By Judy L. Thomas, Mark Morris and Glenn E. Rice
Kansas City Star
October 16, 2011
http://www.kansascity.com/2011/10/15/3210010/how-will-kc-catholics-heal-after.html
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"There are a lot of hurting Catholics in our diocese, and whatever one does to heal hurt has to be done."
But what is that?
That's the question many Catholics are dealing with after an indictment was announced Friday against Bishop Robert Finn and the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese for failing to report child abuse to authorities.
The charges created headlines around the world and made Finn the highest-ranking Catholic official in the nation to ever face criminal prosecution in the decades-old child sexual abuse scandal.
The indictments also left many Catholics raw with frustration and exhausted after a generation of sex abuse controversies.
"Most people are just tired of dealing with this," said Denise Gilmore of Kansas City, who served on diocesan panels that addressed child sexual abuse.
Caccamo said the way forward is perplexing.
"The whole thing saddens me," said Caccamo, who leads the diocese's internal review board that assesses child sexual abuse allegations. "I am not sure if another committee is the answer."
Some are calling for a change in leadership while others say the diocese should stay the course, following the procedures it put into place this summer to protect children.
The indictments were announced Friday by Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker, who said that a grand jury had secretly indicted Finn and the diocese on Oct. 6 on misdemeanor charges of failure to report child abuse in a case involving the Rev. Shawn Ratigan. Finn and the diocese pleaded not guilty in court Friday and issued a statement denying any wrongdoing.
Finn, as a member of the clergy, and the diocese, as the operator of schools, are required under Missouri law to report reasonable suspicions of child abuse. But the indictments allege that they did not do that for five months in the case of Ratigan, who faces child pornography charges in Clay County and federal court.
After Ratigan's arrest in May, the diocese began laying the foundation for recovering from what was about to become its worst sex abuse crisis ever. Finn publicly apologized and announced new policies that would help protect children.
After the indictments were announced, Finn pointed out that steps the diocese took earlier this year will effectively address the issues that led to the crisis. They include adding an independent ombudsman to investigate abuse claims against clergy and staff, reviewing training for diocesan personnel and following the diocese's own policies.
"I think he has taken action," said Jim Dougherty, a member of St. Louis Parish on Swope Parkway. "I don't know more of what he can do."
But others say Finn has presided over years of unfulfilled promises, including a 2008 settlement with victims that pledged to strengthen procedures to protect children from abusive priests.
Resigning would be "the prudent thing" for Finn to do, said Jason Berry, author of "Render Unto Rome: The Secret Life of Money in the Catholic Church," which is critical of how the Vatican has handled sex abuse cases.
"His credibility is shot," Berry said. "But I would be very surprised if Finn is withdrawn. The pattern is they dig in their heels and stand by their man."
Another longtime Vatican observer agreed the diocese could begin rebounding if Finn stepped down.
"The only real way is the resignation of the bishop and the appointment of a new one," said the Rev. Thomas J. Reese, a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University and author of a book about Vatican politics.
The church has made many mistakes during the sex abuse crisis, including an unwillingness to make bishops take responsibility and resign, he said.
"If that had happened, people would have said, 'OK. They understood. They got it. Now we can move on.' But as long as the same guy is in office who people believe did something wrong, then there's no healing."
On Saturday, diocesan spokeswoman Rebecca Summers said Finn was keeping to his regular schedule. He "continues to perform his pastoral duties with energy, dedication and enthusiasm," she said in an email.
"There are numerous things on the calendar," Summers said.
Summers said Finn "already has communicated with the priests."
"As part of his pastoral duties, he meets with priests every day," she said. "And, I would imagine that he will be discussing (the criminal allegations) with them."
View from the pews
Reflections from Catholics who responded to The Star's request for comments were as diverse as the church that they attend.
Some called for a housecleaning at the diocese, while others felt that Finn was making progress.
Gilmore said the larger issue has taken a terrible toll.
"It has ruined families, parishes and dioceses around the world," she said. "I have no faith in the leaders of the church to bring us out of this devastation.
"It has affected my faith and made me more skeptical of organized religion."
Still, she sees the charges as a sign of hope because it's clear now that no one is above the law.
Dougherty said his faith has grown during the controversy and that he admired Finn's example.
"I believe that Bishop Finn has demonstrated integrity and Christ-like virtue in repeatedly admitting his failure and undertaking significant change throughout the diocese," Dougherty said. "The plague of misguided sexuality is endemic in our culture and society, and the Catholic Church has no more of an aptitude for these sins than any other church, organization or human institution."
Dougherty said he believes the church and its leaders have been persecuted.
"It is going to get through this, and I hope the bishop can stand his ground because he is wounded and he is on the cross," Dougherty said. "I still believe in a God that relishes and redeems woundedness."
Carolyne Cook of Kansas City, who reported suspected child abuse when she worked as an emergency room nurse, said her faith remains robust, despite her disappointments with the diocese.
"No church leader or scandal can take away my God," Cook said. "My God, and my faith, is much bigger than this scandal."
But Cook said she supports a harsh penalty for the bishop.
"Moving him somewhere else won't help," Cook said. "He needs to be taken from the church. He's an educated person and can go teach."
Jim Fern of Overland Park said news coverage of the scandal has only fanned the controversy.
"I will continue to follow the example of Jesus and forgive them for their human failings," he said.
Fern praised Finn for championing traditional Catholic values and said steps already have been taken to resolve sex abuse problems.
"Our church has tended in recent years to get very lenient about things and I happen to be a conservative and he has done a lot to restore a conservative attitude towards our faith," Fern said.
Effect on the church
Several people Saturday expressed concerns for church giving and the morale of priests.
In many cases across the country, sex abuse scandals have hurt diocese finances.
But cutting off donations to the church can end up hurting innocent people, said Reese at Georgetown University.
"The money you put in collection, 90 percent of it stays in the local church," he said. "If you stop putting money in the collection plate, the AC gets turned off, the heat is turned off, the leaky roof isn't fixed, the choir director is fired. It's not the bishop who suffers. It means soup kitchens get closed, it means we don't have scholarships for kids from inner-city schools. It isn't a good way to punish the church."
Pat O'Neill, a member of Visitation Parish and a local public relations expert, said he expects contributions to take a hit.
"My guess is that fundraising is in limbo and will remain that way until there's some resolution in the criminal case, and some definitive determination of what happens to Bishop Finn," O'Neill said.
O'Neill himself had publicly called for the resignation of Finn in June, and after indictments were announced repeated that call.
"A change in leadership would bring many back to the fold, and I feel they would be willing to help the diocese rebuild," he said.
Caccamo said the indictments would not influence what he gives to his church.
"From my perspective, the issue is supporting your parish," he said. "It is not as much as supporting the diocese. I belong to St. Peter's Parish and I have been in that parish since the early '70s and I love it dearly. I love my fellow parishioners, and I will continue to support St. Peter's."
Berry and others raised the question of how much the diocese would spend on legal fees.
"Who is paying for this negligent bishop?" Berry asked. "It's the people who put money in the Sunday collection plates."
Summers said fees spent for professional services are included in the diocese's annual financial statements and budget.
The indictments also will have a major effect on priests in the diocese, Reese said.
"It's awful for the priests," he said. "They are the people on the front line with the parishioners. They have to deal with this on a weekly basis. And the bishop is supposed to be their leader, and if he's tarnished it's a very bad situation for them."
Caccamo agreed the indictments affect local priests dramatically.
"Most of our priests are honorable, trustworthy, loving, committed men who have served the church and the parishioners for years," he said. "It has got to make them feel terribly sad."
A case study
The scandal that began in Boston in 2002 shows that recovery is possible although it takes time and effort, said Nicholas Cafardi, a Duquesne University law professor and former chairman of the American bishops' National Review Board.
"Boston appears to be an example of a good turnaround of a terrible situation," Cafardi said.
Boston became notorious in 2002 for one of the nation's worst priest scandals, and it had a profound effect on the archdiocese there. According to the National Catholic Reporter, donations dropped from $17.2 million in 2000 to $8.8 million in 2002, when the dimensions of the scandal became public.
By 2007, according to the National Catholic Reporter, fundraising had risen to $14.5 million and the church leadership began to regain the public's trust.
Some steps involved greater transparency, such as releasing a roster of clerics accused of sexually abusing children; background checks for priests, volunteers and other employees, and training for children and church employees.
But Cafardi noted that recovery only occurred gradually after Cardinal Bernard Law was replaced in 2003 by Cardinal Sean O'Malley.
"The only way Boston got it right was with a new bishop," Cafardi said.
Cafardi said allegations were taken much more seriously under O'Malley.
Back in Kansas City, one church member finds hope in the current crisis.
Mary Danaher of Kansas City said Catholics of good will are supporting their individual parishes and the priests that lead them.
"The laity is really appreciating good priests," Danaher said. "We are backing people who we know we can trust, who haven't had a bit of taint, who are working through this with us and who are sad.
"We are rallying around people we can trust."
Staff writer Lynn Horsley contributed to this report.
A history of legal trouble for the church
The indictments against Finn and the diocese aren't the first time Catholic church officials have run into legal problems because of their handling of child sexual abuse issues, but most of those cases were not criminally prosecuted:
•In 2002, Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston, whose name became tied to the priest sex abuse scandal, resigned over his repeated failure to remove abusive priests from ministry. Pope John Paul II accepted Law's resignation. Law was moved to Rome, where he is now in charge of the Basilica of St. Mary Major.
•Also in 2002, the Diocese of Manchester in New Hampshire avoided criminal prosecution by admitting that it had harmed children by moving abusive clergy from one parish to another. The diocese agreed to establish tough child-protection policies and to be audited by the state attorney general's office.
•In 2003, former Bishop Thomas J. O'Brien of Phoenix avoided criminal prosecution by agreeing to hire an independent ombudsman to oversee sexual abuse allegations against the diocese after a grand jury found that O'Brien had allowed credibly accused priests to continue to work around children. The diocese also agreed to pay more than $1 million to victims and to cover the costs of the criminal investigation.
•Also that year, Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk pleaded no contest on behalf of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati to five misdemeanors charging that the archdiocese failed to report sexual abuse by priests from 1978 to 1982 to law enforcement. The plea agreement kept the archdiocese from facing a criminal trial.
The no contest plea meant that while the church did not dispute the validity of the charges, it was not admitting guilt. The agreement required the archdiocese to turn over documents requested by prosecutors; follow more stringent policies of reporting abuse allegations; and create a $3 million victim compensation fund for those abused by priests.
•In 2006, a Catholic bishop in Northern California was threatened with misdemeanor criminal charges for failing to immediately report allegations of sexual abuse against a priest in his diocese after the priest admitted the abuses to him. The priest fled to Mexico before being charged with sexual abuse. Bishop Daniel Walsh of the Diocese of Santa Rosa, Calif., agreed to enroll in a diversion counseling program in lieu of facing criminal charges. Walsh resigned as bishop in June, a year short of his mandatory retirement at age 75.
•A high-profile criminal case in Pennsylvania is going forward.
In February, a grand jury in Philadelphia released a report saying it found that 37 accused priests were still working around children in Catholic parishes. The grand jury harshly criticized the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for failing to fully investigate claims of misconduct against priests and recommended charges against a monsignor who was the former head of the archdiocese clergy office.
The Philadelphia grand jury charged Monsignor William J. Lynn with endangering the welfare of a child, a third-class felony, saying that his failure to curb the activities of two priests in the archdiocese led directly to the rape of two boys.
The case is pending.
Contact: jthomas@kcstar.com
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