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…