Thousands Sign Online Petition Urging Resignation of Bishop Finn

By Safiya Songhai
St. Joe Channel
October 1, 2012

stjoechannel.com/fulltext?nxd_id=301362

[with video]

(KANSAS CITY, Mo) He is the first leader in the Catholic Church to ever be convicted of concealing a sexual abuse crime.

Now some members of the church not only want Bishop Robert Finn to resign his position as leader of the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese, they are putting their names on the dotted line.

Nearly 90,000 people have signed an online petition urging Bishop Finn to resign.

The petition is posted on the website change.org and organizers hope to appeal to the top leaders of the church, all the way to Italy.

"The goal is that Bishop Finn's peers will counsel him and advise him that there's a lot of support out there for a resignation and perhaps he should move on" said petition organizer Jeff Weiss.

Those who support Bishop Finn say they do not want him to resign.

They say he has learned a lesson from his conviction and is actively working on policies to ensure that such abuse is not tolerated by the church in the future.