his $400,000 a year salary it is a revolt Donohue is all to willing to lead. 

Perhaps no single statement of Donohue’s exemplifies his ten years of pompous mendacity regarding the catholic scandal as the one issued today. Here it is in it’s entirety. 
BISHOP FINN DESERVES BETTER

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on the controversy over Kansas City-St. Joseph Bishop Robert Finn:

The Catholic League will have a lot to say about Bishop Finn and his accusers over the next few weeks. For now, we want to make it clear that we stand by him without reservation. Why? Not because he is a bishop, but because nothing he did deserves the kind of mad reaction against him that is emanating from many quarters. In a short time, we will lay out the details of our support for him. But for now, keep in mind the following:

Many strange photos (crotch-focused) of young girls, fully clothed, were found on the laptop of a priest last December; one showed a girl naked. Though Bishop Finn never saw it, he was told of it. The result? The picture was described to a police officer the next day, and an attorney for the Diocese was shown the photo. It was determined that the photo, while disturbing, did not constitute child pornography. The priest learns that they’re on to him; he attempts suicide; he almost dies; he recovers; he is sent for treatment; he is not considered to be a pedophile, but is said to be suffering from depression; he is then placed in a spot away from children; he is subjected to restrictions. After violating the restrictions, the cops are called; more damaging photos are then found.

This account is quite different from what is being bandied about in the media. To take one example, there is an editorial in today’s New York Times saying that Bishop Finn “knew of the photos last December but did not turn them over to the police until May.” This makes it sound as if Finn knew about hundreds of photos of child pornography and he did nothing about it. In fact, there was one photo, that was not sexual in nature, that was found. Moreover, a police officer and an attorney were notified immediately. Later, after the priest proved to be recalcitrant, the police were contacted.

As I said, we will have a lot more to say about this issue. Stay tuned.”

My Response-The Facts

The “mad reaction” against Finn is a criminal indictment for failing to report suspected child abuse, something Finn is required to do under law, and what he has repeatedly promised he would do. Donohue’s support for Finn, without reservation, is based on his convoluted interpretation of the facts. Donohue claims Finn, after consultation with the diocesan attorney and a police officer was told Ratigan’s portfolio did not constitute child pornography. The fact is that the police officer was not consulted in an official police capacity and was not shown or told about everything that was known by the diocese. He was informally consulted as a lay member of the diocese review board. We do not know what the attorney was told.

The fact is that Ratigan’s computer contained an image of a young minor child’s naked vagina taken by Ratigan! We do not know what testimony and evidence was presented to the grand jury which indicted Finn and the diocese, but how could a reasonable person not consider that photo suspicion of child abuse? The technician that discovered the photos on Ratigan’s computer was sufficiently concerned to turn them over to the diocese, and Finn himself was suspicious enough he felt the need to get two other opinions. To me, that in and of itself, shows Finn broke the law by failing to notify authorities and turning over the evidence in his possession.

As evidence of a “mad reaction” against Finn, Donohue complains a NY Times article stated, “Finn knew of the photos last December but did not turn them over to the police until May.” Donohue says this makes it sound as if Finn knew about hundreds of photos of child pornography and he did nothing about it. Well, in December Finn did know about Ratigan’s computer portfolio and did not turn them over to police until May. There is nothing else to inferred in that statement.

Our system of justice insures that Finn is innocent is until proven guilty and none of his civil rights are being denied. He will have the best legal representation the parishioners of Kansas City can afford. Bishop Finn deserves no better than that.

I will have a lot more to say about this issue. Stay tuned.

Our Comment to Anti-Catholic League

The 2 strategies of the MSM mainstream media on the new movement Occupy Wall Street are to either ridicule or to ignore it. Here Bill Donohue uses the strategy to ridicule any bitter truth being exposed about the Catholic Church and its pedophile priests, read our related article Occupy The Vatican... like Occupy Wall Streethttp://popecrimes.blogspot.com/2011/10/ows-otv-occupy-wall-street-occupy.html

http://anticatholicleague.typepad.com/anticatholic_league/2011/10/bill-donohue-and-the-catholic-league-exposed.html

========

Victims pan plea deal with Kansas City bishop

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Peter Isely on November 15, 2011

Initially, Finn was the first bishop to face criminal charges for concealing suspected abuse. Then, he was the first bishop to undergo questioning by two grand juries. Now, he's become the first bishop to face criminal charges in two jurisdictions. And, he's now the first bishop to be charged with two separate child-safety related crimes: refusing to report suspected abuse in Jackson County and endangering the welfare of a child in Clay County.

Given this, it's tempting, but reckless, to believe that Finn's the real problem here. He isn't. He's just the public face of a much more widespread, deep seated and intractable problem. And because the problem is far broader and deeper than any one man, the solution must be broader and deeper too.

That's one reason we're disappointed in this announcement today - it implies that Finn is the main, or only, wrongdoer here. But several top church staff - Msgr. Robert Murphy, Rebecca Summers (diocesan public relations staffer), Jon Haden (diocesan lawyer), Julie Creech (Diocesan Director of Information Management Systems) and who knows how many others knew of Ratigan’s very troubling behavior around kids and those very disturbing naked and inappropriate photos of young girls’ private areas. Yet none of them had the decency or courage to call 911. And none of them are being held responsible.

So the problem in KC is a pervasive and on-going cultural and structural problem of secrecy and self-preservation being valued over openness and kids’ safety. It’s not one ‘bad apple.’ It’s a dangerous, corrupt barrel. That was the case and remains the case.

---

Slap on the hand for Bishop Finn

Posted by Yael T. Abouhalkah 
0pc on November 16, 2011 

Robert Finn has been a bad bishop, Clay County authorities said Tuesday, and apparently Finn agrees. Unfortunately, the county isn’t willing to go the extra mile to actually punish Finn for being a bad bishop.

As The Star reported today, Finn won’t be charged with anything in Clay County related to how he handled child pornography issue involving one of his priests.

Instead, Finn will enter a diversion program with the Clay County prosecutor. That’s a fancy way of saying the county’s going to let Finn off the hook.

Jackson County authorities did not handle Finn with kid gloves. Instead, they charged him with a crime, making him the highest Catholic official involved in such a mess.

Part of the diversion agreement almost sounds like a joke. As a colleague noted, it essentially will require Finn, the bishop, to confess to Clay County Prosecutor Daniel White to stay in line with what the program requires.

From The Star:

“Finn’s agreement with Clay County requires him to meet face-to-face each month with White for the next five years to discuss any allegations of child sex abuse levied against clergy or diocesan staff within the diocese’s Clay County facilities. Finn also is to describe what steps the diocese has taken to address the allegations. White would then decide whether to encourage police to investigate any allegations.”

On Tuesday, Finn issued the predictable pablum about making this move to protect the children, when it’s all about protecting his power, his authority and his job.

“The children of our community must be our first priority,” Finn said. “Each deserves no more and no less.”

White could and should have been tougher on Finn who is, after all, the top authority in the diocese, the one held ultimately responsible for protecting the children.

http://voices.kansascity.com/entries/slap-hand-bishop-finn/#ixzz1dsRBBtYk

http://www.snapnetwork.org/slap_on_the_hand_for_bishop_finn

Kansas City Bishop Makes Deal to Avoid More Criminal Charges

MISSOURI
Ocala.com

A. G. SULZBERGER and LAURIE GOODSTEIN

Published: Tuesday, November 15, 2011

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — In a deal to avoid a second round of criminal charges, a Roman Catholic bishop in Kansas City has agreed to meet monthly with a county prosecutor to detail every suspicious episode involving abuse of a child in his diocese for the next five years.

Bishop Robert W. Finn of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph was indicted in October by a grand jury in neighboring Jackson County for failure to report suspected child abuse by a priest he supervised. He is the first American bishop to face indictment on charges of mishandling an abuse case.

The agreement announced on Tuesday between Bishop Finn and the prosecuting attorney of Clay County, Daniel White, leaves the bishop open to prosecution for misdemeanor charges for five years, if he does not continue to meet with the prosecutor and report all episodes.

Both cases relate to the bishop’s supervision of the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, who has been accused of taking pornographic photographs of young girls in local parishes and homes. The bishop learned of the pornographic photos last December after a technician fixing the priest’s computer expressed serious alarm, but the diocese did not turn them over to police until May. During that period more photographs of children were taken.

Statement of Bishop Robert Finn

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Roman Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph

On November 15, 2011, I entered into a Compliance Agreement with Daniel Lee White, Prosecuting Attorney for Clay County Missouri. This agreement provides a structure for us to maintain an open dialogue about any and all issues of abuse of minors within Catholic parishes and institutions in Clay County. I am grateful for this opportunity to resolve this matter and to further strengthen our diocesan commitment to the protection of children.

Elements of the agreement provide for a close collaboration between the Bishop, the diocesan Ombudsman, and the Clay County prosecutor. The agreement specifically calls for informational sessions to introduce the ombudsman and Director of Child and Youth Protection to parishioners of Clay County parishes.

Before the work of the Clay County grand jury, I appointed an Ombudsman to receive and investigate any concern of suspicious or inappropriate behavior, with particular emphasis on the protection of children. Very soon, I will designate a Director of Child and Youth Protection to coordinate the work of the Safe Environment Coordinator, the Ombudsman and the Victims’ Advocate. The director will oversee our adult and youth safe environment training programs and will serve as a vital link with the independent work of the Ombudsman and Victims’ Advocate. These persons and offices will serve critical needs throughout the 27 counties that comprise the Diocese of Kansas City ~ St. Joseph.

Bishop strikes deal with prosecutor to avoid criminal citation

MISSOURI
KCTV

LIBERTY, MO (KCTV) -
Kansas City's bishop and the Clay County prosecutor have struck a deal to prevent the church leader from facing another criminal charge for his handling of a priest accused of possessing child pornography.

Clay County Prosecutor Dan White and Robert Finn, bishop of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, announced the agreement Tuesday. The agreement only covers the diocese in Clay County.

Finn agreed to give the prosecutor unprecedented authority to review allegations of child abuse or suspicious activities for the next five years.

"I think it goes a long way to protecting kids in our community and ultimately that was my goal," White said.

Reluctant Accountability in Kansas City

MISSOURI
Jeff Anderson & Associates

Jared Shepherd

Amidst an increased nationwide focus on accountability for child sexual abuse, the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph stands as a prime example of an institution’s failure to put its house in order. Today, in lieu of another indictment on misdemeanor charges for the willful disregard of Father Shawn Ratigan’s production of child pornography and exploitation of children, Bishop Robert Finn entered into a compliance agreement with the Clay County Prosecutor. This agreement provides the Clay County prosecutor unique oversight of the Diocese and its handling of child abuse complaints for the next five years. Unfortunately, this agreement was forced only after the devastating impact of broken promises and historic inaction from the Diocese revealed by Father Ratigan’s crimes.

In December 2010, Diocesan officials discovered child pornography on Father Ratigan’s computer. While the Diocese relieved Ratigan of his duties as a pastor of St. Patrick Church, the Diocese did not monitor his behavior and the Diocese did not turn over the computer and images to law enforcement. Instead, the Diocese consulted with their attorneys, made copies of the pornographic images and retained the images for approximately six months, until the intervention of law enforcement in May 2011. Jeff Anderson & Associates filed two separate lawsuits on behalf of Ratigan’s victims, Jane Doe 174 and Jane Doe 186, against Father Ratigan, Bishop Finn, and the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

The Diocese’s cover-up of the Ratigan scandal follows their 2008 agreement with 47 sexual abuse survivors to report any suspicion of sexual abuse or misconduct by its clergy to law enforcement. It also follows a pledge made by American Bishops over a decade ago to report suspected child abusers to the appropriate law enforcement officials. For years, the Diocese has put public relations before child protection.


Mo. bishop avoids new charges in child abuse case

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

By BILL DRAPER
The Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Kansas City Roman Catholic Bishop dodged more misdemeanor charges Tuesday for his handling of a priest accused of taking hundreds of suspected pornographic pictures of children.

Bishop Robert Finn entered into an agreement with the Clay County prosecutor's office that will give the prosecutor authority, for five years, to review how the Kansas City-St. Joseph Catholic Diocese handles future allegations of child abuse in that county. ...

Terry McKiernan of BishopAccountability.org, which manages a public database of records on clergy abuse cases, said the agreement assumes the bishop and his subordinates can be taken at the word. But he said the Ratigan case showed that's not the case.

David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, also was critical of the agreement, which he said is a means for Finn to avoid taking responsibility for his handling of priest sex abuse of children in his diocese.

"Nothing deters white collar crime like jail time, and nothing exposes a cover-up like a trial. But neither are happening, "Clohessy said. "Finn is doing here what bishops have done for ages, avoiding tough questions in open court and continuing to hide the complicity and corruption of his top staff."

Updates November 17, 2011

The Star’s Editorial | Finn admits he can’t do the job, so why does he keep it?

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

Bishop Robert Finn dodged additional criminal charges this week by agreeing to intensive oversight from the Clay County prosecutor’s office.

While such a deal may protect Finn from the embarrassment of misdemeanor charges in Clay County, he still faces a similar charge in Jackson County.

Beyond that, it is a sorry state of affairs that the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph now admits it needs remedial training to properly do something as basic as protect children from adult sexual predators. And it represents an abysmal failure by Finn and others that they make this admission only now.

The diversion deal doesn’t shield Finn from criminal charges. He agreed to waive a one-year statute of limitations, meaning Clay County can file at any time in the coming five years if he fails to live up to the agreement. But while the deal may make sense legally, it raises a very serious question:

Is Finn really the best man to oversee Kansas City’s Catholic population?

Even as Finn agreed to court oversight, allegations of sexual misconduct within the diocese continued to surface, piling doubts upon existing doubts about his fitness for his office. By agreeing to the oversight, he is in effect agreeing that his office has handled sexual abuse allegations poorly and doesn’t know the way forward without help.

Obviously, he is right to ask for this help. But his role in a rising crisis does not seem a good fit for learning in the future.

The most troubling aspects of child sexual abuse cases coming from the diocese are the alleged acts themselves. But the church’s failure to create an adequate system to ensure all abuse allegations were dealt with promptly, decisively and in the best interest of children is a very serious matter.

Bishop Finn’s diversion is effectively an admission that he was not and is not able to lead this diocese through troubled times. It is time for the church to make that decision official.
Copyright 2011 . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Posted on Wed, Nov. 16, 2011 07:00 PM

http://www.kansascity.com/2011/11/16/3270208/the-stars-editorial-finn-admits.html

Bishop Finn is not Finn-ished

MISSOURI
Theater of the Word Incorporated

The headline in the Kansas City Star is a bit misleading. BISHOP FINN AVOIDS INDICTMENT BY ENTERING INTO DIVERSION PROGRAM. This is true, but only for Clay County, Missouri. Bishop Finn has already beenindicted in Jackson County, Missouri and has pled not guilty in that case. Unless a deal is struck there, he will face a trial.

In the Clay County case, the prosecutor has agreed not to seek an indictment if Bishop Finn participates in a monthly program that in effect allows the county government to have a certain degree of hands-on involvement in running or monitoring the sexual abuse response programs of the diocese.

Reaction to this deal, as reported by the Star, runs from satisfaction to outrage. I think the most telling quote is this:

***
" ... For the church to put itself in a position where the only way out of its legal difficulties is to submit to the oversight of governmental authorities, just that is really a tragic day for the church," said Nicholas Cafardi, a law professor at Duquesne University and former chairman of the U.S. Bishops’ National Review Board for the Protection of Children and Youth.

------------

SNAP blasts Finn for picking "biased, bizarre shrink"

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Michael Hunter on November 17, 2011

Finn clearly didn’t want an honest assessment of Fr. Ratigan’s sickness. He wanted legal and public relations ‘cover’ so he could put Fr. Ratigan around kids again.

What kind of therapist diagnoses an adult as “lonely” because he takes hundreds of pictures of little girls’ crotches? What kind of therapist blames a parochial school principal for that child predator’s problems? And what kind of bishop seeks out this therapist?

At an absolute bare minimum, Finn owes his flock – especially parents of Fr. Ratigan’s victims – an explanation of why he knowingly picked such an obviously biased and bizarre therapist for such a crucial assignment.

There are tens of thousands of competent, independent mental health professionals in this country. Finn chose none of them. Instead, he deliberately picked a biased guy who would provide the 'cover' Finn sought so he could protect church assets while putting Fr. Ratigan back in ministry.



SNAP in Jackson County Court house
=========

Catholic League -- Vatican Media Mafia in the USA

KC STAR CAMPAIGN HITS BARS, BARBER SHOPS, ETC.

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Catholic League

November 30, 2011

Today, dozens of bars, barber shops and beauty parlors in the Kansas City, Missouri area are being sent copies of the Catholic League ad that the Kansas City Star refused to run on October 30.

This is the twelfth and final segment of the Kansas City area to receive the ad that the Star would like to censor. Previously, we hit (1) every Catholic church, as well as all the nuns, order priests and brothers, (2) every Catholic lay organization, (3) all Catholic schools and colleges, (4) over 100 Protestant churches, (5) Orthodox Christian, Jewish and Muslim groups, (6) private schools, (7) public schools, (8) private and public colleges, (9) government officials, (10) all Chamber of Commerce officials and over 150 local businesses and (11) more than 80 civic associations.


KC STAR CAMPAIGN HITS PROTESTANT CHURCHES

MISSOURI
Catholic League

Today, over 100 Protestant churches in the Kansas City, Missouri area are being sent copies of the Catholic League ad that the Kansas City Star refused to run on October 30.

This is the fourth segment of the Kansas City area to receive the ad that the Star would like to censor. Previously, we hit 1) every Catholic church, as well as all the nuns, order priests and brothers, 2) every Catholic lay organization and 3) all Catholic schools and colleges.

KC STAR CAMPAIGN HITS CATHOLIC SCHOOLS

MISSOURI
Catholic League

Today, all the Catholic schools and colleges in the Kansas City, Missouri area are being sent copies of the Catholic League ad that the Kansas City Star refused to run on October 30.

This is the third segment of the Kansas City area to receive the ad that the Star would like to censor. Previously, we hit 1) every Catholic church, as well as all the nuns, order priests and brothers and 2) every Catholic lay organization. To read the ad, click here.


KC STAR CAMPAIGN HITS GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Catholic League

Today, all government officials in the Kansas City, Missouri area are being sent copies of the Catholic League ad that the Kansas City Star refused to run on October 30.

This is the ninth segment of the Kansas City area to receive the ad that the Star would like to censor. Previously, we hit (1) every Catholic church, as well as all the nuns, order priests and brothers, (2) every Catholic lay organization, (3) all Catholic schools and colleges, (4) over 100 Protestant churches, (5) Orthodox Christian, Jewish and Muslim groups, (6) private schools, (7) public schools and (8) private and public colleges.

KC STAR CAMPAIGN HITS LOCAL BUSINESSES

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Catholic League

Today, all Chamber of Commerce officials and over 150 local businesses in the Kansas City, Missouri area are being sent copies of the Catholic League ad that the Kansas City Star refused to run on October 30.

This is the tenth segment of the Kansas City area to receive the ad that the Star would like to censor. Previously, we hit (1) every Catholic church, as well as all the nuns, order priests and brothers, (2) every Catholic lay organization, (3) all Catholic schools and colleges, (4) over 100 Protestant churches, (5) Orthodox Christian, Jewish and Muslim groups, (6) private schools, (7) public schools, (8) private and public colleges and (9) government officials.

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Special report: Who knew what in Kansas City child porn case


REUTERS

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/03/us-usa-priest-abuse-idUSTRE7B20HC20111203



Fr. Shawn Ratigan, November 24, 2011



Booking photo in Police Department, November 22, 2011



Fr. Ratigan Spring 2010

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/03/us-usa-priest-abuse-idUSTRE7B20HC20111203

By Carey Gillam

KANSAS CITY, Missouri | Sat Dec 3, 2011 12:00pm EST

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - Computer technician Ken Kes was supposed to be repairing a laptop for a local priest as part of his work for a Catholic Diocese in Kansas City. But as Kes opened a series of picture files stored on the computer, he slowly realized that the odd images of young children were not merely strange; they seemed pornographic.

"I looked at the first one. It was a young girl climbing up the back of a pickup truck and I thought, huh, that's kind of a neat shot," the 59-year-old Kes recalled. "The next one that I clicked on was a girl... climbing out of swimming pool and all it showed was her rear end. Then there was a little girl on the grass with her legs spread. All you could see was the area from her belly button to her knees."

By the time Kes got to a graphic photo of a little girl on a bed, exposed below the waist, his hands were shaking and he was in full panic.

"I stopped looking right there and got on the phone," he said.

That discovery last December yielded hundreds of such photos on the laptop of Father Shawn Ratigan, ultimately landing the 46-year-old priest in jail on multiple child pornography charges. He is awaiting trial next summer after pleading not guilty and remains jailed.

And, in what Catholic experts say is a first-ever event, authorities have filed criminal charges against Bishop Robert Finn, the leader of the 133,000-member Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, because despite knowing about the pictures, Finn did not alert authorities.

Bishop Finn is the highest-ranking Catholic official to face criminal charges in the United States in connection with a child sexual abuse case. He is slated for a preliminary court hearing December 15 on a misdemeanor charge of failing to report a child might be subject to abuse.

Finn and the diocese he leads say they are not guilty, arguing that they did not know the pictures constituted child pornography.

Neither Ratigan nor Bishop Finn would agree to interview requests and their lawyers declined to respond to the allegations against them.

But police reports, interviews with individuals involved in the events, an investigative report commissioned by the diocese and overseen by former U.S. Attorney Todd Graves, as well as lawsuits filed against Ratigan, the diocese and Bishop Finn, paint a stark picture of how Catholic leaders overlooked numerous warnings about Father Ratigan's behavior - and ultimately wound up in legal jeopardy themselves.

WATERSHED MOMENT

Kansas City is but one of many communities to struggle with abuse allegations against a Catholic priest and complaints of cover-ups by church officials.

But the Ratigan case marks a first: this time, civil authorities are compelling Catholic leaders, through criminal charges, to face accountability for what happened in a way that goes far beyond statements of regret or financial settlements with victims seen in other church sex abuse cases.

Few expect Bishop Finn will actually serve significant, if any, prison time if convicted. He faces a maximum of one year in prison and a $1,000 fine on the misdemeanor charge, and some sort of plea arrangement is expected by both critics and supporters.

The case has parallels to recent events at Penn State University, where two university officials have been charged with not reporting allegations of child abuse by a former assistant football coach. In that case, the storied college football program headed for decades by coach Joe Paterno has been likened to the church in its culture of secrecy and impunity.

Kansas City lawyer Rebecca Randles is representing four families who have brought civil suits against Bishop Finn and the diocese. She hopes that forcing church officials to accept responsibility for not reporting abuse to civil authorities will serve notice not only on the church but on all insular institutions that seek to protect their own and keep law enforcement at bay.

"The indictment of Bishop Finn is a watershed moment. We are getting a glimpse into what has been business as usual. And shedding light on business as usual is the first way to end business as usual," Randles said.

The events unfolded much like a melodrama: there were warnings about Father Ratigan's behavior before the discovery of the photos. Then came anguished debate by those who saw the photos over how to react, whether or not to call police. Upon being discovered, the priest tried to kill himself, only narrowly surviving. The priest's laptop was destroyed before police could see it.

And in a turn that haunts parents, after recovering from his suicide attempt and being banished from his parish, Ratigan allegedly continued to victimize children when unsuspecting families welcomed the priest into their homes.

The prologue to the saga was grim enough. In 2008 the Kansas City Diocese agreed to settle a lawsuit brought by 47 plaintiffs who claimed that as children decades ago they were repeatedly sexually abused by a group of Kansas City priests. Those events did not involve Ratigan, occurring well before he was ordained, but it put the diocese on high alert for any improper behavior.

Bishop Finn helped oversee the 2008 settlement, listening to accounts from victims who detailed priest-organized parties that featured drug and alcohol use, pornography and repeated child rape. The diocese, which spans 27 counties of northern and western Missouri, paid the group $10 million and pledged to put in place rigorous policies that would protect children from predatory priests.

For the last few years, training on how to identify a child predator has been mandatory for all employees of the diocese, including more than 1,000 teachers at the 28 elementary and eight Catholic high schools within the diocese. The diocese posts hotline numbers on its website, has a special review panel for child abuse cases and asks anyone suspecting harm to a child to speak out.

At the time of the 2008 settlement, Finn vowed reform was a top priority. He declared he would be vigilant in making sure nothing like that ever happened again.

And then it did.

SIGNS OF TROUBLE

The camera was an early clue. From the time he was ordained into the Catholic priesthood in 2004, Father Shawn Ratigan carried a camera with him nearly all the time. At church and school events and during many frequent visits to the homes of families within his parish, the gregarious middle-aged priest was known for his skill in capturing events with both a camera and his cell phone.

Children were a favored subject for his photos, and his activities. Ratigan readily talked about how much he enjoyed young people, encouraged children to sit on his lap, pushed them high on swings and frequently offered hugs. The burly, goateed priest also sought out children to "friend" on Facebook and seemed eager to attend field trips, birthday parties, ice skating events and the like.

As one of five brothers and sisters in a large Catholic family, Ratigan was also known as a favorite uncle to his 11 nieces and nephews. His home held stuffed animals and doll-shaped towels, and children were frequent visitors.

Ratigan sometimes showed a bit of a wild side though, according to those who know him. He loved his Harley motorcycle, shaved his head and smoked cigarettes. Maker's Mark Kentucky Bourbon was his drink of choice.

Still, his work with the Catholic Church was his main focus. After dating women in his youth and working in a family business that refurbished churches, he was ordained as a priest in 2004. Ratigan seemed to transition easily into the roles of pastor and chaplain at parish schools.

There were early complaints about Ratigan's behavior. But it was not until after he was assigned pastor of St. Patrick Parish and School in Kansas City in July 2009 that some parents and teachers raised a series of concerns about his behavior involving children.

Some within the parish worried that his close interaction with children resembled the "grooming" behavior of a predator. But when these complaints were raised with Ratigan, he brushed them aside and insisted he was doing no wrong, according to the Graves report to the diocese.

The priest's Facebook page also raised red flags. It featured photos of him swimming in a lake with a young girl, and pictures of children sitting on his lap.

In one incident mentioned in the Graves report, parents of Girl Scouts planting flowers at Ratigan's townhouse complained that they were alarmed to find a pair of young girl's underwear in a planter in his yard.

As complaints mounted, St. Patrick School Principal Julie Hess decided to take the concerns to diocese officials, putting together a written report outlining the complaints from parents and teachers.

In May 2010, Hess met with Deacon Mike Lewis, who asked her to report her concerns directly to the diocese main office. Neither Lewis nor Hess would agree to interviews, but their accounts are contained in lawsuits against the diocese and Finn and in the Graves report.

Hess's concerns eventually made their way to Monsignor Robert Murphy, the second-ranking officer in the diocese.

As administrator of the diocese's "response team" that investigates sexual abuse of children, Murphy was supposed to work with the diocese's Independent Review Board, set up in 2002 to make recommendations to the bishop when sexual abuse of minors was suspected.

Monsignor Murphy did act on Hess' concerns, meeting with Ratigan and ordering him to maintain proper boundaries with children. He also notified Bishop Finn of the situation. But he did not take the issue to the review board because Ratigan's acts were thought to be "boundary violations" but not sexual abuse, according to information from diocese officials in the Graves report.

For a few months Ratigan seemed to have gotten the message. The priest emailed an apology to St. Patrick's teachers and Principal Hess: "My heart is heavy because I love the kids and I would never do anything to harm them. I promise that nothing will happen again," Ratigan wrote.

The complaints subsided through the summer and the concerns seemed to have been addressed. A new school year started and fall turned to winter. Then Father Ratigan decided he needed his laptop fixed.

"A BAD THING"

It was mid-December of last year when Ratigan complained about problems with his laptop and a St. Patrick office manager called Kes, the computer repairman. Kes picked up the laptop on December 16 and took it to his home office.

Raised Catholic, Kes had served as an altar boy growing up in Minnesota and had fond memories of going to baseball games with his priest. He attended private Catholic schools through high school before drifting away from the church.

When Kes and his wife moved to her hometown of Kansas City to raise their three girls, he approached the diocese to seek a job handling computer technology jobs.

Kes had several friends in the diocese, and he felt particularly close to Deacon Lewis. He also knew many of the priests, Ratigan among them. Though he thought the priest a bit of a "grump," he shared Ratigan's interest in motorcycles and helped him set up Internet services in his home.

So when Kes discovered the photos on Ratigan's computer, he was stunned. He dialed his oldest brother and asked what he should do.

"He told me to turn it over to the police," Kes said.

Kes made more phone calls, to another brother and to the pastor of a local Baptist church. Both told him to call police. Kes then called his wife of 39 years, Linda, who, he said, gave him a different answer: Take the computer back to the church and tell them what he had found.

Kes agreed and called the diocese to alert them to his discovery and let them know he was bringing the laptop back.

"I didn't want it in my possession," said Kes. "This is a bad thing."

Kes rushed the laptop back to the St. Patrick parish office, where he found his friend Deacon Lewis waiting. He showed Lewis the alarming photos and remembers that Lewis seemed "shocked" at what he was seeing.

Kes said he felt assured the matter would be referred to police and he left the laptop with Lewis, confident something would quickly be done.

According to the Graves report, Lewis did act quickly. He immediately notified Monsignor Murphy of the discovery of disturbing images on Ratigan's laptop. He then raced to get the laptop from St. Patrick's, where Ratigan was expected to arrive shortly, to Murphy's office at the Chancery, the main office for the diocese.

Murphy also acted quickly. Before even receiving the laptop, Murphy placed a call to a member of the diocese's Independent Review Board who was a police officer, Rick Smith.

But Monsignor Murphy, who had not yet seen the pictures, only passed on Deacon Lewis' description of one nude, non-sexual image of a young girl, thought to be one of Ratigan's nieces, and asked if it might be considered child pornography. He did not tell Smith there were hundreds of troublesome photos, according to the accounts of those involved.

Without having seen the one photo described or getting any indication there might be more like it, Smith consulted with an expert in his department and then called back with a conjecture that the photo might or might not be pornography. Smith did not suspect that the diocese might be holding back any information.

Monsignor Murphy then sought more input, asking for the diocese's information management director, Julie Creech, to review the photos once the laptop arrived. Murphy also alerted Finn to the situation.

A SUICIDE ATTEMPT

When Deacon Lewis arrived at the Chancery, he handed over the laptop with a warning to Monsignor Murphy that the situation was a "time bomb" that required urgent handling.

Creech took charge. Digging into the files on the laptop, she found hundreds of photos, some that appeared to have been taken from under tables, focused on crotch areas of children. Girls wearing shorts who appeared to be 8-10 years old were pictured with legs spread. A toddler was seen with her diaper pulled back to expose her. Creech also found bookmarked websites on the computer for two-way mirrors, spy pens and tiny hidden cameras designed to look like ink pens.

Creech copied the photos and advised Monsignor Murphy to call police, according to an interview she gave for the Graves investigation. Diocese communications director Rebecca Summers also told Murphy to call police. Neither would comment for this story. Still, nobody called authorities.

Ratigan initially denied knowing what was on the computer, telling Deacon Lewis it had been given to him by another person, according to the Graves report. The next day, December 17, the day of the diocese Christmas party, Ratigan did not show up for mass. Lewis went to Ratigan's home to check on him, and ended up calling emergency responders who found the priest nearly dead from carbon monoxide poisoning. He was lying on the floor of his garage next to his motorcycle. Authorities reported that he had a cell phone in one hand and his rosary in the other.

At the hospital, some of Ratigan's relatives met with Deacon Lewis, who explained to the family that some inappropriate images had been found on the priest's laptop. Lewis did not say they involved children, according to Darron Blankenship, Ratigan's brother-in-law, and the family never suspected the pictures might be evidence of illegal activity.

The family assumed the photos must be personal pictures of Ratigan with a woman, or perhaps adult pornography. The thought that the pictures might be of children never seemed possible, said Blankenship.

"I'd known him 16 years. He was one of my good friends," said Blankenship, who is married to Ratigan's youngest sister.

At first it looked as though Ratigan might not survive. But the priest recovered and was sent to a psychiatric hospital in Kansas City. Still lacking details from the diocese, Ratigan's brothers and sisters took their children to visit Ratigan in the hospital.

The children of St. Patrick parish were encouraged by their teachers to send get well cards to Ratigan, a detail that still outrages many parents nearly a year later.

As Ratigan regained his health, Bishop Finn, Monsignor Murphy and others in the diocese continued to agonize over what to do. More diocese officials and staffers were brought into the discussion, including consultations with legal counsel. Diocese officials ultimately concluded that the pictures did not appear to be pornographic because they did not depict sexual conduct, sexual contact, a sexual performance, or meet other criteria they believed would constitute child pornography, according to the Graves report and interviews with other sources.

Some inside the diocese believed that Murphy had fully explained the situation to police and had been told the pictures were not pornographic.

For his part, Bishop Finn maintains that he never viewed the photos himself but only had them described to him. In comments following Ratigan's arrest, he called the pictures "inappropriate photographs or images."

Following Ratigan's recovery from his suicide attempt, the bishop sent him for psychiatric evaluation in Pennsylvania. After getting an opinion that Ratigan was not a pedophile from a Pennsylvania doctor who specializes in treating priests for mental health issues, Bishop Finn assigned Ratigan to live in a mission house with aging priests in Independence, Missouri, and warned him to stay away from his computer and not to use his camera.

As the time stretched on, diocese officials began to debate whether or not they should try to identify the children in the photos. They did not in the end make such an effort, and though diocese officials discussed calling the Missouri Department of Family Services, no such contact was made. The diocese also decided not to refer the matter to its own Independent Review Board based on the rationale that no victims had complained.

And in a move the diocese ultimately grew to regret, it continued to keep the matter a secret from the families attending its churches and schools.

"I constantly look at the teachers now and wonder who knew," said Thu Meng, whose 5-year-old daughter used to insist on hugging Father Ratigan when Meng dropped her off at kindergarten.

Because so many of the photos do not show the faces of the little girls, Meng still is not certain that her daughter escaped Ratigan's lens.

"Nothing was done. There was no notification of parents until after he was arrested in May," she said. "Bishop Finn was in that case in 2008. Anything should have been a red flag for him."

MORE PHOTOS, MORE VICTIMS

By mid-February, Bishop Finn had laid down strict orders for Ratigan to stay away from children with the exception of celebrating mass for some youth and student groups. Finn ordered him also to stay away from cameras and computers, to stay in counseling and to refrain from ministry outside of work he might do at the Franciscan Prayer Center. The center housed elderly nuns and was located near the Vincentian Mission House where Ratigan was living, according to diocese officials.

But Ratigan did not adhere to the bishop's orders and in March attended a St. Patrick's Day parade, and went to a sixth-grade girl's birthday party. Bishop Finn has stated publicly that he confronted Ratigan about the violations and again admonished him to stay away from children.

Also in March, Finn gave Ratigan's computer to one of Ratigan's brothers, explaining that the diocese no longer needed the computer and that Ratigan himself was banned from using computers. Finn has said publicly that the family asked for the laptop back, but family members say Finn asked them to take it.

The family at first considered giving the computer to a college-bound family member, but recalling the diocese's warning of inappropriate images that the family thought were of adults, they ultimately destroyed the machine. They had no knowledge the computer might contain evidence needed for a criminal investigation, said Blankenship.

Concerns continued to mount. In April, Ratigan was seen interacting with children who came to the Franciscan Prayer Center for overnight retreats. Also in April, Ratigan hosted an Easter party with several young children among the attendees, including his family.

In fact, on Easter Sunday, Ratigan took more pornographic pictures of a young girl, prosecutors and plaintiffs in the civil lawsuits have alleged.

And according to a lawsuit brought by the parents of one alleged victim, Ratigan tried to take lewd photos of their daughter when invited to their house for dinner. Ratigan had contacted the girl on Facebook and her parents were concerned for his welfare following what they believed was an accident that hospitalized him in December.

They caught him taking a picture on his cell phone under their dinner table, the lawsuit states. Ratigan's lawyer declined to comment on this or other allegations.

Meanwhile, Kes continued to wonder and worry about the priest and the photos he had seen. He let his friend Deacon Lewis know how upset he was that police had not been called. He told Reuters he did not feel he had any evidence to take to police himself since he longer had the laptop. But as the months passed, Kes warned Lewis he would soon be going to police himself if the Diocese did not.

RATIGAN IS ARRESTED

It was mid-May when Monsignor Murphy finally brought in authorities. Without first alerting Bishop Finn, he met with Captain Smith, the same police official he had reached out to in December with the description of a single nude photo. This time, however, Murphy's story was different.

There were hundreds of photos, he told Smith.

The police captain told Murphy he needed to give the laptop to authorities immediately. But the machine had been destroyed several weeks prior, leaving only the copies the diocese had made to be handed over as evidence.

The destruction of the laptop, a key piece of evidence, was a significant blow to the investigation. Police had no way of knowing if the diocese had copied every photo, said Kansas City police detective Maggie McGuire, who sits on the FBI Cyber Crimes Task Force and led the Ratigan investigation.

"It was huge not to have the laptop," said McGuire.

Still, she said, investigators found explicit photos on a computer at St. Mary Parish where Ratigan had served from 2005-2009, which aided the investigation. Police also found compact discs belonging to Ratigan loaded with photos of young girls as well as a CD inside an envelope attached to a receipt dated April 2004. It contained 14 images of what police said were child pornography involving a girl who appeared to be 3 to 4 years old. Many photos appeared to have been taken in or around the churches Ratigan served.

The volume and content of the photos was unsettling even to veteran detective McGuire. "He's the priest. I was raised very Catholic and went to Catholic schools," McGuire said. "We see a lot of things in this job I do. But this is unbelievable to me."

Father Ratigan was arrested on May 18 and subsequently charged with three counts of felony possession of child pornography in Clay County, one of several jurisdictions that overlap with the boundaries of the diocese. He also was charged in U.S. District Court with 13 federal counts of producing and possessing child pornography.

Following Ratigan's arrest, Bishop Finn sought prayers and forgiveness: "I deeply regret that we didn't ask the police earlier to conduct a full investigation," Finn said in a statement. "Let us pray for each other in these difficult days."

Five months after Ratigan's arrest, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker obtained a grand jury indictment against Bishop Finn, charging him with failing to report Ratigan to authorities as he was legally mandated to do. Baker also obtained an indictment against the diocese, and says that holds accountable all the officials there who failed to act.

"It's all a violation of trust. Kids can't protect themselves," Baker said in an interview. "All of us should be looking to safeguard kids."

The charges are based on "mandated reporter" laws, which require school officials, clergy and virtually anyone with access to and control over a child to immediately alert child protective services and law enforcement if they have any reason to suspect abuse or child endangerment.

The prosecutor in neighboring Clay County also pursued criminal charges but reached an agreement with Finn in November requiring the bishop to undergo close civil oversight in exchange for avoiding criminal charges.

FALLOUT

Immediately following Ratigan's arrest, the diocese issued a statement, saying its foremost concern was for "the safety and welfare" of the unidentified children in the photos and their families.

"Preventing and reporting the suspicion of abuse is a required response to what we are called to do as followers of Jesus," the diocese said.

Some are calling for the bishop's ouster. A Facebook page has been created called "Bishop Finn Must Go" and critics have held protests outside diocese offices.

Members of the Ratigan family say they are furious at Finn and the diocese for not sharing information with them. During the months preceding the arrest, they continued to let Ratigan spend time with his nieces and nephews. "When I learned Shawn had been arrested for child pornography, a feeling of anger, disgust, and hatred came over me like I had never felt before," said Blankenship.

In addition to the criminal charges against Finn and the diocese, four civil lawsuits have been filed alleging the actions of the bishop and others in the diocese amounted to a cover-up, charges they deny.

The 141-page Graves report, commissioned by the diocese itself and published in August, does not address the legal issues, but did conclude that diocese officials failed to "properly react" as a "direct result of Diocesan officials' decisions and oversight."

Bishop Finn has sought to calm parishioners, holding meetings with parents, promising to expand diocese policies to better protect children and declaring that "things must change."

He has banned Ratigan from performing sacred rites of the church and started the process of dismissing him from the clergy entirely, said diocese spokeswoman Becky Summers. The bishop has also appointed a new ombudsman to handle complaints about priests, and on November 30, the diocese established a Department of Child and Youth Protection and named a director to lead that office starting December 1.

"The leadership understands this is something that must be addressed," said Jenifer Valenti, a former assistant prosecuting attorney for Jackson County hired this summer to be the diocese ombudsman.

Bishop Finn maintains the diocese will get through the crisis. In a statement issued in October following his indictment, Finn said: "With deep faith, we will weather this storm and never cease to fulfill our mission, even in moments of adversity."

(Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Claudia Parsons)

==========

Comments:
BC Student10

The public gets to perceive it because the media finally ripped the truth out of the Catholic church, like they did in Boston.

Cardinal Bernard Law called upon the "wrath of God" to come down on the Boston Globe when they were investigating Fr Porter. God helped the Boston Globe, and they found out that Fr Porter had raped over 100 children, and Cardinal Law kept moving him from parish to parish. The scandal broke because of the media, despite the attempts of the Catholic church to hide Fr Porter and hundreds of other pedophile priests.

God blessed the media, not the Catholic church. Regardless, the Catholic League and others will continue to spread partial truths that are eaten up and spread by the congregation, since the Catholic congregation is willing to be ignorant. The Catholic League "ad" talks about one photo of a naked child, when it was was actually the last in a strip tease, where the child was posed to strip out of a baby diaper.

Horrifying to the public, but acceptable dishonesty by the Catholic community, who considers it "only baby diaper strip tease". 


•jlo1231 1 comment

There is no individual more courageous than one that tells his painful story so that others may be spared the pain. Going through that hard work is very difficult. I can only imagine the pain. I just hope that those individuals know that God loves them for what they are doing, and that these montrous priests that do this damage have NOTHING to do with God.

Someone very close to me was sexually abused as a child and spent years behaving self-destructively. Just now, in his fourties, has he begun to accept that what happened to him was not his fault and that God is not the one who did this to him--God is the one that gave him the strength to believe in himself and STAY ALIVE when that was so hard to do.

Thank you KC Star for giving this matter the attention it WELL DESERVES and for breaking this painful silence that so many have carried on for WAY too long.

Right_Way1 9

Thanks to the KC Star for keeping this story on the front page. I don't see anything in The Carholic Key (Dicesean newspaper) I don't hear in homilies every week reminding people to report any instance of abuse past or present. The church again is trying to bury it.

If the church was concerned:

The bishop would step down, change his plea to guilty and volunteer to go to jail.

Priests involved in the abuse or the cover up would turn themselves in.

The church would do everything it could to go out of its way to do whatever is necessary to stop abuse


===========

The Star’s editorial | A victim’s courageous stand

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

Child molesters rely on intimidation, silence and misplaced trust to gain access to their victims. And in Kansas City and elsewhere, the Catholic Church too often has allowed those conditions to breed.

In a three-part series this week, The Kansas City Star presented a horrific story of childhoods ruined and families devastated because of alleged sexual abuse by a priest.

The story could be told only because a man who says he was molested as a boy, Jon David Couzens, made the wrenching decision to speak out.

Couzens, 41, told The Star that a priest, Monsignor Thomas O’Brien, molested him and three Catholic school classmates after they were chosen to help serve Mass at Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church in Independence in the early 1980’s.


Couzens said that O’Brien, who has faced multiple accusations of sexual abuse of children but denies any involvement, told him and the three other boys they would be expelled from the church and disowned by their parents if they told anyone of the abuse.

One of the boys committed suicide at age 14. Another struggled with drugs and alcohol and was himself accused of molesting a child. He died in a traffic accident at age 31. The fourth boy says he has no memory of being abused by O’Brien.

By telling his story, Couzens has shined a light into dark recesses, the existence of which church leaders have long denied. For that, a few of the church’s more radical defenders are trying to impeach Couzens’ character.

But, after struggling for decades with guilt and shame, Couzens showed great courage in telling his story. Because of him and others who are speaking out, people in positions of authority will find it harder to harm children.

Couzens’ story is a painful one for the local Catholic Church. But leaders here and elsewhere must use its lessons to ensure that no other child or family will suffer the consequences of misdeeds committed under the church’s auspices.

Copyright 2011 . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Posted on Wed, Dec. 07, 2011 05:18 PM

http://www.kansascity.com/2011/12/07/3307585/the-stars-editorial-a-victims.html#ixzz1gAJOiYsb

COMMENTS:


Patrick O'Malley 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand Catholics protect their pedophiles like parents protect their children.

In St Louis, just across the state, 5 victims of Fr Robert Larson committed suicide in their 20s because they could never get the nightmare out of their head of being raped, viciously, by a Catholic priest. Larson had at least 17 other victims that they know about.

He spent under two years in prison, having been defended by a top notch Catholic lawyer.

The Catholic church is making no effort whatsoever to try to seek out other victims, because they don't want to pay for therapy for the victims of their crimes.

However, the Catholic church and your contributions pay for Fr Larson's retirement, living at the beautiful St John Vianney Center in Missouri, a nice retirement for someone who was responsible for at least 5 suicides and at least 12 other ruined lives.

If you are Catholic, and you let these priests &
bishops get away with this, don’t be stupid.
God will ask you about it on your judgment day. Those five suicide victims and tens of thousands of others will be at God’s side.
God will ask why you followed these priests and bishops and didn’t protect
His children. When God asks you why you would listen to priests and bishops that had sex with children and hid known child rapists, have a good answer. You have eternity to come up with a good one.

=====

Update for February 9, 2012

*****

Abuse victims and SNAP are being attacked by lawyers for KC Bishop Robert Finn and pedophile priests. We're fighting hard to protect the confidentiality of victims, witnesses, whistleblowers, police, prosecutors, journalists and others who come to us for help. Details

Here are several links to news coverage of SNAP's fight to protect the privacy of victims, witnesses, whistleblowers, journalists, politicians, prosecutors, and concerned Catholics, despite hardball tactics by Missouri Catholic officials:
■SNAP subpoenas harm key ally for victims (1/13/12) - National Catholic Reporter
■SNAP faces subpoenas, KC Star calls for overturning "chilling" court order (1/9/12) - Bilgrimage
■The Star's Editorial | Clergy abuse lawsuit takes a chilling turn (1/8/12) - KC Star
■Editorial: Bishops target victims' advocacy group in St. Louis, Kansas City (1/5/12) - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
■Abuse victims to fight records disclosure (1/3/12) - TIME
■SNAP leader vows to fight records disclosure order (1/3/12) - The Associated Press
■SNAP Leader: Testimony was "fishing expedition" (1/3/12) - National Catholic Reporter
■MO Supreme Court rules SNAP must reveal docs to Church (1/3/12) - KPLR 11
Here are links to statements that SNAP has released about this situation:
■Deposition of a SNAP leader to be made public
■Church seeks 19-year-old victim's records
■Unprecedented attack on victims by KC Catholic officials
■Victims fight gag order
Here are links to legal filings in this ongoing legal battle to protect kids and help victims:
■October 27, 2011 - SNAP Director David Clohessy is served with a subpoena by KC Priest
■November 14, 2011 - SNAP Director tries to block subpoena...
■November 14, 2011 - ...and files more evidence in support of motion.
■November 18, 2011 - KC priest opposes SNAP Director's motion.
■November 23, 2011 - Plaintiff files in support of SNAP Director's motion to quash
■November 29, 2011 - SNAP Director files a reply in response to opposition.
■November 30, 2011 - Judge files an Order that grants in part and denies in part SNAP Director's Motion to Quash.
■December 6, 2011 - SNAP Director asks Judge to reconsider her decision.
■December 20, 2011 - SNAP Director replies to response from the opposition.
■December 28, 2011 - Judge denies SNAP Director's Motion to Reconsider
■December 28, 2011 - SNAP Director appeals to the MO Supreme Court to postpone deposition
■December 28, 2011 - An Amicus Brief is filed by ten organizations on behalf of and in support of SNAP
■December 28, 2011 - A description of the organizations named in the Amicus Brief
■December 30, 2011 - SNAP gets second subpoena, this one in St. Louis.
■January 2, 2012 - MO Supreme Court denies SNAP Director's request to postpone deposition
■January 3, 2012 - Judge orders that the deposition of SNAP Director be sealed
■January 17, 2012 - Judge unseals the deposition of SNAP Director

Here's how to send letters to the editor to KC and STL Newspapers:
■St. Louis Post Dispatch - Please email your letter, signed with your name and home address, to letters@post-dispatch.com
■Kansas City Star - Please fill out the form located here.

How the two cases - KC & St. Louis differ

In Kansas City

The subpoena was issued in late October and the deposition was Monday, Jan. 2

The victim is male & middle aged & repressed his memories

The accused priest, Fr. Michael Tierney, is still a priest (so almost certainly still on the payroll) and lives in KC

The lawyers doing the hardball are the accused priest's lawyers (Brian Madden)

In St. Louis


The subpoena was issued this week (Jan. 3) and the deposition is set for mid-February

The victim is female, barely out of her teens & appraently did NOT repress her memories

The accused priest, Fr. Joseph D. Ross, has been defrocked (so is NOT on the church payroll) and his whereabouts are unknown

The lawyers doing the hardball are the archdiocesan lawyers (Bernie Huger)

But of course, in both situations, the impact is the same - more fear and hurt for who have been betrayed and are still suffering because of men who commit and conceal child sex crimes.

Bottom line: it’s a unprecedented, invasive, expensive and “chilling” SLAPP-style attack on the privacy, free speech, and free association rights of victims, witnesses, journalists, whistleblowers, church employees and concerned Catholics.

Never before in our 23 year history has anyone sought, much less won, access to so much private information. (And again, SNAP is not even a party to any litigation.)

And while for now, it looks like we can protect the names of victims, the predators' lawyers can always appeal and a judge coud always change her/his mind on that issue.

http://www.snapnetwork.org/snaps_fight

=======

New abuse & cover up lawsuit is filed in KCPosted by David Clohessy on February 09, 2012

■Priest allegedly died of AIDS
■He’s publicly accused for 1st time
■New abuse & cover up lawsuit is filed
■For 2nd time in 2 days, a KC cleric is sued
■SNAP to Finn: “Don’t split hairs – do your moral & civic duty”
WHAT:

For the first time, a KC area Catholic priest who allegedly died of AIDS is being accused of child sexual abuse and Catholic officials are also named as defendants in a new civil lawsuit. The case will be disclosed and discussed at a news conference today at which clergy sex abuse victims will also hold signs and childhood photos. They will also

--read aloud a statement by the victim (who is remaining anonymous)

--urge Catholic officials to “stop the slow drip, drip, drip of seemingly endless allegations” by “coming clean” and publicly naming all proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting clerics,

-- post their names, photos and whereabouts on church websites, and

--aggressively reach out to anyone with information about their crimes and alleged crimes.

WHEN:

Thursday, Feb. 9, 1:30 p.m.

WHERE:

Outside the KC chancery (diocesan headquarters) 20 West Ninth Street (at Baltimore) in KC MO

WHO:

Two child sex abuse victims who belong to a support group called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAPnetwork.org), including a St. Louis woman who is the organization's outreach director

WHY:

Fr. James Ford allegedly molested, on several occasions, a 12 or 13 year old boy at Holy Cross parish in northeast Kansas City. Ford died in 1992. This is the first time he’s been publicly accused of child sex crimes.

Holy Cross is at 5106 St. John Ave. between N Quincy and N Denver Aves (816 231 4845). Fr. Joseph Cisetti is the current pastor (816 231 4845,ext. 5445)

http://holycrosskansascity.parishesonline.com/scripts/HostedSites/Org.asp?ID=14780

SNAP wants Bishop Robert Finn to do what 24 of his colleagues have done, and post on their websites, for the sake of public safety, the names, whereabouts and priestly status of child molesting clerics who are or have been in the state. The organizations consider this a simple, inexpensive, common sense way to safeguard children and young people. (Last year, two Massachusetts bishops - in Boston and Springfield - have done this.)

According to a Boston-based independent research group called BishopAccountabilty.org, there are 22 publicly accused child molesting Catholic clerics (diocesan and religious order) who molested while in the Kansas City diocese. SNAP notes that the actual number of area pedophile priests is likely higher because BishopAccountability.org lists only those clerics against whom allegations have been made ‘public’ – in civil lawsuits, criminal prosecution or news accounts.

In 2002, Baltimore became the first US diocese to disclose names. Even the much-maligned Philadelphia archdiocese (where the second in command faces criminal charges for concealing child sex crimes) has posted such a list: http://archphila.org/protection/Updates/update_main.htm. Here are all of the dioceses that have disclosed alleged predators’ names: http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AtAGlance/lists.htm

SNAP worries that others who have been hurt by Fr. Ford may still be “suffering in shame, isolation and self blame” and want Catholic officials to “aggressively reach out to others in pain.”

KC attorney Rebecca Randles represents the victim. KC attorney Jon Haden represents the diocese.

Yesterday, a police officer filed a similar abuse and cover up lawsuit against Fr. James Urbanic, who was suspended from active ministry at Sacred Heart parish in Warrensburg last summer.

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2011/07_08/2011_07_05_Thomas_CatholicPriest.htm

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2011/07_08/2011_07_05_Thomas_CatholicPriest.htm

CONTACT:
Barb Dorris of St. Louis, SNAP Outreach Director (314) 503 0003, SNAPdorris@gmail.com, David Clohessy of St. Louis, SNAP Executive Director (314) 566 9790, SNAPclohessy@aol.com
------------------

Parishioner attends meeting saying it did not go far enough 


KANSAS CITY, Mo. - One Parishioner at St. Patrick's Church in Kansas City said Bishop Robert Finn owes Catholics an apology for allowing the sex abuse scandal to happen

On Saturday, Finn met with parishioners at the church.

St. Patrick's is the church where Father Shawn Ratigan was when the scandal involving child porn began.

Last May, Ratigan was charged with possessing child porn.

Finn was also charged for failure to report abuse suspicio...

go far enough

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - One Parishioner at St. Patrick's Church in Kansas City said Bishop Robert Finn owes Catholics an apology for allowing the sex abuse scandal to happen

She said Finn is not a spiritual leader anymore and wants him to step down.

On Saturday, Finn met with parishioners at the church.

St. Patrick's is the church where Father Shawn Ratigan was when the scandal involving child porn began.

Last May, Ratigan was charged with possessing child porn.

Finn was also charged for failure to report abuse suspicions. He agreed to a plea deal where he would visit churches.

Melanie Lawson is a parishioner and attended the meeting.

She told 41 Action News that she feels Finn has an obligation to parishioners to explain why it took so long for Ratigan to be charged. She said he knew of the inappropriate acts, and did nothing about it.

She said Finn is not a spiritual leader anymore and wants him to step down.

"If you have a leader stand in their position who knows what was going on and he's allowed to keep his leadership role, it sends a message to the clergy and volunteers we don't have to do anything different," said Lawson.

Lawson said Finn did not address the scandal and left an hour after the meeting began.



Copyright 2012 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
http://www.nbcactionnews.com/dpp/news/local_news/parishioner-attends-meeting-saying-it-did-not-go-far-enough#ixzz1lc5nKBlh


News update for April 7, 2012

Court: Bishop Finn is required to report child abuse

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star
Yael T. Abouhalkah

In a full-scale setback for Bishop Robert Finn, he lost a legal battle today when a judge ordered him to stand trial in a child abuse case.

You can read the full ruling regarding this nationally watched case by Jackson County Circuit Judge John Torrence here.

Finn essentially lost the most important bid he and his lawyers were making in court, which was to throw the whole thing out.

And here’s a key part of the Torrence ruling:

“The court finds that the evidence in this case is sufficient to allow a jury to conclude that Bishop Finn was a designated reporter as defined by Missouri law.”

Note: The judge obviously wasn’t reaching a conclusion on whether Finn had or had not violated the law in a specific case of child abuse.

But he was striking down a key contention made by Finn and his supporters, that he shouldn’t even be a mandatory reporter when it came to abuse of minors.

Yes, he should be on that list, the judge said.

This ruling ratchets up the possibility that Finn may become the highest ranking Catholic to be found guilty of participating in the church’s long-standing coverup of sexual abuse of minors.

http://voices.kansascity.com/entries/court-bishop-finn-required-report-child-abuse/#storylink=cpy

-------------

Updates for August 2, 2012

Shawn Ratigan, priest accused of producing child pornography, pleads guilty

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Pitch
Posted by Ben Palosaari on Thu, Aug 2, 2012

Shawn Ratigan, a former priest at Sisters of St. Francis of the Holy Eucharist in Independence, has pleaded guilty to five federal felony counts of making or attempting to make child pornography, The Star reports. He faces up to 30 years in prison for each count. Ratigan's shocking story became public last year. He took his laptop to a repair shop and up-skirt photographs of children were discovered on the hard drive. A technician told church officials, who in turn told the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

Officials within the diocese allegedly sat on the information from December 2010 to May 2011 before they told police. They copied the pornography to discs and gave the computer to Ratigan's family members. They destroyed the computer, and diocese officials gave the images to detectives.

Bishop Robert W. Finn released a statement when the charges were announced in which he said he regretted the way the diocese has handled the situation. Court documents said at the time that Ratigan attempted suicide on December 17, 2010 by running his motorcycle in his closed garage. Documents also said he had left a suicide note apologizing to the girls he allegedly had pictures of.

Kansas City priest ...

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Washington Post
Kansas City priest pleads guilty to 5 federal child pornography charges; 8 others dismissed
By Associated Press, Updated: Thursday, August 2

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Roman Catholic priest in Kansas City pleaded guilty Thursday to producing child pornography in a federal case that also led to charges against the diocese bishop for failing to report suspected child abuse, and prosecutors said they would recommend that he be sentenced to life in prison.
The Rev. Shawn Ratigan, 46, had been scheduled for trial later this month. He was charged with child pornography in May 2011 in Clay County after police received a flash drive from the priest’s computer that contained hundreds of images of children, most of them clothed, with the focus on their crotch areas. Prosecutors alleged he photographed girls, sometimes under their skirts, in and around churches where he had worked in the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

Under terms of the plea deal, Ratigan pleaded guilty to four counts of producing child pornography and one count of attempting to produce child porn. Eight other counts against Ratigan were dismissed.

Acting U.S. Attorney David Ketchmark said the guilty pleas represent one charge for each of five victims whose abuse started in June 2005 — one year after Ratigan was ordained as a priest. ...

In a statement released Wednesday, the diocese expressed its “profound concern” for anyone harmed by Ratigan and said it is committed to making sure “every report of sexual abuse, boundary violation or misconduct is addressed thoroughly and immediately.”

Kansas City priest faces up to life in prison after pleading guilty to child porn charges

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter
Aug. 02, 2012
By Joshua J. McElwee

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Fr. Shawn Ratigan, a Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., diocesan priest, faces up to life in prison after pleading guilty to five of 13 charges of child pornography leveled against him.
Ratigan originally pleaded not guilty to the federal charges of possession and production of child pornography.

The change in plea was made in federal court Thursday afternoon in Kansas City. The prosecution agreed to drop Ratigan's other eight charges if he pleaded guilty to the five. Each count carries between 15 and 30 years in prison, which could be served consecutively or cumulatively.

Ratigan's sentencing date has not yet been set.

The case made headlines in the fall when prosecutors in Jackson County, Mo., separately charged Bishop Robert Finn and the Kansas City diocese with individual counts of failure to report suspected child abuse, which are criminal misdemeanors, regarding their oversight of the priest.

KC priest admits taking pornographic photos of young girls

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star
By TONY RIZZO And JUDY L. THOMAS
The Kansas City Star

As a priest, he absolved others of their sins in the anonymity of the confessional.
This afternoon, the Rev. Shawn Ratigan stood in the very public forum of a federal courtroom and confessed to some of his own.

Ratigan, 46, pleaded guilty to using five girls to produce or attempt to produce child pornography over several years while serving as pastor to congregations in the Northland and St. Joseph.

Each count carries a maximum sentence of up to 30 years in federal prison. Prosecutors are expected to argue later for a sentence that ensures that Ratigan spends a significant portion of the rest of his life behind bars.

KC priest pleads guilty to child porn charges

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Associated Press
By BILL DRAPER
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Kansas City priest has pleaded guilty to federal child pornography counts in a case that led to misdemeanor criminal charges against his bishop and diocese.
The Rev. Shawn Ratigan on Thursday pleaded guilty to five counts of producing and attempting to produce child pornography. Eight other counts were dismissed.
No sentencing date has been set, but guidelines indicate he'll spend at least 15 years in prison.

Missouri: Priest to Plead Guilty in Child Pornography Case

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The New York Times
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN

Published: August 1, 2012

The Rev. Shawn Ratigan, a priest in Kansas City who is accused of producing pornographic photographs of young girls he knew, has filed notice that he will plead guilty in federal court on Thursday. He had previously pleaded not guilty and was to be tried this month. Diocesan employees discovered hundreds of images of girls’ genitals on a laptop computer the priest had taken in for repair in December 2010. Father Ratigan then survived a suicide attempt, and was reassigned to live in a church facility where he continued to have contact with children.

============

Update August 18, 2012

GOLIATH-BULLY Bill Donohue defending Opus Dei Golen Cow Bishop Finn - read our related article

Goliath-bully Bill Donohue attacks David & SNAP & JP2 Army victims: A compilation. Being Anti-Catholic is necessary for justice, protection of children, women, the poor

http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2012/03/goliath-bully-bill-donohue-attacks.html

Frank Cocozzelli on Father Ratigan's Guilty Plea and Dr. Donohue's Curious Silence

MISSOURI
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

Father Shawn Ratigan recently pled guilty in Kansas City to four counts of producing child pornography and one of attempted production of child pornography.  Ratigan's bishop, Robert Finn, is facing charges of having failed to report that Ratigan had pornographic photographs of little girls on his computer, after Finn became aware of this fact.

At Talk to Action, Frank Cocozzelli wonders how Finn's fierce defender Bill Donohue of the Catholic League can be so strangely silent now that Ratigan has pled guilty.  Donohue went ballistic when the Kansas City paper, theStar, refused to print an expensive pro-Finn ad he and the Catholic League crafted to defend Finn.  As Jerry Slevin has noted, Donohue's anti-Star activities were an attempt to punish the paper for its excellent coverage of the Ratigan-Finn case.  Donohue flew to Kansas City to stage a pro-Finn publicity stunt after the Star refused to print his ad.

And now Ratigan has pled guilty, proving that Donohue was wildly wrong in his defense of Ratigan-Finn.  And Donohue appears to have nothing at all to say in response.  Frank writes,

Bishop Finn has many powerful friends on the Catholic Right. As a hard charging leader of what he has called "the church militant" and one of fourAmerican Opus Dei bishops, Finn is clearly one of their own.  The fact that these activists want to save Finn's position as bishop at almost any cost, suggests that their goals for the Church as a bastion of religious and political authoritarianism takes precedence over everything else -- including the safety and well being of children. 

Silence might be a legitimate legal consideration for some in light of Finn's pending trial. But it soon will be time for Donohue and his cohorts to announce their penance. 

They could begin by apologizing to Ratigan's victims; explaining how they could have been so wrong; telling us how they intend to mend their ways; and making some kind of restitution not only to the victims of children in the care of the Church, but to all those whom they have subjected to calumny.

The fact that these activists want to save Finn's position as bishop at almost any cost, suggests that their goals for the Church as a bastion of religious and political authoritarianism takes precedence over everything else -- including the safety and well being of children.  

Yes.

Wise words from a wise man about the abysmal pastoral failure of the U.S. Catholic bishops at this point in history, as they listen exclusively to the advice of their wealthy right-wing handlers and forget about the gospels.

COMMENTS:

The Finn fiasco isn't close to being over. Would you believe that he is going to use the following defense in his September trial: That the pics of the naked little girls on Ratigan's computer were not TECHNICALLY child porn because they didn't show sex acts. Yes folks. This is what his defense is going to be.

I think that however his trial ends ( either guilty or not guilty), that he will be left in place for one year. After one year he will be shipped off to some office job somewhere. They won't move him right away because they don't want to give the appearance that they are caving to pressure to get rid of him. He will leave because the diocese is bleeding money badly. People are withholding their donations. His Cathedral Church is $124,000 in the red for the last fiscal year. That is the only reason that he will be moved. Money not morality.

I think that his right wing buddies know that this is a mess that Finn is not going to walk away from, unscathed. All of the Latin Masses and cappa magna's in the world cannot "pretty up" this thing.

 -------- 

·                                 Bill's Catholic League Blog has been quite third rate (down from second rate) since the USCCB conference in June announced it might be looking for a spokesperson, a perhaps direct slap in the face to Timmy's BFF, Twin, Doctor Bill. I can only imagine the kind of snickering and biting small talk that goes on behind his eminence's back at an all male shindig like that. Big Timmy has been totally silent in the Press since he snuck off to Ireland just as his infamous Bishop's Pedophile Bonus Program in his Milwaukee salad days hit the fan. But then again it is summer, and he may be in the Hampton's in a New York Archdiocese pleasure dome comparable to Cardinal Bevilacqua's multi million dollar Beach Front property in south Jersey, currently on the so-called real estate market to pay lawyer bills in Philly.

In any case, I predict Bill Donohue's blogging days not over but little used or funded in the future. The myth of the monolith of the solidarity of the USCCB days may be numbered as each rat like Finn may have to scurry about and find his own protection from the press and or the light of justice.

---

Cardinal Bevilacqua had a multi-million dollar beach front property in south Jersey? I think I am going to be sick. How did a man like him ever get to be a Cardinal? Too bad that Msgr. Lynn didn't stand up to Bevilacqua and go to the police with his knowledge of criminal abuse and stand up for innocent children. But then again if he had he might not be a priest now. If you wanted to see someone removed quickly just imagine the wrath of the "holy" cardinal if Msgr. Lynn had stood up for the children.

The princes of the church really do wish to live like real princes, many of them.

-----

And that is exactly why this current clerical system has to go. When good men are terrified they will be more or less executed for acting on their Catholic formed conscience then things have sunk to abysmal levels.

---
Sad to say, he's far from the only one with either his own or his own access to a posh getaway like that, Mark. Not the only bishop, I mean. When the Boston court actions opened up the sealed documents of the Boston archdiocese back in 2002, I remember having my mind blown reading the correspondence between Law and Curlin in Charlotte, the diocese I had just left to move back home to Little Rock. Several letters were precisely about their upcoming vacations at beach houses, and about the lavish events the Knights of Malta were sponsoring, with both of them in attendance.

Princes of the church. Living like real princes.

I made Curlin spitting mad when I wrote him a letter once and asked him how he could justify meeting with any rich man who rang his doorbell, but refusing to meet with an ordinary Catholic struggling to hold onto faith after being a Catholic institution had done tremendous injustice to him--i.e., with me. His young priest-secretary informed me I had been very disrespectful to ask a bishop such a question.

---

What is Donohue going to say. It seems obvious that he is supportive of Father Ratigan and Bishop Finn. To him it probably seems that enemies of the Church are out to get Ratigan and Finn.

---

There's not much he can say now, Mark. He knows he has been proven wrong. I daresay he knew he was wrong all along. But he's a tool of some very powerful and very wealthy handlers who use him to spread disinformation. They gave the disinformation campaign their best shot, didn't get what they wanted in this case, and will move on to some other attack front.

---

For those unfamiliar with the impact sexual abuse has on children or vulnerable adults, please check out a cable television show we produced -- you can find it online at www.vimeo.com/13900438

========

News updates for September 8, 2012

MO- SNAP's statement regarding Bishop Finn's trial

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
Posted by Barbara Dorris on September 06, 2012
There's a reason Bishop Finn's trial is happening on 24 hours notice, with few or no witnesses, before a judge, and on the day when President Obama speaks.
It's the same reason that hundreds of thousands of children across the globe have been sexually assaulted by Catholic priests, nuns, seminarians, brothers and bishops.

The reason is church officials continuing obsession with protecting their reputations above all else.

For months, Bishop Finn has been masterful with public relations - revamping policies, hiring staff, shuffling titles and pledging reform.

He's made another masterful public relations stroke today, making this proceeding shorter and quicker and more likely to prevent exposing just how complicit he and perhaps a dozen or more top Catholic officials are in the crimes of Fr. Shawn Ratigan.

MO - SNAP urges no sentencing for bishop today

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
Posted by David Clohessy on September 06, 2012 
A support group for clergy sex abuse victims is urging a Kansas City judge and prosecutor to delay any sentencing of embattled Bishop Robert Finn today, should he plead guilty or be found guilty of concealing child sex crimes. A copy of the letter, sent this morning by fax and e mail, is below:
***** 
Dear Judge John M. Torrence: 
Dear Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker:

We respectfully urge that Bishop Robert Finn not be sentenced today. Essentially he is guilty of a crime involving secrecy. He ignored and refused to listen to people who should have been listened to. It would be a shame if his case was resolved in a way that also involved secrecy and the ignoring of people who should have been listened to.

Bishop Finn wants this over as soon as possible with the least amount of public scrutiny and public input. While sentencing the Bishop today serves his interests, it does not serve the public's interest. Nor does it help bring justice, healing and prevention. 
Normally, weeks transpire between a guilty finding or plea and a criminal's sentencing. That's what should happen here. Bishop Finn should receive no special consideration or privileges. Doing so would only undermine public trust and faith in our justice system.

Media Statement

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Survivor Advocates Coalition 

For Immediate Release 9/6/12

Contact: Kristine Ward, Kristineward@hotmail.com, 937-272-0308 

We believe Bishop Finn should be jailed for failing in his duty as a mandatory reporter in the child pornography case of Shawn Ratigan. 

A strong and clear message needs to be sent to protect children. Bishops above all should stand to protect the innocent and the vulnerable. Indeed to whom much is given, much is expected. 

Mandatory means mandatory not delegate, look the other way, or shield the perpetrator or protect a church’s reputation. 

Bishop Finn should not seek to slide off, shrug off, or duck responsibility in this case. He should set an example. When failure in duty occurs, it should be set right. Bishops should go above and beyond what is expected. 

Child pornography is a serious crime. Those who know about it should stop it.

Bench trial under way for KC Catholic Bishop

KANSAS CITY (MO)
KMBC
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — 
A bench trial is under way for Kansas City Catholic Bishop Robert Finn.
The trial in Jackson County Court is a trial by judge and not by a jury. It started at 2:30 p.m. A decision in the case is expected this afternoon.

The bishop faces a misdemeanor count of failing to report suspected child abuse to the state in the case of the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, who was charged with taking indecent pictures of children.

Verdicts Expected Today In Bishop Finn Case

KANSAS CITY (MO)
KCUR
By Frank Morris
The highest ranking US Catholic Church official ever to face criminal charges related to child sexual abuse is set to go to trial in Jackson County Circuit Court.

The case will be decided by a judge alone, not a jury, and could be over today.

Whose responsibility to alert officials? 
Bishop Robert Finn and the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph face charges of failing to report a priest who they knew had taken hundreds of lewd pictures of children. Two misdemeanor counts. Prosecutors say Bishop Finn was responsible for alerting state officials, but didn’t do it, until months after finding out about the photographs. Finn’s lawyers say that duty fell to a lower church official. That’s a key point of contention. The priest in question has already pleaded guilty to federal charges of producing child pornography. Many related civil suits are pending.

Bench trial avoids publicity, shields witnesses

Yesterday it came to light that lawyers and prosecutors had agreed to a one-day bench trial. Giving up a jury trial allows the diocese to avoid what would likely have been a solid week of bad publicity, and from having to find a pool of unbiased jurors. It shields witnesses from having to testify in public. 

Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests speak with the media

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star
[video]
Almost a year after Bishop Robert Finn and his diocese were charged with failing to report child-abuse suspicions, they will appear in court today to lay their case before a judge and not a jury. Members of SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, spoke with the media on the courthouse steps Thursday morning to discuss their feelings about possible verdicts and how they want the case to be handled. (Video by Todd Feeback - Sept. 6, 2012)

Verdict Reached In Bishop Finn Case

KANSAS CITY (MO)
KCUR 
By Frank Morris
UPDATE at 3:30 pm: Bishop Robert Finn: Guilty on one of two counts. 

On Thursday afternoon, Judge John Torrence convicted Finn on one misdemeanor count of failing to report suspicions of child abuse. He was acquitted on another count.

The highest ranking U.S. Catholic Church official ever to face criminal charges related to child sexual abuse is set to go to trial on Thursday in Jackson County Circuit Court.

Public scrutiny is for the little people …

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Worthy Adversary
Posted by Joelle Casteix on September 5, 2012 
so says Bishop Finn of Kansas City in his decision to have a bench trial instead of a jury verdict on his criminal charges of failure to report child sexual abuse.
Hopefully, the judge will give victims the justice and accountability they deserve. Let’s just hope that NY’s Cardinal Dolan doesn’t blame Fr. Shawn Ratigan’s six-year-old victims for causing such “shame” to the church.

Finn Dodges Jury Trial

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Spiritual Politics
Mark Silk
Sep 6, 2012
Word out of Kansas City is that Bishop Robert Finn and his diocese will be spared the indignity of a trial by jury later this month on criminal misdemeanor charges of failing to report a suspected pedophile priest to the proper civil authorities. Instead, a judge today will hear evidence agreed upon by prosecution and defense, then render an immediate verdict.

To this old courthouse reporter it sounds like a plea bargain without the plea. A year ago, a diocese-commissioned report by a former U.S. attorney laid out the facts of the case in such a way as to leave no doubt that Finn & Co. not only failed to follow their own procedures but also ignored Missouri's reporting law in the process. The bishop will presumably claim that he didn't mean to break the law. The judge will presumably be unimpressed. I predict a fine plus probation. A little community service would be nice.

Finn bench trial starts tomorrow

KANSAS CITY (MO)
KMBZ
Bishop Robert Finn goes to trial tomorrow. The Jackson County prosecutor's office announced the criminal case has been reset from it's original September 24th date.
Finn and the Kansas City-St Joseph Diocese are accused of failing to report suspected child abuse based on lewd photographs of children found on Father Shawn Ratigan's laptop. Rebecca Randles represents several of the families in a civil case. She tells KMBZ a bench trial is risky.
"Sometimes it favors the prosecution and sometimes it favors the defendant. It kind of depends on what the parties want to get out of the trial, as to whether you choose to do a jury trial or you choose to do a bench trial."

Case against bishop, diocese going to bench trial

KANSAS CITY (MO)
WGEM
Posted: Sep 05, 2012 
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Jackson County prosecutors and attorneys for Bishop Robert Finn and the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph have agreed to have a judge hear their case weeks before their scheduled jury trial date.
Finn and the diocese are each charged with a misdemeanor count of failing to report suspected child abuse to the state. The charges stem from the Rev. Shawn Ratigan's child porn case, in which church officials knew about photos on the priest's computer but didn't turn him in until six months later.
Finn has argued that he was not the diocese's mandated reporter. He and the diocese also have challenged the constitutionality of the reporting law.

Kansas City bishop, diocese now to be tried by judge on Thursday

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter
Sep. 05, 2012 
By Joshua J. McElwee
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The first Catholic bishop criminally charged in the decades-long clergy sex abuse crisis will not go before a jury, instead facing judgment from a local judge Thursday, according to court documents filed Wednesday.

The change indicates that Bishop Robert Finn, his Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., diocese, and county prosecutors have negotiated a set of "stipulated facts" they will present to the judge, who could rule the same day, said Mike Mansur, a spokesperson for the Jackson County, Mo., prosecutor's office, where the bishop and diocese are charged.

Finn and the diocese had been set to go to trial by jury Sept. 24 on misdemeanor charges of failing to report suspicions of child abuse for their handling of Fr. Shawn Ratigan, a Kansas City priest who pleaded guilty earlier this month to federal charges of producing and attempting to produce sexually graphic material of minor girls.

"The parties in the case have been negotiating stipulated facts and testimony that will be presented tomorrow to the judge," Mansur said. Following that presentation, he said, "we would expect then that the judge might rule in the case."

High ranking bishop admits "no credibility" on abuse

UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
Posted by Barbara Blaine on September 05, 2012 
The head of the US bishops abuse panel admits he and his colleagues have no credibility because of recent scandals in Philadelphia and Kansas City. He's half-right.
The real reason bishops' credibility is "shredded" is because decades of secrecy, recklessness and callousness have been followed by one full decade of broken promises and continued deceit. It's not because of one or two local scandals. It's because bishops pledged real reform but have delivered only superficial change. They promised, in 2002, to change their actual behavior, but have only changed their formal policies.

Just recently, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the head of the US bishops' conference, attacked a 16 year old victim on his website. Months ago, Archbishop Robert Carlson of St. Louis filed court papers trying to get private emails of a 19 year old victim.

It's hundreds of on-going hurtful moves like these that have "shredded" bishops' credibility. It's not one or two bishops' misdeeds.

Mo- Kansas City bishop goes to trial; SNAP responds

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
Posted by Barbara Dorris on September 05, 2012
Bishop Finn is smart to 'fast track' this to limit the number of witnesses who will testify and expose his deceit and wrong doing. He knows that the more evidence that's presented, the worse he'll look.
We suspect Finn has arranged a plea deal so that the extent of his corruption will remain hidden.

Bishop Finn’s trial moved to Thursday, now without a jury

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star
By JUDY L. THOMAS and MARK MORRIS
The Kansas City Star
Kansas City Bishop Robert W. Finn and the diocese he serves will appear in court Thursday for a bench trial on charges they failed to report suspicions of child abuse.
The unusual move, made public this afternoon in a court filing, will take a decision on their guilt out of the hands of a jury, and it avoids a lengthy trial that was to begin Sept. 24. The action also spares diocesan employees and victims and their families from testifying.
Prosecutors and lawyers representing Finn and the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph are sorting through a series of facts about the case, a spokesman for Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said.
“This means that all the parties in the case — the diocese, Bishop Finn and the prosecutor’s office — are negotiating what the facts and testimony will be,” said Mike Mansur. “Those will be presented to the judge.”

Trial switch of bishop ...

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Washington Post
Trial switch of bishop guilty of protecting priest was PR move to help the church, critic says
By Diana Reese
The switch from a jury to a bench trial for Bishop Robert Finn, convicted Thursday of trying to protect a priest by failing to report suspected child abuse, was a “masterful” public relations move to resolve the
Finn, the highest-ranking Catholic cleric in the United States to face criminal charges in the church’s child sex abuse scandal, was found guilty Thursday of on one misdemeanor count of failure to report suspicions of child abuse and was acquitted on a second count. He was sentenced to two years’ probation, which will be suspended under specific conditions. 
On the plus side, the joint move by the defense and prosecutors to switch the trial with just 24 hours’ notice spared victims and their families the agony of testifying at a long, drawn-out jury trial that had been predicted to go on for two weeks or longer later this month.

But David Clohessy, the St. Louis-based director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), said he believed the bishop’s motive was to spare himself more humiliation. 
“This was masterful public relations by a desperate bishop,” Clohessy told me. “It was clearly designed to minimize public input and public awareness.”

Verdict Could Come Today in Charges Against Bishop and Diocese

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Fox 4
September 6, 2012, by Michelle Pekarsky
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A decision could come Thursday on the charges against Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn and his diocese that they failed to report to authorities their suspicions of child pornography.

Finn and the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph face two misdemeanor counts of failing to report suspicions of child abuse. Prosecutors say they found lewd photographs of children on Shawn Ratigan’s laptop computer, but didn’t report it for six months.

On Wednesday, Finn and the diocese agreed to allow a judge to decide their guilt or innocence rather than a jury, which will avoid a lengthy and public trial. It was scheduled to begin Sept. 24.

Stipulation of Testimony

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Jackson County Circuit Court

September 6, 2012

By Bishop Robert W. Finn and Prosecuting Attorney Jean Peters Baker

[See also the 5/19/10 memo to the diocese by Principal Julie Hess; the 5/19/11 Probable Cause Statement of Detective Maggie McGuire; the 8/31/11 Graves report; the complaints of Jane Doe 173, Jane Doe 49, and Jane Doe 186; the 8/9/11 indictment of Rev. Shawn Ratigan; the 10/14/11 indictment of Bishop Finn and the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph; and Bishop Finn's Terms of Probation.]

Robert W. Finn, and the State of Missouri, hereby stipulate that the following evidence would be adduced through witnesses who would be called to testify at trial:

1. The Catholic Diocese of Kansas City - St. Joseph (hereafter Diocese) is a benevolent corporation organized under the laws of the State of Missouri. At all times relevant to this case it was a corporation in good standing with the State of Missouri. The headquarters for the Diocese has been located in Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri at all times relevant to this case.

2. Robert Finn is a priest of the Roman Catholic Church. In 2005, he became the Bishop of the Diocese and as such is the head priest and the head of the Diocese. Finn is the ultimate authority at the Diocese and all employees of the Diocese report to him. Finn is a mandated reporter.

3. Finn acknowledges that both the "Code of Ethical Standards for Priests, Pastoral Administrators, Deacons and Diocesan Officers" and the Diocesan "Policy regarding Sexual Misconduct" require that all church leaders follow proper reporting requirements of suspected abuse of children under Missouri law as well as reporting to the Vicar General and to the appropriate Diocesan office responsible for the ministry of the alleged abuser.

4. Robert Murphy is a priest of the Roman Catholic Church and an employee of the Diocese. In 2005, Robert Murphy was appointed by Finn to the position of Vicar General and given the title of Monsignor. Murphy is a mandated reporter.

5. On February 21, 2007, Finn drafted "Blessed Are the Pure in Heart - A Pastoral Letter on the Dignity of the Human Person and the Dangers of Pornography."

6. On August 21, 2008, Finn signed a Settlement Agreement and Memorandum of Understanding. The Settlement Agreement and Memorandum of Understanding includes Non-Monetary Commitments, including "the Diocese will continue to follow mandatory state reporting requirements in Virtus guidelines in reporting the suspected sexual abuse of minors to law enforcement to child protection authorities."

7. On May 19, 2010, Julie Hess, Principal of St. Patrick's School, drafted a memo to be presented to Murphy outlining concerns expressed by parents and staff of St. Patrick's School regarding "boundary issues" between Ratigan and children. Hess notified Murphy of her concerns because "[p]arents, staff members, and parishioners are discussing his actions and whether or not he may be a child molester.

Mo. bishop's bench trial averts longer jury trial

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Arizona Daily Sun
Associated Press
A judge's conviction of the first American bishop criminally charged in the clergy sex abuse scandal spared young victims in the case from a longer, emotional jury trial and church leaders from embarrassing evidence, attorneys said.
The bench trial on misdemeanor charges of failing to report suspected child abuse, while still damaging to Bishop Robert Finn, wrapped up in a day Thursday, and the split verdict came in about an hour. Finn, the highest-ranking U.S. Catholic official charged with shielding an abusive priest, was convicted of one count and acquitted on a second.
Prosecutors dropped similar misdemeanor charges against the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, and the judge is expected to sign off Friday on the dismissed counts.
The charges stemmed from allegations that Finn and the diocese failed to report to authorities that pornographic images of children had been found on the laptop computer of the Rev. Shawn Ratigan.

========================
GUILTY VERDICT

September 8, 2012

US bishop convicted of covering up clerical sex abuse pressured to resign

UNITED STATES
The Guardian (United Kingdom)

By Matt Williams and agencies
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 8 September 2012

Pressure is mounting on the highest ranking US catholic official yet to be convicted of covering up clerical child sex abuse to resign from the church.

Bishop Robert Finn was found guilty Friday of failing to report suspected child sexual abuse to authorities, prompting calls for him to step down or be booted from office.

Advocates for the victims of clerical sex abuse have challenged the Vatican directly, calling on the Pope to step in and dismiss Finn from his position as bishop of the diocese of Kansas City-Saint Joseph.

But despite a growing campaign to force his ouster, church officials have maintained that he isn't going anywhere – despite the conviction.

"The bishop looks forward to continuing to perform his duties, including carrying out the important obligations placed on him by the court," diocese spokesman Jack Smith said in a statement.

Finn "accountable" in civil court. Now how about the canonical?

KANSAS CITY (MO)
U.S. Catholic

[Stipulation of Testimony - via BishopAccountability.org]

Saturday, September 8, 2012

By Bryan Cones

Today in The New York Times, Laurie Goodstein provides both an excellent summary of the evidence that led to the conviction of Kansas City, Missouri Bishop Robert Finn, noting that he is the first bishop in the U.S. to be held "accountable" for his failure to report a credible allegation of abuse to authorities. That accountablility, limited to a short, suspended term of probation, will leave him with a clean record when it's completed.

I'm not sure that's "accountability" for a failure of this magnitude--and if you doubt Finn's full knowledge of Father Shawn Ratigan's behavior, just read Goodstein's account of the submitted testimony that both prosectuion and defense agreed to. What is still lacking is Finn's canonical accountability. In short, we must wonder why the man is still the bishop of Kansas City.

As canonist and former National Lay Review Board member Nicholas Cafardi points out, both in his interview with U.S. Catholic and in comments to Religion News Service's David Gibson, there is ample evidence that Finn violated canon law, specifically canon 1389, which provides for removal of a bishop for dereliction of duty. (Recall, for example, that even after Finn had assigned Ratigan to a women's monastery as chaplain, he still allowed Ratigan to preside at youth event liturgies connected to the monastery.) Since the norms on sex abuse adopted by the U.S. bishops in 2002 have the force of canon law, and Finn clearly violated them, I see no reason why he shouldn't be removed on those grounds, as I argued in my August 2010 column.

US bishop guilty of failing to report sex abuse

KANSAS CITY (MO)
AFP
By Mira Oberman (AFP) 
CHICAGO — Bishop Robert Finn was found guilty of failing to report suspected child abuse, becoming the highest-ranking US Catholic Church official convicted in clergy sex abuse scandals.
Jackson County Circuit Court Judge John Torrence issued the ruling in Kansas City, Missouri after Finn, 59, declined to fight the charges and instead agreed to a stipulated finding of facts in the case.
Finn will not serve jail time or pay a fine for the misdemeanor charge. He was instead placed on probation, which requires him to ensure the diocese trains staff and clergy to detect and report abuse, as well as create a $10,000 fund for counseling abuse victims.
The ruling comes weeks after Monsignor William Lynn was sentenced to up to six years in prison for covering up child sex abuse by priests in Philadelphia.

Bishop Finn is found guilty of failing to report child abuse suspicions

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star
[stipulation of testimony]
[probation conditons]
By MARK MORRIS and JUDY L. THOMAS
The Kansas City Star
Once relatively anonymous in the Roman Catholic world, the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph on Thursday made an unwelcome piece of history for the 2,000-year-old institution.
A judge convicted the diocese’s bishop and spiritual pastor, Robert W. Finn, of failing to report child abuse suspicions, making him the highest-ranking U.S. Catholic cleric convicted in the church’s decades-long child sexual abuse scandal.
Finn, 59, was acquitted of one other misdemeanor count of failing to report. And with Finn’s conviction, Jackson County prosecutors dismissed two similar counts that had been pending against the diocese.
The verdicts came after a short nonjury trial in Jackson County Circuit Court. Judge John Torrence immediately sentenced Finn to two years’ of probation, then suspended the imposition of the sentence. That means that if Finn finishes the probation without incident and completes nine steps as part of his sentence, the bishop’s criminal record will be expunged.

Bishop Finn escapes tough punishment; Catholic Church left hurting

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star
Kansas City Star Editorial
The criminal conviction of Bishop Robert Finn sends a clear message to the Catholic Church that those responsible for the safety of children will be held accountable, no matter how high their post in the hierarchy. Yet at the same time, the sentence on one count of failing to report suspicion of child abuse, is disconcertingly light: Two years of unsupervised probation.
Nevertheless, Finn has the unwanted distinction of becoming the highest-ranking U.S. Catholic official to be convicted in the long-running abuse scandals. Finn said he was “truly sorry for the hurt these events have caused.”
Yet perhaps “these events” could have been avoided had the diocese strictly followed the terms of a settlement it signed four years ago. In that case, the diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph put to rest a $10 million lawsuit involving several dozen people who said they had been sexually abused by priests.
The settlement included a series of pledges by the diocese to institute tougher policies covering priests and those in contact with children. Priests and other adults were warned: Any contact with children beyond a handshake “should only occur under appropriate public circumstances.” Significantly, the diocese vowed to strictly follow state law covering the reporting of child abuse.

MO - SNAP sends letter to Pope Benedict

UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
Posted by David Clohessy on September 07, 2012
Below is a copy of a letter that leaders of SNAP are sending to Pope Benedict, urging him to step in and punish Bishop Finn following his conviction yesterday on child endangerment charges.
***** 
Dear Pope Benedict XVI;

Yesterday, Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn was found guilty of endangering kids by refusing to report suspected child sex crimes to police.

He and his lawyers admitted, in a written court filing, that several top diocesan staff saw, knew about or suspected that Fr. Shawn Ratigan had or created child porn photos of young girls at the parishes where he worked.

The secular justice system has spoken. Now you must act.

When wrongdoing is ignored, wrongdoing is repeated. When top Catholic officials refuse to punish complicit bishops, complicity is encouraged.
When you speak of the horrors of child sexual abuse, your words ring hollow because you continue to let pedophile priests and corrupt bishops remain in the church and in positions of power.
But now, for the first time in US history, you have a diocese headed by a proven criminal. You must act if you are serious about making the church safer for children, discouraging future cover ups in child sex cases, and ameliorating the wounds of tens of thousands of suffering adult victims and millions of betrayed parishioners.
We are formally urging you to demote or discipline Bishop Finn. Doing so would be an act of justice towards him and mercy towards his flock.
And doing so would strongly deter other church officials from acting recklessly, callously and deceitfully in other child sex cases.
Unless you take firm steps to show strong disapproval of Bishop Finn's crimes – through actions, not words - similar crimes will continue to be repeated by others in the Catholic hierarchy, as they have happened for centuries and still happen today.

Sincerely,
David Clohessy, SNAP Director

Barbara Dorris, SNAP Outreach Director

Finn’s day in court is scant solace for a hurting church

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star
By MARY SANCHEZ
The Kansas City Star
Courtroom benches are virtually identical to church pews.
Eerily appropriate then that it was from such wooden benches on Thursday that a crowd heard a Jackson County judge declare Bishop Robert Finn guilty. The diocese’s highest figure failed to protect children. And his rank didn’t allow him to get away with it. Not completely.
The court actions were a procedural, unsatisfactory cap to the most painful saga that has ever faced local Catholics. And be clear, they are among the damaged. Their church, the place where they tithed and placed their faith and the care of their children, has been symbolically on trial through the decades-long scandals. Finn is just the figurehead who finally had to face the legal system. That’s the scope of the passion behind the proceedings.
But within the confines of the law, Finn’s guilt on one count only makes sense. The charges were never more than misdemeanors. And even though they were powerful by virtue of being leveled against a sitting bishop, there were limits.
Nothing that could feasibly happen in that courtroom would have ever satisfied the church’s strident critics or its most faithful supporters. The bench trial route that the Jackson County prosecutor took was judicious, expedient and considerate to the families of the victims of Shawn Ratigan. He sits in federal prison, convicted of pornography charges. Had Finn’s case gone to trial, parents faced the possibility of having to appear in court and identify their children in Ratigan’s pornographic photos.

A time line in the Bishop Finn case

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star
A condensed version of evidence that Bishop Robert W. Finn and prosecutors agreed to in Thursday’s court action:
May 19, 2010: Julie Hess, principal of St. Patrick’s School, meets with Vicar General Robert Murphy about concerns of parents and school staff over “boundary issues” between the Rev. Shawn Ratigan and children. Murphy that month informs Finn about the concerns.
June 2010: Finn follows up on the issue with Ratigan, Finn later testifies.
Dec. 16, 2010: A computer technician examines a laptop owned by Ratigan and observes alarming pictures of children. He takes the laptop to a parish official, who calls Murphy and takes him the laptop. Before receiving the laptop, Murphy calls a Kansas City police captain, describing a single photograph of a naked child in a nonsexual pose. The captain says that was not likely considered child pornography. 

Where does the Finn verdict leave the church and the faithful?

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star
By JUDY L. THOMAS and LYNN HORSLEY
The Kansas City Star
In finding Bishop Robert Finn guilty on Thursday, Jackson County Circuit Judge John Torrence said he hoped his verdict could bring to a close a case that has caused upheaval in the diocese for nearly a year.
Some are ready to move ahead, but not everyone. 
As the guilty verdict of Kansas City’s Catholic bishop resonated around the world Thursday, strong reaction flooded in from both supporters and critics of Finn. It showed a division that opened with pornography charges against a priest, the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, in 2011.
Some called for Finn to resign.
“I think a bishop with a criminal conviction has impaired his ability to function as bishop and should consider for the good of his diocese allowing someone else to lead it,” said Nicholas Cafardi, a law professor at Duquesne University and former chairman of the U.S. Bishops’ National Review Board for the Protection of Children and Youth. “This destroys his credibility and seriously impairs his ability to lead the diocese.”
Others, however, had sympathy for Finn.

Bishop Finn, tick-tock…

KANSAS CITY (MO)
dotCommonweal
[Stipulation of Testimony - via BishopAccountability.org]
September 8, 2012
Posted by David Gibson
In the New York Times, Laurie Goodstein has the chronology and narrative of the Father Ratigan case in Missouri that led to Thursday’s conviction of Bishop Robert Finn for failing to report a suspect abuser. Most of the facts have been public, but set out like this they tell a devastating story that sounds like it was discovered in a time capsule buried pre-2002.

But it was in December 2010 that Finn and diocesan officials were told about suspected child porn on Ratigan’s laptop — and that news came after they had received repeated warnings about his behavior. Following the pornography discovery, Ratigan attempted suicide. And yet… 
He [Ratigan] left messages apologizing to his family for “the harm caused to the children or you.” When he survived, he was sent first to a hospital, and then to Dr. Rick Fitzgibbons, a psychiatrist in Pennsylvania selected by Bishop Finn. The bishop testified that he was told by the psychiatrist that Father Ratigan was not a risk to children, and had been falsely accused by the school principal.

During this period, two women on staff in diocesan headquarters were urging their superiors to turn Father Ratigan in. Rebecca Summers, then the director of communications, told Monsignor Murphy to call the police, according to the testimony. And Julie Creech, the technology employee, said in a deposition in a related civil suit that she went to see Bishop Finn in his office to make sure he understood what she had seen on the laptop. ...
I’m not sure how the bishops can regain their credibility unless Bishop Finn resigns, but in my RNS story on Finn’s fate his spokesman says the bishop intends to stay. The Vatican declined to comment, and Bishop Conlon, the USCCB point man on abuse, reiterated the hierarchy’s commitment to following the civil and canon law requirements that Finn violated.

My sense is that the powers that be are waiting to see how the public and diocese will react. Maybe they will act quickly. Maybe they hope it’ll blow over sufficiently to allow Finn to stay on, or to be “promoted” some place in a couple years to save face.

Catholic bishop convicted of shielding priest

KANSAS CITY (MO)
CNN
By the CNN Wire Staff
(CNN) -- A judge in Kansas City, Missouri, has sentenced a Catholic bishop to two years on probation for failure to report suspected child abuse, officials said Thursday.

Bishop Robert W. Finn, 59, is the highest-ranking Catholic official to be convicted during the church's long sexual abuse scandal.

Finn won't serve any jail time or pay a fine, the Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney's office said. The misdemeanor charge had a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a fine of as much as $1,000.

Finn’s probation

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Wichita Eagle 
Terms of Bishop Robert Finn’s two-year probation include:
• Ensuring “mandated reporter” training for clergy and diocesan administrative staff, and instructing all teachers, counselors, clergy and other diocesan agents to report suspected crimes against children, as required by state law.
• Instituting, with FBI help, a program to train clergy and administrative staff on what constitutes child pornography and child obscenity, and how to identify signs that a child is being groomed for it.
• Establishing a $10,000 fund to provide counseling services to abuse victims.

Kansas City bishop found guilty in priest child abuse case

KANSAS CITY (MO)
CNBC
(Reuters) - The Catholic Bishop who leads a large Kansas City diocese was found guilty Thursday for failing to alert authorities to a trove of child pornography found on a priest's computer, becoming the highest-ranking U.S. clergyman convicted in the Roman Catholic Church child sex abuse scandal.
Bishop Robert Finn, 59, was found guilty of one misdemeanor charge of failing to report the wayward priest, Father Shawn Ratigan, to authorities. Ratigan pleaded guilty to federal child pornography charges last month and admitted to taking lewd photographs of many young girls.
Finn was acquitted of a second misdemeanor charge.
"I hope this begins a new chapter in the book in this community and other communities and that, truly, children will no longer be subjected to this kind of treatment," said Jackson County Circuit Court Judge John Torrence, who found Finn guilty.
Torrence sentenced Finn to two years of probation and suspended a sentence that could have amounted to one year in prison and a $1,000 fine. ...
"Only jail time would have made a real difference here and deterred future horrific cover-ups, anything less will not produce any meaningful reform," said Barbara Dorris, outreach director for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

Bishop Found Guilty in 1 of 2 Charges

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Fox 4
September 6, 2012, by Michelle Pekarsky and John Pepitone
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City-St. Joseph Catholic Diocese Bishop Robert Finn was found guilty of one misdemeanor charge and not guilty of another in a Jackson County Circuit Court on Thursday.

Finn was found guilty of failure to report suspected child abuse and not guilty on another failure to report child abuse charge by Judge John Torrence in connection to the case of former Northland Priest Shawn Ratigan. ...
On Thursday evening, Finn released the following statement through the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese:

I am pleased and grateful that the prosecutor and court have allowed this matter to be concluded. The protection of children is paramount. Sexual abuse of any kind will not be tolerated. Diocesan process and procedures in place at the time did not adequately identify the necessity to inform the Children’s Division of Shawn Ratigan’s behavior in a more timely manner. For this I am truly sorry. 
I have provided for the establishment of an independent Ombudsman to report any known or suspected abuse by any clergy, employee or volunteer of the Diocese as required by law. I also have established the Diocesan Director of the Office of Child & Youth Protection to develop and implement any policies in this regard. I will pledge, both personally and in my capacity as Bishop, to take every reasonable step to protect children from any abuse or misconduct perpetrated by clergy, diocesan employees or volunteers. I regret and am sorry for the hurt that these events have caused. I appreciate this opportunity to express my commitment and that of the Diocese to continue working cooperatively with law enforcement authorities and the community to resolve these issues.

Kansas City Bishop Convicted of Shielding Pedophile Priest

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The New York Times
By JOHN ELIGON and LAURIE GOODSTEIN

Published: September 6, 2012 
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Bishop Robert W. Finn was found guilty on Thursday on one count of failing to report suspected child abuse, becoming the first Roman Catholic bishop in the United States in the decades-long sexual abuse scandals to be convicted of shielding a pedophile priest. 
In an abruptly announced bench trial that lasted a little over an hour, Judge John M. Torrence of Jackson County Circuit Court found Bishop Finn guilty of one misdemeanor charge, and not guilty on a second. The charges each carried a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a $1,000 fine, but Bishop Finn received a sentence of two years of court-supervised probation. ...
The prosecutor, Jean Peters Baker, told the judge in opening arguments that Bishop Finn had been given ample warning that Father Ratigan was a danger to children. She said that the priest had even admitted to Bishop Finn that he had “a pornography problem.” 
The prosecutor said, “Defendant Finn is the ultimate authority. The buck does stop with him.” 
In May 2010, the principal of the Catholic elementary school where Father Ratigan was working sent a letter to the diocese raising alarm about him. The letter said he had put a girl on his lap on a bus ride, encouraged children to reach into his pockets for candy and parents discovered girls’s underwear in a planter outside his house. Bishop Finn has said he did not read the letter until a year later. 

Bishop Finn verdict: Guilty

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star
By MARK MORRIS and JUDY L. THOMAS
The Kansas City Star
Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn today became the highest-ranking U.S. Catholic official convicted during the church’s decades-long child sexual abuse scandal.
Following a short non-jury trial, Jackson County Circuit Court Judge John Torrence convicted Finn of one misdemeanor count of failing to report suspicions of child abuse but acquitted him on another count of failing to report. ...
Lawyers limited the case to a narrow range of facts, which were expressed in 69 paragraphs submitted to Torrence at the hearing.
Torrence listened to about 25 minutes of summary from attorneys then took a half-hour break before finding Finn guilty of one count based on those facts.
Those facts included an acknowledgement from Finn that he is a mandated child abuse reporter under Missouri law. The stipulation also contained a long recitation of the now-familiar facts of the case with a few new insights.
Those included:
• A June 2010 conversation between Finn and Ratigan, in which the bishop told his priest that “we have to take this seriously,” after a Northland Catholic school principal complained to the chancery that the priest was behaving inappropriately around school children.
• A chancery computer manager’s determination in December 2010 that only four or five of the hundreds of lewd photos found on Ratigan’s laptop had been downloaded from the Internet. The rest appeared to have been taken with a personal camera.
• Ratigan’s denial, while hospitalized for a suicide attempt, that he ever had sexual contact with children.
• A statement from a Pennsylvania mental health professional, who found that Ratigan was not a risk to children, which appeared to support the priest’s contention that he was the victim of mistreatment by a school official who complained about his conduct around children.

Finn verdict protects the powerful, forgets the children

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star
Yael T. Abouhalkah
The conviction of the highest ranking Catholic official in the Kansas City area Thursday is not a cause for any rejoicing. At all.
Bishop Robert Finn got off with a slap on the wrist - even after being found guilty of one count of failing to report suspicions of child abuse.
And the children he was expected - no, demanded - to protect can only watch the bishop walk away with two years of probation.
The legal system tried but ultimately failed to send the message that it would work aggressively to protect children from this outrage.
Jackson County Circuit Court Judge John Torrence actually suspended the probation sentence.

Missouri Bishop Guilty of Shielding Abusive Priest

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Wall Street Journal
Associated Press
A Missouri bishop who became the nation's highest-ranking Catholic official charged with shielding an abusive priest was found guilty Thursday of one misdemeanor count of failing to report suspected child abuse.

Bishop Robert Finn was acquitted on a second count. He received two years of probation, but that sentence was suspended. He is required to have mandatory abuse reporter training.
Bishop Finn argued he shouldn't face charges because he wasn't the diocese's mandated reporter under the law. At the time, the responsibility rested mainly with Vicar General Robert Murphy. ...

Attorneys for both Bishop Finn and the diocese also have argued that the state's law is unconstitutional.

A computer technician found child pornography on Rev. Ratigan's laptop in December 2010 and reported it to the diocese. Of the hundreds of images found, many focused on the crotch areas of clothed children and one series showed the exposed genitals of a girl believed to be 3 or 4 years old.

Kansas City lawsuits cost diocese $1.4 million in legal fees

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter
Sep. 06, 2012 
By Joshua J. McElwee
Thursday's trial of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., Bishop Robert Finn comes as a new report commissioned by his diocese estimates the costs of its legal fees in the cases to total about $1.4 million.

That report, which appears in the issue of The Catholic Key, the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocesan newspaper, that was printed Wednesday, also estimates that the costs paid by the diocesan insurance program on all issues dealing with sex abuse in the diocese in the past year totaled almost $4 million.

On Aug. 2, former Kansas City priest Shawn Ratigan pleaded guilty to five of 13 federal counts of producing and attempting to produce sexually graphic material of minor girls. He has yet to be sentenced, but each charge separately carries between 15 and 30 years in prison. 
Finn and the diocese stood trial Thursday on two charges each of failing to report suspected child abuse, a misdemeanor. Finn was found guilty of one charge and given a suspended two years' probation. A motion for the dismissal of the diocese's charges will be decided upon Friday.

Bishop Finn found guilty on criminal charge

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Catholic Culture
CWN - September 06, 2012
Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City, Missouri, has been found guilty of failing to report evidence of sexual abuse by a priest in his diocese. 
After a brief bench trial, Judge John Torrence pronounced the bishop guilty on one of two misdemeanor charges, acquitting him of the other charge. Bishop Finn thus becomes the first American bishop convicted of a criminal offense for mishandling sex-abuse complaints.
Judge Torrence sentenced Bishop Finn to two years of probation, suspending thee sentence. If the bishop completes his probation, his conviction will be stricken from the record. 

Judge Finds Bishop Finn Guilty on 1 Count of Failing to Report Abuse

KANSAS CITY (MO)
St. Joe Channel
By: Andy House, Alex Hassel
Updated: September 6, 2012
(KANSAS CITY, Mo.) A verdict comes against the highest ranking Catholic official ever to face criminal charges in a child sex abuse case.
A judge found Bishop Robert Finn guilty in a sex abuse case involving a former St. Joseph priest.
Bishop Finn was convicted of one misdemeanor charge for failing to report suspected child abuse. He was found not guilty on a second charge.

A verdict came during a one day trial Thursday in Kansas City.

Finn found guilty

KANSAS CITY (MO)
KMBC
Bishop Robert Finn has been found guilty of 1 misdemeanor count of failure to report suspected child abuse in Jackson County Court Thursday afternoon.
Finn, speaking to the court this afternoon, apologized.
He is the first sitting US Bishop to be criminally charged in the child sex abuse scandal that's rocked the Catholic Church for decades.

Defense statement following bench trial of western Missouri Catholic bishop

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Republic
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 
September 06, 2012 
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Text of statement by lawyers for Bishop Robert Finn of the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph after a Missouri judge on Thursday found him guilty of one count and not guilty of another count of failing to report suspected child abuse, and a county prosecutor moved to drop the same charges against the diocese:
"Bishop Finn is grateful that the court and prosecutor have allowed this matter to be resolved. This could have been a lengthy and emotionally difficult trial for all persons affected. The bench trial, with a stipulation of testimony, has avoided the need for live testimony from diocesan employees, parishioners and others. This process has also resulted in the charges against the Diocese being dismissed by the state. The diocesan process and procedures as previously existed failed to adequately identify the necessity to inform the Children's Division of Shawn Ratigan's behavior in a more timely manner. For this, the bishop is truly sorry."

Bishops' Point Person for Abuse Says Credibility of Catholic Leaders "Shredded," and Finn Goes to Trial

UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage
William D. Lindsey
According to Bishop R. Daniel Conlon, chair of the U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference's Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People, the credibility of the Catholic bishops vis-a-vis the abuse crisis has been "shredded." And the Catholic church now finds itself at a moment akin to the Reformation moment, in which "the episcopacy, the regular clergy, even the papacy were discredited."
And how can things be otherwise, I wonder, when it has been revealed that the president of the USCCB, His Eminence Timothy Cardinal Dolan, knew of and then lied about payoffs to pedophile priests in his former diocese of Milwaukee? And when, instead of coming clean and facing questions from the public after his lie was exposed, he chose the equally shameful path of shifting blame to the media and abuse survivors?
And when he then walked away from the media's questions and hasn't addressed them since? Though that hasn't stopped him from attending the conventions of both major political parties in the capacity of a kingmaker, one mediating between the two sectors of power as if he's a medieval prince of the church anointing monarchs.
Shtick ill-befitting a moral leader whose own moral credibility is in shreds--or so it seems to me as a very little person living in a faraway, powerless little place, and observing the doings of princes and kingmakers from afar. Because I'm one of those little people in faraway, powerless places who was taught--over and over again--by parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, teachers, and ministers that telling a lie brings shame to myself and my family and is immoral in the extreme, I have to admit that I just don't get the posturing. The chutzpah. The failure to address one's loss of moral credibility even as one asserts the right to make or break kings!

UPDATE: Finn found guilty on one charge of failure to report

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter
Sep. 06, 2012 
By Joshua J. McElwee
The first Catholic bishop criminally charged in the decades-long clergy sex abuse crisis was found guilty Thursday of one misdemeanor count of failing to report a priest known to be in possession of lewd images of children.

Bishop Robert Finn of the Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., diocese was sentenced to serve two years unsupervised probation, which was then suspended.

Finn and his Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., diocese went to trial today before Jackson County, Mo., Circuit Court Judge John Torrence. Each charge against Finn carried a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

When the trial started at 2:30 p.m., Torrence severed the parties, allowing Finn and the diocese to be charged separately. Torrence began with Finn's trial, and testimony ended at about 2:50 p.m. Torrence handed down the verdict at 3:30 p.m.

Jean Peters Baker presented evidence on behalf of the prosecutors, arguing that there was a period of time between May 2010 and May 2011 that Finn should have become aware of a problem with former Kansas City priest Shawn Ratigan, who pleaded guilty to federal child pornography charges in August.

Bishop Finn found guilty of failing to report abusive priest

KANSAS CITY (MO)
KCTV
[with video]
KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) - 
Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn was found guilty of failing to report an abusive priest to state authorities.

A Jackson County judge acquitted him of a second similar charge. The charges involved different time frames.

Finn apologized for his actions in court following the judge's decision. He was placed on probation.

"I truly regret and am sorry for the hurt these events have caused," Finn said.

Judge John Torrence issued the verdict after hearing opening remarks from Finn's attorneys and prosecutors and reviewing documents.

"I hope this ends a chapter of history that has been a long and dark chapter," Torrence said.

Finn was the top-ranking Catholic official in the U.S. to be charged with shielding an abusive priest. The case came to a surprising end after both sides agreed to waive a trial by jury and allow Torrence to reach a decision

Mo. bishop convicted for failing to report priest

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Associated Press 
By BILL DRAPER, Associated Press 
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A judge has found a Missouri bishop guilty of one misdemeanor count for failing to report suspected child abuse by a priest, and acquitted him on a second count.
Robert Finn is the nation's highest-ranking Catholic official charged with shielding an abusive priest. He received two years of probation, but that sentence was suspended.
The charges stem from the child pornography case of Rev. Shawn Ratigan, in which Finn and other church officials knew about photos on the priest's computer but didn't turn him in for six months.
Ratigan pleaded guilty in August to child porn charges.

Bishop Finn verdict: Guilty on one count

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star
By MARK MORRIS and JUDY L. THOMAS
The Kansas City Star
Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn today became the highest-ranking U.S. Catholic official convicted during the church’s decades-long child sexual abuse scandal.
Following a short non-jury trial, Jackson County Circuit Court Judge John Torrence convicted Finn of one misdemeanor count of failing to report suspicions of child abuse but acquitted him on another count. Though the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph also was to be tried Thursday on the same two counts, Torrence severed the cases shortly after the proceedings opened. 
The charges stemmed from the church’s handling of the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, on whose laptop a diocesan vendor found hundreds of lewd photos of young girls in December 2010. Finn’s second-in-command at the diocese, Monsignor Robert Murphy, did not report the photographs to police for five months.
Finn is the first bishop in the country, and is believed to be one of only two bishops in the world, convicted of failing to report suspected child abuse. The other case happened in France. 

Justice Ventures Up the Church Hierarchy

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The New York Times
Editorial
The verdict was long overdue in the pedophile priest scandal, but a Roman Catholic bishop has become the highest-ranking church official found criminally guilty of shielding a priest known to be a threat to children. In a brief nonjury trial, Bishop Robert Finn, head of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., was pronounced guilty on Thursday and sentenced to two years of probation for failing to alert law enforcement authorities about a predatory priest he knew was addicted to taking lewd photos of schoolgirls. 
The conviction was evidence of the growing resolve of secular authorities, however belated, to venture up the hierarchical ladder in their search for accountability. The scandal has led to the dismissal and criminal investigation of more than 700 priests, even as their superiors have been spared — despite years of diocesan scheming to buy off victims and rotate rogue priests to new parishes. 
Bishop Finn’s conviction was hardly encouraging for the cause of reform, however, since it involved very recent misdeeds — years after church leaders promised tough new policies aimed at preventing cover-ups. 

Debate: Bishop Finn’s Future As Church Leader

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Fox 4
[with video]
September 7, 2012, by Michelle Pekarsky and John Pepitone
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — There are renewed calls for Catholic Bishop Robert Finn to step down after his conviction for failing to report child abuse.

“It matters to us less what sanctions the pope issues, it matters to us more that the pope take some action against a proven criminal,” said David Clohessy, executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

Some Catholics are divided over who should be leading the diocese in Kansas City-St. Joseph now that Bishop Finn is the highest ranking Catholic leader ever to be convicted as part of the church’s child sex abuse scandal.

Defenders of the bishop say they are relieved the criminal case against him is finally over. But opponents say they will continue to push for change in the Catholic church as victims of abuse move forward with civil suits against the diocese.

Bishop Finn’s apology in court wasn’t enough for families who say their children were victims of sexual abuse at the hands of one Finn’s priests, Father Shawn Ratigan. It was Bishop Finn’s failure to report suspicions about Ratigan in a timely manner that led to his criminal conviction.

Defying Canon and Civil Laws, Church Failed to Stop a Priest

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The New York Times
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN

Published: September 7, 2012 
On the surface, the Rev. Shawn Ratigan was just the kind of dynamic new priest that any Roman Catholic bishop would have been happy to put in a parish. He rode a motorcycle, organized summer mission trips to Guatemala and joined Bishop Robert W. Finn and dozens of students on a bus trek to Washington for the “March for Life,” a big annual anti-abortion rally. 
But in December 2010, Bishop Finn got some disturbing news: Father Ratigan had just tried to commit suicide by running his motorcycle in a closed garage. The day before, a computer technician had discovered sexually explicit photographs of young girls on Father Ratigan’s laptop, including one of a toddler with her diaper pulled away to expose her genitals. 
The decisions that Bishop Finn and his second-in-command in the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Msgr. Robert Murphy, made about Father Ratigan over the next five months ultimately led to the conviction of the bishop in circuit court on Thursday on one misdemeanor count of failing to report suspected child abuse. It was the first time a Catholic bishop in the United States had been held accountable in criminal court in the nearly three decades since the priest sexual abuse scandals first came to light. 
Both Bishop Finn and Monsignor Murphy, as ministers, were required by law to report suspected child abuse to the civil authorities. But they were also required to report under policies that the American bishops put in place 10 years ago at the height of the scandal — policies that now hold the force of canon law. 

September 7, 2012

U.S. Roman Catholics outraged over child sex abuse scandal; call for bishop’s resignation

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Globe and Mail (Canada)

BILL DRAPER

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Associated Press

Published Friday, Sep. 07 2012, 7:24 PM EDT

Calls for Bishop Robert Finn's resignation intensified the day after he became the highest-ranking U.S. church official to be convicted of a crime related to a child sexual abuse scandal.

Soon after a Missouri judge found Bishop Finn guilty Thursday of one misdemeanor count of failing to report suspected child sexual abuse to the state, unhappy Roman Catholics began discussing ways to get the bishop out of office on a Facebook page titled “Bishop Finn Must Go.”

Among the posts was one that listed contact information for the Vatican and urged parishioners to voice their displeasure with Bishop Finn at the highest levels. Pope Benedict XVI alone has authority over bishops. Through the decades-long abuse scandal, only one U.S. bishop has stepped down over his failures to stop abusive clergy: Cardinal Bernard Law – who, in 2002, resigned as head of the Archdiocese of Boston.

US Catholic bishop found guilty of not reporting abuse

UNITED STATES
Irish Times
THE FIRST American bishop criminally charged in the US clerical sex abuse scandal was found guilty of a misdemeanour count of failing to report suspected child abuse, a conviction described as “historic” by campaigners.
Catholic Bishop Robert Finn was acquitted on a second count.
He received two years of probation but that sentence was suspended and will be wiped from his record if he adheres to conditions that include mandatory abuse reporting training, setting aside $10,000 (€7,800) in diocese money for abuse victim counselling, and instructing all diocesan agents to report suspected criminal activity involving minors.

Bishop's conviction intensifies calls to step down

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Olympian
By BILL DRAPER | Associated Press • Published September 07, 2012 
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Calls for Bishop Robert Finn's resignation intensified a day after he became the highest-ranking U.S. church official to be convicted of a crime related to the child sexual abuse scandal. 
Soon after a Missouri judge found Finn guilty Thursday of one misdemeanor count of failing to report suspected child sexual abuse to the state, unhappy Roman Catholics began discussing ways to get the bishop out of office on a Facebook page titled "Bishop Finn Must Go."
Among the posts was one that listed contact information for the Vatican and urged parishioners to voice their displeasure with Finn at the highest levels. Pope Benedict XVI alone has authority over bishops. Through the decades-long abuse scandal, only one U.S. bishop has stepped down over his failures to stop abusive clergy: Cardinal Bernard Law, who in 2002 resigned as head of the Archdiocese of Boston.
Jackson County Judge John M. Torrence sentenced Finn to two years of supervised probation. If the bishop abides by a set of stipulations from the judge, the conviction will be wiped from his record in 2014.
"Now that our justice system says he's guilty, he has lost his ability to lead our diocese," Kansas City Catholic Patricia Rotert said Friday. "He's lost his credibility. There is turmoil and angst around him and I don't think he can bring people together." ...
"I said for years that we wouldn't be in the mess we were in today if about 30 bishops had said 'I made a mistake, I'm sorry, I take full responsibility and I resign,'" said the Rev. Thomas J. Reese, a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University. "I think we're at a state in the life of the church when a bishop is convicted of a misdemeanor, found guilty of not doing what he was supposed to do, I think he should resign for the good of the diocese and the good of the church."
Support for Finn's resignation is far from unanimous. Some say they agree he made a mistake, but it's not one that should force him out, especially with even more stringent safeguards in place to protect children.

Bishop guilty of shielding paedophile

UNITED STATES
The Age (Australia)
An American Roman Catholic bishop was found guilty on one count of failing to report suspected child abuse, becoming the first US bishop in the decades-long sexual abuse scandals to be convicted of shielding a paedophile priest.

In a hastily announced bench trial in Kansas City that lasted a little over an hour, a judge found the bishop, Robert Finn, guilty on one misdemeanour charge and not guilty on a second charge, for failing to report a priest who had taken hundreds of pornographic pictures of young girls. The counts each carried a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a $US1000 fine, but Finn was sentenced to two years' court-supervised probation.

The verdict is a watershed moment in the priest sexual abuse scandal that has plagued the church since the 1980s. Bishops, eager to turn the page on this era, put in place extensive abuse prevention policies, including reporting suspected abusers to law enforcement authorities. But this case has served as a wake-up call that the policies cannot be effective if bishops do not follow them.

What's next for bishop Robert Finn?

KANSAS CITY (MO)
USA Today
By David Gibson
(RNS) Catholic Bishop Robert W. Finn was found guilty Thursday of failing to tell police about a priest suspected of sexually exploiting children, an unprecedented verdict that is being hailed as a landmark in the effort to bring accountability to the church's hierarchy.
Finn, leader of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph and an outspoken conservative in the American hierarchy, was convicted of a single misdemeanor count for not telling police that one of his priests, the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, had taken hundreds of lewd images of children in Catholic schools and parishes.
But even as he became the first U.S. bishop ever convicted in criminal court for shielding an abusive priest, Finn's standing inside the church appears uncertain, and the subject of intense debate.
Should he stay or should he go? Finn has indicated that he wants to tough it out.

Conviction of Missouri priest on misdemeanor charge intensifies calls for him to resign

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Star Tribune
Article by: BILL DRAPER , Associated Press 
Updated: September 7, 2012 
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Parishioners in Missouri and observers across the U.S. say Bishop Robert Finn should resign after being convicted of failing to report suspected child sexual abuse to the state.

Supporters say Finn made a mistake, but not one that should result in him being booted from his role as leader of the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

Finn was found guilty Thursday of one misdemeanor charge and sentenced to two years of probation. If he abides by all the conditions, the conviction will be removed from his record in 2014.

Congregation member Patricia Rotert says Finn has lost his credibility and should step down.

Bill Donohue and the Catholic League Once Again Rise to the Defense of Pedophile Priests

UNITED STATES
Right Wing Watch
Submitted by Brian Tashman on Fri, 09/07/2012 
In another shameful episode of the Catholic League’s Bill Donohue apologism of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, Donohue played down the crimes of a Catholic priest, who in August “pleaded guilty to four counts of producing child pornography and one count of attempting to produce child pornography using girls as young as 2 years old,” and the Bishop who was convicted yesterday of shielding the priest. “The case did not involve child sexual abuse—no child was ever abused, or touched, in any way by Father Sean Ratigan,” Donohue said. “Nor did this case involve child pornography.” Following Bishop Robert Finn’s conviction, Donohue claimed that the “chorus of condemnations targeting Bishop Finn” are “as unfair as they are contrived.”

Let’s get rid of some myths. Bishop Finn was not found guilty of a felony: he was found guilty of one misdemeanor, and innocent of another. The case did not involve child sexual abuse—no child was ever abused, or touched, in any way by Father Sean Ratigan. Nor did this case involve child pornography. Here’s what happened.

On December 16, 2010, a computer technician found crotch-shot pictures of children, fully clothed, on Ratigan’s computer; there was one that showed a girl’s genitals exposed. The next day Ratigan attempted suicide. The Vicar General, Msgr. Robert Murphy, without seeing the photos, contacted a police officer about this matter. The officer, after consulting with another cop, said a single photo of a non-sexual nature would not constitute pornography. After a few more of the same types of photos were found, an attorney rendered the same judgment: they were not pornographic. 

Finn then asked a psychiatrist to evaluate Ratigan. The bishop was given the judgment of a professional: the priest was not a risk to children (he was diagnosed as suffering from depression). Finn then placed restrictions on Ratigan, which he broke. When it was found that Ratigan was again using a computer, upon examination more disturbing photos were found. Murphy then called the cops (Finn was out of town) and a week later Ratigan was arrested. Yesterday, Finn was found guilty of one misdemeanor of failing to report suspected child sexual abuse.

The Catholic League supports harsh penalties for child sexual abusers, and for those who cover it up. But it also supports equal justice for all, and given what we know of what is going on in many other communities, religious as well as secular, we find the chorus of condemnations targeting Bishop Finn to be as unfair as they are contrived.

As the New York Times reported, Father Ratigan “had taken hundreds of pornographic pictures of young girls,” including on the playground at the school which employed him and some of the photos even “show girls’ genitalia through their clothing.” The school’s principal sent the Bishop a letter noting that Ratigan “put a girl on his lap on a bus ride and encouraged children to reach into his pockets for candy, and that parents discovered girl’s underwear in a planter outside his house.”

The case began when the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, a charismatic parish priest who had previously attracted attention for inappropriate behavior with children, took his laptop computer in for repairs in December 2010. A technician immediately told church officials that the laptop contained what appeared to be pornographic photographs of young girls’ genitals, naked and clothed.

Father Ratigan attempted suicide, survived and was sent for treatment. Bishop Finn reassigned him to live in a convent and ordered him stay away from children. But Father Ratigan continued to attend church events and take lewd pictures of girls for five more months, until church officials reported him in May 2011, without Bishop Finn’s approval. The bishop was found guilty on the charge relating only to that time period.

Father Ratigan pleaded guilty in August to federal child pornography charges, and is awaiting sentencing.

Ms. Peters Baker told the judge in opening arguments that Bishop Finn had been given ample warning that Father Ratigan was a danger to children. She said that the priest had even admitted to Bishop Finn that he had “a pornography problem.”

The prosecutor said: “Defendant Finn is the ultimate authority. The buck does stop with him.”

In May 2010, the principal of the Catholic elementary school where Father Ratigan was working sent a memo to the diocese raising alarm about the priest. The letter said that he had put a girl on his lap on a bus ride and encouraged children to reach into his pockets for candy, and that parents discovered girl’s underwear in a planter outside his house. Bishop Finn has said he did not read the letter until a year later.

The prosecutor said the photographs discovered on Father Ratigan’s laptop in December 2010 were “alarming photos,” among them a series taken on a playground in which the photographer moves in closer until the final shots show girls’ genitalia through their clothing. Confronted with the photographs, Father Ratigan tried to commit suicide, but survived and was briefly hospitalized.

Assessing the Catholic League's Facts

UNITED STATES
Anti-Catholic League
By David Fortwengler

Let’s get rid of some myths. The Catholic League is not a civil rights organization as they claim. The Catholic League does not “defend the right of Catholics to participate in American public life without defamation or discrimination” as they claim.

That is because there is no discrimination of Catholics to participate in public life. The two vice-presidential candidates are Catholic, six Supreme Court justices are Catholic, dozens of U.S Representatives and Senators are Catholic (including the Speaker of the House who is third in line to the Presidency), and thousands of other elected officials across this country are Catholic. If Cardinal Dolan or Bill Donohue want to run for office they are welcome to try.

When Donohue and his league of misguided membership refer to defamation and discrimination what they really mean is some people disagree with them. They hate that.

With that being said, the least of my problems are the fabricated rants of a delusional organization and their bombastic leader. My problem is the deliberate pain he inflicts on survivors of sex crimes committed when they were minors, including me. Donohue is free to manipulate his own mind when it comes to portraying the Catholic Church as a victim of an anti-Catholic conspiracy regarding the sex abuse scandal. But when he LIES about the facts he offends and rightly outrages all who don’t practice his form of mental gymnastics.

Today Donohue published his response to yesterday’s conviction of Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn for failing to report suspicion of child sexual abuse. In Bill’s press release titled “Assessing Bishop Finn’s Guilt” he concludes the “condemnations targeting Bishop Finn to be as unfair as they are contrived.” Why would it be unfair to be disgusted and outraged at the actions of Bishop Finn? He was not targeted, he was convicted. The facts weren’t contrived, they were stipulated to by Finn’s own attorney’s. (paid for by the fine catholics of Kansas City)

I will now take a deep breath and detail the absolute, dangerous, and hurtful LIES Donohue spews in release. His comments are in blue and my response follows in black. 
The case did not involve child sexual abuse—no child was ever abused, or touched, in any way by Father Sean Ratigan. Nor did this case involve child pornography. 
Father Shawn Ratigan has been convicted of possessing and producing child pornography which was on the computer that Bishop Finn was aware of. According to the stipulation of facts when a computer technician examining Ratigan’s computer on December 16, 2010 discovered alarming pictures, they included close up photos of a little girls naked vagina. The series of eight photos showed the girl’s panties being moved aside in each picture. The girl was estimated by police to be three or four years old. Does Donohue think she moved the panties herself to give Ratigan a better shot? 

ASSESSING BISHOP FINN’S GUILT

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Catholic League
Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on a judge’s decision yesterday finding Kansas City-St. Joseph Bishop Robert Finn guilty in a case involving Father Sean Ratigan:

Let’s get rid of some myths. Bishop Finn was not found guilty of a felony: he was found guilty of one misdemeanor, and innocent of another. The case did not involve child sexual abuse—no child was ever abused, or touched, in any way by Father Sean Ratigan. Nor did this case involve child pornography. Here’s what happened.

On December 16, 2010, a computer technician found crotch-shot pictures of children, fully clothed, on Ratigan’s computer; there was one that showed a girl’s genitals exposed. The next day Ratigan attempted suicide. The Vicar General, Msgr. Robert Murphy, without seeing the photos, contacted a police officer about this matter. The officer, after consulting with another cop, said a single photo of a non-sexual nature would not constitute pornography. After a few more of the same types of photos were found, an attorney rendered the same judgment: they were not pornographic.

Finn then asked a psychiatrist to evaluate Ratigan. The bishop was given the judgment of a professional: the priest was not a risk to children (he was diagnosed as suffering from depression). Finn then placed restrictions on Ratigan, which he broke. When it was found that Ratigan was again using a computer, upon examination more disturbing photos were found. Murphy then called the cops (Finn was out of town) and a week later Ratigan was arrested. Yesterday, Finn was found guilty of one misdemeanor of failing to report suspected child sexual abuse.

Will a criminal conviction finally get the American bishops' attention?

UNITED STATES
Catholic Culture 
By Phil Lawler | September 07, 2012 
So now an American bishop is a convicted criminal. Do you suppose there’s any chance the other bishops will finally get the message?

Bishop Robert Finn has been convicted in a court of law for doing what scores of other American bishops have done in the recent past. It’s true that Bishop Finn will not serve actual jail time, and his criminal record will be erased after he completes a term of probation; but the judge had the authority to put him behind bars for a year.

In Pennsylvania, meanwhile, Msgr. William Lynn is already behind bars, for doing what his cardinal-archbishop apparently told him to do.

Some intelligent observers argue that Bishop Finn (and Msgr. Lynn, for that matter) should not have been convicted. But I am inclined to accept the judgment of the courts—as Bishop Finn, at least, has apparently done. Any loyal Catholic should also be troubled by the prospect of a secular court passing judgment on a bishop’s exercise of episcopal ministry. But in this case there is no doubt in my mind that civil officials are emboldened to police the bishops because the bishops have so calamitously failed to police themselves.

Bishop Finn Guilty: Diocese Escapes Responsibility

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Jeff Anderson & Associates
Gregg Meyers
Today, Jackson County Judge John Torrence found Bishop Finn of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph guilty on one count of failing to report child abuse. Bishop Finn’s trial arises out of his own actions and the Diocese’s actions surrounding the December 2010 discovery that a Diocesan priest, Rev. Shawn Ratigan, produced child pornography with young parishioners of the Diocese. 
This verdict follows the disturbing report last week that when Bishop Finn was first alerted by a Diocesan staffer about the child pornography found on Shawn Ratigan’s computer, he reacted by merely saying, “boys will be boys.” As a further indication of the Bishop’s callous indifference, Bishop Finn and the Diocese sat on this crucial information and did not report it to law enforcement for six months. 
For Finn’s key role in protecting a known child predator to the detriment of children in the Diocese, Judge Torrence sentenced him to two-years of suspended probation with eight conditions. This sentence is light given that Finn was facing a maximum sentence of one year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Finn-ishing Up

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Waiting for Godot to Leave
There's something about Christ and how we fail Him that we can learn from Kansas City / St. Joseph Bishop Finn.
Here's what Bishop Finn did - 
He was informed by letter by a Catholic School Principal at St. Patrick's Parish in Kansas City that parents and teachers were concerned about the behavior of their pastor, Fr. Ratigan, who was trying to spend time alone with students, who insisted on giving a little girl a massage at a church event, who was taking a lot of pictures of little girls, and in whose garden a pair of little girl's underwear was discovered. Bishop Finn ignored the letter. 
A year later, a computer technician finds hundreds of photos on Fr. Ratigan's computer - photos of little girl students at the parish school, and one of a sleeping two year old, with her diaper moved to the side to reveal her genitalia - all taken by Fr. Ratigan. In fact, the photos of the students were taken surreptitiously on the playground, at the cafeteria and elsewhere, and included close-ups of girls' crotches, and some where their underwear or genitals were showing. Also on the computer were links to sites that sell spy cameras. The computer is taken to Msgr. Murphy, the vicar general, who before seeing the photos, (that's right, before seeing the photos) calls an off-duty police officer and asks him if a few photos of a mostly-clothed children could be pornographic. The off-duty police officer says, "Maybe." This is the only contact the diocese makes with the police, until they are forced to contact them again six months later. Some of the photos are downloaded from the computer by the chancery, but Bishop Finn gives the computer to a relative of Fr. Ratigan's, who then promptly destroys it. 
Fr. Ratigan attempts suicide but survives. He is sent to a counselor in Pennsylvania for a very brief evaluation. The counselor says, "This man is fine. He just needs the principal of the school to stop picking on him." Bishop Finn does not allow the parishioners to know what has happened; they are only told of the suicide attempt. No effort is made to determine who the victims were. No effort is made to contact their families, to see if the children were physically assaulted as well as photographed. No counseling or outreach or intervention of any kind is offered. The victims and their families are kept entirely in the dark. 

Bishop Robert Finn convicted of shielding priest who pleaded guilty to child porn charges

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Pitch
Posted by Ben Palosaari on Fri, Sep 7, 2012 
Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph Bishop Robert Finn was convicted of one misdemeanor count of failing to report suspected child abuse on Thursday. Presiding over an hour-long bench trial, Judge John Torrence found Finn not guilty of a second charge. Finn was given two years of probation, but Torrence suspended the sentence. If Finn completes his probation, the conviction will be removed from his criminal record. The conviction makes Finn the highest ranking Catholic church official in the country to be found guilty of a charge related to a sex abuse scandal. 
Finn was charged in the wake of a scandal surrounding priest Shawn Ratigan. Sexual images of young girls were found on Ratigan's laptop computer in late 2010. The diocese knew of the images on the computer for several months before telling authorities. Ratigan pleaded guilty in August, but hasn't been sentenced yet. 
Finn had been scheduled for a jury trial. But Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker says the bench trial saved the victims' families the pain of testifying. The New York Times reports that Finn told the court, "I truly regret and am sorry for the hurt that these events have caused."

Mo- Bishop Finn guilty, SNAP responds

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
Posted by Barbara Dorris on September 06, 2012 
Only jail time would have made a real difference here and deterred future horrific cover-ups, anything less will not produce any meaningful reform. 
The catholic hierarchy is notoriously secretive. When they backslide again it will be hard to catch them, everyone involved must be hyper vigilant if kids are truly to be safe. We are modestly hopeful about this arrangement, but only if prosecutors are extraordinarily vigilant and determined. Bishops are tyrants and tyrants rarely honor deals. Kansas City may now be tempted to become complacent, but now more than ever victims, witnesses, and whistleblower cannot give up and stay silent. Now more than ever anyone who saw, suspected, or suffered clergy sex crimes and cover-ups should step forward.

Catholic Bishop becomes most senior U.S. clergyman to be CONVICTED in child porn cover-up

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Daily Mail (United Kingdom)
Guilty: Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn was convicted of one misdemeanor count of failing to report child sex abuse within the church 
Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn was found guilty on Thursday of one count of covering up child pornography, becoming the highest-ranking American cleric convicted in the Roman Catholic Church child sex abuse scandal.

Bishop Finn, 59, was charged in 2011 with two misdemeanor counts of failing to alert authorities about a cache of lewd images depicting young girls that were found on the computer of Reverend Shawn Ratigan. 
Jackson County Court Judge John Torrence acquitted Finn on a second count of covering up child sex abuse. 
Finn received two years of probation, but that sentence was suspended and will be wiped from his record if he adheres to a set of conditions that include mandatory abuse reporting training and setting aside $10,000 in diocese money for abuse victim counseling.

=========

News update for September 9, 2012

A tale of two priests punished under canon law

UNITED STATES
New Jersey Newsroom
Sunday, 09 September 2012
BY PAT SUMMERS
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

COMMENTARY

This week’s news highlighted two different states and two different states of mind within leaders of the American Catholic Church. Both cases involved “canon law” — the body of laws and regulations governing the organization and its members.

In Connecticut, the Archbishop of the Hartford diocese came down hard on Michael DeVito, a priest who last month had participated in his cousin’s same-sex marriage. In Missouri, the bishop of the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese got a slap on the wrist after being indictedlast year on a charge of failing to protect children.

Canon law was cited in both cases. In Connecticut, it gave the archbishop reason for reprimanding the priest, who had worn his Roman collar and done a reading at the wedding, according to the Hartford Courant. Same sex marriages are contrary to Catholicteaching.

In Missouri, the bishop had violated both canon law and civil law in not reporting the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, who was found to have hundreds of images of child pornography on his computer. For five months, Finn had protected and covered up for the priest, who tookphotographs that included a girl’s “naked vagina, upskirt images and images focused on the crotch,” according to the New York Times.

Nor was this Finn’s first brush with civil and canon law on the subject of child abuse. Only three years ago, he “settled lawsuits with 47 plaintiffs in sexual abuse cases for $10 million and agreed to a list of 19 preventive measures, among them to immediately report anyone suspected of being a pedophile to the law enforcement authorities,” the Times continued.

Seven years before that, U.S. bishops had pledged to report suspected abusers to law enforcement authorities — a policy also recommended last year by the Vatican. Bishop Finn’s failure to report Father Ratigan until after a subordinate did so thus violated a procedure that had been agreed on twice in one decade.

Finn’s violation could have been punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 and a jail sentence of up to a year, but earlier this week, he got off with two years of court-supervised probation. A follow-up headline read, “Indicted bishop plans to continue leading diocese,” but just where might the highest ranking U.S. Catholic official to be criminally charged with sheltering an abusive clergyman “lead” his diocese?

The truly ugly and drawn-out child porn case in Missouri makes theConnecticut same-sex wedding case look like a needless show of authority by the archbishop. Apparently a stickler for the rules, any rules, he couldn’t find better things to do than summon Father DeVito for a formal rebuke, telling him his part in the wedding warranted a permanent mark on his record. (That’s so Catholic school.) 

==========

Updates for September 16, 2012

National Survivor Advocates Coalition hits KC, wants Finn to resign

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Survivor Advocates Coalition
 Principal Hess wrote a 5 page letter detailing the troubling behavior of Ratigan and her report eventually made its way to Monsignor Robert Murphy, who then had a meeting with Finn to discuss its contents. A man who had pledged to make the safety of children his “top priority” would obviously do one of two things. He would say, ”Show me the letter” or “Get me Principal Hess on the phone right now”.  Of course that never crossed his mind.

Whether his finnaction was finntentional or just finnept, it was finnacceptable.

 The Conversation

 A fly on the wall reported to me Murphy and Finn’s conversation went like this:

Murphy: I received a complaint from a lay principal about Father Ratigan’s behavior around kids.

 Finn: I’m tired of these lay people not knowing their place. It’s none of her business what my priests do. Put a note in her file, if she does it again fire her. Anything else?

 Murphy: Just a reminder, you’re attending a spaghetti dinner fundraiser at the Knights of Columbus tonight.

Finn: Ok, make sure they know I like a good Chianti with my spaghetti.

 to be continued...

Editorial: Kansas City's Bishop Finn must resign or be removed

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

Sep. 10, 2012
By An NCR Editorial

If Bishop Robert W. Finn wanted today to volunteer at a parish in the Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., diocese to teach a religious education class or chaperone a parish youth group to World Youth Day, he couldn't do it. Convicted of a misdemeanor charge of failure to report suspected child abuse, Finn wouldn't pass the background check necessary to work with young people in the Catholic church.

That is, he could not serve in those positions if he were just a layman, deacon or priest. But he is a bishop, and that makes all the difference. And he can, apparently, do anything he wants under church law. 

There are two issues at play here: the governance of the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese and the integrity of the U.S. bishops as a national conference.

Finn cannot govern the diocese. It is clear to local Catholics he has been largely absent from the day-to-day life of the diocese for almost a year. The chancery offices are in disarray, diocesan personnel feel abandoned, and the clergy are either angry or dumbfounded. From the very first day of his tenure in this diocese, Finn has been a source of division and divisiveness. He does have supporters, but he has never won even a grudging respect from majority of active Catholics. 

His timid apology on the day of his trial is telling. 

"I truly regret and am sorry for the hurt that these events have caused," he said. He should have said: "I'm sorry for the repeated failures that my decisions and my actions have caused" -- full stop. Finn's premeditated written statement continues his denial of the wrong he has caused. It reflects a kind of deflection and part of Finn's attempt to keep his see.

The topic of discussion in coffee klatches after Mass this weekend in the diocese was the cost of "these events" [2] to the diocese: $1.39 million for defending Finn and the diocese in the criminal cases; about $286,000 in fees for civil suits stemming from this case; $450,000 for a report to study what happened in this case; and almost $200,000 to establish a new diocesan ombudsman for abuse and office of child protection. And insurance premiums will rise 11 percent this year. 

We cannot imagine how those expenses will be explained in the annual bishop's appeal that would typically be rolled out in the next couple of weeks. 

We do not believe Finn can heal the wounds inflicted on the local church. For endangering children and for losing the confidence of the diocese, we believe that Finn should resign or be removed. 

Some have said the criminal convictions of high chancery officials for covering up for clergy sex abusers -- Finn last week and Msgr. William Lynn in Philadelphia earlier this year -- signals a new chapter in the already-too-long tragedy of sex abuse of minors in the Catholic church. These cases, we've been told, send a new signal to the hierarchy that cover-ups and non-cooperation with civil authorities will no longer be tolerated. If that is true, and we sincerely hope that it is true, we applaud these cases and the public prosecutors who had the courage to pursue them. 

But if it is true that the force of civil law has been brought to bear from the outside, inside the church, the local bishop still reigns as an unchecked potentate. Robert Finn would not be allowed to teach Sunday morning bible study, but Bishop Finn remains spiritual leader of the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese with exclusive and sole authority over all diocesan matters. (Editor's note: NCR's offices are in Kansas City.)

It is now 10 years since the Dallas Charter for the Protection of Children was adopted by the bishops. For 10 years, the bishops have told their flocks that whatever happened in the past, they learned their lesson and would be vigilant both in the protection of children and the prosecution of those who failed to protect them. 

For 10 years, the bishops have said no place was safer for children than the ministries and parishes of the Catholic church. Yet we now know, and a court has found, that when faced not only with the requirement of meeting the church's own standards, but with the standards of civil law, Finn failed to fulfill the obligations the bishops made and the procedures demanded by civil law.

In June, the bishops heard from the chairman of their own review board on child protection, Al J. Notzon III. He commended the bishops for the steps they had taken but warned them their credibility remained an issue for many Catholics. He specifically noted the fear many Catholics have that bishops still had the means and the power to cover up instances of child sex abuse. 

"This suggests a trust problem and must be met with scrupulous adherence to the charter," Notzon told the bishops.
The report Notzon filed with the bishops warned against "complacency or Charter drift."

"Now is not the time to drift away from the moral requirements of the Charter and the legal requirements of reporting," he wrote. "Children must be protected. Bishops must continue to work toward restoring the trust of the faithful. Only when bishops are seen as following through on their promise to protect and pledge to heal will the faithful begin to trust them to take care of their most precious gift -- their children."

" ... [T]he question of the consequences for those who do not follow the Charter is still unanswered. The National Review Board asks each bishop to continue to take seriously the harm done to the Church and the faithful when these requirements are not met."

Last month, Bishop R. Daniel Conlon, head of the bishops' committee on child protection, talked about why people remain skeptical of the bishops' efforts in the area of child protection. 

Everywhere, the insight is apparent. Until there is some reason to believe bishops can and will be held accountable for their failings, the church's credibility remains in tatters. We urge Finn to take seriously the harm done to the church and the faithful -- especially the most vulnerable young children -- because he did not meet the moral requirements of the charter.

Finn, under any other circumstances, would not be permitted to publicly minister to children. The inescapable conclusion is that for the good of the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese and of the larger church, he must either resign or be removed.

 

Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:57 AM

While Dolan Prayed, His Church Preyed

UNITED STATES
Falls Church News-Press
By Wayne Besen Wednesday, September 12 2012
Last Thursday, Cardinal Timothy Dolan gave the closing prayer at the Democratic National Convention, offering a divisive sermon that touched on abortion and marriage equality.

"We ask your benediction on those waiting to be born, that they may be welcomed and protected."

"Show us anew that happiness is found only in respecting the laws of nature and of nature's God. Empower us with your grace so that we might resist the temptation to replace the moral law with idols of our own making, or to remake those institutions you have given us for the nurturing of life and community."

While he prayed against my family and for the unborn, a Catholic leader in Kansas City, Bishop Robert W. Finn, was convicted of covering up the crimes of a pedophile priest, Rev. Shawn Ratigan, who liked to take nude pictures of the barely born. According to a detailed article by Laurie Goodstein in the New York Times:

In December 2010, Bishop Finn got some disturbing news: Father Ratigan had just tried to commit suicide by running his motorcycle in a closed garage. The day before, a computer technician had discovered sexually explicit photographs of young girls on Father Ratigan's laptop, including one of a toddler with her diaper pulled away to expose her genitals.

Apparently, the $2.5 billion that the Vatican has spent on pedophile priest settlements wasn't enough for Finn to get the message that reshuffling reprobates in robes is always wrong. Finn buried his head in the sandand ignored a mountain of evidence at the expense of the children.

Indeed, well before pornography was discovered on the priest's laptop, Julie Hess, the principal of the parochial school next door to St. Patrick Parish where Father Ratigan served, had sent a memorandum in May of 2010 to the diocese, which said:

Father Ratigan had put a girl on his lap on a bus trip, attempted to "friend" an eighth grader on Facebook, and had an inappropriate "peer to peer" relationship with a fifth-grade girl. On a children's group excursion to Father Ratigan's house, parents spotted hand towels shaped to look like dolls' clothes, and a pair of girls' panties in a planter in his yard.

Unfortunately, Finn reduced these concerns to "boundary issues," and even failed to contact authorities when a stash of kiddie porn was found on Ratigan's laptop:

"...hundreds of photographs," according to the testimony, many taken on playgrounds, under tables or in one case, while a girl was sleeping. Many pictures did not show faces — only close-ups of crotches. Ms. Creech wrote a report for her superiors noting that only four or five of the hundreds of pictures appeared to have been downloaded from the Internet: "the rest appeared to have been taken with a personal camera."
Amazingly, the bishop assigned Father Ratigan to serve as an unsupervised chaplain to the Franciscan Sisters of the Holy Eucharist, in Independence, MO. I suppose there was already a long waiting list for priests to work at the Young Brothers of the Holy Eucharist.

Over the next five months, Father Ratigan, who is now 46 attended a sixth-grader's birthday party, co-celebrated a child's confirmation, communicated with children on his Facebook page, hosted an Easter egg hunt and attended a parade, the testimony recounts. Invited to dinner at the home of parishioners, he was caught taking photographs, under the table, up their daughter's skirt, according to a federal indictment of Father Ratigan.

Ratigan was displaying more overt signs of pedophilia than Herbert, the character from Family Guy. Yet, the Roman Catholic Church demonstrated, once more, that it is more interested in shielding its reputation than protecting vulnerable youth from child rape.

Instead of praying to end the depravity in his own church, Dolan took his opportunity at the Democratic and Republican conventions to bash healthy, happy gay families and promote a bogus storyline of Catholics losing religious liberty.

Want to talk about religious liberty, Dolan? I think a toddler should have the freedom to attend a Catholic Church without having nude pictures taken of her — and the molester who took the photos shouldn't freely walk away without paying the consequences. Of course, what else could we expect from Dolan? According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The Archdiocese of Milwaukee confirmed that it [under Dolan's leadership] paid suspected pedophile priests to surrender their clerical collars, after a document surfaced in its bankruptcy discussing a 2003 proposal to pay $20,000 to "unassignable priests" who accept laicization.

I'm sure a $20,000 "pedophile parachute" could buy a creepy used van with tinted windows and a bucketful of lollypops. When it comes to talking about sexual morality, Timothy Dolan is the last person on the planet I'd listen to. Any bishop that places an institution over the welfare of children ought to be institutionalized – and at the very least praying for the church's victims, instead of playing religious liberty victim at political rallies.

---

Wayne Besen is a columnist and author of the book "Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth."

Michael Baker

• 3 days ago 

The Catholic Church lost the ability to be the moral authority long ago. Ironic that the assembly line deaths of millions, they were mostly Jews, was allowed without comment but the refusal of the "celibate," male-only hierarchy cannot deal with women wanting to control their own bodies. Pedophilia remains a problem within the Church because too many of the Bishops and Cardinals that rule it have this skeleton in their own closets. With the unnatural suppression of desire and companionship, plus the demonetization of homosexuality, is it any wonder that priest have turned to pedophilia. Plus the priesthood provides the perfect cover - normal access to children. Until the Church cleans its own house, and until there is a wholesale change in the leadership of the Church throughout the world, it remains a cancer in the world.

Jeannie Guzman

• 3 days ago 

I continually ask myself, "How gullible can the public continue to be?" Dolan, is supposed to be America's top Cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church, which means that he should exhibit the "Gift of Discernment" more than most prelates, and yet he sets up a fund to give known Pedophile Priests, a golden parachute, to leave the priesthood, because they are NOW considered to be "Unassignable," whereas in the past, they were just secretly shuffled from one unsuspecting parish to another....... only to prey on more children and teens with the blessings of their bishops, archbishops and Cardinal! This is disgustingly sick! I'm glad that I left the Church long, long ago!

===========

The Bishop Robert Finn saga

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter
by Phyllis Zagano on Sep. 12, 2012 Just Catholic
One great mystery of Catholicism may be solved soon: how long does it take for something to get from Missouri to the pope’s desk?

While the best way to boost a bishop’s reputation is for The New York Times to call for his removal, the Bishop Robert Finn saga is clearly over the top. Only the most churchy of church types support his staying as bishop of Kansas City,-St. Joseph, Mo., where he was judged guilty of a misdemeanor in not reporting the very strange priest he had sent to a convent.

The good news is Finn got a bench trial -- no testimony, no jury -- sparing us all the agony of hearing yet again about a bishop who does not (or at least did not) “get it” about pederasty and its relatives. The bad news is despite detailed coverage in the National Catholic Reporter, some first-day-of-school articles in major media and that Times editorial, the story has faded. Finn remains in place.

So, how long will it take? Will anything happen?

Kansas City bishop's guilty verdict raises national questions

UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter
Sep. 11, 2012
By Joshua J. McElwee
The conviction last week of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., Bishop Robert Finn for failing to report suspected child abuse indicates that "clearly there is a problem" with how the procedures adopted by the U.S. church to protect children are being used, a key adviser to the U.S. bishops on the issue said Monday.

Central to that problem, said Al Notzon III, chairman of the U.S. bishops' National Review Board for clergy sex abuse, is the question of accountability for bishops who do not comply with the norms and conditions the body of bishops agreed to 10 years ago. The procedures are spelled out in the U.S. bishops' Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.

One of Notzon's predecessors on the review board, Judge Michael Merz, called the Finn case "a serious embarrassment to the church."
"How can you continue to preach that the charter is effective if, in fact, these types of things continue to happen?" Merz asked.

Notzon told NCR on Monday he planned to bring up the problem with the full review board, then make recommendations to the U.S. bishops.

=== 
News updates for October 13, 2012

Bishop Finn : Church Leaders Being Church Leaders?

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Legal Examiner
Mike Bryant
Attorney

The plea of Rev. Shawn Ratigan last month to production of child pornography was a major step in the prosecution of priests who have been involved in the abuse of children. What has been revealing is the deposition testimony of Julie Creech, the IT director for the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph. In the deposition, she described confronting Finn about the naked images of young girls she found on Ratigan's computer.

"Finn did indicate that...sometimes priests do things they shouldn't," Creech said in the deposition. "He said, 'Sometimes boys will be boys.'"

Since this deposition, Creech did release the following statementthrough her lawyers:

The statement Julie Creech attributed to Bishop Finn during her deposition that “boys will be boys” is not consistent with her recollection of any conversations she had with the bishop concerning the Shawn Ratigan matter. Following the deposition, Julie realized she had misspoken. She understood that pursuant to the rules of civil practice, she would receive a copy of the deposition transcript and have the opportunity to acknowledge and correct her mistaken testimony. Because the deposition was so recently completed, Julie has not yet had a chance to do that, so we were certainly surprised to learn that an unverified copy of her testimony was attached to a pleading in a civil case.
It will be interesting what happens the next time she testifies. As with any deposition testimony, what she said was taken under oath. Seems like a very significant quote that shouldn't have been said or offered lightly. It could be confirmation of the very attitudes that have gotten the Church in so much trouble.
So it will be expected that the usual apologists will defend it as being a misstatement. However, when it goes to the very heart of the problem, doesn't it seem to have the type of admission against interest that often gets defendants in trouble? Is it a look into the very nature and sickness that explains why this problem doesn't go away?

Jeff Anderson took a look at the issue over at his blog with :

Bishop Finn says “boys will be boys;” Priests will abuse kids until the Pope acts, says Jeff Anderson
As Jeff points out, it is important that the Pope address this conviction and this cavalier response because the Church needs to make sure that a response like this will never be tolerated.

They needed to use the zero tolerance doctrine to shine light on what happened and to ensure that it would never happen again. They need to not move priests around and to quit putting them in situations which allow great access to kids. They needed to stop hiding.

Abuse of children and the continued silence by the offenders needs to be prevented. If you suffered, saw, or suspected such events, it is important to know that there is help out there.

Tags: Julie Creech, Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Rev. Shawn Ratigan, Bishop Finn, Bishop Conference, Holy See, Pope, Vatican, sexual assault, priest abuse, Catholic Church, assault, clergy abuse, pedophile,Child Safety

The Future of Bishop Robert Finn

KANSAS CITY (MO)
KCUR

By Stephen Steigman and Steve Kraske

The Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph is still reeling from Bishop Robert Finn's conviction this month for failing to report child sexual abuse.

Members of a national Catholic organization -- the National Survivor Advocates Coalition -- on Sunday demanded that Finn resign. A spokeswoman for that group said simply, "A criminally convicted bishop cannot lead."

The bishop is the highest-ranking U.S. Catholic cleric to be convicted in the church’s decades-long child sexual abuse scandal.

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2012/09/

Catholic group calls for KC Bishop Finn to resign

KANSAS CITY (MO)
San Antonio Express-News
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A national Catholic organization is pushing for Bishop Robert Finn to resign after he became the highest-ranking U.S. church official convicted of a crime related to the child sexual abuse scandal.

The Kansas City Star (http://bit.ly/Nxevak ) reported that the National Survivor Advocates Coalition made the demand during a news conference Sunday in downtown Kansas City. Coalition chairwoman Kristine Ward says a criminally convicted bishop "cannot lead."

Finn leads the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph. He was convicted earlier this month of one misdemeanor for failing to report child abuse suspicions.

The charges stem from a case in which church officials knew about child porn photos on a priest's computer but didn't turn him in until six months later.

Catholic group calls for KC Bishop Robert Finn to resign

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star
By KAREN DILLON
The Kansas City Star
Members of a national Catholic organization on Sunday demanded the resignation of Bishop Robert W. Finn, who was convicted this month of failing to report child sexual abuse.
The National Survivor Advocates Coalition, which has its headquarters in Dayton, Ohio, held a news conference at Barney Allis Plaza in downtown Kansas City — in the shadow of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception — to make its demand.
“A criminally convicted bishop cannot lead. Bishop Finn must resign or be removed by Pope Benedict,” said coalition chairwoman Kristine Ward. “Every hour he remains bishop revictimizes survivors and their families.”
Finn, who is head of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, is the highest-ranking U.S. Catholic cleric to be convicted in the church’s decades-long child sexual abuse scandal. 

September 16, 2012

National survivor's group asks Bishop Robert Finn to resign

KANSAS CITY (MO)
KSHB

[with video]

By: Lisa Benson

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A national survivor's group is calling for Bishop Robert Finn to resign from the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City - St. Joseph. The group believes Finn's criminal conviction leaves him unfit to lead diocese.

Kristine Ward is the chair of the National Survivor Advocates Coalition (NSAC). She and a group of demonstrators met at Barney Allis Plaza to lay out their demand and march to the the Kansas City - St. Joseph diocese.

Ward called for Catholics to send a message with their feet and their wallets.

"We are asking them to not give their money in collection baskets until Bishop Finn resigns," Ward said. "Put it in escrow or give it directly to survivor organizations."

NSAC supporters met Finn supporters in front of the diocese offices. Finn supporters, like Tessa Hatler, want Finn to stay.

Posted by Kathy Shaw at 9:09 PM

GUILTY verdict! Bishop Finn must resign...

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Pope Crimes & Vatican Evils...

Paris Arrow

Updated September 16, 2012

There was a Walk the Talk to make Bishop Finn resign today in Kansas City, see news updates below. We will see how they will succeed like us Bostonians who ousted Cardinal Bernard Law to leave Boston forever, out of sight and out of our land. The problem of course is how, the last Tsar of the Vatican, Benedict XVI will try to protect his live Achilles Heel Bishop Finn, just like John Paul II protected his Achilles Heel Cardinal Bernard Law.

Posted by Kathy Shaw at 6:50 PM

Questions raised over Kansas City bishop's 'boys will be boys' comment

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter
Aug. 31, 2012 
By Joshua J. McElwee
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- When the computer systems manager of the Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., diocese told her bishop, Robert Finn, that she had found lewd images of children on a priest's laptop, he replied, "Sometimes boys will be boys," according to sworn testimony that appears in court documents filed Thursday.

Diocesan employee Julie Creech's statement was taken as part of a deposition included in a court filing for a lawsuit brought by two alleged victims of Fr. Shawn Ratigan, a Kansas City priest who pleaded guilty earlier this month to federal charges of producing and attempting to produce sexually graphic material of minor girls.

However, after Creech's quote was reported in local media, her lawyer said Creech refuted the statement. After the deposition, Creech realized she had "misspoken" and hoped to correct her mistake when she received a copy of the deposition to verify her testimony, said John Grombowsky, Creech's attorney.

Grombowsky said the deposition was made public before Creech had a chance to review and correct it. 
Ratigan's May 2011 arrest on pornography charges raised questions about when his diocese and Finn first became aware of concerns against him. County prosecutors say both Finn and the diocese should have reported Ratigan to police as early as December 2010, when they acknowledge becoming aware of lewd images of children on his laptop.

KC diocese worker: 'Boys will be boys' a mistake

KANSAS CITY (MO)
San Antonio Express-News
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — An employee of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph is backing away from her sworn testimony that the bishop said "boys will be boys" when told of lewd images on a priest's laptop.

The diocese's computer director, Julie Creech, said during a deposition earlier this month in a civil lawsuit that Bishop Robert Finn made the statement.

The Kansas City Star reports Friday (http://bit.ly/Px5mM9 ) that Creech's attorney now says his client had "misspoken."

MO- SNAP responds to Bishop Finn’s awful remarks

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
Posted by Barbara Dorris on August 30, 2012 
What an awful, hurtful way to respond to the heinous crimes of Fr. Shawn Ratigan.
Ms. Creech was under oath and she’s an employee of Bishop Finn’s diocese. So she has no incentive whatsoever to distort Bishop Finn’s callous remarks.

And Finn’s remarks weren’t that long ago. So it’s hard to believe Ms. Creech memory is somehow blurred by the passage of time.

Much like comments by two high profile New York Catholic officials – by Fr. Benedict Groeschel, earlier this week and by Cardinal Edward Egan earlier this year – Bishop Finn’s words show how little has changed in the Catholic hierarchy when it comes to clergy sex crimes and cover ups. 

Deposition: Bishop Said ‘Boys Will Be Boys’ About Pictures

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Fox 4
Posted on: 9:37 pm, August 30, 2012, by Michelle Pekarsky and Robert Townsend, updated on: 10:48pm, August 30, 2012
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — According to court documents filed Thursday in Jackson County Circuit Court, an employee of the diocese stated in a deposition that she recalled Bishop Robert Finn saying “boys will be boys” during a discussion about pictures found on the computer of a priest now charged with child pornography.

Julie Creech, Director of Management and Information Systems for the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, said she met with Bishop Robert Finn and expressed her concerns about the lewd images found on a laptop computer that belonged to Father Shawn Ratigan.

She gave her deposition two weeks ago in connection with a civil suit filed against Ratigan, Finn and the diocese. Creech claims when she approached Bishop Finn, the bishop replied “Sometimes priests do things they shouldn’t,” and “Sometimes boys will be boys.”

It is unclear if Bishop Finn had actually seen the images on Ratigan’s computer when he had this conversation with Creech.

New details released in church abuse case

KANSAS CITY (MO)
KCTV
By Laura McCallister, Multimedia Producer

KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -
"Boys will be boys."

That's what the head of the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese apparently said over concerns about a priest with lewd images of children on his laptop.

KCTV5's reporting partners at the Kansas City Star obtained court documents in the abuse case against Reverend Shawn Ratigan. Records said Bishop Robert Finn also said "sometimes priests do things they shouldn't."

Ratigan is accused of abusing a 9-year-old girl months after the diocese learned about the photos on the laptop. At the beginning of August, Ratigan entered a guilty plea to child pornography charges.

Finn and the diocese are facing misdemeanor charges for failing to report the suspected abuse to police.

Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests or SNAP issued the following response in regards to the new details:What an awful, hurtful way to respond to the heinous crimes of Fr. Shawn Ratigan. 
Ms. Creech was under oath and she's an employee of Bishop Finn's diocese. So she has no incentive whatsoever to distort Bishop Finn's callous remarks. 
And Finn's remarks weren't that long ago. So it's hard to believe Ms. Creech memory is somehow blurred by the passage of time.

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTrackerArchive/2012/08

'Boys will be boys,' Bishop Finn purportedly said after being told of priest's lewd photos

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

By JUDY THOMAS and MARK MORRIS
The Kansas City Star

When confronted by the diocese’s computer director about her concerns over lewd images found on a priest’s laptop, Bishop Robert Finn replied that, “Sometimes priests do things they shouldn’t,” court papers filed Thursday alleged.

“Sometimes, boys will be boys,” the bishop is purported to have said, court records show.

Julie Creech, the director of management and information systems for the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, described her meeting with the bishop during an Aug. 17 deposition in a Jackson County civil case. According to that lawsuit, the Rev. Shawn Ratigan abused a 9-year-old girl months after the diocese learned of the photos on his computer.

Finn and the diocese are scheduled for a criminal trial starting Sept. 24 on misdemeanor counts of failing to report Ratigan’s suspected abuse of children. Ratigan is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty in federal court earlier this month to producing and attempting to produce child pornography.

Accused KC Catholic bishop: 'Boys will be boys'

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Sacramento Bee

The Associated Press

Published: Thursday, Aug. 30, 2012

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- An employee of the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph says the bishop commented that "boys will be boys" when he was told about lewd images of children on a priest's laptop computer.

The Kansas City Star (http://bit.ly/OCj2rF) reports that diocese computer director Julie Creech described her conversation with Bishop Robert Finn during an Aug. 17 deposition. A partial transcript of the deposition was filed Thursday in a civil lawsuit in Jackson County Circuit Court.

That lawsuit alleges the Rev. Shawn Ratigan abused a 9-year-old girl months after the diocese learned of the photos on his computer.

PHONY PETITION v. BISHOP FINN  (VATICAN PIED PIPER BILL DONOHUE TRYING TO SALVAGE BISHOP FINN FROM RESIGNING - GO TO HELL WITH JOHN PAUL II GOLIATH-BILL!!!)

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Catholic League
Bill Donohue comments on a petition drive against Bishop Robert Finn of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph:

Approximately 100,000 persons have signed a petition demanding the resignation of Bishop Robert Finn. It’s a phony exercise.

The petition is found on the website of change.org, home to mostly left-wing activists. Anyone can sign it—you don’t have to be Catholic or from Finn’s diocese. For example, almost 7,400 signatures were sent to the diocese, and all but approximately 150 were from outside the area. Of the signatories online, activists from foreign countries have signed. In short, there is no grassroots rebellion against Bishop Finn.

We know who Bishop Finn’s enemies are: the Kansas City Star and the National Catholic Reporter (both are located in Kansas City, Missouri). They are the real source behind this phony petition drive: Both have been beating the drum calling for Finn to resign. It is not child sexual abuse that angers them, it is where it takes place and under whose purview it is.

Thousands Sign Online Petition Urging Resignation of Bishop Finn

MISSOURI
St. Joe Channel
[with video]
By: Safiya Songhai
Updated: October 1, 2012
(KANSAS CITY, Mo) He is the first leader in the Catholic Church to ever be convicted of concealing a sexual abuse crime.
Now some members of the church not only want Bishop Robert Finn to resign his position as leader of the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese, they are putting their names on the dotted line.
Nearly 90,000 people have signed an online petition urging Bishop Finn to resign. 
The petition is posted on the website change.org and organizers hope to appeal to the top leaders of the church, all the way to Italy.

Bishop’s Conviction Affirms Church Accountability

KANSAS CITY (MO)

Americans United for Separation of Church and State

October 2012
AU Bulletin 

A high-ranking Kansas bishop has been convicted of failing to report suspicions of child abuse, affirming the church hierarchy’s accountability in its infamous child sex-abuse scandal.

On Sept. 6, Bishop Robert Finn, head of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, became the highest-ranking U.S. Catholic official convicted as a result of the child sex-abuse scandal. Finn was found guilty because of his handling of the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, who stored hundreds of lewd photos of young girls on his laptop computer, the Kansas City Star said.

Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker was pleased with Finn’s conviction.

According to the Religion News Service (RNS), she said, “The bottom line today is that finding by the court, a finding of guilt, means the diocese and whoever is its leader must adhere to the very clear legal requirements regarding protection of children.”

October 4, 2012

Pedofilia, condannato vescovo USA

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Radio Maria

Il vescovo della diocesi di Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri, Robert W. Finn, 59 anni, è il primo vescovo della Chiesa cattolica a subire una condanna per aver coperto casi di pedofilia nella sua diocesi.

Il caso, che è stato tenuto nascosto dal vescovo per oltre cinque mesi, riguarda il sacerdote Shawn Rattigan, di Independence, nel Missouri, reo confesso in un altro processo appena concluso di cinque atti di pedofilia e detenzione di materiale pedo pornografico all’interno del suo computer.

Bishop's conviction could compound legal problems for Kansas City diocese

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star

By JUDY L. THOMAS
The Kansas City Star

The legal arena has become a sort of second home to the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese — but hardly a sanctuary.

Bishop Robert Finn’s criminal misdemeanor conviction this past summer for failing to report suspected child abuse involving the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, analysts say, could dramatically undercut the diocese’s defense against mounting civil lawsuits.

More than two dozen pending cases allege offenses ranging from sexual abuse by priests to wrongful death.

The Ratigan case triggered a new wave of litigation.

“Now that Bishop Finn has (been convicted), the diocese is at absolute risk,” said Patrick Wall, a canon lawyer and former Roman Catholic priest who has worked on behalf of clergy sexual abuse victims for a decade.

==================

News update for March 21, 2013

Action Alert Regarding Bishop Finn, by Kristine Ward

UNITED STATES
National Survivor Advocates Coalition
Posted on March 22, 2013

The National Survivor Advocates Coalition (NSAC) has taken a strong stand that it is an imperative part of true healing in the Church regarding the sexual abuse crisis that criminally convicted Bishop Robert Finn who still heads the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph in Missouri must resign or be removed.

We admire the work that Jeff Weis, the creator of the Bishop Finn petition (www.BishopFinnPetition.com), has done. The petition currently has 111,030 signers.

Today, we ask our readers to take action and support an email campaign that  Jeff has begun in connection with a provincial meeting of all of the Roman Catholic Bishops of the dioceses in Missouri this Sunday and Monday. Archbishop Robert J. Carlson of the Archdiocese of St. Louis will preside at this meeting.

The email asks Archbishop Carlson to speak with Bishop Finn during the meeting of the Roman Catholic Bishops of the dioceses in Missouri this Sunday and Monday to “counsel Bishop Finn to make the right and just decision in helping the people of the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese to start the healing process by his resignation.”

Archbishop Carlson email address is: ABP@archstl.org

Jeff’s provided the following suggested text. He encourages the writer to send his or her “own thoughtful request as this journey is a very personal one for so many.” He adds, “I understand the need to present your own words but encourage you to help me present a united front with this very important issue.”

Here is the suggested text:

Dear Archbishop Carlson,

Your Excellency, I am contacting you today with the hope that you will listen to the pleas of those in Missouri who have grievous concerns with the moral aptitude of Bishop Robert Finn to continue to lead the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph. This is in regard to Bishop Finn’s conviction last fall of a misdemeanor for failure to report suspicion of child abuse as mandated by the State of Missouri. 

It is my hope that you and all of the Missouri Roman Catholic Bishops take the time over the weekend to address our concerns with Bishop Finn. With the election of Pope Francis I am looking forward to a new openness in the church and the renewal of faith to do the right thing for all, especially the children; the future of our church.  

NSAC believes this issue involves Catholics in and outside of Missouri.

We appreciate you as a NSAC News subscriber.

We ask for your action. The Church needs it. Children need it.

Please email now. Don’t think you’ll come back to it later today or tomorrow. Life has a funny way of coming up with all kinds of things to get you off your intended path.

It will only take a minute. Really.

It doesn’t take much. You don’t have to take a shower and get dressed, scrub a floor, shovel a driveway, go anywhere, make a speech, change clothes, find a telephone number or an email address (see above).
Please just do it.

Thank you.

— Kristine Ward, Chair, National Survivor Advocates Coalition, (NSAC)KristineWard@hotmail.com

=========================
 News for December 4, 2013

MO - Victim appeals “bizarre” ruling

MISSOURI
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

It involves KC Catholic officials & priest

Church says it’s not responsible for crimes

Their rationale: abuse happened on private property

SNAP: “It’s perhaps the worst legal tactic by bishop ever”

For immediate release: Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2013

For more info: David Clohessy ( 314 566 9790 cell, SNAPclohessy@aol.com ), Barbara Dorris ( 314 503 0003, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )

A man who says he was sexually assaulted as a child by a priest is asking the Missouri Supreme Court to reverse a ruling that ended his civil lawsuit against Kansas City Catholic officials. Clergy sex abuse victims called the court decision “bizarre” and are harshly criticizing Bishop Robert Finn for his defense tactics in the litigation.

Two weeks ago, a western Missouri appeals court tossed out the case of John Doe D.T. v. the Kansas City Catholic diocese and Fr. Michael Tierney. The court ruled that Catholic officials could not be held responsible for the priest’s supposed child sex crimes because they allegedly occurred on private property, not church property.

“The blame here squarely lies with Bishop Robert Finn. He could have fought this case on the merits. Instead, he’s fighting it on technicalities, and in fact, on the most absurd technicality: where Fr. Tierney and his victim were standing when Fr. Tierney sodomized the child,” said Barbara Dorris of SNAP.

“Imagine a painting company sending a known rapist out to paint your mom’s house. He rapes her. Would the painter’s boss get ‘off the hook’ because the rape wasn’t on company property?” said Dorris.“Why should the physical site of a crime enable wrongdoers who commit or conceal that crime to escape responsibility?”
  
According to history, iIn 1909 in Adria, Italy, “Several thousand fanatical Catholics nearly stoned their bishop to death.” What triggered this? The pope (Pius X) instructed the bishop to move the seat of the diocese to the more important city of Rovigio. One might assume the Catholic citizens of Adria felt they were losing their prominence. So, for the pelting of their prelate, the pope pronounced an interdict on Adria and the surrounding area.


News updates for February 21, 2014

Kansas City Catholics call for the removal of bishop...

KANSAS CITY (MO)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Kansas City Catholics call for the removal of bishop who knew about pedophile priest
By Lilly Fowler lfowler@post-dispatch.com 314-340-82210

The New York Times is reporting on a group of Roman Catholics in Kansas City that are calling on Pope Francis to discipline Bishop Robert W. Finn. As NYT reporter Laurie Goodstein explains, Finn was convicted of failing to report a pedophile priest in 2012.
Apparently, the Catholic Church still has no policy about what to do about bishops who fail to report suspected abuse to civil authorities.
Finn knew that Rev. Shawn Ratigan kept hundreds of pornographic pictures of young girls – some toddler age -- on his laptop, yet failed to let authorities know. While Finn was only given a two-year probation, Ratigan was sentenced to 50 years in prison.

Group rallies against Bishop Finn

KANSAS CITY (MO)
KMBZ
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Some area Catholics want to see Bishop Robert Finn removed from his position. They held a rally outside the diocesan offices in downtown Monday afternoon.
"Either the Pope, the nuncio, the cardinal or the archbishop in St. Louis should come back and say 'we're going to ask you to resign'," Sister Jeanne Christensen told KMBZ's Bill Grady.
"Bottom line: we'd be very happy if he'd leave this diocese."
Finn has headed the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese since 2005. In 2012, he was convicted of failing to report suspected child abuse. A priest under his supervision, former priest Shawn Ratigan, will serve 50 years in the child sexual abuse case. Finn got two years supervised probation.

 

Local nun joins in appeal to discipline Bishop Finn

KANSAS CITY (MO)
KSHB
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - In a rare move, a local nun is joining the appeal to the Pope to discipline their bishop.
Holding a sidewalk news conference outside the Kansas City Catholic Diocesan headquarters downtown, they said Bishop Robert Finn needs to be punished.
They say he mishandled complaints against a priest who admitted to taking pornographic photos of young parishioners.
Sister Jeanne Christensen was once a church insider helping victims, but now she's revealing continuing failures by Finn.

Kansas City Catholics ask Pope Francis to investigate bishop

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter
Brian Roewe | Feb. 18, 2014
KANSAS CITY, MO. Catholics here formally asking Pope Francis to conduct a canonical review of Bishop Robert Finn say the church's lack of response to his misdemeanor conviction has caused further spiritual harm to the diocese.
"Civil law has done what civil law can do. The church has done nothing in terms of calling Bishop Finn to accountability. He continues as bishop as if nothing really ever happened," said Mercy Sr. Jeanne Christensen, a former victims' advocate for the diocese co-heading the appeal. She spoke at a press conference Monday outside the diocesan offices.
The Kansas City Catholics' petition, dated Feb. 11, represents a formal request that the Vatican initiate a penal process to determine whether Finn violated church law by failing to report suspected child sexual abuse in connection to Fr. Shawn Ratigan.
In September, Ratigan was sentenced to 50 years in prison on child pornography charges; a year earlier, a Jackson County, Mo., court convicted Finn of a misdemeanor for failing to report and sentenced him to two years of probation. To avoid a similar charge in Clay County, Mo., Finn entered an agreement that requires him to meet monthly with the county prosecutor for five years.

 

Catholics hope letters sent to the Vatican will help oust Bishop Finn

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Fox 4
[with video]
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — For years Catholics around the metro have signed petitions to have their voices heard about the hurt they feel with Bishop Robert Finn as head of the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.
With the help of a former priest who has expertise in canon law, that’s the church law, they hope letters sent to Rome will make their way to Pope Francis. He has the authority to ask for Bishop Finn to step down.
When Bishop Finn was convicted in 2012 for failing to report a priest involved in child pornography, it was viewed as a victory for some victims. However, the guilty plea did not force the bishop step down as head of the diocese as some had hoped.
“There’s been no discipline or retribution from within the church structure, and yet he allowed children to continue to be abused after he knew he didn’t report,” former victim advocate Jeanne Christensen said.
There are more than 100,000 people who have signed a petition calling for Bishop Finn to step down. So far, that pressure has not pushed the bishop out.

Catholics Urge Pope to Remove Bishop Who Ignored Child Sex Abuser

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Religion Dispatches
Post by PATRICIA MILLER
Less than two weeks after the Vatican complained that it wasn’t its handling of child sex abuse cases that was problematic but a UN report that dared to dive into matters of Catholic doctrine, a group of Catholics from Kansas City, MO, has petitioned Pope Francis to remove a bishop found guilty of concealing pedophilia, the New York Times reports.
The request was made by 13 parishioners, a nun who coordinated victims’ assistance for the Kansas City diocese, and a priest, the Rev. James Connell. It was backed by an online petition signed by 113,000 Catholics. They asked Pope Francis to remove Bishop Robert Finn, who was convicted in 2012 of a misdemeanor charge of failing to report a priest who had pornographic images of children on his computer. The priest is currently serving 50 years for taking the pictures but Finn remains in place as the head of the diocese.
The UN report said that the Vatican’s failure to remove bishops who facilitated pedophilia by failing to report it or moving abusers from parish to parish was one of the major unresolved problems of the church’s handling of the child sex abuse scandal.

 

Protests call for action against KC Bishop Robert Finn

KANSAS CITY (MO)
KMBC
[with video]
KANSAS CITY, Mo. —A group of activists is calling on Pope Francis to take action against Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn over his role in the sex abuse scandal in Kansas City's Catholic Church.
Finn was convicted on a misdemeanor count of not immediately reporting a priest who was accused in a child pornography case. That priest, Shawn Ratigan, is now serving 50 years in prison for having sexually graphic pictures of young girls on his computer.
Finn's critics gathered outside the local Catholic headquarters Monday.
James McConnell said he was about to become a deacon, but went to Finn to tell him that he could not serve under him.
"I told him I could not go before him and promise respect and obedience as required for ordination," he said.

KC Catholics among those seeking Finn sanctions

KANSAS CITY (MO)
KCTV
Posted by Chris Oberholtz, Multimedia Producer
By DeAnn Smith, Digital Content Manager
KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV/AP) -
Roman Catholics in the Kansas City area have joined a formal request to Pope Francis to discipline Bishop Robert Finn, who was convicted in 2012 of failing to report a priest involved in child pornography.
An online petition signed by more than 110,000 people worldwide asking for Finn's removal was also sent to the Vatican. The petition asks for Finn's resignation.
Others want Pope Francis to initiate a "canonical penal process" against the area's top bishop.
Finn, the head of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, was placed on two years of court-supervised probation after pleading guilty to the misdemeanor charge.
The case was related to Finn's handling of complaints against the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, a priest who admitted taking lewd photographs of young parishioners. Ratigan was sentenced to 50 years in federal prison and 21 years in state prison after pleading guilty to child pornography charges.

Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:26 PM

US: Calls for Pope Francis to discipline bishop convicted for failing to report paedophile priest

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Independent Catholic News (UK)
Posted: Monday, February 17, 2014

A petition signed by more than 113,000 people, and a letter from a group of parishioners and religious in Kansas City, Missouri, has been sent to Pope Francis this week urging him to take disciplinary action against Bishop Robert W Finn, who was convicted in 2012 of failing to report a priest who was an active paedophile, the Kansas City Star and New York Times report.
Bishop Finn was found guilty on a misdemeanour charge for failing to inform authorities after he learned there were hundreds of pornographic pictures of young girls and toddlers on a laptop belonging to Fr Shawn Ratigan. He was given two years of court-supervised probation. Ratigan has begun a 50-year prison sentence.
The group ask why Pope Francis suspended a German bishop who spent many millions of Euros building his luxurious quarters, but left in office a bishop who failed to protect children. They argue that Bishop Finn also broke church law and should be subject to a penal proceeding.
The request to the Pope was initiated by Fr James E Connell, a priest and canon lawyer in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, who belongs to a newly-formed group of Catholic priests, religious and laypeople called Catholic Whistleblowers.
Father Connell cited Canon 1389 in the church’s Code of Canon Law, which says that a person who through 'culpable negligence' harms another person by performing or omitting his 'ecclesiastical power' is to be given a 'just penalty'. Fr Connell said he cited this canon because it was recently mentioned by Bishop Charles Scicluna, the Vatican’s former chief prosecutor, as a means of holding church officials accountable.

Woman Wants Priest Removed From Catholic Church

KANSAS CITY (MO)
My Fox Orlando

[with video]

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -
Bishop Robert Finn was placed on court-supervised probation in 2012 after being caught in the middle of a sex scandal, but some parishioners believe the crime is more punishable than that.

Liz Donnelly, a life-long Catholic, wants Bishop Finn removed from his post. She, 13 other parishioners, a priest, a nun, and 113,000 signatures on a petition want the matter taken directly to Pope Francis.

"The Catholic Church is built on peace and justice principles, yet within the church there's not justice," said Donnelly. "I think we're meant to stand up for what we believe in. If we don't speak out, we can't sit in the pews and grumble."

Donnelly has left her church and does not provide them any money. Leaving the church was not an easy decision, but she plans to return if Bishop Finn leaves.

Catholics in Kansas City area among those seeking discipline for bishop

KANSAS CITY (MO)
News-Leader
Written by
Associated Press
KANSAS CITY — Roman Catholics in the Kansas City area have joined a formal request to Pope Francis to discipline Bishop Robert Finn, who was convicted in 2012 of failing to report a priest involved in child pornography.
An online petition signed by more than 113,000 people worldwide asking for Finn’s removal also was sent to the Vatican, The Kansas City Star reported.
Finn, the head of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, was placed on two years of court-supervised probation after pleading guilty to the misdemeanor charge.
The case was related to Finn’s handling of complaints against the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, a priest who admitted taking lewd photographs of young parishioners. Ratigan was sentenced to 50 years in federal prison and 21 years in state prison after pleading guilty to child pornography charges.

Call for Vatican to discipline Bishop Finn sprung from Kansas Citian’s effort

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star
February 17
BY MARY SANCHEZ
The Kansas City Star
If you doubt the power of one person, listen to what happens when one soul is motivated by faith.
The Vatican, maybe even Pope Francis himself, may at long last hear the concerns of many Catholics within the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese. Parishioners here have seen their diocese battered financially, their churches unfairly tarnished by the sins of pedophile priests. For too long, that hurt was intensified rather than lightened by the underwhelming response of church leadership.
In that way, lifelong Kansas City area Catholic Jeff Weis was in sync with many people who watched when Bishop Robert Finn was found guilty of failure to report suspected child abuse in 2012. The charge against Finn involved the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, who was found was guilty of child pornography charges and sentenced to 50 years.
Weis thought Finn would resign. After all, this was the same bishop who promised change after he ushered through a $10 million settlement on behalf of the diocese to 47 victims and their families. But nothing happened.

KC Catholics among those seeking Finn sanctions

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Beaumont Enterprise
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Roman Catholics in the Kansas City area have joined a formal request to Pope Francis to discipline Bishop Robert Finn, who was convicted in 2012 of failing to report a priest involved in child pornography.
An online petition signed by more than 113,000 people worldwide asking for Finn's removal also was sent to the Vatican, The Kansas City Star (http://bit.ly/1nCmwb8) reported.
Finn, the head of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, was placed on two years of court-supervised probation after pleading guilty to the misdemeanor charge.
The case was related to Finn's handling of complaints against the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, a priest who admitted taking lewd photographs of young parishioners. Ratigan was sentenced to 50 years in federal prison and 21 years in state prison after pleading guilty to child pornography charges.

MO--Whistleblowers ask Pope to discipline Bishop Finn

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Saturday, Feb. 15
Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 862 7688 home, 314 503 0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )
A Catholic priest, nun and parishioners have filed formal charges with the church headquarters in Rome against Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn for his illegal and hurtful recklessness, callousness and deceit in the horirific case of a serial predator priest.
[The New York Times]

We are deeply grateful to these brave individuals and wish them success. Far too many church employees and members do little or nothing to seek justice and prevent cover ups, even when kids are severely hurt because ofirresponsible prelates.
Catholics are not powerless. They should not pretend to be. This determined group is showing real courage and compassion. Again, we are grateful that they are taking action to safeguard kids by seeking discipline for an egregious wrongdoer.
Bishop Finn should be punished because it is unjust for him to escape consequences for his selfish and hurtful deceptions. And he should also be punished because that's the best way to deter other bishops in the future from putting their reputations ahead of the safety of children.
We are skeptical of internal church processes and believe that all clergy sex crimes and cover ups should be reported to secular officials. In this case, however, our justice system has done what it can. But he remains in office.

Group asks Pope Francis to suspend KC Bishop Robert Finn

KANSAS CITY (MO)
KMBC
KANSAS CITY, Mo. —A group of Catholics is calling on Pope Francis to take action against Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn.
A priest, nun and local parishioners have filed a formal request with the church to suspend Finn.
In 2012, Finn was convicted of a misdemeanor charge of failing to report a priest who was involved in child pornography. He remains the bishop in the Kansas City and St. Joseph diocese.
The complaint said Finn's actions also broke church laws.

 

Kansas City Catholics urge the pope to discipline Bishop Finn

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Fox 4
[with video]
February 15, 2014, by Kerri Stowell and Kasey Babbitt
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — a group of Roman Catholics are taking a rare step. They’re urging the pope to remove a local bishop from his post. They have been writing letters and signing a petition which will be going straight to Pope Francis.
It’s a story which is making headlines again. Bishop Robert Finn was caught in the middle of a sex abuse scandal and placed on court-supervised probation in 2012. Some parishioners, like Liz Donnelly, don’t believe it’s enough.
“I think we’re meant to stand up for what we believe in. If we don’t speak out, we can’t sit in the pews and grumble,” said Donnelly.
Donnelly, a life-long catholic, wants Bishop Finn removed from his post. She’s one of 13 parishioners, along with a priest, a nun and 113,000 people worldwide writing letters and signing a petition. The documents will be going straight to Pope Francis urging him to make the change.
“The Catholic Church is built on peace and justice principles, yet within the church there’s not justice,” said Donnelly.
Bishop Finn was convicted on a misdemeanor charge of failing to report a priest involved in child pornography.

Kansas City Catholics urge Pope Francis to discipline Bishop Finn

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star
February 15
BY DIANE STAFFORD
The Kansas City Star

A group of Roman Catholics based in Kansas City has taken the rare step of petitioning Pope Francis to discipline Bishop Robert Finn of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

The formal request, initiated by a Milwaukee priest, a nun, and about a dozen parishioners in the Kansas City area, was sent to the Vatican along with an online petition signed by more 113,000 people worldwide asking for the bishop’s removal.

Finn was convicted in 2012 on a misdemeanor charge of failing to report a priest involved in child pornography. Finn was placed on two years of court-supervised probation.

“The priest's crime that Bishop Finn concealed from civil authorities was of great magnitude,” said the Rev. James Connell, a priest and canon lawyer from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, in a letter to the pope.

“Thus, the harm done by Bishop Finn also was of great magnitude. Yet Catholic Church authorities have taken no action against Bishop Finn that would provide justice and repair scandal, and this lack of action adds to the ongoing scandal of the clergy sexual abuse crisis.” ...

“This is quite unusual,” David Clohessy, national director of SNAP, the Survivor Network of those Abused by Priests, said of the petition.“The sad truth is that very rarely are Catholic bishops disciplined, and even more rarely do Catholic lay people initiate such requests.”

A United Nations panel this month scolded the Vatican for not holding bishops accountable when suspected of failing to report abuse. Church officials said the Vatican was discussing the issue and that the pope has formed a commission of child sexual abuse.

Pope Pressed on Bishop Who Supervised Pedophile

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The New York Times
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
FEB. 14, 2014

A group of Roman Catholics in Kansas City, Mo., and a priest with expertise in canon law petitioned Pope Francis this week to take disciplinary action against Bishop Robert W. Finn, who was convicted in 2012 of failing to report a priest who was an active pedophile.

The parishioners wrote to Francis asking why he suspended a German bishop who spent tens of millions building his opulent quarters, but left in office a bishop who failed to protect children. They argued that Bishop Finn also broke church law and should be subject to a penal proceeding.

“Your holiness, these past two years have been extremely painful for the Catholic community in this diocese,” wrote John Veal, one of the parishioners. “The anger and hurt is palpable among many who still attend Catholic liturgy, including many priests who feel helpless to speak out. Many laity have left the Church.”

The Catholic church in the United States instituted policies in 2002 that require reporting suspected abuse to civil authorities, but the church has not resolved what to do about bishops who fail to do so. This month, a United Nations panel on children’s’ rights criticized the Vatican harshly for failing to hold bishops accountable, and the Vatican is discussing the issue, church officials said. .
..
Jack Smith, communications director in the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, said, “Bishop Finn has his supporters and his detractors, and people are free to have their own opinion about what happens here. We remain committed to fostering safe environments in all of our schools and parishes, and we’ve made great strides.”

Mr. Smith said that Bishop Finn’s office had received a copy of the letters and other materials, which were sent Tuesday to the Vatican’s representative in Washington to be forwarded to Francis. The materials included letters from a nun and 13 parishioners in Kansas City, and a petition asking for Bishop Finn’s removal signed by more than 113,000 people worldwide.

FEBRUARY 22, 2014

Apostolic nuncio confirms receipt of Bishop Finn appeal

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter
Brian Roewe | Feb. 21, 2014
KANSAS CITY, MO.

Waiting may prove the hardest part as a petition seeking a canonical review of Bishop Robert Finn is en route to Rome.

Catholics here received notification Friday from the apostolic nuncio to the U.S. that he had received and forwarded to the Vatican their formal request for a canonical penal process investigating Finn, bishop of the Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., diocese.

In his brief, two-sentence letter, dated Feb. 15, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano stated, "I acknowledge receipt of your letter of February 11, 2014 addressed to me. The correspondence which you sent has been forwarded to the Holy See."

In mid-February, the group, in tandem with Fr. Jim Connell, a retired Milwaukee priest and canon lawyer, made the appeal outlining their case that Finn violated church law by not promptly reporting suspicions of child sexual abuse by Fr. Shawn Ratigan. In such a scenario, it states, canon law gives the pope authority to investigate a prelate and, when necessary, enact a "just penalty."

Connell, a member of the victims' advocacy group Catholic Whistleblowers, told NCR Friday he was "delighted" when he found the letter in his mail.

"I am pleased that Archbishop Vigano promptly forwarded the material to the Vatican. It demonstrates that the apostolic nuncio appreciates the importance of our request of Pope Francis concerning Bishop Finn," he said.

As for the next step, Connell said all they can do is wait for the pope to act.

"What else can we do?" he said. "If we don't hear anything in a couple of months, I think it's fair game then that the nuncio hear from us."

In September, Ratigan was sentenced to 50 years in prison on child pornography charges. A year earlier, Finn was convicted of a misdemeanor in a Jackson County, Mo., courtroom and avoided a similar charge that November in nearby Clay County by agreeing to a diversion compliance agreement that includes regular meetings with the county prosecutor for five years.

Clay County Prosecutor Dan White confirmed to NCR Thursday that the bishop continues to meet with him monthly to discuss reported suspicions of alleged abuse of minors, and Finn fulfilled his commitment to meet with each of the county's parishes early on in the agreement.

"I'm happy with the open dialogue that's occurring about anything that comes to [Finn] or the diocese about something in relation to the parishes in the county," White said.

Despite those civil decisions, the appeal Vigano forwarded to the Holy See holds that the church still must address Finn's role in the Ratigan case, which has caused scandal among Kansas City Catholics that is leading people to alter their faith lives.

"Civil law has done what civil law can do. The church has done nothing in terms of calling Bishop Finn to accountability. He continues as bishop as if nothing really ever happened," Mercy Sr. Jeanne Christensen, among those behind the appeal, told local media Monday.

While Christensen and others prefer that Finn resign or is removed as bishop, the appeal offered no suggested action to Pope Francis. Instead, it limited its request that the church address the matter in some way.

Kansas City diocese settles two lawsuits involving the Rev. Shawn Ratigan for $1.8 million

KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star
February 21
BY JUDY L. THOMAS
The Kansas City Star
The Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese has settled two more lawsuits totaling $1.8 million involving a priest now serving prison time for producing child pornography.
Jackson County Circuit Judge Jack Grate on Friday approved a $1.275 million settlement in a lawsuit filed by two parents on behalf of their minor daughter against the diocese, the Rev. Shawn Ratigan and Bishop Robert Finn.
And on Wednesday, Circuit Judge Jim Kanatzar approved a $525,000 settlement in a lawsuit filed last year by two parents and their minor daughter. That suit also named the diocese, Ratigan and Finn as defendants.
In addition, Grate and Kanatzar each entered a $500,000 default judgment against Ratigan, who failed to respond to the lawsuits.
The settlements bring to $3.75 million the total the diocese has paid out so far in cases involving Ratigan.

Posted by Kathy Shaw at 4:33 PM

Kansas City Catholic diocese settles 2 lawsuits involving priest serving time for child porn

KANSAS CITY (MO)
Daily Journal
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First Posted: February 22, 2014
KANSAS CITY, Missouri — The Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St Joseph has settled two lawsuits involving a pedophile priest for a total of $1.8 million.
Jackson County Circuit Judge Jack Grate approved a $1.275 million settlement Friday in a lawsuit filed by two parents on behalf of their minor daughter against the diocese, the Rev. Shawn Ratigan and Bishop Robert Finn.
The Kansas City Star (http://bit.ly/OmYWoQ) reports two days earlier, Circuit Judge Jim Kanatzar approved a $525,000 settlement in a lawsuit filed last year by two parents and their minor daughter.
The two judges each also entered a $500,000 default judgment against Ratigan, who failed to respond to both lawsuits.

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Bill Donohue a vile representation of Catholics. Stop your deflections. Deflections distract from the truth... It's called selfish-salvationhttp://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2010/07/bill-donohue-vile-representation-of.html

CSC Holy Cross Congregation delay $18 million compensation payout. Brother Andre & Saint JOSEPH giant GOLDEN COW STATUES could not help victims of CSC pedophileshttp://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2013/01/csc-holy-cross-congregation-delay-18.html

 

People, please STOP DONATING to the ORATORY and STOP LIGHTING CANDLES to St. Joseph and instead donate your money to Red Cross, Doctors without Borders, your local charities, and the homeless shelters of Montreal.God will listen more to your prayers in your acts of charity because they are better than material candles and money you give to the wealthy billionaire CSC religious Holy Cross family of Saint Brother Andre. If you were to face Christ on Judgement Day today, He will not ask you how many candles you have lit at the Oratory of St. Joseph, but how many poor people you have helped, as He has said, “Whatsoever you do to the least of my brethren, that you have also done to Me.”

  ZEUS GIANT SAINT JOSEPH did NOTHING to stop pedophile priests of the Congregation de Sainte-Croix happening right before his very eyes for 50 years

If you live in Los Angeles, or elsewhere in the USA or in the world, and are planning a “pilgrimage” to the Oratory of St. Joseph or flying to the Vatican, DON'T GO and instead DONATE that pilgrimage money to the Red Cross or your local charity - or sponsor a poor student and pay for his or her school supplies and school lunch for a year, or feed a homeless person for a year at McDonald's,  instead of flying to Montreal to see the Oratory or the Vatican Mammon Beast - and God will listen more to your prayers in your act of mercy rather feeding the Vatican Mammon Beast or St. Joseph Oratory Mammon Beast copying the Vatican Titanic sinking in moral bankruptcy.http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2012/12/oratory-of-st-joseph-copy-vatican.html

Christ like oxygen is free, available and equal to all – reference Quebec Charter of Values http://filipina-nannies-caregivers.blogspot.ca/2013/05/why-filipinos-support-quebec-charter-of.html Jesus is greater than religion Jesus > Religion Crossroads Christian Communications

Jefferson Bethke In Jesus > Religion, Bethke unpacks similar contrasts that he drew inSpoken Word that went viral on Youtube. In his new book, Bethke highlights the differences between teeth gritting and grace, law and love, performance and peace, despair and hope. With refreshing candor he delves into the motivation behind his message, beginning with the unvarnished tale of his own plunge from the pinnacle of a works-based, fake-smile existence that sapped his strength and led him down a path of destructive behavior. Bethke is quick to acknowledge that he’s not a pastor or theologian, but simply a regular, twenty-something who cried out for a life greater than the one for which he had settled. Along his journey, Bethke discoveredthe real Jesus, who beckoned him beyond the props of false religion. JeffBethke.com A REAL WOMAN FOLLOWER of JESUS CHRIST  -- give your money to her mission in Africa and Asia and stop supporting the IDLE POPE FRANCIS Heidi in her element: sitting with the poor   http://www.irisglobal.org/about/history

1. Heidi Baker - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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   Heidi Baker PhD (born 1959) is a Christian missionary and with her husband Rolland are founders of Iris Global and the author of several books. With her ...
   

   
   
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FRANCIS UPDATES:John Allen and Vatican Pied Pipers toot Francis-mania…while Hans Kung points out “the Pope and his ‘double’” shadow pope Ratzinger!

http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2013/09/francis-updates-john-allen-and-vatican.html

The RED DEVIL

The "slimy bastard" Cardinal Bernard Law, those thousands of little boys and little girls who had the grave misfortune of loving and revering this human piece of filth...I’m ashamed to be of the same faith as this evil, malicious creep." But to prove that he is "the Great" John Paul II PAPAL FARTed at us Bostonians and took Cardinal Law to Rome to be the High Priest of the Mother of all Basilicas, that is why Cardinal Law is the Achilles Heel of John Paul II   

read more here http://jp2m.blogspot.ca/2011/05/heil-satanas-jp2-patron-saint-of.html 

Opus Dei Bishop Finn (above image, see more herehttp://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2013/01/criminal-bishop-finn-attacks-national.html) of Kansas City guilty of aiding and abetting 50 years in federal prison Reverend Father Ratigan - still cloning Christ in the Magid and Sorcery of the Eucharist 

Catholics are the MYTHical Body of the Vatican Mammon Beast -- NOT the Mystical Body of Christ

Opus Dei Golden Cow John Paul II statues worldwide vis-a-vis Paterno statue gone from Penn State. Only the Catholic Church glorifies criminals http://stella0maris.blogspot.ca/

BOYCOTT Oratory of Saint Joseph! CANDLES to giant Zeus statues of St. Joseph and Brother Andre cannot protect children from CSC pedophiles

http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2013/01/boycott-oratory-of-saint-joseph-candles.html

The Vatican and Rome are no longer synonymous. 


The Vatican Catholics, not Roman Catholics.


The Vatican and Rome are no longer synonymous.


The Pope has no authority in Rome.


The Pope is not Roman. Catholics are not Roman.

The Pope has no power in Rome.

The Vatican is not part of Rome.

The Pope is not a citizen of Rome.

The allegiance of Catholics is to the Pope and the Vatican or the Magisterium… 

The allegiance of Catholics is NOT to Rome; therefore, it is fallacious to call them “Roman Catholics”. 

Vatican Last Tsar Benedict XVI and Pope Francis has no papal authority over Rome; therefore, Catholics are not Roman.

The Vatican must start paying taxes for its staggering business properties in Rome starting in 2013. To keep calling them as “Roman Catholics” is to keep feeding the voracious Vatican Mammon, read herehttp://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2011/03/vatican-billions-holy-mass-tourism-for.html. .The Pope and the Vatican have no political authority and no influence in Rome or in Italian Parliament.
The false (old) statement is, Catholics are “Roman Catholics” of the “Roman Catholic Church”.
The true (new) statement is, Catholics are “Vatican Catholics” of the “Vatican Catholic Church”.But theVatican cling-on to Rome and use its Roman Coliseum to latch-on to the fame of the gladiators and the Hail Caesars as the Pope copy-cat the powers of Caesars which Forbes described Benedict XVI as the 5th Most Powerful Person in the world, read here Forbes delusion of Vatican Last Tsar Benedict XVI powers http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2012/12/forbes-delusion-of-vatican-last-tsar.html. 

The narcissism and grandiosity of John Paul II, Cardinal Bernard Law, Benedict XVI, and Bishop Roger Vangheluwe are nauseating and despicable http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/04/narcissism-and-grandiosity-of-john-paul.html

John Allen will come out as foremost Vatican Pied Piper at his best list of possible pope candidates, read more about him here John L. Allen Jr. Pied Piper of John Paul II deceives Catholics with his essay Fast-Track Saint in Newsweek -- with Vatican lunacy & Satanictimelinehttp://jp2army.blogspot.com/2011/05/john-lallen-jrthe-pied-piper-of-john.html and here John L. Allen Jr the Devil's twin the 21st century deceiving Catholics and the world 
http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2012/03/john-l-allen-jr-devils-twin-21st.html 

We do not pray the robotic Rosary or the Divine Mercy. Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe inspires us that she cannot stand these Catholic robotic prayers thatremind Her so much of John Paul II who spent years on the fabrication of the new Luminous Mysteries butat the same time he covered-up 27 years of heinous crimes of his JP2 Army – John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army – the largest numbers who are in California. 

The 5 new Mysteries of Light written by John Paul II proved the “JP2 Mysteries of Darkness” during his 27 years papacy wherein he said nothing and did nothing to protect children and to stop thousands of pedophile priests. John Paul II is the most traveled pope but it was all for his narcissistic self glory as John Paul II “the Great” and now we are seeing that the JP2 Army tsunami really infested the whole world as far as Australia. And now the Polish Papal Nuncio in the Dominican Republic was quietly sacked after families discover he has been pimping young prebucent boys, see news below.

Read our related article, Rosary could not defeat JP2 Army John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army in the 20th Century ... unlike the Battle of Lepanto in the 16th Century

 BOYCOTT ORATORY OF ST. JOSEPH http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2013/11/oratory-of-saintjoseph-pedophile.html 

IDLE SAINT JOSEPH- HE SAID NOTHING AND DID NOTHING AS HE LOOKED DOWN ON THE COLLEGE NOTRE DAME WHERE FOR 50 YEARS hOLY CROSS bROTHERS OF SAINT BROTHER ANDRE SODOMIZED AND RAPED HUNDREDS OF STUDENTS, READ MORE HEREhttp://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/

http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2011/03/vatican-billions-holy-mass-tourism-for.html ).

Heil Satanas JP2 ! Patron Saint of Pedophiles, Pederasts Rapists-Priests! John Paul II is the same yesterday and today-- he cannot protect childrenhttp://jp2m.blogspot.ca/2011/05/heil-satanas-jp2-patron-saint-of.html 

Vatican Bank closes thousand accounts/criminal transactions BURNT to leave no trail of crimes further/future investigations...drowned by loud Francis-maniacs at St. Peter’s Square 
http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2013/10/vatican-bank-closes-thousand.html 

Children are better sex educated reading the Los Angles files rather than wasting their time to attend the wizardry of the Mass where priests ceaselessly reiterate those old horrid stories of extinct people in the Bible, read here the Immoral Bible http://pope-ratz.blogspot.ca/2010_12_01_archive.html. 

It’s more important and more relevant for children to know the story of Eleuterio Ramos and all JP2 Army Vatican sex maniac rapists priests of the 20^th century - than the ancient Bible stories irrelevant mythical figures like Jonah being swallowed by a whale, read here the Los Angeles Files http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2013/01/los-angeles-files-mahony-must-be-jailed.html

BOYCOTT Oratory of Saint Joseph! CANDLES to giant Zeus statues of St. Joseph and Brother Andre cannot protect children from CSC pedophiles

http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2013/01/boycott-oratory-of-saint-joseph-candles.html

Vatican Billions: its history, sources, and assets today worldwide. BOYCOTT the Vatican Museum and boycott ALL donations to the Vatican CatholicChurch Reign of Terror

http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2011/03/vatican-billions-holy-mass-tourism-for.html  

READ our latest articles:

- Vatican Last Tsar Benedict XVI resigns as Vatican Pontiff of Vatican Catholic Church. It’s deceitful to say “Roman Pontiff” of “Roman Catholic Church” is here

http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2013/02/vatican-last-tsar-benedict-xvi-resigns_13.html

Billion Dollar Christ & Apostles in Red now playing in Vatican. Evil impact of Papal Conclave: epidemic violence against women & perpetuity of poor countries

http://popecrimes.blogspot.ca/2013/02/billion-dollar-christ-apostles-in-red.html