"the Keepers" Continues to Shine Light on Alleged Abuse at Baltimore School

By Lisa Robinson
WBAL
June 2, 2017

http://www.wbaltv.com/article/the-keepers-continues-to-shine-light-on-alleged-abuse-at-baltimore-school/9969460

[with video]

The series has helped to bring more victims to light. “The Keepers” is giving people the courage to speak up after suffering in silence. People who once thought they were the only one now know they are not alone.

“The Keepers” focuses on the unsolved death of popular Archbishop Keough High School teacher Sister Cathy Cesnick. She was found dead in a Landsowne dump in 1970, months after she disappeared.

The Netflix series talks to women who say two school priests, Jospeh Maskell and Neil Magnus, abused them. They said Cesnik disappeared as she was close to discovering who was responsible for the abuse.

Joanne Suder is an attorney representing the Keough students who allegedly were abused by the two men. She said 12 more Keough victims have reached out to her since the series hit the air, and they tell a similar story.

“They said they were sexually abused by Maskell and Magnus. Magnus was a pretty bad guy at that school, too,” Suder, who is not featured on the series, said. “There's no question about that. Many they abused together in the school in Maskell's office.”

For every person who comes forward, there are nine others who don't, Suder said.

Suder said the series has given people the courage to talk about what happened to them.

“Because of the airing of ‘The Keepers,’ we found that many more young ladies have come forward and called The Suder Law Firm, believing, before the airing of ‘The Keepers,’ that they were the only victim,” Suder said.

Suder estimates more than 100 girls may have been abused by Maskell and Magnus between the mid-1960s and 1975. And they are hearing from more. She encourages people who know something to come forward. Maskell appears on the archdiocese list of clergy accused of sex abuse.

“We will help them,” Suder said. “Some people, we need to put them in touch with the police. Anybody who has some information might not think it is important, but we do.”

Baltimore police said eight people have reached out to them about possible abuse.

Suder said the statute of limitations has passed for most of the alleged victims to prosecute, but there is a legal process of mediation that can take place between lawyers and the church before a non-Catholic retired judge.