Bishop Finn avoids indictment by entering diversion program [Kansas City Star]

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"Bishop Robert Finn on Tuesday avoided a possible criminal misdemeanor indictment in his handling of a priest facing child pornography charges by agreeing to enter into a diversion program with the Clay County prosecutor.

Authorities have pledged not to prosecute Finn, the leader of the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, if he lives up to the terms of a five-year diversion agreement.

Clay County Prosecutor Daniel L. White also announced that a grand jury had indicted the Rev. Shawn F. Ratigan on three counts of possessing child pornography. The new indictment supersedes a state criminal complaint that charged Ratigan on May 19. Ratigan, 46, also faces a 13-count federal indictment of possessing, producing and attempting to produce child pornography. He remains in federal custody…"

Read more here: kansascity.com/2011/11/15/3267619/bishop-finn-avoids-indictment.html#ixzz1dpk7QnpQ
 
The same thing happened to our bishop. A parent came forward to tell the bishop that their priest molested her son. The bishop contacted the priest, and the priest admitted the molestation (not in confession). This was on a Friday afternoon. The bishop didn’t call the police or Child Protective Services. He DID call the attorney for the diocese and left a message. Finally, the bishop called on Monday. He had some lame excuse about not knowing the police or CPS was open on nights and weekends. Anyhow, in the time it took to report the crime, the priest escaped to Mexico, and the police in the USA had to search him down. The priest died (suicide?) before the police could extradite him.

The local district attorney started to press charges on the bishop, but he was “let off” with a diversion program to educate the bishop on how to handle child molestion claims. The bishop immediately began requests to retire early from the diocese, which were eventually granted. We now have a new bishop. The family sued the diocese for how the bishop handled this, and every church was affected by the debt.
 
Wow. The powers that be in the Church need to get their act together and establish one standardized way in which all cases of suspected child abuse are handled.

Step 1. Call the police.
 
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