Three short items today…
The Kansas City Star and writer Judy Thomas, in particular, wrung their hands today about the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ failure to significantly change their head-in-sand policies on child sex abuse.
Meeting in Bellevue, Wash., Thursday, the American bishops voted 187-5 to essentially stick with the policy that they adopted in 2002.
“We are dismayed that the new policy is almost identical to the current policy, despite horrifying recent evidence in Kansas City and Philadelphia that the church’s current policies are dangerously lenient and full of loopholes,” Terence McKiernan, president of BishopAccountability.org, was quoted as saying.
It was the lead story in the paper and ran under a one-inch headline that said “Bishops Resist Changes.”
All who are surprised please raise your hands.
Anyone who has any idea of how the Catholic Church operates — and that’s the vast majority of people — knows that the church’s turnaround time on major issues is usually a century or two, not a month or so.
The bishops’ assembly was probably set two years ago, and their position on the sex abuse policy was probably determined months ago.
Rigali -- another pomp and circumstance bishop
The Philadelphia scandal — where Bishop Justin Rigali allowed 37 accused priests to continue working around children in Catholic parishes — took place earlier this year.
I predict it’s going to take decades for the church to come around to the idea that the correct action in priest-accusation cases is to call the police immediately — not mull it over, meet with and warn the priests and try to persuade them to get on the right path.
The Star’s headline and story smacked of hyperventilation.
Maybe it was just a vehicle to run a big photo of the Rev. Shawn F. Ratigan, the local priest who got his kicks by taking “up-skirt” photos of elementary-school girls.
Ratigan, who is in jail, was photographed in Clay County Circuit Court, where he made a brief appearance Thursday. Nothing happened in his case Thursday; the fact that he appeared was, correctly, worth only a paragraph in today’s story.
The story probably deserved front-page play, but certainly not top of the page with a four-column photo.
***
Here’s a funny correction from Wednesday’s New York Times…
Leona and Trouble
“An article on Friday about the death of Leona Helmsley’s dog, Trouble, misstated the reason that Trouble’s inheritance from Ms. Helmsley’s estate was reduced to $2 million from $12 million, the amount specified in the will. A judge determined that the greater amount exceeded that necessary to care for the dog, not that Ms. Helmsley was of unsound mind when she made the will.”
I guess the issue of the late Ms. Helmsley’s state of mind is still up in the air, eh?
***
Then, the Thursday Times carried an item that is one of the most dreaded events in newsrooms: the correction to a correction.
“A correction in this space on Tuesday misstated the size of the (Irish Fianna Fail) party’s Dublin delegation…there were 18 members, not 47.”
Ouch.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
One has to question Ms Thomas’ credentials as an investigative journalist given that, with rare exception, her targets have all been conservatives. Her coverage of Jerry Johnston’s church is particularly troubling given her membership in the nearby Church of the Resurrection where pastor Adam Hamilton often makes gratuitous slames at religious evangelicals like Johnston.
This is not a complaint that these aren’t newsworthy stories that shouldn’t deserve extended attention, simply that Ms Thomas involvement becomes a distraction owing to her political and religious bias.
I love good investigative journalism. But where are The Star’s investigations of John Vratil’s many conflicts of interest in the legislature? Where was the Star’s stories on the religious bigotry of the Health Care Foundation of Kansas City’s many inappropriate donations to leftist advocacy groups and their outright discrimination against the City Union Mission and the Salvation Army, organizations who actually serve the poor? Julius Karash was aware of those events and, I believe, would have covered the stories surrounding those scandals had his editors allowed him to do so. As it was, The Star even refused to publish a letter to the editor written by a prominent local Dr. george Hoech when he resigned from the Foundation’s advisory board in disgust.
Or how about the ongoing scandal of the highly regressive property tax appraisals in Wyandotte County that have overappraised virtually every property in the county, many by 2-500%? The Star has fled from that story in spite of the availability of objective data.
Another story that Rebecca Shelton was covering shortly before her publisher silenced her at The Kansan was the scandal involving Checkered Flag Charities and the excessive administrative fees charged by The Greater Kansas City Community Foundation. Add to that The Star’s refusal to even publish the information already available to them in the legislative post-audit report on STAR bond abuses and one has to question whether The Star’s “investigative” pieces are news, or propaganda coated with a patina of news.
I’ve got to rise to Judy’s defense on this, John…She’s one of the best reporters at The Star, and a kind and humble person, to boot. Yes, she might tilt toward the liberal spectrum (as many reporters do) but The Star would be a much-diminished organization without her.
As for the other stories you mentioned, most are undoubtedly valid, but with the shrunken operation at The Star (and most other metropolitan dailies), they now are compelled to shoot with a rifle instead of a shotgun. The days of newsrooms packed with reporters trying to sniff out stories under every rug are long gone. Too bad, but that’s just the way it has unfolded.
A few weeks back, I left a rather misguided and probably confusing comment on this blog. After mulling this over for the last several days, I am left with a total disgust for Bishop Finn. As a practicing Catholic, I am ashamed even if he isn’t. What has been learned over the last 25 years of trying to dig the Church out of the muck? Does the Catholic hierarchy still not get it that enough is enough? Evidently not, as Finn is not alone. I am left with the feeling that only until some of these cretins get held accountable as accessories to the fact and serve real jail time themselves nothing will ever change. Bishop Finn, please do the right thing and resign. Perhaps, by some miracle, the KC-St. Joseph Diocese might then actually get an appointee who understands that these types of activities are wrong and cannot be condoned or hidden. God help our Church (save it from itself)!
I understand the limitations imposed by getting rid of quality reporters instead of the duds in editorial, but my point remains the same. Ms. Thomas’ credibility would be enhanced if there were more balance in her targets.
Jim, you do realize that when Judy Thomas tears apart the Catholic church and Jerry Johnston’s church she is helping recruit members to the Church of the Resurrection mega-church.
She didn’t write a word of the scandal there when married pastors there conducted a torrid affair even after a memo was sent to all church members.
Rick, no one cares about married adults having an affair.
Catholic priests have been raping children for over 60 years and they still do today, and when a principal sends a letter to the bishop about a pedophile priest, Finn ignores it. That’s much worse, and it means children are in jeopardy, and that means parents should know, and that is more news worthy.
Now you are up to speed with the rest of the class.
Patrick, you are still linking to your personal site to try and generate some money for your speaking gigs. Tsk, tsk. Making money off the priest abuse issue.
Were you ever abused by a priest? Is this some great issue that has personally affected you? Or are you an ex-Catholic who feels it is your duty to attack the church on every blog you find?
Aside from linking to your site for some free exposure, what exactly is your gig?
Rick, I don’t think too many folks will leave the Catholic Church to go to Church of the Resurrection (although, Jim didn’t you say you, or your wife, had switched to become Methodists, or ELCA Lutherans?). Johnston’s church, however, would certainly be considered to be in competition for the same area with similar programs, etc.
As for writing about church scandals, it all depends on how the church itself handles the matter. As you point out, the folks who would be concerned were advised via a memo to all members of what had gone on and so I fail to see what would be gained by further publicizing something that has little, if any relevance to the outside community Indeed, office affairs occur in most large corporations and yet no one publicizes those, even within the organization’s heirarchy, so COTR’s conduct is pretty much above reproach in the way they handle their internal problems.
Johnston, on the other hand, is accused of mishandling money, and I guarantee you they did not send a memo around to the congregation with that news and hence potential members and donors should be forewarned about the church’s financial practices. The question is whether or not Thomas, a member of the “competing” area church, was the appropriate person to write that story, not whether the story was newsworthy.
Jim, one follow up on having the time to discuss a particular topic. When I chatted with Mark initially about the appraisals, for example, his argument was that he was overworked and underpaid and didn’t have time to cover it. So I said fine, I’ll go elsewhere, and did. The Bonner Springs Sentinel did two articles on the topic. The reason I still hold that omission against Mark and the Star is that he, and they, had plenty of time to write several stories implying that the UG was lowering taxes by skimming a little off the mill levy when in fact they were drastically increasing taxes inappropriately by over appraising the vast majority of the homes in WYCO. It is their role as shill, rather than journalist that I object to.
PS, that was after you left WYCO.
John — All I know is that Mark Wiebe (the reporter you’re talking about) was a very good reporter — and, as an aside, the best ever at “managing his editor.” I never saw him shirk his duty or take shortcuts. I left the Wyco bureau in 2004 and retired in 2006. It was about that time that things started going downhill pretty fast (because the industry was really sinking), and I heard that newsroom morale deteriorated badly. I think they’ve all been under siege since then and that it’s been more difficult to focus on the task at hand. That’s not an excuse, just a circumstance that could affect performance across the board.
P.S. After left the Catholic Church four years ago we joined a Disciples of Christ Church in Olathe.
I agree, Mark was a talented writer. I once recommended him for an investigative position, I believe, in Joplin, but he had family here and didn’t want to leave. That simply added to the frustration though, because the talent was there, but for whatever reason, not the inclination.
I think that with the advent of Marinovich, there was a reluctance to criticize her for fear that the corrupt old guard would once again gain a foot hold in the county (and they did for a period in western WYCO) and in other nooks and crannies. Art (Brisbane) certainly supported her and they were on some of the same foundations and “charities” together. Personally, I’ve always had mixed emotions about her leadership, but without question the county moved forward during her tenure and there were several issues where her influence resulted in positive changes for the county. The question is to whose benefit were those changes made.
I suppose it could also be argued that what I came to term the “happy chat” news coverage of her administration gave the county the breathing room from bad news to restore its image, hence encouraging further development. That said, this is a conversation we should have privately sometime.
The Catholic church continues to defiantly keep their child safety standards much lower than that of normal human beings.
Catholic parents – you’re on your own. At least learn the techniques that pedophile priests used, since every one of them probably read the Grand Jury report so that they can use the same, proven techniques to sequester and silence the children. See http://www.philadelphiadistrictattorney.com/images/Grand_Jury_Report.pdf
rigali was in st. louis before he ended up in philly he was a self righteous prick then and hasn’t changed..even tho he now has a red cap it doesn’t change the stripes…..