Holding Bishop Finn to account

Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., will go on trial September 24 for charges of failing to report suspected child abuse.

The alleged failure to report involves Fr. Shawn Ratigan, who is charged with possession of child pornography.

The Kansas City Star reported:

Authorities arrested Ratigan in May 2011, five months after officials and staff at the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph found hundreds of lewd images of young girls on a laptop computer that the priest had sent for servicing.

In the ensuing furor of how church officials handled the discovery, authorities charged Bishop Robert Finn and the diocese in Jackson County each with a misdemeanor count of failure to report suspicions of child abuse. A trial on those counts is scheduled for September.

That is how church officials should be held to account for such failures: In open court.