“Lament” clay sculpture by Connie Butler As much as I would prefer to leave Sister Simone Campbell’s joyful presence standing at the top of my blog posts for a few days, this story demands comment. On Thursday, Sept. 6, 2012, Bishop Robert Finn of the diocese of Kansas City-Saint Joseph, was found guilty of a misdemeanor count of failing to reportsuspected child abuse. Unlike most recent cases (see my blogpost on Msgr. Lynn’s trial or the NYT’s article on his conviction.) this offense occurred in 2011, ten years after the American Catholic Bishops made reporting such abuse part of their recommended policies. (I say “recommended” because in the end, the bishops answer only to the authority of the Pope.)
While this event marks the first time a bishop has been found guilty and sentenced in a civil court, something that gives me hope for future moves to accountability, the slight sentence of probation is a disappointment. Not that I take pleasure in seeing someone sent to prison, but the damage done to at least one boy and likely other children at the hands of a priest protected by his superior, is not reflected in the punishment given to Bishop Finn. It reflects a lack of understanding, putting the case in the best possible light, of children and the lifelong effects of such abuse. Bishop Finn should resign, and if he doesn’t, he should be removed.
Today,iOL News quoted Barbara Dorris, outreach director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, saying, Only jail time would have made a real difference here and deterred future horrific cover-ups, anything less will not produce any meaningful reform.
The Catholic hierarchy is notoriously secretive. When they backslide again it will be hard to catch them, everyone involved must be hyper vigilant if kids are truly to be safe.
Her comments reflect the frustration of many who are outraged that members of the hierarchy involved in coverup and placing pedophiles in positions where they had access to children have not accepted responsibility for their culpability as enablers of sexual abuse of children.
Would women in the ranks of clergy and hierarchy had made a difference? As a woman, mother, and educator, I think “yes.” We, of course, will never know the answer to that question. Still, as weak as the sentencing of Bishop Finn is, this conviction does hold some hope that those involved in such horrible crimes are not above the reach of civil law. Admitting to their part in these scandals and accepting the consequences would go far in healing the Church. As Bishop Conlon of Joliet, IL said“Our credibility on the subject of child abuse is shredded.” He compared today’s situation with that of the Reformation, when not only local clerics were discredited, but the bishops and pope as well.
I hope the other bishops and the Vatican are listening.
(Photo of Bishop Finn: Tammy Ljungblad)
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