Rev. Shawn Francis Ratigan- Assignment Record

Assignment Record – Rev. Shawn Francis Ratigan

Summary of Case: A Kansas City-St. Joseph diocesan priest, Ratigan was arrested in May 2011 and charged with three counts of child pornography. He was found in December 2010 by a computer repairman to have pornographic images of girls, ages 3-12, on his computer. Ratigan was pastor of a Kansas City, MO parish at the time. Ratigan survived a suicide attempt after the images were found and reported to the diocese. Parishioners were not informed of the reason for Ratigan's hospitalization, and were asked to pray for him. Families reached out to Ratigan and, despite being told by his superiors to stay away from children, Ratigan accepted invitations to family gatherings which included children. He is said to have contacted at least one 10-year-old girl on Facebook, after which her family invited him to dinner. Ratigan is said to have taken pictures of the girl with his cell phone underneath the dinner table. Diocesan officials didn't file a police report until May 2011. They had been warned in a five-page memo in May 2010 of Ratigan's inappropriate behavior with children by the principal of the parish school. Ratigan was charged with three counts of possesion of child pornography, to which he pleaded "not guilty" on May 23, 2011. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in Aug. 2011 on thirteen counts of possessing and producing child pornography. Bishop Finn and the diocese were charged in Oct. 2011 with with failing to report that a child might be subject to abuse. They pleaded "not guilty". Finn was found guilty and in September 2012 and received a suspended sentence of two years' probation. Ratigan, who was found also to have touched children's private areas while posing them for photographs, changed his plea to "guilty" Aug. 2, 2012. He was sentenced in September 2013 to 50 years in federal prison. Finn remained bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph, resulting in a firestorm of criticism, protest and persistent calls for his resignation. In September 2014 the Vatican's Congregation of Bishops sent a representative to investigate Finn's leadership. In April 2015 Pope Francis accepted Finn's resignation.

Ordained: 2004

Start	Stop	Parish	Town/Accusations	State	Position	Notes
June 2004 Kansas City-St. Joseph bishop was Raymond James Boland (1993-2005), followed by Robert William Finn (2005-)	June 2005	St. Thomas More	Kansas City • In May 2011 investigators discovered a CD with pornographic images of a 3 or 4 year old girl accompanied by a receipt dated 4-30-2004. The CD was in an envelope marked "S. Ratigan."	MO	2/2 Pastor was Rev. John Weiss.	St. Thomas More had a school with 658 students, and a religious education program with 15 students. Ratigan was a "supporter" of Catholic Scouting.
July 2005	June 2009	St. Mary's	St. Joseph	MO	1/1 Administrator	St. Mary's had a religious education program with 60-38 students.
2005	2009	Bishop LeBlond High School	St. Joseph	MO	Chaplain	LeBlond High School had 282-230 students. Ratigan led a group of LeBlond students on a trip to Guatemala in 2007.
July 2005	June 2009	St. Joseph's	Easton • Images of child pornography were found in May 2011 on a computer Ratigan had used while at this parish. • Ratigan was accused in a Sept. 2011 lawsuit of taking pornographic pictures of a girl beginning in 2008. The girl was a student at St. Joseph's school; he often visited her and her family in their home between 2006-2011. Among other things, Ratgan is said to have posed the girl in sexually explicit ways while she was sleeping. Ratigan is said to have uploaded the pictures onto his computer, and then to the internet.	MO	2/2, 1/1 In the 2006 Directory Ratigan is noted to be Administrator, and he is listed second after Rev. Matthew Brumleve.	St. Joseph's had a religious education program with 47-21 students.
July 2009	Dec. 2010	St. Patrick's	Kansas City • December 16, 2010 a computer repair person found child pornography on Ratigan's computer. The repairman told church officials, who gave the computer to the diocese's computer expert to review. • Diocesan officials were warned of Ratigan's inappropriate behavior with children by St. Patrick's school principal in a five-page memo in May 2010. This was a year before the diocese filed a police report. The memo included, among others, concerns about Ratigan's picture taking, his obsession with a fifth grade girl, and that a parent found a pair of girl's panties in a planter in the priest's yard. • In a June 2011 lawsuit Ratigan was accused of engaging in sexually explicit conduct with a 2 to 3 year-old girl from 2006 to 2010. • Ratigan was accused in a November 2012 lawsuit of engaging a girl in sexually explicit conduct from 2009-2011, when the girl was 10-12 years-old.	MO	1/1	St. Patrick's had a school with 120 students, and a religious education program with 60 students. Ratigan was involved with youth in the Pro-Life movement. In December 2010, the day after a technician found child porn on Ratigan's computer, Ratigan attempted suicide, and was hospitalized. In a suicide note, he apologized to "the kids and his family" for any harm he had caused. The diocese didn't report Ratigan to the police until May 2011. Bishop Finn has said that diocesan officials told a Kansas City police officer in December 2010 about the images, but the officer reportedly told Finn they weren't child porn. The officer was a member of a diocesan committee. The diocesan review board was not notified of the allegations. Diocesan officials copied the photos and gave the laptop to Ratigan's family, who then destroyed the computer. Authorities have said that Ratigan took photographs with a digital camera and cell phone of girls ages 3-12, some of them taken up the girls' skirts. The images were found on Ratigan's laptop and on a desktop computer that he had used at St. Joseph's in Easton. Many of the photos were said to have been taken at churches and schools associated with Ratigan. By May 19, 2011, several of the girls in the photos had been identified and were being interviewed.
Jan. 2011	May 18, 2011	Sisters of St. Francis of the Holy Eucharist/Vincentian Parish Mission Center	Independence • Ratigan was accused in a Nov. 2011 lawsuit of taking photos with his cell phone of a 10 year-old girl underneath the table while having dinner with her family in their home. Members of St. Patrick's parish, the family reached out to Ratigan after learning of his carbon monoxide "accident". They said the diocese asked parishioners to pray for Ratigan, but did not say that child pornography had been found on his computer, or that he had attempted suicide. Ratigan is said to have contacted the girl via Facebook, which led to the family inviting him to dinner. • Ratigan was accused of having taken pornographic photos of a 12 year-old girl on Easter Sunday, 2011. Federal prosecutors in Aug. 2011 said Ratigan had vicitmized this same girl when she was 6 years old by photographing her crotch with her panties pulled aside. • In an August 2011 lawsuit, Ratigan was accused of taking sexually explicit photos of a girl attending an Easter egg hunt, that Ratigan hosted, on the Sisters' property in April of that year.	MO		Ratigan was sent to Philadelphia Jan. 6-11, 2011, to be evaluated by psychiatrist Richard Fitzgibbons, who was involved with the priest support organization, Opus Bono Sacerdotii. Fitzgibbons determined that Ratigan wasn't a pedophile-he was just lonely. Fitzgibbons had previously publicly criticized the bishops' "zero-tolerance" policy regarding priests accused of child sexual abuse. Ratigan lived in a private priests' residence on the Sisters' property after in-patient psychiatric treatment and a stay with his mother. Bishop Finn stated that he had ordered Ratigan to stay away from children, later to find out that Ratigan attended a St. Patrick's Day parade and a child's birthday party. The Sisters of the Holy Eucharist are said to have "often hosted young girls for retreats, dinners and other events", and Ratigan often stayed with parishioners with young children on weekends. Parishioners said that the bishop allowed Ratigan to preside over a First Communion. Ratigan was arrested May 18, 2011 at the Sisters of St. Francis of the Holy Eucharist, and charged with three counts of possessing child pornography. He pleaded "not guilty" on May 23, 2011. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in Aug. 2011 on thirteen counts of possessing and producing child pornography. Prosecutors said he exploited five minor victims, ages 2 to 12.
May 18, 2011						Bishop Finn and the diocese were charged in October 2011 with failing to report that a child might be subject to abuse. He and the diocese denied guilt, saying they didn't know the photographs were pornographic. Vicar General Msgr. Robert Murphy, who eventually reported Ratigan to police, later testified that Finn had said he wanted to "save Ratigan's priesthood", and that Ratigan's problem was "only pornography." Finn was found guilty in Sept. 2012 of failure to report child abuse. He recieved a suspended sentenced of two years probation. He remained bishop of the diocese. On August 2, 2012 Ratigan changed his plea to "guilty". He was sentenced on September 12, 2013 to 50 years in prison. In April 2015, after nearly three years of intense protest and pressure for Finn's ouster, Pope Francis accepted Finn's resignation.

Sources: Official Catholic Directory (New York: P.J. Kenedy and Sons, 2005-2010)

Documents
• Memo to Msgr. Robert Murphy, Vicar General, from St. Patrick School Principal, by Julie Hess, May 19, 2010 (first posted by tonyskansascity.com blog and then by the National Catholic Reporter and other media on May 26, 2011)
• Affidavit and Complaint in Felony Case, Scott A. Ison and Detective Maggie McGuire, May 19, 2011
• Community Update, by Bishop Robert W. Finn, Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, May 27, 2011 [see also a video of Finn delivering his statement and answering questions]
• Jane Doe 173, by and through her parents and guardians, Mother Doe 173 and Father Doe 173, v. Shawn Ratigan, Diocese of Kansas City - St. Joseph, and Bishop Robert Finn, June 2, 2011
• Indictment, United States of America v. Father Shawn Ratigan, August 9, 2011
• Jane Doe 49, by and through Her Parents, John Doe 50 and Jane Doe 51, et al. v. Father Shawn Ratigan, August 11, 2011

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This assignment record collates Ratigan's career history as it is represented in the Official Catholic Directory with allegations as reported in the media. We make no representation regarding the truth of the allegation we report, and we remind our readers that the U.S. legal system presumes that a person accused of or charged with a crime is innocent until proven guilty. Similarly, individuals who may be defendants in civil actions are presumed not to be liable for such claims unless a plaintiff proves otherwise. Admissions of guilt or liability are not typically a part of civil or private settlements. For more information, see our posting policy.

This assignment record was last updated on April 22, 2015.