Questions raised over Kansas City bishop’s ‘boys will be boys’ comment

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

Aug. 31, 2012

By Joshua J. McElwee

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — When the computer systems manager of the Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., diocese told her bishop, Robert Finn, that she had found lewd images of children on a priest’s laptop, he replied, “Sometimes boys will be boys,” according to sworn testimony that appears in court documents filed Thursday.

Diocesan employee Julie Creech’s statement was taken as part of a deposition included in a court filing for a lawsuit brought by two alleged victims of Fr. Shawn Ratigan, a Kansas City priest who pleaded guilty earlier this month to federal charges of producing and attempting to produce sexually graphic material of minor girls.

However, after Creech’s quote was reported in local media, her lawyer said Creech refuted the statement. After the deposition, Creech realized she had “misspoken” and hoped to correct her mistake when she received a copy of the deposition to verify her testimony, said John Grombowsky, Creech’s attorney.

Grombowsky said the deposition was made public before Creech had a chance to review and correct it.

Ratigan’s May 2011 arrest on pornography charges raised questions about when his diocese and Finn first became aware of concerns against him. County prosecutors say both Finn and the diocese should have reported Ratigan to police as early as December 2010, when they acknowledge becoming aware of lewd images of children on his laptop.

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