Opinion A4 The Iola Register
Thursday, April 23, 2015
~ Journalism that makes a difference
A guest editorial
Kansas City bishop pays the price for misusing power The departure of Robert W. Finn as bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, although overdue, is a step forward for the diocese and thousands of area Catholics. Finn’s conduct in office made him a symbol of the Catholic Church’s failure to adequately address child sexual abuse by priests. He was the first Catholic bishop to be convicted of a crime related to that crisis. Finn, 62, should have resigned after his 2012 conviction, if not sooner. He received two years of probation for failing to notify law enforcement authorities after pornographic images were found on the computer of a diocesan priest, Shawn Ratigan. Finn’s decision to place secrecy above his moral and legal obligations enabled
Ratigan to harm additional children. The former priest is serving a 50-year prison sentence for producing child pornography. Finn remained in office despite the scandal, a circumstance that anguished and angered many Catholics. The news Tuesday that Pope Francis accepted Finn’s resignation is a triumph for the lay persons who wrote letters, collected more than 250,000 petition signatures and spoke up for Finn to leave. Challenging the world’s most powerful church hierarchy isn’t easy or comfortable, and Finn has powerful allies, including Bill Donohue, the fiery head of the ultraconservative Catholic League. The persistence of lay Catholics is a testimony to how much they care about their church.
Finn, who traveled to Rome about a week ago, resigned under a section of church law that requests a diocesan bishop who has “become less able to fulfill his office because of ill health or some other grave cause” to offer to step down. While we do not know the precise reason for Finn’s resignation, sustained pressure from lay Catholics and mounting concerns from church leaders would seem to constitute a grave cause. Finn’s successor, who has not yet been named, will have his work cut out. As the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests has noted, other church staff members knew of Ratigan’s act and remained silent, and other area priests over the years have been accused of abusing children. Finn presided over a con-
spiracy of silence and legal resistance that will be difficult to displace. Deputy U.S. Attorney Gene Porter, who prosecuted the Ratigan case, described that resistance after his sentencing. “When it becomes clear at the outset of the investigation that the entire hierarchy of a centuries-old religious denomination does not seem willing to recognize that the children depicted in the images are, in fact, victims of child exploitation, nor seem very willing to help establish the identity of the children depicted, and instead are spending millions of dollars on legal counsel in an ill-advised effort to avoid having the priest and bishop accept legal responsibility for their crimes, then you know, as an investigator, that your work is cut out for you,” Porter said.
Finn, who declared his intent to lead the diocese in a conservative, “strict constructionist” obedience to Vatican teachings, showed few qualms during his 10 years as bishop about dislodging clergy and lay persons who failed to meet his theological litmus test. His arbitrary style wounded many area Catholics even before his role in protecting Ratigan came to light. Outright removal by Pope Francis would have sent an unmistakable message. Still, it is rare for a bishop to step aside, and the reasons for Finn’s departure should not be obscured. This is a man who held great power and used it to cover up a crime and protect a calcified inner circle. He needed to go. Others in the church should heed his fate. — The Kansas City Star
Letter to the editor Dear editor,
I thought Jim Gilpin’s letter was great. But there is another thing wrong with Kansas. It’s the people that vote only for the party. I am a Republican but I have always voted for the person, not the party. I think some of these people have grown corkscrews on top of their heads. That is the only way they could bury their heads so deep in the sand that they couldn’t see what a mess we’re in because of the tax breaks for the rich. We have a great-grandson who is autistic. He goes to the ANW Cooperative. They have done wonders with him and with continued help he will have a chance to become a productive person. Now with all the budget cuts, they are forced to reduce staff. Many kids will suffer from this. We have a friend that has gone to Tri-Valley for years. He is so proud of his job. He gets to be a productive person. He would be lost if they have to close Tri-Valley. The manager had a good article in the paper. He had a great idea in “The March on To-
peka.” I’m ready to go. Then the great plan on welfare reform. Sounds good, but when you take a commonsense look at it, IT STINKS. How could anyone with at least one brain cell working believe the one about someone on welfare taking a cruise. Where in this state could they find a job that pays enough to feed a family. Walmart doesn’t pay enough for one person to live on. No business person in their right mind is going to bring a business to Kansas. Our son called from Florida. They are making fun of Kansas way down there, he said. It is a sad fact that very few of our politicians work for the common person’s good anymore. They have found that no matter what, these people will just keep voting them back in. They know all they have to do is stick their noses up the rear ends of the super rich and all will be good for them — to heck with everyone else. If the Koch brothers ever get diarrhea our governor will drown. — Maude Burns, Iola, Kan.
Public persuades Kraft mac & cheese to say goodbye to dye With its packet of powdery cheese and its bright, never-encountered-in-nature orange hue, nothing said delicious, chemical goodness like Kraft Macaroni & Cheese. And nothing more clearly says the world is changing than the success of a social media campaign aimed at getting all the chemicals out of this fan favorite. Starting in January, the beloved convenience and comfort food that is a traditional and beloved staple for kids and college students will contain no artificial preservatives or synthetic colors. Instead, paprika, turmeric, and the natural food coloring annatto will be used. The move comes in response to a Change.org petition started in March 2013 by a blogger known as the
“Food Babe.” It asked the company to remove dyes from the product. Kraft says it has been working for some time to make the change but had to be certain the new taste would match the old product. The product was beloved, easy and inexpensive. So folks wanted to be able to feed it to the children (and guiltily, themselves), but they wanted to be able to do so knowing it wasn’t stuffed with chemicals. This most modern petition got more than 365,000 signatures. And the company, behaving in the most modern way, replaced new age chemicals with ancient spices in the hope of keeping old customers happy. The message from the people is clear: Natural is in, artificial is out. — Newsday
Stockman’s instincts deep-rooted Farmer stockmen possess a burning desire to care for their livestock. A few years back, I witnessed this dedication on a dairy in Franklin County. It was a beautiful late spring morning in the country. A slight southwesterly wind rippled through the lush, tall pasture grass. Dark, green corn, standing approximately a foot above the contrasting taupe soil, waved ever so slightly in the breeze. As I headed back toward my car after visiting with dairyman John Coen, I noticed several Holstein cows grazing contentedly on the grass less than 100 feet from his house. As I continued up the sidewalk, I strained my eyes to see an electric fence that might be holding the cows in. I couldn’t see one. “John, are those cows supposed to be out and grazing this close to your house?” I asked as I pointed to them. “No, no they’re not,” he replied bolting from the house and running toward the southwest. “Gerald, what are the cows doing out?” Gerald Anderson owned the dairy farm. Although retired, he helped John with the dairy operation nearly every day. Mr. Anderson didn’t have an answer to the question but instead he headed toward the southwest where one group of cows was hoofing at a pretty good clip. John took off at a dead run toward the east. By this time, the first herd of cows I’d noticed was headed up the dirt drive toward the mailbox east of the house. John caught up with them, turned
John Schlageck Kansas Farm Bureau them around and moved them back toward the milking station and the open gate. “Go on,” he admonished the black and white gals as they moseyed toward the gate. “Get on home. You know the way.” Once John locked the cows away, he headed south to help Mr. Anderson with the rest of the pesky herd. By this time, the retired dairyman was a good mile from the dairy facility, walking the Holstein cows toward the barn. After we caught up with him, I asked Mr. Anderson if he thought a skunk might have spooked the cattle causing them to break through the gate. He said probably not, and added he couldn’t smell much with his sniffer any more. The stench burned my eyes. With the herd finally secure, Mr. Anderson, bent over, placed both of his hands on his knees and began massaging. “I forgot about my knees,” he said. “Your knees? “ I asked. He explained that 50 years of bending — up and down over and over again — had taken its toll on his aging knees. Twice a day, seven days a week, four weeks a month, 12 months a year for 50 years amounts to countless hours
and thousands of times bending and hooking up milking hoses to dairy cows’ udders. Still, when Mr. Anderson heard John ask him about the escaped livestock, he thought only about bringing the cows home. He moved instinctively on those brittle, old knees. He didn’t even realize how they ached until the cows were safely locked up and he felt the pain for the first time. For this veteran stockman the welfare of these dairy cows was the only thing that mattered. He could have leaned against the barn and watched as the younger men rounded up the herd. He might have thought to himself, “No, this will be too hard on my knees. Let someone else do it.” Call it dedication. Label it that Midwestern work ethic he grew up with and will take to his grave. Or simply refer to it as doing his job — the only one he’s known or cared about since growing up on his father’s dairy farm. After all of these years, it’s still magical for him to see the cycle of life played out each year with dairy cows that give birth and provide milk that is used as an integral part of this country’s daily diet. Mr. Anderson loves livestock. He understands that careful care of these animals is necessary to sustain him and his livelihood — even to the extent of placing their health and well-being ahead of his own. “They’re only my old knees,” Mr. Anderson said. “They won’t hurt as much in a couple days.”