story by Katie Parkinson, photos by Jordan Allen

In light of the recent sexual abuse scandal in the Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo. diocese, new policies and procedures have been implemented so something like this will hopefully never happen again, diocesan Chancellor Jude Huntz told the Dart. As chancellor, Huntz acts as chief of staff for the KCSJ diocese and is the pointman and spokesperson regarding this controversy.

“I hear people saying, ‘The Church has messed up time and again on this. They’ve apologized, but what’s really going to change? What’s really going to be different?’” Huntz said. “I think that’s a legitimate question because time after time there have been failures.”

In the past, it has always been priests monitoring other priests and investigating one another, according to Huntz. This is what the KCSJ diocese intends to change. Instead of having priests be the “gatekeepers,” lay people—those who are not part of the clergy—and specifically lay women who are mothers, are now the investigators and the counselors.

“If I had to trust somebody with this process, I’m going to trust the woman who’s got kids more than I’m going to trust anybody else,” Huntz said. “It will never be the case again that we’ve got a group of people moderating themselves.”

Court Sentencing

Bishop Robert Finn of the KCSJ diocese was convicted Sept. 6 of failing to report Father Shawn Ratigan for child sexual abuse. After child pornography was found on Ratigan’s laptop, he was charged with six counts of production of child pornography, two counts of possession of child pornography and five counts of attempted production of child pornography in late August, according to NBC 41 Action News.

As a mandatory reporter, Finn is required by law to report child abuse to law enforcement. In a nonjury trial, Finn was convicted on one misdemeanor count and sentenced to two years of probation.

If Finn follows the steps laid out in his probation without incident, his criminal record will be expunged, meaning that it will later be either destroyed or sealed.

While some Catholics were satisfied with this result, others, such as the National Survivor Advocates Coalition, called for Finn’s resignation.

“On the one side, you’ve got people who are really angry over what’s happened, and there’s a lot of justifiable anger in that,” Huntz said. “On the other side you’ve got people who’ve strongly supported the bishop and didn’t think he did anything wrong and thought this was unjust. I think the reality has kind of borne out that it’s something in the middle, and I think that’s where the court came down. [Finn] wasn’t some evil maniac that some people thought he was, but he wasn’t without blame either.”

According to the Kansas City Star, the following are the terms of Finn’s probation:

• Providing training for clergy, teachers, counselors and diocesan staff and agents to report suspected crimes against children
• Starting a program to help clergy and diocesan administrators recognize what constitutes child pornography and obscenity and signs that a child might be being subjected to this
• Giving $10,000 to provide counseling for abuse victims
• Continuing the position of ombudsman, which is filled by Ms. Jenifer Valenti, whose job is to investigate any reports of sexual abuse within the diocese
• Personally complying with mandated reporter laws

“The probation agreement that was agreed to in collaboration with the prosecutor and the judge is a healing model,” Huntz said. “It’s not a punitive model.”

Impact at STA

Theology teacher Michael Sanem, former lawyer Stephen Himes and STA counselor Amanda Johnson held an optional informational meeting Sept. 19 for students and faculty. A few dozen students attended.

[nggallery id=326]

“I think for the small group of students who went to the presentation, and heard what it was all about, they got a clearer idea on this whole case,” principal of student affairs Mary Anne Hoecker said. “I think those who went found it interesting, and Mr. Sanem, and Mr. Himes and Ms. Johnson did a good job in bringing some clarity to it. But I think for the majority of students, life will go on as usual.”

But should this be a topic discussed in the classroom? According to Huntz, the answer is, “Absolutely.”

“I really encourage teachers to talk about it, listen to their students, to what their saying, hearing and feeling and just go through the healing process,” Huntz said.

However, Huntz, a former teacher, also recognized that it can be tricky for teachers to bring this up given that many students and parents have strong feelings on the topic, and that teachers might be reluctant to discuss this.

“I would use the analogy of a family,” Huntz said. “I think a healthy family talks about things: the good and the bad. And if you don’t talk about these things, the bad things especially, they are just left to fester.”

Senior Annie Palmer, a practicing Catholic, also brought up the possibility that it may be hard for families to talk about as well, especially because the controversy is so close to home.

“I think for the most part, people are not informed about this,” Palmer said. “I don’t think this is something my parents want to talk about because it’s like the elephant in the room. We don’t want to offend anyone who knows Bishop Finn or anyone who knows a victim or is a victim. I think it would help if we talked about it. The problem initially [with the abuse by Ratigan and the diocese’s handling of it] was that nobody told anybody. Nobody communicated. So I think communication is a serious issue and not talking about it makes the issue worse.”

Moving On

In order to finally communicate with each other and bring healing to the community, the diocese is taking steps, starting with listening and healing sessions that began last year. As part of this, Finn visited St. Patrick Catholic Church, St. Thomas More Parish and a few other parishes in Clay County and in St. Joseph, Mo. Ratigan served the church at many of these parishes.

“People were brutally honest, and that’s okay,” Huntz said. “The bishop stood there, and he took [people’s anger], and he listened because I think there is just that awareness that people need to get it out.”

These healing sessions continue now with Sister Esther Fangman, a licensed counselor and therapist who will be visiting different parishes.

“I think that’s great and that anything that strengthens the community is good,” Palmer said.

In addition to these meetings, Ms. Barbara Thorpe will be at St. Therese North in Parkville, Mo. Nov. 6 at an all day training session beginning at 9 a.m. Thorpe, who helped the Archdiocese of Boston heal from a similar scandal a decade ago, will train lay leaders and parishes in what they can do to help the recovery process.

Another step the diocese is taking is to hold communal penance services throughout Advent and Lent. These are healing and reconciliation services that the bishop, priests, the diocese and parish people would take part in as a more official, liturgical way of publicly forgiving and moving on.

“[Rebuilding trust] starts liturgically because that’s when we’re most a church,” Huntz said. “So they will be the main focal points for the larger community.”

In the Future

According to Huntz, if trust is rebuilt and the community heals properly, the KCSJ diocese has the opportunity to become an exemplary diocese for the country and the rest of the world on policies and procedures around sexual abuse and protecting children.

However, Huntz also said there is the possibility that “we were vigilant for a while, and then we lapsed back into our old habits and failed to heal,” and that this next year will be critical in terms of determining which scenario will play itself out.

“I’m certainly hoping that it goes the first way and not the second, and we’re going to do everything we can to try and do that,” Huntz said.