Resign now, Bishop Finn
Yael T. AbouhalkahBishop Robert Finn should have resigned months ago. He didn’t. He resisted calls by other Catholics to leave as the leader of the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese.
But now there’s no need for Finn to stay. He must go.
His words, as generally recounted by one of his employees in a sworn deposition earlier this month, damn him further in the child sexual abuse cases roiling the diocese.
“Sometimes priests do things they shouldn’t,” Finn reportedly said to the diocese’s computer director when told of lewd images of a child, found on a priest’s computer.
Then this: “Sometimes, boys will be boys.”
That phrase will resonate around the KC area today and in coming days, because it goes to the heart of how some Finn critics have always thought of top Catholic officials: They want to protect the abusers (priests) at the expense of the abused (the children).
But late Thursday, this story took a bizarre turn when the employee, through a lawyer, attempted to take back her sworn testimony, saying the “boys will be boys” phrase she attributed to Finn was not uttered in that way.
Left unsaid: Exactly what Finn did say.
Even before today’s events, Finn should have resigned.
Finn is essentially accused of not stepping in and doing his duty to protect children from the priests who worked for him and the diocese.
If Finn’s mindset was as reported earlier in the employee’s deposition, he is not going to be respected as someone who can be trusted to handle that crucial duty of making sure children are not abused in the future.
The new report today also brings up another old issue: Why didn’t Bishop Finn insist on seeing the pictures that were so upsetting to the people who were reporting to him? Couldn’t they have forced him to decide more quickly exactly what actions to take with the priest in question?
Richard L Wagner
9 months, 3 weeks agoWhile I tend not to agree with Yell, I must say that he’s right. Finn must go!
Judy Block-Jones
9 months, 3 weeks agoFinn said, ‘boys will be boys’ ???
Every single boy or man, who is not a child predator, should be outraged at Finn’s comment. How demeaning and disgusting a remark to say about boys/men.. And how callous, hurtful, and heartless Finn seems to feel about innocent little girls. Their parents must be devastated.
Let’s hope that every person who saw, suspected or may have been harmed by anyone in the KC-St Joe diocese, will find the courage and strength to speak up, and contact police. This vicious cycle of cover up and abuse has got to stop.
Keep in mind your silence only hurts, and by speaking up there is a chance for healing, exposing the truth, and therefore protecting others.
Judy Jones, SNAP Midwest Associate Director, USA, 636-433-2511. snapjudy@gmail.com, (SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests,)
Richard L Wagner
9 months, 3 weeks agoIt should be noted, that the witness recanted the statement regarding ‘boys will be boys>’
This still doesnt change my belief that Finn participated in a cover up, and failed in his responsability.
Phil Cardarella
9 months, 3 weeks agoI think Bishop Finn is a troglodyte — but I suspect that — if he indeed said something like “boys will be boys” — it would have been before realizing the young ages of the girls’ whose pictures were on the computer.
Let us not lose track: Most times priests violate their vows of celebacy it is with another adult male or female. Historically, priests have often taken their job of comforting attractive parish widows a bit too far. The same adult issue is probably true when inappropriate pictures are found on a cleric’s computer. The majority of celebacy issues that must be dealt with by a bishop involve adult/adult issues that are perfectly legal under secular law.
This is not offered as a defense of Finn’s inaction once he understood the nature of the pictures involved. Just as a reason that what seems an insanely callous statement may, in fact, been the result of not yet having knowledge of the criminal nature of the behavior. Tell any father that his teenage son is looking at pictures of “naked girls” and he thinks Playboy. Tell him those girls are seven years old and he thinks psychiatrist.
Which is not to say that Finn should not resign. Whatever moral authority he may have had before this incident is gone forever.
Ken Whisler
Parkville
9 months, 2 weeks agoI want proof that the bishop actually said what it is reported that he said. I want Ms. Creech to look him right in the eyes and say, “I heard you say exactly that.”
Until that happens, it is rumor and innuendo.
Ken Whisler
Parkville
9 months, 2 weeks agoJudy, how’s the letter writing campaign for Dr. Steve Taylor going? And how’s David’s brother?