Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Bishop Admits Failure In Pedo Priest Case

Missouri: To many, the most disturbing revelation in the story of Fr. Shawn Ratigan, 45, a priest in the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese since 2004, was that diocesan officials knew his personal computer had been found last December to contain many photographs of young children, including at least one of a nude girl.

But they did not share the information with members of the diocese or its review board. Instead, Bishop Robert W. Finn moved the priest to a local home for religious sisters.

The diocese went public about Ratigan's computer photographs after the priest was arrested by local police May 19 and charged with three counts of possessing child pornography.

Read More: Robert W. Finn

Parishioners at St. Patrick's parish, where Ratigan had served for about a year, expressed outrage at Finn -- asking why the priest was not brought to the police when the diocese first knew of his troubles in December. "I should have done differently in this regard and I'm sorry," admitted Finn.
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