KMBC
May 27, 2011
http://www.kmbc.com/r/28052216/detail.html
[with video]
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Bishop Robert Finn said Friday he was “ashamed” over the arrest of a priest on suspicion of possessing child pornography.
The Rev. Shawn Ratigan was arrested May 19 and has been charged with three felony counts of child pornography possession.
Finn made the comments at a news conference in Kansas City. When asked whether he planned to resign, he said he was evaluating everything.
“I also have to change,” he said.
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| Shawn Ratigan |
Ratigan was moved out of the parish in December after lewd photographs were discovered on his computer. Some of the pictures were of girls who lived and around the parishes where he worked.
Ratigan attempted suicide on Dec. 17, officials said.
Finn issued a statement the day after Ratigan’s arrest, saying that the diocese found out about the problem in mid-December and talked to a Kansas City police officer and an attorney the very next day. He said he spoke with an officer who told him that the image of a naked young girl found on the computer was not pornography because it didn’t depict sexual conduct or contact.
“In hindsight, we should have turned the pictures over to the police,” Finn said Friday.
Finn said he did not personally see the images at that time.
Earlier, details emerged of a letter from the St. Patrick’s School principal to the Kansas City Catholic diocese that outlined fears that Ratigan could be a predator, a year before his arrest.
The letter said that Ratigan, who was in charge of the parish, was spending almost all of his time at the school around the children.
The principal’s letter indicated additional concerns about Ratigan’s behavior during the last school year.
The letter said “parents, staff members and parishioners are discussing (Ratigan’s) actions and whether or not he may be a child molester.” It also said that Ratigan’s actions fit the profile of a child predator.
In the letter, the principal said that the last straw was when Ratigan had a fourth-grade girl sit on his lap during a school field trip. It said the girl was allowed to “lean her body back against him.”
The letter also indicated Ratigan took hundreds of pictures of the children, “not just during special events, but on field trips and in their everyday school activities.”
In the letter, the principal said that a Brownie troop went to Ratigan’s home to plant flowers and an adult chaperone found a pair of girl’s panties inside one of the planters. The woman said Ratigan’s home was filled with stuffed animals and towels that were shaped to look like doll clothes.
The principal said the woman said the trip to Ratigan’s house gave her “the willies.”
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