Maryland AG Report – Decades of Child Abuse, Church Coverup and More

Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown has released his agency’s report documenting a long history of widespread child sex abuse and systemic cover-up by clergy and others associated with the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

Report on Child Sexual Abuse at Baltimore Archdiocese was redacted after a four year investigation of 60 years worth of claims of clergy child sexual abuse and the covering up of this abuse by Catholic Church leaders.

According to the report, young people in some parishes were preyed upon by multiple abusers over decades, and “clergy used the power and authority of the ministry to exploit the trust of the children and families in their charge.”

Report details repeated church leadership actions to hide and cover up abuse. This included moving priests from one parish to another, failing to report or investigate abuses to civilian authorities and financial support for priests retiring.

“This report illustrates the depraved, systemic failure of the Archdiocese to protect the most vulnerable – the children it was charged to keep safe,” said Brown.

“Time and again, the Archdiocese chose to safeguard the institution and avoid scandal instead of protecting the children in its care. This Report shines a light on this overwhelming tragedy, and it was the courage of the survivors that made it possible.”

According to the report, Maryland should abolish the statute of limitations which prevents survivors from filing civil lawsuits against abusive people and seeking damages for their injuries. The Child Victims Act of 2023, a bill that would do this is currently being considered by Maryland’s General Assembly. Currently, people in Maryland who say they were sexually abused as children can’t sue after they reach the age of 38.

The Maryland Catholic Conference, which represents the three dioceses serving the state, opposes the bill, contending it’s unconstitutional.

Robert Taylor, a Baltimore Circuit Court judge, ruled that the redacted version of his report should be published in February. Taylor said at the time that releasing the report was important partly because the “only form of justice that may now be available is a public reckoning.”

Per order of the court, the attorney general has redacted the names and identifying information of persons named who are living, and who the report accuses of “hiding abuse, enabling abuse, assisting in the cover-up of abuse, or protecting abusers from the consequences of their action.” People whose identities are redacted will be given an opportunity to file objections with the court before the court will decide whether to permit another release without redactions.

The report includes 156 former or current Catholic clergy, seminarians and deacons as well as members of Catholic religious orders, priests, bishops, members of Catholic religious orders, Catholic school teachers, and any other Archdiocese employees who have been subject to credible accusations of child sexual assault in Baltimore.

This report also lists 43 additional clergy that served or lived in the Archdiocese, but were subject to sexual abuse beyond the Archdiocese.

In 2018, the investigation began. A grand jury issued subpoenas to the Archdiocese of Baltimore, as well as to individual parishes, religious orders, and St. Mary’s Seminary. Over four years, thousands of documents dating back as far as the 1940s were produced, including records of personnel, transfers, policies, and procedures.

Investigators and attorneys interviewed many survivors, their families and witnesses. Over 300 tips were received from more than 300 individuals, which included survivors and witnesses.

Archdiocese Response

Archbishop William E. Lori, Archdiocese of Baltimore acknowledged the crime. He called the report a “sad and painful reminder of the tremendous harm caused to innocent children and young people by some ministers of the Church. It is shocking to read the detailed stories of abuse. Most people find it difficult to believe that these evil acts can have occurred. For victim-survivors everywhere, they know the hard truth: These evil acts did occur.”

Lori stated that the church had learned from this tragedy and made changes in 1990s to stop the evil. “The Archdiocese is not the same organization it was then,” he stated, noting that the report shows that cases of abuse peaked during the 1960s and 1970s and instances have fallen every year since then, along with the development of Archdiocesan policies designed to protect children.

“Make no mistake, however: today’s strong record of protection and transparency does not excuse past failings that have led to the lasting spiritual, psychological and emotional harm victim-survivors have endured,” he wrote in a statement on his blog.

However, survivors insist that Lori needs to be more involved in the care of those who were abused.

“These are astonishing numbers that demand immediate reform within the Catholic Church in the U.S. and worldwide,” commented the Maryland chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP). They claim that there are more victims in the report than what has been made public by church officials. It is calling upon Lori to answer questions as to “why his list is deficient and answer what was hidden from the public by church officials and why.”

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