BALTIMORE (MD)
The Baltimore Sun
[Catholic officials knew of teacher’s abuse, court files indicate]
Sean Caine, Baltimore
The writer is vice-chancellor of the Archdiocese of Baltimore.
I write in response to last Sunday’s article, “Catholic officials knew of teacher’s abuse, court files indicate” (Nov. 24) and the subsequent editorial regarding the horrific abuse committed by John Merzbacher in the 1970s. Contrary to the article’s implication that the former archbishop or others in the central offices of the Archdiocese of Baltimore delayed the reporting of the abuse, the archdiocese first learned of the abuse when a victim — by then an adult — reported it to us in 1988. At our prompting, the victim reported the matter at that time to the Department of Social Services. Five years later, when the same victim came back to us, we again encouraged her to report it (which she did, leading to the eventual criminal indictment of Mr. Merzbacher), and we also reported the matter to civil authorities.
•The article criticized the archdiocese for not reporting the matter until 1993, but it failed to state that it was in fact reported to civil authorities in 1988. Like most institutions in 1988 (and indeed like many or most states even today), we encouraged adult victims to report allegations to civil authorities, but we respected their wishes regarding whether they wanted to do so.
•Only in 1993 did the Maryland Attorney General clarify that all suspected child abuse should be reported even when the child was now an adult and even when the alleged perpetrator was deceased. In its official 1993 opinion, the attorney general noted that “We acknowledge that [the reporting law] could reasonably be construed to apply only if the alleged victim were still a child.”
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