Father Shawn
Daylife/AP Photo used by permission

A Roman Catholic priest in Missouri has been indicted on federal child pornography charges.

The indictment…charges the Rev. Shawn Francis Ratigan still took sexually suggestive photographs months after church officials removed him from a parish position and ordered him to stay away from children, The Kansas City Star reported. At the time, Easter Sunday this year, officials had not yet reported Ratigan to police.

“When a person who has been placed in a position of trust exploits and victimizes children, he victimizes the entire community,” U.S. Attorney Beth Phillips said. “The indictment today sends a strong message that this type of behavior will not be tolerated.”

Ratigan was ordained in 2004. The indictment charges that a year later he took lewd photographs of a 6-year-old girl at St. Joseph Church in Easton, Mo.

Late last year, Ratigan was removed from parish work and transferred to the Vincentian Mission House in Independence, Mo. but his alleged activities were not reported to police until May. The official in the Kansas City diocese in charge of dealing with allegations of clerical abuse was removed in June largely because of his [non] handling of the case.

Time and again the Catholic Church figures they know better than the law of the land – they need not answer to secular civil law.




  1. Glenn E. says:

    “Time and again the Catholic Church figures they know better than the law of the land – they need not answer to secular civil law.”

    Well not just the Catholic Church. I think you’ll find many a major religion, and certain many a cult, that protects its officers from the civil laws. And in American we give them, not only tax exempt status. But also a “stay out of jail” card for many offenses. And financial record inspections are a joke. No wonder political parties (the GOP?) are allied themselves with these religions. They have all the off-the-books money and property.

  2. GregAllen says:

    >> Taxed Enough Already Dude said,
    >> All progressives are the same, they have nothing to support their statism, so they spin…they lie…they cheat..

    You gotta link to support your claim?

  3. GregAllen says:

    # 26 Taxed Enough Already Dude said,
    >> its always from the same liberal perspective, anti-country; anti-God; anti-free market; anti-Americanism….

    I’ll put my pro-God, pro-America, pro-free market views up against yours, any day.

  4. President Amabo says:

    Keep in mind this is all of secondary importance. Primary is Americans driving SUVs, living in big houses on big private yards and emitting carbon. Urban sprawl is directly proportional to quality of life. City dwellers are evil parasites unless they at least consume a lot of resourses.

  5. blah blah blah says:

    I’m still waiting for the anti-religious zealots who post on DvorakdotOrgslashBlog to start posting articles picking on Islam… just saying is all.

  6. Rick says:

    Corporations sexualize children not because of any sort of endemic perversion, but because it is a method of creating consumers out of them.

    You can’t get a 9 year old to buy thong underwear unless you teach them that they should advertise their body to willing suitors.



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