History of Survivorship, Suffer the Children - Father Ratigan and Bishop Finn

[childadvocate]

History of Survivorship and its Present Day Activities - 2012
conference transcript

Survivorship Presentation

Survivorship is an international non-profit organization for survivors
of sadistic sexual abuse, ritualistic abuse, mind control, and
torture. A history of Survivorship’s last twenty plus years of work
helping survivors will be presented with interviews from members of
Survivorship. The presentation will include Survivorship’s present day
activities and ways survivors can learn more about the organization
and get involved. Survivorship, FJC,470 27th St., Oakland, Ca 94612
survivor...@yahoo.com http://www.survivorship.org

http://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/2012-conference/the-history-of-survivorship-and-its-present-day-activities/



Suffer the Children By FRANK BRUNI Op-Ed Columnist September 10, 2012

Just how flagrant does a pedophile need to be before the people around
him contact the police? Just how far beyond seeming to force himself
on a boy in a shower or loading up his laptop with photos of little
girls’ crotches does he have to go?

In the first instance I’m referring to Jerry Sandusky, whom Penn State
officials allowed to continue working with children even after they
were told that something was seriously amiss. In the second I’m
referring to the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, a Catholic priest in Missouri
whose superiors acted no less despicably.

In May 2010, the principal of a parochial school next door to the
parish where Father Ratigan served sent a memorandum to the Diocese of
Kansas City-St. Joseph, as Laurie Goodstein reported in The Times. It
flagged his odd behavior, including his habit of instructing children
to reach into his pockets for candy. In December 2010, hundreds of
troubling, furtively taken photographs were found on his laptop,
according to court testimony given too long after that fact. One
showed a toddler’s genitals. In what jail or prison cell, you might
ask, did Father Ratigan spend the first half of 2011? None.

After the photos were discovered, he attempted suicide, received
counseling and was reassigned by Bishop Robert W. Finn, the head of
the diocese, to a new post as a chaplain to an order of nuns. There he
was allowed to celebrate Mass for youth groups and host an Easter egg
hunt, and he was caught taking a photograph under the table, up the
skirt of the daughter of parishioners who had invited him into their
home.

In May 2011, a diocesan official finally told police about the extent
of Father Ratigan’s cache of child pornography. He was convicted of
possession of it last month. And last week Bishop Finn was convicted
of failing to report him to law enforcement authorities, and got two
years of probation....

The Boy Scouts of America covered up sexual abuse in its ranks. A
recent Los Angeles Times review of files dating from 1970 to 1991
identified more than 125 cases of alleged molestation by men whom the
organization had previously had reason to suspect of abusive behavior.
“In some cases,” The Times noted, “officials failed to document
reports of abuse in the first place.” In others, it failed to involve
the police.

Over the last two decades the Catholic Church has spelled out stricter
policies, including the prompt notification of law enforcement
officials. And its defenders have complained that newly revealed
instances of wrongdoing are usually old cases that predated better
awareness of child sexual abuse, better education about it and a
toughened resolve.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/11/opinion/bruni-suffer-the-children.html