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Finn First Bishop Found Guilty in Decades-Long Sexual Abuse Scandal

UPDATE: Finn found guilty on one charge of failure to report

“The first U.S. Catholic bishop criminally charged in the decades-long clergy sex abuse crisis was found guilty Thursday of one misdemeanor count of failing to report a priest known to be in possession of lewd images of children.” By Joshua L. McElwee, National Catholic Reporter

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This entry was posted on September 6, 2012, 5:43 PM and is filed under Catholic Bishops, church reform, Clergy, Clergy Sexual Abuse, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  1. #1 by Bill Casey on September 8, 2012 - 11:09 AM

    After reading the following linked story about the misdemeanor conviction this week of Bishop Finn in KC for failing to report a sexual abuser, ask yourself whether Finn would have received a far harsher judgment, if not criminally, then morally were he in any other profession in our society. And he’s not just another senior official of a company or corporation, he’s a Roman Catholic Bishop responsible for the spiritual witness and guidance in a large diocese.

    Yet, this is what he had to say following the conviction: “I truly regret, “ Bishop Finn said in court on Thursday, “and am sorry for the hurt that these events have caused.” For the hurt these events…, not that what I have failed to do or the hurt I have caused, as if he’s speaking of an unfortunate act of nature. There is no more illustrative template of all that is diseased within the clericalism culture than the summary below of what happened regarding the behavior of a priest and his bishop.

    What behavior will now follow from his Vatican supervisor, the Pope, or from the people who fill the pews Sunday after Sunday? If the past is any indication, perhaps a sinecure in Rome, or anecdotal indication of some additional, but marginal, losses in the pews or in the diocesan fund-raisers. Is this the best we have to offer our young people? Is this all that is expected from followers of Jesus’ Good News?

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  2. #2 by Bill Casey on September 7, 2012 - 10:34 AM

    Notwithtanding the limitations one can find about the sentencing of Bishop Finn for a conviction of failing to report abusers under his control to the proper authorities, the conviction is as significant as the one Msgr. Lynn received in Philadelphia recently. During the summer of 2012, the criminal courts have done what no other court did, or would ever have done, ten years ago. Two senior officials of the Catholic Church now stand with criminal records for failing to protect children. There is not a priest or bishop in the country who can view the ways in which they responded to the clergy sexual abuse scandal in the same way they did prior to the summer of 2012. Whether this is a tipping point or not, there is a serious breach in the walls of defense around the fortress of clericalism.

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