A Tale of Two Grand Juries and One New Law Suit
Frank Cocozzelli printable version print page     Bookmark and Share
Sun Oct 09, 2011 at 06:21:59 PM EST
Catholic Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri has for some time, had evidence problem. He apparently withheld from police specific evidence implicating a pedophile priest for five months, and failed to come forward until the priest was arrested.  What's more Finn had been warned about the priest a year earlier.

And now that evidence, along with the testimony of Finn, and that his Vicar, Monsignor Robert Murphy, went before a Clay County grand jury and a similar panel in Jackson County, both focusing on child sexual abuse issues.
The National Catholic Reporter recently reported on Bishop Finn's mess, and illustrated how little has changed over almost a generation. Here is an excerpt from NCR's reporting:

Here's how The Kansas City Star reported the new development:
"Allegations that a priest has molested a child can no longer be kept secret within the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph [Mo.]," according to a policy approved by Kansas City's Catholic bishop.

"The new policy on sexual misconduct -- at 29 pages, about five times thicker than the old one -- spells out the diocese's legal obli