Church and State: Prosecution and Punishment

Full disclosure: I’m Catholic. A cradle Catholic, actually. Yet for more than two decades I’ve felt increasingly at odds with my own church. The source of this chasm is the never-ending sex abuse scandal.

In the beginning, I was dumbfounded by the revelations as the cases unfolded. Not so much that priests had offended.

I’m a crime writer. I understand that people aren’t always what they seem, and that folks sometimes hide behind religion when they’re anything but godly.

Yet I didn’t understand the cover up. How could those who claim to represent God blatantly enable sexual predators, many of whom have abused children?

I began wondering if the Catholic hierarchy understood the separation between church and state. It occurred to me that they didn’t, at least not not when it involved offending priests.

The most recent instance: Two weeks ago on October 14 when the news broke about Bishop Robert Finn.

For days after, I walked through the house muttering and considering becoming a Methodist. For those of you who haven’t heard, Finn is the Bishop of Kansas City, Missouri, and on that Friday he was charged with failing to report the suspected abuse of a child.

Thanks to a grand jury, Finn has the honor of being the first active U.S. bishop to face criminal charges in the scandal.

Read the full article at Forbes.