September 6, 2012
By Joshua J. McElwee

James R. Hobbs, one of three lawyers present representing Bishop Robert W. Finn, argued that while the bishop could be considered a mandatory reporter under Missouri law, he had not personally seen photographs Ratigan had taken of children. "Perhaps he should have, but he didn't think it necessary," J.R. Hobbs, one of Finn's three lawyers, told Torrence. "Bishop Finn believed in his heart that when this emerged, it was handled." Bishop Finn presides over the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

While Thursday's trial seems to bring to an abrupt end to the criminal proceedings in the Ratigan matter, the impacts to the diocese could prove much more long-lasting.

The local Catholic community has been rankled over the 15-month ordeal, which has left many area Catholics questioning how the proceedings would affect them, their bishop, life in their parishes, and even the wider church community. One area pastor said Thursday morning that the mood throughout the diocese could be summed up with one question: "How can the diocese move forward after all this?"

"Most of us who have worked in parishes and continue to work here, we'll have to find a way to rise above it all," said Fr. Gerald Waris, a retired priest who for 10 years served as pastor of the church where Ratigan last served. Ratigan still faces similar charges in an ongoing case in Clay County, Mo., where the parish he last served as pastor is located. In a separate agreement with prosecutors in that county in November, prosecutors suspended misdemeanor charges against Finn in the case as long as the bishop agreed to give the prosecutors immediate oversight of the diocese's sex abuse reporting procedures in their county. As part of the agreement, Finn agreed to monthly meetings with Clay County prosecutor Daniel White to discuss all reported suspicions of abuse in the county, one of 27 the diocese spans in western and northwestern Missouri. The report commissioned by the diocese on its response to the Ratigan matter, released in August 2011 and conducted by former U.S. Attorney Todd Graves, found that "individuals in positions of authority reacted to events in ways that could have jeopardized the safety of children in diocesan parishes, school, and families."

For Waris, who was pastor at St. Patrick Parish in Clay County from 1999 to 2009, the diocese now has to find a way to say, "We are terribly sorry for what has happened."

"But we also have to find a way to rise above it and just live the Gospel and live the word we preach," the priest continued. "And continue to enable and empower the people of our parishes."

Order of Corporate Reunion