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	Bishop Finn Sent Ratigan to Pro-church Therapist, Survivors Furious By Bridgette P. LaVictoire Lez Get Real November 17, 2011 http://lezgetreal.com/2011/11/bishop-finn-sent-ratigan-to-pro-church-therapist-survivors-furious/ You are a Bishop with a problematic priest who happens to like taking upskirt pictures of little girls. So, what do you do? Why, you send him off to someone who is sympathetic to your outfit, who will give you an answer that will let you get beyond the scandal, and who happens to believe that homosexuality can be cured through therapy. That is right, you send them to someone associated with Opus Bono Scerdotii. The group provides services to accused and imprisoned priests that include financial, legal and emotional support. Bishop Robert Finn sent Reverend Shawn Ratigan to Richard Fitzgibbons, an advisor to Opus Bono Sacerdotii. Fitzgibbons informed Finn that Ratigan was not a pedophile, and instead was taking pictures of little girls with his cell phone because he was lonely and depressed. This caused Finn to send Ratigan to a Vincentian mission house in Independence. There he not only continued as a priest, but continued to increase his collection of lewd photographs of children. Ratigan is now facing child pronography charges in Clay County as well as in federal court. This news is not sitting well with the attorney who represents several or Ratigan’s alleged victims. Rebecca Randles stated that “This is one more incident that seems to show that the diocese is more interested in protecting its own … than in a true search for the truth and ferreting out those who might be causing harm to children. It’s very, very disheartening.” Randles filed a fourth civil lawsuit against Ratigan that alleges he used his cellphone to take pictures of a ten-year-old Northland girl on multiple occasions earlier this year…after Bishop Finn found out about his taking illicit photos of children. What is more, Ratigan contacted the girl on Facebook in the weeks after Fitzgibbons treated him, and the family, which did not know of Ratigan’s troubling behavior and the restrictions placed upon him by Finn, invited Ratigan into their home upon numerous occasions according tot eh suit filed by the girl and her parents. The diocese issued an official statement about the suit saying “The diocese would like to directly say to the parents of this child, ‘Our concern is for you, your daughter, and your family. We condemn the disturbing and destructive behaviors attributed to Shawn Ratigan.’ ” Fitzgibbons has declined comment regarding this evaluation of Ratigan, and referred questions to Opus Bono Sacerdotii. According to KansasCity.com: In response to questions Wednesday about whether he should have evaluated Ratigan, Fitzgibbons declined to comment. He referred questions to Detroit-based Opus Bono Sacerdotii. Its founder did not respond to calls or an email. But an ethics expert said a common-sense approach would have been for Fitzgibbons to recuse himself. “I’m sure he does excellent work and I’m sure there are falsely accused priests, but when you’ve got kind of a dicey situation and he is on the advocacy side of things, it seems like he ought to pull himself out on even just the perception of a conflict of interest,” said Clancy Martin, philosophy department chairman at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Fitzgibbons has criticized the “zero-tolerance” policy for priests accused of sexual abuse that U.S. bishops established in 2002, arguing that many accusations are false. He told the National Catholic Register in April that bishops need to address how to handle false allegations and how to protect the rights of all accused priests. Needless to say, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests are far less than pleased with what occurred. They wrote that: Finn clearly didn’t want an honest assessment of Fr. Ratigan’s sickness. He wanted legal and public relations ‘cover’ so he could put Fr. Ratigan around kids again. What kind of therapist diagnoses an adult as “lonely” because he takes hundreds of pictures of little girls’ crotches? What kind of therapist blames a parochial school principal for that child predator’s problems? And what kind of bishop seeks out this therapist? At an absolute bare minimum, Finn owes his flock – especially parents of Fr. Ratigan’s victims – an explanation of why he knowingly picked such an obviously biased and bizarre therapist for such a crucial assignment. There are tens of thousands of competent, independent mental health professionals in this country. Finn chose none of them. Instead, he deliberately picked a biased guy who would provide the ‘cover’ Finn sought so he could protect church assets while putting Fr. Ratigan back in ministry. Finn didn’t want a real evaluation of Fr. Ratigan. He wanted to ‘cover his behind.’ That’s why he picked a man who would tell Finn what Finn wanted to hear: ‘Ratigan’s not a pedophile.’ This is an extraordinarily shrewd legal defense and public relations maneuver by a diocesan hierarchy that’s very experienced in damage control. It’s what bishops have done for years – pay unqualified or unethical therapists who will call child predators anything except child predators so bishops can put them back in parishes. (Then, in yet another cynical betrayal, bishops end up blaming those therapists for giving them ‘bad advice.’ And when the dust settles, and another allegation surfaces later against another cleric, bishops hired the same therapists again.) They note that Fitzgibbons could not have been objective. They wrote that not only is he tied to Opus bono, but he has ties to the Philadelphia archdiocese. He also believes that lesbians and gays can be cured. First, he’s tied to Opus Bono. He’s also tied to the Philadelphia archdiocese. And he evidently believes gays can and should be ‘cured.’ Opus Bono’s founder: – believes that “culpable priests” must be given “opportunities to return to active ministry” – thinks that “at least a thousand priests…have been removed and remain out of public ministry because of unproven accusations.” – has said “the rights of the accused priest are completely ignored” (according to the group’s website)” –This therapist also served, for years, on the “Counseling Committee of Psychiatrists and Psychologists for Religious of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia,” which is perhaps the most discredited Catholic diocese in America on child sex abuse and cover ups. –Finally, this therapist apparently believes in “curing” gay men and women through therapy. He has written that “Those with deep-seated homosexual tendencies . . .are usually unwilling to examine their emotional conflicts that caused this tendency. Strong physical attraction to other men (is) due to profound weakness in male confidence” and “The goal of counseling is . . . to lead to the resolution of same-sex attractions.”
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