UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter
Bill Tammeus | Oct. 30, 2013 A small c catholic
Dear Holy Father:
I write as a brother in Christ to say — in words echoing what John Dean, former counsel to President Richard Nixon, once told Nixon in the midst of the Watergate scandal — that there’s a cancer growing on your remarkably hopeful papacy.
Radically unlike Nixon’s mess, this one is not of your making, but only you can fix it.
You must remove Robert W. Finn as bishop of the Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., diocese. His continued presence there mocks the good-faith efforts the church is making to respond to the crisis of priests sexually abusing children.
As you’re aware, Finn was convicted in court of failure to report to government authorities a priest suspected of child sex abuse. It was classified as a misdemeanor, but that label belittles the magnitude of Finn’s failure.
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI should have told Finn to resign immediately upon conviction, if not before. His failure to do so means the ball is in your court. And the longer it stays there without your response, the more it damages the church both Finn and you love.
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