Bishop Robert W. Finn, 58 years old, has been the Catholic bishop of the diocese since 2005 when he succeeded Bishop Raymond Boland. Finn was ordained a Catholic priest for the Archdiocese of St. Louis in 1979. In early 2004, then-Monsignor Finn applied and was accepted as a member of the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross which is associated with Opus Dei, a conservative Catholic lay organization. In May 2005, he became the Ordinary of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph in Missouri.
Rev. Shawn Ratigan
In May 2010, Bishop Finn received a letter from a Catholic school principal about Fr. Shawn Ratigan’s inappropriate attention and behavior with minor children. The letter was not made public until after Ratigan’s arrest in May 2011 for possession of child pornography on his personal computer. In responding to press inquiries about the letter, Finn acknowledged that he had never read it.
The Ratigan affair began sometime in December 2010 when a computer technician working on Ratigan’s computer notified diocesan officials that he had found disturbing photos on Ratigan’s hard drive. The photos, some of which were “up skirt” photos of minor girls and at least one of a nude child, were found. Monsignor Robert Murphy, Vicar General of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, contacted a Kansas City police officer and the Diocesan legal counsel, both of whom decided that the photos did not constitute child pornography. Ratigan was nevertheless summoned to report to the Chancery the following day. He never showed. Ratigan was found later that day unconscious in his garage after a failed suicide attempt. Diocesan officials sent him away for psychiatric care after he recovered from the suicide attempt.
Upon his return to the diocese, Ratigan was removed from his parish, St. Patrick’s and ordered to avoid any contact with children. Ratigan failed to comply so Monsignor Murphy contacted police once again. This time, the Catholic priest was taken into custody, five months after the Diocese first learned that Ratigan may pose a threat to children.
On October 14, 2011, both Bishop Finn and the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph were criminally indicted for failing to report suspected child abuse to law enforcement authorities. According to the indictment, the diocese was made aware of the incident in December 16, 2010 but did not report it to the authorities until May 11, 2011 in violation of a new state law making it mandatory for everyone, without distinction, to report any possible abuse of minors, if there is a suspicion.
The Ratigan abuse case is not the first time Bishop Finn or the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph has dealt with priest abuse cases. According to Bishop Accountability, 22 Kansas City-St. Joseph priests have been publicly accused of sexually abusing minors. Some of those have faced civil sex abuse lawsuits. In 2008, 42 survivors sued and settled lawsuits against the diocese. The terms of the settlement included non-financial terms to which the Diocese has not complied.
