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	Sex Abuse Survivors Say Diocese Violated Court Agreement in Porn Case By Alan Bavley Kansas City Star May 24, 2011 http://www.kansascity.com/2011/05/24/2901639/sex-abuse-survivors-say-diocese.html A group representing victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests called on Tuesday for the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph to provide further explanation of its handling of the case of a priest charged recently with possession of child pornography. Shawn Francis Ratigan, 45, of Kansas City, North, is accused of possessing pornographic photos of children around churches and schools where he had worked in the diocese. Ratigan pleaded not guilty Monday in Clay County court to criminal charges of possessing child pornography. The church was alerted to the problem in mid-December when a technician fixing Ratigan's laptop computer discovered the images, according to court documents. The technician gave the laptop to diocesan officials and told them what he'd found. At that time, the diocese contacted a Kansas City police officer and described one of the images. But the diocese waited until May to file a report to police and provide investigators with electronic images from Ratigan's computer. "It should have been reported in December," Casey Walsh of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said at a news conference held outside the diocesan headquarters. Walsh said a 2008 legal settlement the diocese reached with 47 sexual abuse plaintiffs includes a promise by the diocese to report suspected cases of child abuse to law enforcement and child protection authorities. "We feel the diocese is in direct violation (of that agreement)," he said. Diocese spokeswoman Rebecca Summers responded Tuesday. "The diocese has always and will continue to comply with Missouri law," Summers said. "In December 2010, the diocese could not determine the identity of the persons depicted in any of the images on Shawn Ratigan's computer, nor did we know if he took the photos or downloaded them." In a statement last week, Bishop Robert Finn said he knew about the "very troubling" images months ago but was told they weren't pornography. "I deeply regret that we didn't ask the police earlier to conduct a full investigation," Finn said in the statement.
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