Diocese's 'new action plan' is a tired, well-used script

"Did Finn and his staff expect to keep Ratigan sequestered for life? What was their plan?"

In a nutshell, the plan was to first and foremost protect the reputation of the clergy, at all costs.

I don't even see why we care about the "rules already promulgated at the national level of the church". Those have always been lenient on pedophile priests. Let's go with US laws, which care more about children.

My five point plan:

1) Bishop Finn goes to jail

2) Vicar Murphy goes to jail

3) There is a grand jury investigation. Finn had an accused pedophile managing the pedophile program, which is how Fr Ratinger, a known pedophile, was allowed to roam freely around children for a year.

4) Every Catholic reads the first 6 pages of the Phil Grand Jury report at
http://www.philadelphiadistrictattorney.com/images/Grand_Jury_Report.pdf

5) Catholics stand up against child rape in the Catholic church.

All we need do is take this scenario down a few steps. If Julie Hess had been given this letter by her vice principle and did with it what Finn claims to have done, she would fired. End of story. Except we all know it won't end that way in Finn's case.

The only sweeping change required in the context of competent local laity and police says:
"The Bishop and Vicar General will immediately start a long sabbatical far away in one last attempt to embed in them a basic understanding of the fundamental requirements when they are responsible for a diocese containing 12,000 Catholic students. If this attempt fails, they will be assigned elsewhere, based on their demonstrated capabilities."

The most damning part of the "plan" is the date on it - 2011. It is time to consider the possibility that Finn and confreres act and fail to act as they consistently do, not because they haven't yet caught on but because they are essentially, constitutionally incapable of catching on. Whether the reason is genetics, vocational selection criteria, education, clerical formation, on-the-job training, or ontological transformation is less important than the fact of repeated observations over years of similar episcopal behavior under similar duress, as you note. The perceptions, instincts, and responses of presumably ordinary principal, parents, and teachers at St. Patrick's involved no magic or special revelation. Expecting a bishop to understand them is, once again, unjustifiable. His authority needs to be completely bypassed in selected areas by whatever means necessary.

As a former whistle-blower myself,
http://www.theledger.com/article/20050223/NEWS/502230370
I have some advice based on personal experience:
TRUST NO ONE, and TELL EVERYONE!

Memo to Bishop Finn:
You had a perverted Vicar General "policing" another perverted pastor. For this "executive personnel decision" alone, you must RESIGN ASAP!

Memo to Kansas City:
LITIGATION is the only language they will listen to anymore.

Great article, Mr. Roberts, concise and accurate. With his usual glib responses (sometimes written by attorneys and other times not) Finn means that he is sorry that he has been caught red-handed with a ton of evidence against him. Only time will tell what course of action is followed with this case (Finn/Murphy/Ratigan et al) but no new guidelines are needed. Finn didn't follow the ones already in place, he didn't follow the ones in place when he was in St. Louis and, if promoted, he probably wan't follow them there. He is a company man. The company does not care about the well being of children. The company now has Zero-credibility. I have long since resigned from the company, to protect myself, my children and grandchildren. Please urge your readers to keep their focus on the safety of the children and do whatever it takes to protect them. They are the future of this world.

"As bishop, I take full responsibility for these failures..." '[BUT] I will remain in this diocese, pay for a non-partisan investigation which will be reported to me and I will decide whether or not no reveal the results.'

Sound familiar?

O, God, I thought I was reading a story about certain government officials trying to cover their ass upon our learning of their malfeasance, etc. Instead, it's about a Roman Catholic bishop doing the very same thing.

Finn must go!

And the guy WILL depart KC-St Joe when enough Catholics of good will stop giving their hard-earned money to this incompetent "company man". He is a suckup. He is incompetent. He is a jerk.

TO CATHOLICS IN FINN'S DIOCESE:

STOP ENABLING. YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. CONNECT THE DOTS. MONEY TALKS.

YOU MUST MAKE ITS ABSENCE TALK LOUDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Send this fella back to St. Louis or Rome or Jail!!!

http://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/news/local-news/bishop_s_apology_to_ab...

Only one of several "apology letters" from bishops in the past few days...

Everyone in the diocese within arms' reach of a child has submitted to "Protecting God's Children". Teachers had computer updates every month or so. No stone was left unturned. This is a failure of the bishop to follow his own mandated training. Maybe, he is so far above the laity that he doesn't have to under go the training. I retired 2 years ago after teaching 20 years in the diocese. I have been a Catholic for 67 years, educated in the schools, and sent my 3 children to 31 consecutive years of Catholic schools. I lived through Latin Masses and rejoiced in the changes of Vatican II. Last April, when I attended the funeral Mass of Father Bill Bauman, I was stunned to realize just how many laity based programs Bishop Finn has destroyed. I am demoralized and disheartened. What are we to do?

"What precisely, does he mean when he says that?" That is exactly what every lay person in his diocese should be asking, what his metropolitan should be asking, what the papal nuncio should be asking and what any and every Vatican official should be asking as they simultaneously demand his resignation. That we are seeing this level of incompetence this far out is beyond unacceptable.

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)

These are boilerplate public relations maneuvers, plain and simple. We predicted them weeks ago. It’s what nearly every bishop does when he’s caught red-handed endangering kids and hiding crimes.

Finn is trying to exploit the generosity of forgiving Catholics while blaming church policies for his repeatedly irresponsible decisions. This is a carefully crafted ploy to divert attention away from callous moves by Finn and Murphy onto meaningless diocesan guidelines that are rarely followed to begin with.

We’re not dealing with “a problem” that requires “awareness” (as Finn's news release claims). We’re dealing with a handful of monarchs who keep ignoring the law, moving the predators, concealing the crimes, endangering the children, and protecting themselves, first and foremost.

No priest molests a child and no church supervisor conceals the crimes because of an inadequate ‘code of conduct’ or ‘abuse policy.’

Finn continues to pretend that his carefully considered self-serving choices are just policy ‘loopholes’ that need tightening. His words today are not “sweeping,” they are deeply disingenuous.

Right on Tom Roberts,

As long as the KC diocese officials are able to buy their own investigator, they can never be trusted to protect kids instead of protecting themselves. There is still no system in place to which the boss(Finn)has to answer to anyone else except to his boss, the (pope).
Finn is the boss of his territory, and he alone is responsible for managing and running all catholic officials and organizations within the KC diocese.

The only reason the diocese officials are claiming these so called new "sweeping" PR tactics is because many church officials are finding out that they could end up in jail for committing and covering up sex crimes against kids and vulnerable adults.

For the sake of protecting kids, Catholics need to contact their local prosecutors and urge them to do a REAL independent investigation into crimes and cover ups committed within this church hierarchy.
Only then is there a chance to get this abuse stopped. Cardinals, Bishops, church officials, etc need to be held accountable for those crimes just like any other human being. They have been able to get away with 'being above the law' for way too long.

Let’s hope that if anyone, who suspects or has been harmed by anyone in the Kansas City-St Joe diocese, they will find the courage and strength to speak up, call police, (not the diocese), expose wrongdoing, and protect kids.

Judy Jones, SNAP Midwest Associate Director, 636-433-2511
snapjudy@gmail.com
"Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests" and all clergy.
http://www.snapnetwork.org/

When it comes to changes in the Church involving child sexual abuse, part of what Richard A.W. Sipe said is that these changes have come about ONLY through the Press and Civil Law enforcement, never by the Church acting on its own. Also, the problem always comes from the top, the Vatican.

"The Truth" posted today (6/10/2011) on U-Tube is well worth viewing. There is also a part 2.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLIHw7FjDF0

Spot-on, Tom. Finn needs a sign on his desk that says "The Buck Diffuses Here." He's going to spend an extraordinary amount of time and money finding reasons other than his and his second-in-command's dereliction of duty and clericalism why Ratigan was left in ministry and quite possibly harming young people.

How much do you want to bet that the "independent investigator" fails to point a bony finger either at Finn or at Murphy? For they never seem to point the finger at the one who pays the piper.

These were not mistakes. They were choices. They were choices made because, frankly, both Finn and Murphy were more concerned about a fellow priest's career than they were about the little girls that fellow priest found sexually fascinating.

As much is patently obvious to any and all onlookers, and does not require paying a six-figure consulting fee to find some other explanation.

No one cares anymore about what "laws" the Catholic Church makes up regarding this filth. The Catholic Church hierarchy has demonstrated over and over again that they are dishonest, dishonorable, and corrupt.

The ONLY laws that matter in THIS country are the laws of the United States of America and the laws of each individual state and municipality.

ALL federal and local laws were violated in this case, and the destruction of material evidence is a violation of law in itself.

The ONLY response is to arrest and charge these criminals. Try them in the courts of this land.

The Catholic Church does not have separate legal status in this country. Catholics have to abide by the laws of this land just like everybody else.

There will be no justice here until Finn, Murphy & Ratigan are wearing orange jumpsuits and shackles and are paraded through the streets of Kansas City.

They broke the law. They must be held accountable.

How exactly did "everything else work" when a large group of mandated reporters did not hotline their concerns? Reporting to the diocese is not what is legally required by this group. The actions of this person were suspect enough to alert DFS. Error on the side of caution to protect children, not the diocese.

I just do not understand why, at this point in this global mess, the Catholic laity simply reaches out and takes complete control of the finances of the Catholic Church. It would require a lot of litigation all throughout the world over many decades. I understand that.

But in the end, whoever controls an organizations purse, controls its direction. Just take charge. The bishops be damned! They probably already are.

This is such a cynical ploy from Finn. It's all designed to lull those who have managed to ignore the history of the crisis, give Finn's supporters talking points--"Look at all he's doing!"--and look like real action, all while doing absolutely nothing that will make any substantive change. It could all be boiled down to, "We haven't done anything, we're not going to do anything, and we're doing our best to look as though we were doing something."

Thanks, Tom Fox, for pointing out that not only is it ridiculous, it's all been done before.

Give a few weeks/months for the dust to settle and Finn might find himself in ROME, you know in the club that selects our NEW bishops. Church policy seems to be reward for those who harm others. You really didn"t expect proper procedure or honesty from the black and red robes of Rome, did you?????

Why is bishop Finn still in possession of his episcopal chair?

It just gets worse and worse, more depressing and more disheartening with every word issued from the episcopacy, every article written about this continuing mess and every comment made online.

I'm way too old and tired to act the Pollyanna, but perhaps this church-wide abuse scandal (have we even heard from Mexico, Central and South America yet?) is truly the action of the Spirit in His/Her own inimitable way.

It's a universal given that we only grow during adversity so maybe, just maybe, 250 years from now people will look back on this particularly grim era and say, not just during the Easter Vigil, "Oh happy fault! Oh necessary sin...." that will have brought about true reform, even revolution, so that His Church will be closer to Jesus' picture of His body on earth. Our current situation certainly can't be what He had/has in mind.

Very good article Mr. Roberts, I agree with everything you said in the article. It is obvious that bishop Finn, just does not get how serious the Catholic Laity (those who think for themselves and read more than the Diocese newspaper) in America believe that this situation has become in our Church. This scandal has been going on for almost 60 years and bishop Finn is just waking up to what the bishops said would take care of the sexual predators ten years ago. I think that Patrick O'Malley's ". . .Five Point Plan," should be implemented immediately throughout the world. This terrible behavior will not stop untill all the protectors of sexual predators are brought before the courts and sentenced to some time in jail and fined for their behavior in breaking the laws.

Tom Robert is right. It is the absurd way our church is managed today.

And the fact that many Catholics just shug it all off and continue business as usual, giving money to the church which squanders it.

"The diocese did not contact police. Instead, officials made copies of the photos and gave the computer to Ratigan's family, who destroyed it."

Destroying evidence and keeping copies of kiddie porn on file for what reason? Who had the copies? Aren't these actionable offenses too?

And the people went to mass on Sunday, put their checks in the basket, and never gave it another thought. Not to mention the parents of the school children who continue to sacrifice to pay tuition to keep them safe in a Catholic school.

The Bishop isn't the only one ignoring large red flags.

Meanwhile, here in Boston, we managed to make it hot enough so that Cardinal Law had to run to Rome. His reward, a cushy job paying 12,500 dollars a week.
Bishop Finn is trying the Cardinal Law ploy which failed in Boston. Laws Last Stand was to state clearly that he intended to remain in power and be the one
to make things better. Wake up Kansas, insist on Finn being charged. Once
done you can be sure he will be pulled. Don't imagine Benedict will initiate anything since Finn is only a bishop. Make sure your civilian authorities do
their duty. Support your local newspaper which has already suggested he go.
Many crimes are involved. There is the crime of using children, the porn charges, and Bishop Finn tampered with evidence and also implicated Rattigan's
parents in the destruction of evidence. Demand action!
You need to protect the school personnel! You need to protect your children.
There is no excuse for Finns behaviour. OUT.
God Bless TomC

Good article, Tom, and you are on target.

Bishop Finn's actions are a great example of hierarchical 'crisis control'. Finn is hoping that the good folks in KC will fall for it.

The script that you mentioned, Tom, has been e-mailed all around to dioceses across the country. All the bishop has to do is adapt it to his particular
circumstances.

One huge problem with trusting the legal system to actually indict this ring of molesters and their enablers...

The Attorney General and the district attorneys are manipulated by politicians. The politicians are manipulated by the Catholic voting block (1/4 of their constituency) which is in turn manipulated by the State Catholic Conference behind closed doors.

I have been behind those closed doors.

You want to see a Catholic politician turn tail and do whatever he or she is told to do?

I saw every last Catholic legislator in one state camera compromise their ethics for fear of the power of the Catholic Conference to ruin them come the next election.

The triumphing evil that these child rapists continue to revel in takes a village of good men and women doing nothing - lawyers, legislators, judges.

If you can actually get a prosecuting attorney and a judge to ruin his or her career over indicting these sex criminals and their abettors, I will be absolutely amazed.

Remember, the ring owns the real estate and it owns the politicians.

BTW - The diocese FORMATTED the drive before giving it to the family for destruction. (The Hillbillies may not have done a good enough job.) The family NEVER requested the computer. (At least one member claims to be ticked off that they are being painted to look as though they destroyed evidence.) And dang it, Westboro Baptist is planning to show up at a couple of our parishes as a result. I hate how much power I am allowing S. Ratigan/R. Finn to have over my life.

The facility where Ratigan was moved to after his December suicide attempt is a common place for middle school retreats. A northland catholic school held one there two weeks before his arrest. If you visit the Sisters of St. Francis website, http://www.osfholyeucharist.org/retreats.php, you'll find they offer Discernment Retreats for girls as young as 14. He was not in a child free environment as stated by the diocese.

Appointing Graves, a former US Attorney under the Bush Administration, is a smokescreen designed to provide cover and head off attempts to bring real prosecutors in to investigate. Graves is now in private practice and loyal to conservative causes; he is no longer in a postion to prosecute anyone. The Archdioces is simply buying Graves1 reputation (wonder what it's really worth?

Graves will provide a report blaming everyone except those who sign his check...

To whomever keeps trying to find fault with the "mandated reporters", you should re-read the article and the well-written report of Julie Hess. You will see that she is NOT at fault in this case. The Bishop never got her report. She had nothing to give to "legal" authorities, she is well-versed on the matter. If he would have done his own due diligence, the bishop would have known to turn over the evidence immediately (he was the first to have evidence of actual ILLEGAL activity. The parents/principal/teachers are the ones who caused him to be caught, in spite of Finn's best efforts.

From now on a one step program to deal with these kind of problems: Dial 911.
Call Childrens' Services, call the county and state prosocuters.
And most of all, call the tv and newspapers.
Especially when dealing with a bishop.

Money?
Read Jason's Berry's book: Render Unto Rome: The Secret Life Of Money In The Catholic Church.

It appears that some posters are coming to the rescue of Bishop Finn by charging that the principal and other observers (e.g Catholic School Teachers) of Father Ratigan's behavior should have contacted the Department of Family Services (DFS) to report Father Shawn Ratigan for suspected child abuse. While it is correct that the principal and others should have contacted the DFS; these individuals did not have the depth of knowledge about Father Ratigan's behavior that Bishop Finn had. Additionally, Bishop Finn most certainly must have been knowledgeable of the requirements of the U S Conference of Catholic Bishops' Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. Bishop Finn was and is most certainly a mandated reporter. As a leader, and a religious leader at that, his first responsibility is to the protection of his "flock". In this case, he attempted to protect the Church's public facade. I do not know Bishop Finn and I am sure he is sincere in his apology; however, he made a very serious error in judgement. He needs to resign his seat as Bishop and spend some time in reflection and service to others.

Two separate decision processes seem to get entangled without benefit. In one, the central issue is children's welfare. In the other, the central issue is the disposition of Ratigan and legality of his activities.

First, what Ratigan was doing around youngsters was flat-out wrong and totally unacceptable, as principal, teachers, and parents concluded. The problem might be stated formally, if required, in terms of repeated affronts to human dignity, however one describes that in a child. A persistent hazard needed to be removed to avoid potential damage to youngsters. Waiting until after serious damage had been observed would have been irresponsible and inexcusable.

Ranking abuses, numbered paragraphs of civil and canon law, legal thresholds, and formal evidentiary standards contribute nothing to this assessment and decision process. It is done routinely in matters small and large by parents and teachers because children are vulnerable, as Jesus pointed out in his millstone policy.

Second, since the principal had no authority over Ratigan, she provided a substantial letter to his responsible superior, who had authority to investigate, give orders to Ratigan, and demand obedience. At some points, issues apparently arose in the chancery. Was he breaking the law, and, in any case, what should the diocesan authorities do with him? Results of decisions are known.

The fact that neither Murphy nor Finn could understand the importance of the messages from the principal and from Ratigan's computer about their diocesan priest for many months indicates they lack the capacity to be responsible for a diocese with 12,000 Catholic students. Would you trust the judgment of either in a baby-sitter?

Fr. Thomas Doyle, clearly the most experienced, best informed, and vocal member of the U S clergy in the matter of sexually abusive priests, published in the NCR on May 21, his comments on the John Jay Report of the Church’s (read Bishops) compliance with their own norms adopted in 2002(4). The title of Doyle’s article is suggestive to say the least: “Arrogant Clericalism Never Assessed in John Jay Report.” I wonder if making a few, random references to Bishop Finn’s anything but humble administrative style early on in Kansas City might help him see the extent to which wiring resulting from priestly and spiritual clericalism might have blinded him in the exercise of a pastoral, Christian, approach in handling the recent scandals. (However, I doubt that he will ever read the blogs that might help him realize this).
A highly respected and devoted priest characterized Bishop Finn’s presentation of himself in an early deanery meeting with his subordinate but certainly not inferior priests as “unbelievably arrogant,” a surprisingly strong but not astonishing statement about your new diocesan superior who although new to the diocese made it clear he had all the right answers with respect to their problems.. Another well respected, active member of the diocesan administrative team commented he had never seen anyone so impressed with his newly acquired dignity in the Church’s hierarchy. In accordance with this dignity his inaugural sermon in one of the parishes made it clear that the Holy Spirit was to be received through him from Rome. The tall hat and menacing (?) staff apparently reinforced his confidence in the office’s role of keeping his sheep on the right path to salvation.
In the same vein, all the faithful in Kansas City know that on being named “Pastor” of the Kansas City community of faith, he moved almost immediately to eradicate the system set up according to the spirit and dictates of Vatican II for training and incorporating the laity as active and useful support members in the parishes. He later installed his own system, which supposedly would be superior and more “orthodox”, to the one developed by the community he had come to serve. It had taken years of dedicated, talented, and zealous, theologically very well educated members of the community to develop that system. Finally, a year or so after assuming the Bishopric on the occasion of a conference by a liturgical expert brought in from St. Louis, the Bishop noted in his contribution to the event, duly recorded in the Catholic Key, that some of the diocese’s institutions “…were departing from the fundamentals of their Catholic faith,” a pretty damning commentary for the faithful who, we can presume, looked to the Spirit, to do a good job.
People who plunge ahead with “certainty” about the rectitude of what is involved with their ministry, don’t appear to need the Spirit to lead them, for their office ensures that they already have His guidance. In deference to the difficulty of the good Bishop’s decisions in the Ratigan case, you can only wonder whether he had recourse to serious “discernment” to know what the Spirit wanted in the course of the decisions that could overwhelmingly impact his flock. From the way the scandal developed it would appear that his decisions, along with so many other of our spiritual leaders, were virtually dictated to him by the values and norms of the extremely powerful cultural and even spiritual environment, rightly called “clericalism” that had molded him. The Spirit can hardly break that “wiring” down. The shepherds already know all the answers. Arrogance is a strong word, but then….