Catholic Bishop Convicted of Shielding Pedophile Priest

In what ought to be the first in a huge volume of criminal convictions, the Bishop of Kansas City, Robert W. Finn (pictured at left), was convicted of protecting a predator priest.  Unfortunately, he was only convicted of a misdemeanor rather than a felony, but at least it's yet another signal to the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy that civil authorities are no longer going to allow these foul men to be above the law.  What is sad is that Finn engaged in the very same conduct as countless other bishops, cardinals, and yes, Benedict XVI himself, yet they have dodge criminal prosecution to date.  In my opinion, the whole lot of them belong behind bars, and I cannot understand how anyone with a shred of morality can continue to give deference or financial support to these morally bankrupt individuals.  The New York Times has details.  Here are excerpts:

A Roman Catholic bishop was found guilty on Thursday of failing to report suspected child abuse, becoming the first American bishop in the decades-long sexual abuse scandal to be convicted of shielding a pedophile priest. 

In a hastily announced bench trial that lasted a little over an hour, a judge found the bishop, Robert W. Finn, guilty on one misdemeanor charge and not guilty on a second charge, for failing to report a priest who had taken hundreds of pornographic pictures of young girls. The counts each carried a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a $1,000 fine, but Bishop Finn was sentenced to two years of court-supervised probation.

The verdict is a watershed moment in the priest sexual abuse scandal that has plagued the church since the 1980s.  .  .  .  .  the Kansas City case has served as a wake-up call to Catholics that the policies cannot be effective if the bishops do not follow them. 

It was an abrupt ending to a case that has consumed the church in Kansas City and threatened to turn into a sensational, first-ever trial of a sitting prelate. The case had been scheduled for a jury trial later this month, but on Wednesday the prosecution said it would be decided in one afternoon by Judge John M. Torrence in Jackson County Circuit Court. 

Before being sentenced, Bishop Finn, 59, his jaw quivering, rose in court and said: “I am pleased and grateful that the prosecution and the courts have allowed this matter to be completed.  .  .  .  .   The church managed to avoid a lengthy, highly public jury trial like the one earlier this year in Philadelphia, where a high-ranking assistant to the archbishop was convicted of child endangerment and sentenced to prison for three to six years. 

The Jackson County prosecutor, Jean Peters Baker, said that the expedited trial spared the young victims and their parents from having to testify. She said it also meant that the disturbing photographs of children would not be shown in open court. She said the victims and their families “were all ecstatic that this could end today.” 

The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, like some other victims’ advocacy groups, applauded the unprecedented conviction of a bishop but said in a statement that the sentence was too lenient. “Only jail time would have made a real difference here,” it said.

I agree with SNAP.  Only jail time will force the Church to purge the ranks of the hierarchy of those who knowingly enabled and protected child rapists.