Last Friday, a meeting was held at St. Thomas More Church in South Kansas City where 300-400 parishioners and other interested parties were invited to share their feelings with Bishop Finn surrounding the case and arrest of Fr. Shawn Ratigan.  Originally, the bishop had planned that this meeting would be a question and answer session similar to one held previously at St. Patrick’s Parish where Fr. Ratigan had also and most recently served.  However, due to a civil lawsuit being filed against the bishop just the day before, he was unable to comment on anything at this meeting.  So instead, it became 2-3 hours of Bishop Finn silently sitting there in front of the sanctuary while people lined up on either side and freely spoke their mind.

Let me say at the outset that the people of St. Thomas More are to be commended.  I had spoken with two different parishioners there prior to the meeting.  Both of them used the word “lynching” to describe what they were expecting.  I thought that the meeting, while surreal to watch and painful to listen to was well managed and civil.  The pastor, Fr. Don Farnan, is to be commended as well.  Many people expressed legitimate concerns for their children, for Diocesan processes and for the decisions that were made.  It could have become ugly.  It did not.

That said, it was obvious that many of those in attendance were relying on news reports and hearsay with which to form their opinions.  There were many calls for Bishop Finn’s resignation.  There was a woman who pridefully proclaimed how happy she was that her kids no longer practiced the faith.  Yes, a mom essentially proud of how she had failed in one of her primary charges as a mother.  There were a few remarkably uneducated comments along the lines of, “WE are the Church”, “This is OUR parish not yours”, “We don’t need you.”  There were some who seemed to just wanted a platform to vent about some of the various unrelated traditional reforms of Bishop Finn that they disagree with.  It seemed that to them, this is a convenient way to get rid of a bishop they disagree with.  There were also those who spoke in support of Bishop Finn.  These comments ranged from offering basic Christian forgiveness to simply saying that the bishop should be considered innocent until proven guilty rather than the current prevailing attitude that clergy are guilty until proven innocent.

One of the most heard comments from the meeting was appreciation and admiration for the pastor, Fr. Farnan.  Countless times people said how blessed they were to have him as their pastor.

Parishioners at St. Patrick’s Parish said the same thing about Fr. Ratigan until the news of his arrest.

If someone had stood up at that meeting and accused Fr. Farnan of abuse, what would have happened?  Would he be innocent until proven guilty or guilty until proven innocent?  How would the assembled crowd have thought best to handle the matter?

There were a few people who offered comments that hopefully became “teaching moments” for those there.  One woman in particular described being abused by nuns many years ago.   She was critical of lawsuits noting that no amount of money could have given her back what she lost.  She or someone else added that lawsuits fix nothing and only take money from services to the poor and hand it to out of town lawyers.  She also noted that it was a priest who some 20 years later counseled her and told her to “pray for faith.”  She did, and she now prays for the nuns (one of whom is deceased) who abused her.

A CEO of an insurance company, in response to a woman who described being embarrassed among her Baptist friends, noted that Catholics should not roll over and let the media and others suggest that abuse is a uniquely Catholic problem.  He referenced an article in Newsweek that says that Catholic priests are no more likely than protestant ministers or any other religious denomination to abuse kids.  He also cited his own insurance experience as a specialist in non-profits and said that claims are even across all denominations.  This is obviously not saying that any abuse is ok.  The opposite.  All abuse is bad and it all deserves the spotlight.

A man stood up and said that he had 4 sons and hoped they all became priests and if they did, he hoped that they had someone like Bishop Finn to support them.  There were several murmurs in the crowd.  Think about it.  A bishop who supports his priests is seen as a bad thing?  Guilty until proven innocent is to be our new policy?  One woman said that scandals like the Ratigan case are the greatest threat to the Church today.  I disagree.  The greatest threat is a lack of priestly vocations and no one is going to answer the call if he thinks he will be thrown to the wolves the second someone who disagrees with him decides to get rid of him by simply making an accusation.

Of all the positive things I personally think that Bishop Finn has done for the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph none is as important as what he has done for vocations.  When he took over there were half a dozen seminarians.  Plans were being drawn up for parish closings and consolidation.  Today, the current vocations poster shows close to 30 men in formation.  These are men who have answered God’s call in large part due to what Bishop Finn is doing in the Diocese.  Of course, they realize that Bishop Finn will not be around for their entire priesthood but they are also assuming that whoever is there will support them.  Think about it.  Would you go to work anywhere where a simple accusation from a disgruntled employee would likely result in your immediate termination simply because the boss is afraid of “appearances?”

Frankly, I think it’s a miracle that any young man would answer the call today.  As someone pointed out at the meeting, many cannot even look at a Roman collar and not wonder about the character of the priest wearing it.  Priests live in fear of false accusation and struggle to perform their ministry due to the actions of a tiny minority of their brothers and sadly, a very vocal and shortsighted majority of their flocks.

So to those who proclaimed, “WE are the church” and “This is OUR parish” and “We don’t need you,”  I respectfully disagree.  The Church is not where YOU are, it is where the Eucharist is.  No priest, no Eucharist.  No Eucharist, no Church regardless of the number of social committees and pot lucks.

Let’s fix this abuse issue once and for all.  Let’s help our protestant brethren and public school systems fix their abuse issues as well.  Let’s find the truths of this case, find justice for all, heal the pains and make the necessary changes using love and charity, not hate and anger.  And finally, let’s do all of this without taking our eyes off the ball.  The job of the bishop is to save as many souls of his flock as possible.  Regardless of your feelings about how he goes about running the Diocese, by turning around our vocations crisis, Bishop Finn has done more to save us than we can ever properly thank him for.  He deserves a more Christian response from his flock.  If nothing else, he and all of our clergy have the same rights as all Americans and should be considered innocent until proven otherwise.