Prominent Victims’ Attorney Jeff Anderson Reacts to Release of Graves’ Report
The report made public today by the law firm hired by Bishop Finn is both misleading and self-serving. We stood with and sued the Diocese and the Bishop for the failure to act when they had sufficient information to remove Ratigan and didn’t. We stand by the allegations of the Complaint that Diocese officials had sufficient information in 2006 to both act and react; and if Bishop Finn had acted in accord with the law and protocol for child protection, some children may not have been harmed, including the courageous child and family that we now represent. This report talks about policies but policies are just words—and in this case their actions then speak louder than their words now. Indeed, the actions of the Diocese speak to a desire to protect their reputation over the protection of children. We applaud the courage of the family with whom we are working and other families that have come forward to expose the most recent missteps with the hopes they will learn to act to protect kids first.