Posted on 10/14/2011 7:01:15 PM PDT by Lazamataz
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City's Catholic bishop has become the highest-ranking U.S. Catholic official indicted on a charge of failing to protect children after he and his diocese waited five months to tell police about hundreds of images of child pornography discovered on a priest's computer, officials said Friday.
Bishop Robert Finn, the first U.S. bishop criminally charged with sheltering an abusive clergyman, and the Kansas City-St. Joseph Catholic Diocese have pleaded not guilty on one count each of failing to report suspected child abuse.
Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said Finn and the diocese were required under state law to report the discovery to police because the images gave them reason to believe a child had been abused.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
My issue is, since when did it become a crime not to report a crime?
What has our country become?
Would a school principal or teacher or teacher’s aide be held to the same standard?
Yes. It is the law.
A doctor or psychiatrist must tell the police if a crime is being committed. I don’t know when that started. I would imagine the better part of 100 years.
Is it just this sect of Christianity or have others like Methodist, Evangelicals etc... been caught doing or watching or possessing this disgusting sin ? The Catholic Church (not the people) have always worried me. The power they held throughout history and whats left of it today, I believe, is corrupting.
The bishop was trying to protect an evil man:
Ratigan was charged in May with three state child pornography counts, and in June with 13 federal counts of producing, possessing and attempting to produce child porn. He has pleaded not guilty and remains jailed.
After receiving the principal’s concerns in 2010, Monsignor Robert Murphy, the diocese’s vicar general, spoke with Ratigan about setting boundaries with children. He then gave Finn a verbal summary of the concerns and his meeting with the priest.
Last December, a computer technician found on Ratigan’s laptop hundreds of what he called “disturbing” images of children, most of them fully clothed with the focus on their crotch areas, and a series of pictures of a 2- to 3-year-old girl with her genitals exposed.
Diocese officials reported the photos to Murphy, who did not report them to authorities and instead called a police captain who is a member of the diocese’s independent review board and described a single photo of a nude child that was not sexual in nature.
Without viewing the photo, the captain said he was advised that although such a picture might meet the definition of child pornography, it probably wouldn’t be investigated or prosecuted. It was not until this May that Murphy told police Ratigan’s laptop had contained hundreds of photos.
David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, on suggested Friday that other individuals should be charged along with Finn.
It’s the Missouri child abuse statute. Guy has a statutory duty to report child abuse he becomes aware of.
Am I in trouble now?
Just don’t forget to share your weed with them.
When you are in a position of authority; secular, religious or political- shielding a subordinate is a moral and oft legal offense.
This is not exclusive to the Catholic sect, but too often the network excused, covered and reassigned priests to obscure remote assignments rather than expose the sin.
Our country would be better if persons in authority did not cover ( and thereby excuse) felonies committed by their peers and subordinates.
IMHO.
I must have forgotten all the cases of child molestation in public schools which been identified, prosecuted, and in which someone was held accountable (this doesn’t include the mockery made in the media about women teachers “raping” 14 year old boys) and which resulting in deci-million dollar judgments, bankrupting entire school districts.
Same thing the road to hell is paved with.
Impartially and blindly applied, of course. /s
Bingo! That is exactly what I was thinking when I heard about this. You can’t tell me that a school principal or faculty in any given district hasn’t turned their backs to inappropriate goings on. They are held to a different standard plain and simple.
I guess I’m here with this: The church brought the issue to police attention, and probably would have without the law. There’s a moral imperative. However, now this good man, the Bishop, is being charged because he didn’t do it on THEIR timetable. I think I have a problem with that segment of this. Just seems wrong somehow.... I dunno.... maybe I could be convinced I’m in error....
You being nice?
Oh okay. I didn’t know. I was trying to research that but didn’t know which way to phrase and look. However, I don’t understand why their superiors just stand around and cover for some of these...but the same can be said for lots of folks who have higher ups cover their rears in times of light casting. Fast and Furious I think is one of those situations.
Yeah I am sure part of it is political on Jean Peter’s part....prosecutor is springboard to bigger and better political troughs to feed from.
It's getting close to halloween. Weird stuff is bound to happen.
:)
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