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.
#6 I work for a local television news operation in a major market as a photographer, editor, reporter, and technician. I know what “news” is. And most of it is shit. And should NOT be “news”. Including most murders, which, on average, I have to cover about four times a week in Oakland and other East Bay locations.
Murders are not “news” in my opinion. Neither is pedophilia.
The economy is “news”. Earthquakes and tsunamis are “news”. People fucking with people is not. By my bosses don’t agree either.
Have some claimed Mohamud had relations with a child/children? Some have.
Check this out:
http://entertainment.blogs.foxnews.com/2011/08/05/racy-photo-shoot-of-10-year-old-model-thylane-blondeau-stirs-controversy/
It’s not just priests, it’s the whole damn society.
#17 I think it is interesting commentary to note that I feel I can tell the poster of certain topics with a high degree of accuracy just by reading the article caption. It gives the impression of bias and pursuing an agenda.
#17 – we still face a higher ratio of pederast priests to boring politicians.
#21 President downgrade is a total failure…but we don’t get to talk about none of that…its always from the same liberal perspective, anti-country; anti-God; anti-free market; anti-Americanism….
Class warfare crap.
Its boring.
#26 Teadud
You’re on to them now Alfred – they’re clearly skewing the blog posts, just so you’ll leave.
Ratigan is just another in an unending supply of pedophile priests, and the Catholic church produces them faster and protects them more fervently than outside law enforcement can manage.
They should indict Bishop Finn, who hid this known pedophile for more than a year after he got a memo from a school principal, and then after he knew that Ratigan’s computer was full of child porn.
Everyone should push for a Grand Jury investigation to see what else Bishop Finn ignored or overlooked.
When they did an investigation in Philadelphia, the results were horrifying. Google “Philadelphia district attorney grand jury report” and read the first 6 pages to see how sexually perverted these priests were with children.
Its likely Finn has hidden similar pedophiles, but you certainly won’t know until a Grand Jury investigation digs out the truth.
Can anyone tell me why castration is not an option for these dirt sucking mind bending pederasts hiding behind a collar. If I recall correctly Priests can’t touch it. Not their own and especially any body else’s.
Bailiff, whack his Pee Pee.
Off with his head.
Those Medicaid cutbacks are denying Alphie his meds.
When Alphie first visited DU, he was all in favor of “If they’re old enough to bleed, they’re old enough to breed”. No wonder he wants to discuss other things.
Good too see he isn’t considered untouchable by the law because he works for a church.
I still don’t understand why we need the cooperation of the Catholic church. If a priest committed a crime, then prosecute him. If the church hides him to avoid prosecution, the charge the church with accessory to a crime for harboring a fugitive. Why in the hell does law enforcement give any church staff any more immunity than any other citizen?
Catholic priests screwing little girls and boys is not new news but it is still newsworthy. It’s like an car accident, common but you gotta look.
Why do Catholic priests hate the preachings of our lord Jesus? I don’t get it.
Here in the Bay Area, Bernie Ward was an ex priest who became a prominent liberal talk show host on KGO AM radio. He is now in Federal Prison. Two guesses why.
#30 I never said that, you are lying, smearing …because that’s what you do.
All progressives are the same, they have nothing to support their statism, so they spin…they lie…they cheat..
Most despicable people on the planet.
They are why God created the middle finger.
#27 Who’s leaving, I have too much fun here.
Like the time you and Mr. Fusion won 1st Prise at the Olympics for Stupid:
http://dvorak.org/blog/2009/04/30/caption-this-photo-34/
Without your Tiny Tim dance here in the DU moolight, we might never have known about that.
#35 Hmmm. That picture was stuck in Alfie’s brain? Flamer….
#35 TeaDud
Fun being a whiny self absorbed little bitch? I cant figure it, but to each his own I guess.
#34, Alphie,
Sorry armpit, but nope. You claimed it. I don’t remember your exact words but that was the jist of it.
Did you forget how you also claimed Obama was a drug dealer? Ya, you finally admitted you made it up and then went right back to saying it again and again.
Get a job, buy your own meds, and quit your effen whining.
#11, The Catholic Church hasn’t learned a damned thing. Time for some higher ups to be charged with conspiracy.
Agreed (Yes, the temperature here in Texas is approaching freezing now).
THEN take away their tax exempt status.
As soon as you start taxing churches, you are automatically favoring some over others. The tax system in the US is designed around social engineering (buy a house, get married, have kids, buy this car, donate to this charity, employer-provided health insurance, sin taxes, etc.).
Do you really want the government using the churches in this country to further its own agenda (abortion and anti-abortion, gay and anti-gay)? This may sound appealing if your party of choice is in power, but what happens when your party is NOT in power?
I shudder at the thought of the government funneling billions of dollars to a church to brainwash its followers into thinking “the right way.”
Taxed enough – You come on like a constant ad for Republican, maddog partisan, death to the nation but long live my party politics. Everybody knows Obama is a total failure, it doesn’t need to be repeated. The Constitution is buried, our money is worthless, many Americans will never have another job and the Republicans share equal blame with the Democrats for fucking up our country. Get over casting blame and suggest a solution, or better yet get off your fat, lazy, proselytizing ass and do something about it.
Or are you just one of the government’s new, computer generated, “virtual people” who spread government misinformation wherever truth rears its ugly head.