UNITED STATES
Catholic Philly
BY MARK PATTISON
Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS) — Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, as apostolic administrator of the neighboring Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri, said he hopes the coming months will be “a Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph” for the Missouri diocese.
The archbishop was named administrator after the April 21 resignation of Bishop Robert W. Finn, and he will serve in that capacity until a successor to the bishop is named.
“I have an awareness of the vitality and beauty of the Catholic community in northwest Missouri,” Archbishop Naumann said in a statement. “Living in the same media market, I am also keenly conscious of some of the challenges and difficulties this diocese has suffered in recent years.”
Archbishop Naumann was referring to Bishop Finn’s conviction in 2012 on one misdemeanor count of failing to report suspected child abuse. The situation developed after a diocesan priest’s computer was found in 2010 to have contained child pornography, but the diocese did not report the situation to civil authorities for another six months. …
Bill Donohue, head of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, said, “The Catholic League defended him (Bishop Finn) against his critics, some of whom were vicious.”
“Bishop Finn did not take a cavalier attitude toward his (Father Ratigan’s) misconduct. If he had, Ratigan’s problem would have been ignored altogether,” Donohue said in an April 21 statement. “Our prayers are with Bishop Finn, and we thank him for cleaning up the mess he inherited.”
Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, called the resignation of Bishop Finn “a good step but just a beginning.”
“The pope must show that this decision represents a meaningful shift in papal practice — that it signals a new era in bishop accountability,” she said in an April 22 statement.
“What no pope has done to date is publicly confirm that he removed a culpable bishop because of his failure to make children’s safety his first priority,” Doyle added. “We urge Pope Francis to issue such a statement immediately. That would be unprecedented, and it would send a bracing message to bishops and religious superiors worldwide that a new era has begun.”
David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, called Bishop Finn’s resignation “a tiny but belated step forward.”
“One pope has finally seen fit to oust one bishop for complicity in clergy sex crimes. That’s encouraging,” Clohessy said in an April 21 statement. “But it’s only a very tiny drop of reform in an enormous bucket of horror. (Bishop) Finn’s departure will, in the short term, make some adults happier. By itself, it won’t, in the long term, make many kids safer.”
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