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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/07/us/kansas-city-bishop-convicted-of-shielding-pedophile-priest.html?_r=1
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Roman Catholic bishop was found guilty on Thursday of failing to report suspected child abuse, becoming the first American bishop in the decades-long sexual abuse scandal to be convicted of shielding a pedophile priest.
In a hastily announced bench trial that lasted a little over an hour, a
judge found the bishop, Robert W. Finn, guilty on one misdemeanor 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 $1,000 fine,
but Bishop Finn was sentenced to two years of court-supervised
probation.
The verdict is a watershed moment in the priest sexual abuse scandal
that has plagued the church since the 1980s. Bishops have been eager to
turn the page on this era and have put in place extensive abuse
prevention policies, which include reporting suspected abusers to law
enforcement authorities. But the Kansas City case has served as a
wake-up call to Catholics that the policies cannot be effective if the
bishops do not follow them.
It was an abrupt ending to a case that has consumed the church in Kansas
City and threatened to turn into a sensational, first-ever trial of a
sitting prelate. The case had been scheduled for a jury trial later this
month, but on Wednesday the prosecution said it would be decided in one
afternoon by Judge John M. Torrence in Jackson County Circuit Court.
Before being sentenced, Bishop Finn, 59, his jaw quivering, rose in
court and said: “I am pleased and grateful that the prosecution and the
courts have allowed this matter to be completed. The protection of
children is paramount.”
He added, “I truly regret and am sorry for the hurt that these events have caused.”
The church managed to avoid a lengthy, highly public jury trial like the
one earlier this year in Philadelphia, where a high-ranking assistant
to the archbishop was convicted of child endangerment and sentenced to
prison for three to six years.
The Jackson County prosecutor, Jean Peters Baker, said that the
expedited trial spared the young victims and their parents from having
to testify. She said it also meant that the disturbing photographs of
children would not be shown in open court. She said the victims and
their families “were all ecstatic that this could end today.”
The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, like some other
victims’ advocacy groups, applauded the unprecedented conviction of a
bishop but said in a statement that the sentence was too lenient. “Only
jail time would have made a real difference here,” it said.
The judge dropped two charges against the diocese itself.
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.
Bishop Finn sent Father Ratigan for a psychological examination, then
assigned him to live in a convent and told him not to have contact with
children. But despite the restrictions, Father Ratigan presided at a
girl’s First Communion and attended an Easter egg hunt and a child’s
birthday party.
The bishop is required as part of his sentence to start a training
program for diocesan employees in detecting early signs of child abuse,
and in what constitutes child pornography and obscenity. He must also
create a fund of $10,000 to pay for victims’ counseling.
Bishop Finn and the diocese still face 27 civil suits, 4 of them involving Father Ratigan.
It is unclear whether Bishop Finn will come under pressure by the Vatican
or his fellow bishops to resign. Asked at a news conference about
Bishop Finn’s future, Ms. Peters Baker, demurred and said, “You’ll have
to call Rome.”
Judge Torrence, at the close of the trial, said that he hoped that this
ended “a long and dark chapter” in history. “I am convinced that this
was an appropriate and just way to wrap this up and let everyone move
on,” he said.
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