MISSOURI
Webster -Kirkwood Times
January 13, 2012
The Penn State scandal of sexual abuse has been called a “conspiracy of silence.” Too many people knew it was going on, but no one wanted to speak out. No one chose to contact law enforcement, and so the nightmarish crimes were allowed to continue.
Some readers think we have been strangely silent about a related story. That involves the criminal indictment of Kansas City Bishop Robert Finn. Finn has local connections. He served as priest in residence at Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in Webster Groves a decade ago.
Finn faced criminal prosecution last year for allegedly covering up information that may have prevented the sexual abuse of a minor by a priest. The story, involving child porn and other unseemly details, has been in newspapers all over the country. But it hasn’t been in our weekly.
We are damned if we do, and damned if we don’t, in the case of stories like that of Bishop Finn. If we publish it, we are accused of piling on and being anti-religious “like all the mainstream media.” If we don’t publish it, we are accused of timidity and conspiring to keep things hidden.
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