The verdict was long overdue in the pedophile priest scandal, but a Roman Catholic bishop has become the highest-ranking church official found criminally guilty of shielding a priest known to be a threat to children. In a brief nonjury trial, Bishop Robert Finn, head of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., was pronounced guilty on Thursday and sentenced to two years of probation for failing to alert law enforcement authorities about a predatory priest he knew was addicted to taking lewd photos of schoolgirls.

The conviction was evidence of the growing resolve of secular authorities, however belated, to venture up the hierarchical ladder in their search for accountability. The scandal has led to the dismissal and criminal investigation of more than 700 priests, even as their superiors have been spared - despite years of diocesan scheming to buy off victims and rotate rogue priests to new parishes.

Bishop Finn’s conviction was hardly encouraging for the cause of reform, however, since it involved very recent misdeeds - years after church leaders promised tough new policies aimed at preventing cover-ups.

The trial record established that Bishop Finn knew about a popular priest obsessed with taking lewd photos of parish schoolgirls. The priest privately admitted this to the bishop, but criminal law authorities were not alerted for five months, until the diocese’s vicar general grew nervous and sent word to local prosecutors.

In court, Bishop Finn apologized and agreed that future allegations would be forwarded to the authorities. His misbehaviour, however, is a setback to the hierarchy’s efforts to repair the church’s reputation. This task was underlined in a separate forum last month by Bishop Daniel Conlon of Joliet, Ill., the chairman of the American bishops’ committee for child protection. He said that despite considerable progress with reforms, “our credibility on the subject of child abuse is shredded.” At a minimum, Catholic officials concerned about church credibility should press for the resignation of Bishop Finn for having abetted the scandal.

Justice Ventures Up The Church Hierarchy