Finally, the U.S. Courts are holding Catholic bishops accountable for the sex abuse of children. It is about time! Bridget Mary Meehan, arcwp, www.arcwp.org
http://ncronline.org/news/faith-parish/kansas-city-lawsuits-cost-diocese-14-million-legal-fees
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/08/us/in-pedophile-case-church-failed-to-stop-priest.html?_r=1&hp
Sep. 06, 2012
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- "For the first time in the decades-long clergy sex abuse crisis, a Catholic bishop has been found guilty of criminally shielding a priest who was a threat to children.
Bishop Robert Finn, the head of the Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., diocese, received the verdict Thursday on one misdemeanor count of failing to report suspected child abuse in the case of a local priest who had been known to be in possession of lewd images of children.
Jackson County, Mo., Circuit Court Judge John Torrence gave Finn a two-year suspended sentence of probation on the charge with nine conditions, including mandating direct reporting of future suspicions of child abuse to prosecutors.
“Let the world know that no matter who you are you can be held to the same standards as everybody else,” said Jackson County prosecutor Jean Peters Baker following the verdict.
Finn and his diocese had each faced two separate misdemeanor counts of failure to report suspected child abuse for their handing of Fr. Shawn Ratigan, a Kansas City priest who pleaded guilty in August to federal charges of producing and attempting to produce sexually graphic material of minor girls..."
I wonder who the next victim of a gross miscarriage of justice might possibly be.
ReplyDeleteNothing that the Catholic personal prelature Opus Dei can't fix with a Novena of Tridentine Masses.
ReplyDeleteAnd in the interest of fairness, let's keep in mind that as a member in good standing of the UCCB, His Excellency remains one of the Church's authentic teachers of faith and morals, in addition to being a Fourth Degree member of the Knights of Columbus.