ST. LOUIS (MO)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Editorial
Until 2005, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph was regarded as far more ecclesiastically moderate than the Archdiocese of St. Louis. That changed abruptly in 2005 when Robert W. Finn of St. Louis took over as bishop in Kansas City.
Bishop Finn, who grew up in Overland and was educated in archdiocesan seminaries, was a protege of then-St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke and a member of the ultra-conservative Catholic organization Opus Dei. He immediately began to make church practices in Kansas City more closely resemble those in St. Louis.
This was immensely satisfying to conservative Catholics in Kansas City, who were uncomfortable with the role of laymen and — especially nuns and laywomen — in diocesan affairs. Bishop Finn was old school, which was entirely his right. Up to a point.
In 2010, he took it upon himself to impose his episcopal prerogatives in a civil matter. In May that year, a parish school administrator reported teachers had become uncomfortable with Father Shawn Ratigan, the pastor of their parish. In December of that year, a computer technician found lewd photos of young girls on Father Ratigan’s computer.
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