The charges against Bishop Finn should unequivocally stand

Dr. Frank Kessler of St. Joseph wrote a piece in yesterday's Kansas City Star saying that "The charges against Bishop Finn should be dropped" in their "As I See It" column on the op/ed page. I could not possibly disagree more strongly. I know Dr. Kessler to be a terrrific human being and know, too, that he is a deeply devout Catholic. All well and good. He was one of my professors in St. Joseph back when it was Missouri Western State College. He's an outstanding professor, too. But on this subject, I think he's terribly wrong. He seems to say that since Bishop Finn apologized for "his poor administrative judgment involving the supervision of one of his priests, Father Shawn Ratigan", that that should be enough. Again, he couldn't be more wrong. The facts are that Bishop Finn and the people in his offices were aware that this Father Ratigan had made at least seriously inappropriate actions with students at these schools and then that he had at least inappropriate, if not pornographic pictures of them on at least one of his computers. Bishop Finn did nothing about Father Ratigan other than reassigning him, as the Catholic Church has done time and time again, across the globe. The law in Missouri, passed the last time a sexual abuse charge by a Catholic priest occurred, required that any suspicions be reported to the police. Bishop Finn did not do that. Not only should the charges against Bishop Finn stand but this needs to go to court and be tried. We won't and shouldn't assume guilt ahead of time but by the official timeline of what took place and when in this matter, it absolutely looks like the Bishop disregarded the law and failed his church and the students and parishoners that attend those schools and churches. One more thing. Dr. Kessler states "“When prosecution can be perceived as rooted in politics, it can ruin the good name of the target, cheapen the moral authority of government and tarnish respect for the rule of law.” Let's be clear here. There is no "politics" in these charges. No one has much of anything to gain--if anything at all--in filing or pursuing these charges other than that they will get some media coverage for a while. Children were exposed to harm and exploited here and for the umpteenth time. We're all more than a little sick of these things happening, then being told "it won't happen again" and then, worst of all, seeing it happen. Again. And again. And again. Sorry, to use a cliche', just doesn't cut it, not even if it comes from the Bishop himself. This needed to happen. These charges needed to be filed and the trial needs to ensue. Hopefully justice will be served. Links: http://www.kansascity.com/2011/10/18/3215526/the-charges-against-bishop-finn.html; http://www.kansascity.com/search_results/?q=Bishop Finn