Catholic priest Shawn Ratigan facing federal child porn charges
The Kansas City-Catholic Diocese screwed up big time in moving the Rev. Shawn Ratigan to the Franciscan Sisters of the Holy Eucharist in Independence. By that time, the diocese had been alerted to questionable photos on the priest’s laptop computer. Ratigan had apparently attempted suicide and failed. A year earlier, the principal at St. Patrick School wrote a memo warning the diocese that teachers and parents were concerned about Ratigan’s “inappropriate behavior with children.” Still, citing a priest shortage, Bishop Robert Finn moved Ratigan to Independence (and detectives still wouldn’t receive a disk of the images until May 13, 2011).
A federal grand jury yesterday showed why that was a mistake, returning a 13-count indictment against the 45-year-old Roman Catholic priest, alleging that he possessed and produced child pornography, and alleging that he did so after his transfer.
