Today is December 3. On September 6, Bishop Robert Finn was convicted in civil court of failing to report an instance of child sexual abuse. Not only is Finn now serving a suspended sentence, he is in violation of the Dallas Charter the bishops adopted ten years ago to confront the sex abuse crisis. Three months. Bishop Finn is still the Bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph. The Vatican is said to want the American bishops to exert fraternal correction and get Finn to step down. The US bishops are said to be waiting for the Vatican to move. Enough already. Someone do something. As long as Bishop Finn remains in office, the entire body of bishops lacks any credibility on the issue of child sex abuse. All the ten years of effort, the repeated promises to never let this happen again, all the apologies, all the settlements, none of that matters. And, as long as the US hierarchy lacks credibility on this issue, a sizable proportion of the flock, somewhat understandably, declines to listen to them on anything else.
If you doubt it, check out this story from the Times.
Bishop Finn needs to go. He needs to go now. Somebody, do something!
