My second, and more pressing, reason is the great sense of sorrow and anger I have had in light of recent revelations about the Bishop Robert Finn's acknowledged inaction concerning the behavior of Father Shawn Ratigan. As the New York Times piece indicates, the bishop failed to report that, in December 2010, the bishop knew that Ratigan had indecent photographs of children. Between December 2010 and May 2011, Ratigan continued to have access to children. Indeed, he now faces 13 counts of possessing, producing, and attempting to produce child pornography.
I have read Bishop Finn's letter and I am sad to say that it leaves me feeling hollow. A known monster was allowed to prey upon children, to violate the trust and goodwill of families, to exploit a community...and for what? Anger, resentment, and a deeper mistrust of the Church is all that will stand in the wake of Bishop Finn's inaction. The Kingdom of God is no stronger and the lives of countless people have been changed forever. In this instance, I cannot help but to hear the words of the Confiteor ring in my ears:
I confess to almighty God
and to you, my brothers and sisters,
that I have greatly sinned,
in my thoughts and in my words,
in what I have done and in what I have failed to do,
through my fault, through my fault,
through my most grievous fault;
therefore I ask blessed Mary ever-Virgin,
all the Angels and Saints,
and you, my brothers and sisters,
to pray for me to the Lord our God.
I speak only for myself when I say: I believe that all persons involved in this case who knew and failed to act should face prosecution. I consider myself to be a loyal son of the Church and I love my Catholic faith more than I can share...but I cannot brush this off as an "innocent mistake" or "benign neglect." I think the failure to act in these cases is a grave evil - morally and legally - and should be rooted out and dealt with accordingly.
In the days and weeks ahead, I will keep the victims of sexual abuse in my prayers. Not simply clergy sexual abuse - although that is a topic that strikes close to home - but all forms of abuse where the innocence of a child has been exploited and corrupted for the gratification of a predator. My prayer will be for healing, for forgiveness, and for justice. I should also like to pray that the attention turned to clergy sex abuse will not blind people to the reality of abuse in all walks of life and that, thank to media scrutiny on the clergy, the light shown on these atrocities might illuminate any and all instances of the abuse of children.
4 comments:
We need more people in the Church like you Ryan. I, too, am appalled at this news. Your quote from the Confiteor in this case explains it all.
Thank you for addressing this.
Given the USCCB/John Jay report's 'findings' that the abuse problems are due to the effects of the 1960's sexual revolution/Woodstock era -- a laughable, sick, sick, sick position in the first place -- I doubt much will change, sorry to say. This case proves yet again that the Church hierarchy, in this case a specific bishop, doesn't give a rat's ass about past wrongdoings, not to mention the so-called preventive measures the Diocese signed on to to avoid future abuse.
Jules,
I'm always nervous about the word "due" in cases like this: I think it difficult to place all of the blame on any one element in a situation such as this. This said, I think you're partially right -- if the news accounts are true, I would have to say that there are major failings with this particular bishop. I do not think it the case the the bishops/hierarchy do not care but, I'm afraid, there is a great deal about clerical culture that still must change in the years to come.
Dear Mr. Dunns:
From time to time I read your blog and now for the first time I'll comment (I don't usually comment on blogs... blog comments usually only rile people up).
Let me start by saying I am a former priest from Orange County and I still love the Church. While I did not leave the priesthood because of the scandals, the way the Church handled the abuse crisis did make it easier for me to make the decision to leave. Much of me still yearns to be in active ministry as a priest.
Your blog today struck me deeply. The bishops have damaged the Church I (and millions others) so deeply love. Our bishops are completely out of touch with the people of God. While they are busy with new translations, respect for them and the institution they serve is at an all time (and deservedly) low point. They need to listen to the needs of God's people. People are hungry for the Gospel, hungry for leadership and guidance and they offer more malfeasance and new English translations. How do we tell them to listen to the thousands of young people (and the not so young) who leave the Church everyday? How do we tell them to clean up their house before they tell us to clean up ours....?
Enough said, I hope and pray that you persevere in your vocation, the Church needs people like you.
Peace,
Ron (name withheld)
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