Bishop Finn---Going down?

Wow.

The Star really had a scoop today. They posted this story (link below) online this afternoon:

'Boys will be boys,' Bishop Finn purportedly said after being told of priest's lewd photos

When confronted by the diocese’s computer director about her concerns over lewd images found on a priest’s laptop, Bishop Robert Finn replied that, “Sometimes priests do things they shouldn’t,” court papers filed Thursday alleged.
“Sometimes, boys will be boys,” the bishop is purported to have said, court records show.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/08/30/3787983/boys-will-be-boys-finn-purportedly.html#storylink=cpy

That seems like quite the "smoking gun" in the Bishop's case. The prosecutors now have, it seems, something in which they can prove he knew of the pictures on former priest Shawn Ratigan's computer and that he did nothing of it.

All this in spite of the fact, too, that the Bishop and the Catholic Church in this diocese swore, last time this happened--the last time there were Catholic schoolchildren found to be sexually molested or exploited--that they would do everything possible to look into the situation but to also turn it over to the police to investigate.

Unfortunately for Bishop Finn, that ain't all. There's also this:

Julie Creech, the director of management and information systems for the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, described her meeting with the bishop during an Aug. 17 deposition in a Jackson County civil case. According to that lawsuit, the Rev. Shawn Ratigan abused a 9-year-old girl months after the diocese learned of the photos on his computer...

According to the study, prepared by former U.S. Attorney Todd Graves, Creech examined Ratigan’s laptop on Dec. 16, 2010, and discovered hundreds of disturbing photographs of young children, primarily girls. That evening, Creech called vicar general Robert Murphy and advised him to call police, the study said. The diocese did not report the suspected abuse until May 2011.

This flies in the face of everything Bishop Finn has said, to date.

This certainly doesn't look good from the Bishop's point of view, for sure.

I'm not assuming he's guilty, in spite of all we've learned from the documents and facts printed in the Star and reported in the media so far. It's up to the court and the defense attorneys and prosecution to come to a conclusion.

But the fact is, if Bishop Finn is guilty in this situation--and it has looked as though he is for a long, long time, since the reports broke, he and the Catholic Church let those children and their families down and he should be held accountable.

We shall see what we shall see.

Side note: It seems a bit tacky if not out-and-out tawdry that the advertisement at the bottom of the online page for the Star I saw had an add for mattresses. It seems in poor taste, at least, for what it's worth.

Link: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/08/30/3787983/boys-will-be-boys-finn-purportedly.html