Are the Wagons Circling around Bishop Robert Finn?
By Steve Vockrodt
A 60 Minutes report Sunday evening on CBS is the latest bit of circumstantial evidence that suggests Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn is losing, or has lost, his support in the Catholic Church hierarchy. A segment from Sunday's television news magazine, which you can watch here, profiled Sean O'Malley, the archbishop of the Boston Diocese and the United States cardinal for the Catholic Church. The CBS report cast O'Malley both as a close adviser to Pope Francis and an ardent reformer of three Catholic dioceses in the United States — Fall River, Massachusetts; Palm Beach, Florida; and Boston — that were racked by child-sex-abuse scandals. Discussion turned toward a renewed sense of accountability for bishops in the Catholic Church under Pope Francis, so naturally the issue of Bishop Finn, head of the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, came up. CBS reporter Norah O'Donnell brought up Finn's 2012 misdemeanor conviction (O'Donnell incorrectly described it as a guilty plea) in Jackson County on charges of obscuring child sex crimes committed by imprisoned Catholic priest Shawn Ratigan. Finn was the first bishop in the United States to answer to criminal charges related to the cover-up of sex crimes under his watch. O'Donnell: Bishop Finn wouldn't be able to teach Sunday school in Boston. O'Malley: That's right. O'Donnell: How is that zero tolerance that he's still in place? What does that say to Catholics? O'Malley: [Pauses.] It's a question the Holy See needs to address urgently. O'Donnell: And there's a recognition? O'Malley: There's a recognition. O'Donnell: From Pope Francis? O'Malley: From Pope Francis. The interview seemed to communicate a loss of patience with Bishop Finn. Jack Smith, a spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, declined to comment on the report. Jean Peters-Baker, the Jackson County prosecutor whose office leveled charges against Finn, had this to say about O'Malley's comments: "I am encouraged by comments from within the church urging stronger action to protect children, and I hope this results in real benefits for our community and its children." Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, a support group for clergy abuse victims, said Finn's possible dismissal would represent "only a tiny drop of reform in an enormous bucket of horror." "Keep in mind that dozens of Kansas City Catholic employees are concealing or have concealed clergy sex crimes," said SNAP director David Clohessy in a written statement. "So it's irresponsible for anyone to get complacent. Protecting predators and endangering kids is a deeply-rooted and long-standing pattern in the Catholic hierarchy. It didn't start with one man and won't stop with one man." The segment comes little more than a month after the National Catholic Reporter broke news of a visit paid to Kansas City by an archbishop from Ontario to quiz local Catholic officials about Finn's leadership, a sign that the Vatican was investigating the embattled bishop. Earlier in the year, Finn was sued by a former pastoral assistant at St. Francis Xavier Church after an article in The Kansas City Star inadvertently disclosed that she was part of a same-sex marriage. The firing didn't seem to square with Pope Francis' repeated calls for acceptance, rather than exclusion, by the Catholic community. Tags: Bishop Robert Finn, Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Pope Francis, Image
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