Where Does the Finn Verdict Leave the Church and the Faithful?

By Judy L. Thomas And Lynn Horsley
Kansas City Star
September 7, 2012

http://www.kansascity.com/2012/09/06/3801208/where-does-the-finn-verdict-leave.html

In finding Bishop Robert Finn guilty on Thursday, Jackson County Circuit Judge John Torrence said he hoped his verdict could bring to a close a case that has caused upheaval in the diocese for nearly a year.

Some are ready to move ahead, but not everyone.

As the guilty verdict of Kansas City’s Catholic bishop resonated around the world Thursday, strong reaction flooded in from both supporters and critics of Finn. It showed a division that opened with pornography charges against a priest, the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, in 2011.

Some called for Finn to resign.

“I think a bishop with a criminal conviction has impaired his ability to function as bishop and should consider for the good of his diocese allowing someone else to lead it,” said Nicholas Cafardi, a law professor at Duquesne University and former chairman of the U.S. Bishops’ National Review Board for the Protection of Children and Youth. “This destroys his credibility and seriously impairs his ability to lead the diocese.”

Others, however, had sympathy for Finn.

Jenny Ruppert, who attends Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish in Kansas City, said she and many others have great respect for Finn and still fully support him. They were disappointed in the verdict and don’t believe he would ever knowingly do anything wrong.

“We feel it’s unfortunate that he’s been the scapegoat for these horrible crimes,” Ruppert said. “The church is strong. Our diocese is strong, and that’s mainly due to Bishop Finn’s leadership.”

Jim Caccamo, former chairman of the diocese’s Independent Review Board, echoed what many Catholics said Thursday: The healing process must begin.

Caccamo said he thought Thursday’s verdict was fair.

“There are 133,000 Catholics in the diocese, and many of them are victims in this in the sense that what they hold dear, what they believe in, was violated,” Caccamo said. “So it is now time for healing. … If God can grace us, as I know he does, the grace I’m asking for is to have a healing heart, to be able to forgive because justice now has been done.”

Caccamo said the efforts should begin at the parish level.

“It starts with the pastors talking from the pulpit about a healing heart and forgiveness,” he said.

He said he also would encourage parish staffs to meet and talk about what they thought needed to be done.

The drama was visible Thursday in the courtroom, which was as crowded as a church on Easter morning.

Spectators included victims of clergy sex abuse, lawyers, police, reporters and two priests. Several people prayed quietly in the back row during a recess.

At least two men who have civil lawsuits pending against the diocese were teary-eyed afterward.

“I’m pleased,” said Jon David Couzens. “I’m just happy that there was a guilty verdict.

“It’s good for the diocese and the kids going into the diocese and the kids who are in the diocese now. At least some accountability has finally been put on paper and is going to be monitored from here on out.”

The Rev. Terry Bruce of St. Elizabeth’s Catholic Church in Kansas City shook his head as he left the courtroom.

“This affects all of us,” Bruce said. “It’s all sad.”

Bruce said he was satisfied with the verdict.

“It could have been so much worse,” he said. “There’s been plenty of punishment (for Finn) just from having to show up in court. I think the bishop has gotten the idea and learned from his mistakes.”

Bruce smiled when asked whether he thought Finn would resign.

“He says he won’t leave until the one who sent him here takes him away,” he said. “Well, that was Pope John Paul II, and he’s dead.”

Caccamo sighed when asked whether Finn should step down.

“I think the issue is for him to search his heart about what role he plays in healing of our fellow Catholics,” he said.

Others were more definite.

Rebecca Randles, a Kansas City attorney who represents some of Ratigan’s victims, said they would likely join the call for Finn’s resignation.

“I think there will definitely be a push by many of the victims and many of their families and others who have been harmed by this,” Randles said. “This is one of those situations where the harm isn’t just located with the victims themselves. It ripples outward through much of Kansas City.”

Maria Robertson, who attends St. Margaret’s of Scotland Catholic Church in Lee’s Summit, said she and many others had lost faith in the bishop.

“I’m glad that an effort was made to hold the bishop accountable via our legal system,” she said. “What is so frustrating and disappointing to me is that I don’t feel that the bishop himself is holding himself accountable.”

And she thinks that will have a lasting effect on the diocese.

“How are we as parishioners supposed to believe anything that the diocese says under his leadership,” she asked, “when he so clearly shows he says one thing and does another?”

She said she thought the bishop had “lost his moral imperative to guide our diocese.”

But Finn had plenty of supporters, too.

Jane Blando, who also attends Our Lady of Good Counsel, said she has great sympathy for the victims but believes Finn never wanted anything bad to happen to any child.

She said the diocese will survive and stay strong.

“The church is 2,000 years old, and we are not going to be defeated by this,” she said. “He is a good man and did the best he could.”

Reggie Giffin, who attends St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Kansas City, said he would let Finn know of his support and believes that time will help the diocese heal.

Giffin, an attorney, said he would like to read the judge’s rationale. But he was relieved with Finn’s probation sentence.

“We’re not going to suffer the indignity of him spending any time in confinement,” he said.

As for where this leaves the diocese, Giffin said the outcome probably didn’t change much. Supporters will still stand staunchly behind Finn, and others will use it as an excuse to call for his resignation. One thing Giffin thought would help the diocese would be for Finn to tell his side of the story.

Finn’s lawyers said after the sentencing that whether he should remain bishop was not a legal matter, and they declined to comment.

Pressed on whether she should have required the bishop’s departure as a condition of his probation, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said state authorities have no say in who leads an institution like a church.

“We do not have that kind of power,” Baker said. “That is a decision between him and Rome.”

Timothy Lytton, an Albany Law School professor and author of a book on the role of lawsuits in the clergy sex-abuse crisis, said it would be unusual for Finn to resign.

“In politics, what you do to take responsibility is resign,” he said. “But bishops generally do not resign. The philosophy in the Catholic church is, if you broke it, you have to fix it.”

The Star’s Mark Morris contributed to this report.

To reach Judy Thomas, call 816-234-4334 or send email to jthomas@kcstar.com