NEWS & EVENTS

The Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph failed to follow its own procedures and polices when reporting allegations of child sex abuse against the Rev. Shawn F. Ratigan, an independent investigation found.Conducted by former United States Attorney Todd Graves and his team, the 141-page review concluded Msgr. Robert Murphy, vicar general of the diocese, waited too long to advise the Independent Review Board of allegations against Rev. Ratigan, which allowed him to continue to abuse children and defy child protective boundaries set forth by Bishop Robert Finn.Those allegations inclu...

For months after finding troubling images on a computer, the Catholic diocese tried on its own to deal with Father Shawn Ratigan.As a result, a report released Thursday said, the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph went off track, bungling its own investigation and failing to even follow its own policies.An investigation by a former federal prosecutor found that “individuals in positions of authority reacted to events in ways that could have jeopardized the safety of children in diocesan parishes, schools and families.

Clergy Abuse Attorney Jeff Anderson: Graves report just words--it is the actions that matter   Prominent Victims’ Attorney Jeff Anderson Reacts to Release of Graves’ Report   The report made public today by the law firm hired by Bishop Finn is both misleading and self-serving.  We stood with and sued the Diocese and the Bishop for the failure to act when they had sufficient information to remove Ratigan and didn’t.  We stand by the allegations of the Complaint that Diocese officials had sufficient information in 2006 to both act and react...

For more than a quarter of a century, Angel Santiago has suffered from a recurring nightmare. "Father [Joseph] Fitzharris chasing me in my dreams," the 44-year-old Bensenville man said. On Monday, Santiago joined his attorneys to announce that a settlement has been reached with the Archdiocese of Chicago for sexual abuse Santiago suffered as a boy at the hands of his family's priest, Fitzharris. Attorneys with the case declined to specify the monetary amount of the settlement. The archdiocese confirmed the settlement. "The settlements announced [Monday] confirm that this process works, and...

Attorneys to Announce Archdiocese settlement with clergy abuse victim and new protocol for release of information on offenders