Father Shawn Ratigan of Kansas City was sentenced to 50 years in prison today for possession and production of child pornography.
And Opus Dei bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph, who shielded Ratigan and has been found guilty of criminal behavior for doing so, continues to sit untroubled on his episcopal throne? Astonishing. Troubling in the extreme.
As I wrote exactly a year or so ago, Finn is the quintessential John Paul II-Benedict bishop. He is, in key respects, a walking and talking parable of what is deeply wrong with the Catholic church at this point in history, and what the new pope needs to address at the most fundamental level possible, if any true reform of the church is to take place.
And as long as he sits that episcopal throne in Missouri, the parable continues to walk and to talk loudly and clearly for increasing numbers of people who won't and can't stop listening to it--no matter how much we'd prefer to stop our ears.
