KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star
February 15
BY DIANE STAFFORD
The Kansas City Star
A group of Roman Catholics based in Kansas City has taken the rare step of petitioning Pope Francis to discipline Bishop Robert Finn of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.
The formal request, initiated by a Milwaukee priest, a nun, and about a dozen parishioners in the Kansas City area, was sent to the Vatican along with an online petition signed by more 113,000 people worldwide asking for the bishop’s removal.
Finn was convicted in 2012 on a misdemeanor charge of failing to report a priest involved in child pornography. Finn was placed on two years of court-supervised probation.
“The priest’s crime that Bishop Finn concealed from civil authorities was of great magnitude,” said the Rev. James Connell, a priest and canon lawyer from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, in a letter to the pope.
“Thus, the harm done by Bishop Finn also was of great magnitude. Yet Catholic Church authorities have taken no action against Bishop Finn that would provide justice and repair scandal, and this lack of action adds to the ongoing scandal of the clergy sexual abuse crisis.” …
“This is quite unusual,” David Clohessy, national director of SNAP, the Survivor Network of those Abused by Priests, said of the petition.“The sad truth is that very rarely are Catholic bishops disciplined, and even more rarely do Catholic lay people initiate such requests.”
A United Nations panel this month scolded the Vatican for not holding bishops accountable when suspected of failing to report abuse. Church officials said the Vatican was discussing the issue and that the pope has formed a commission of child sexual abuse.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.