BALTIMORE (MD)
Patch [Baltimore, MD]
April 5, 2023
By Megan VerHelst
A report details a “history of widespread abuse” by Baltimore archdiocese priests. More than 600 people were assaulted over many years.
The Maryland Attorney General on Wednesday released a damning 463-page grand jury report detailing allegations of sexual abuse within the Archdiocese of Baltimore and the cover-up of that abuse by the leadership of the Catholic Church.
The redacted report, which a judge ordered released in February, details “a long history of widespread abuse and systemic cover-up by clergy,” according to a statement by Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown.
The report also identifies nearly 160 former and current priests as well as other members of the church that are accused of sexually abusing more than 600 children over eight decades.
“This report illustrates the depraved, systemic failure of the Archdiocese to protect the most vulnerable – the children it was charged to keep safe,” Brown said in a statement. “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.”
In 2019, the Archdiocese of Baltimore released the names of priests accused of sexual abuse but disclosed few details despite an extensive investigation. During the process, authorities subpoenaed hundreds of thousands of documents and interviewed former priests, church employees, witnesses, and survivors of sexual abuse. Authorities then compiled a report on their findings titled “Clergy Abuse in Maryland.”
In November, former Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh filed a motion to release the report to the public.
“For decades, survivors reported sexual abuse perpetrated by Catholic priests, and for decades the church covered up the abuse rather than holding the abusers accountable and protecting its congregations. The Archdiocese of Baltimore was no exception,” the motion filed with the Circuit Court of Baltimore City said.
Maryland’s probe was the second in the country by a state prosecutor, after Pennsylvania, according to The Washington Post. Frosh’s push to release the report came on the 20th anniversary of the emergence of the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse scandal in the United States, starting with an investigative series by The Boston Globe.
In ordering the report’s release, Circuit Judge Robert Taylor Jr. said not disclosing it to the public would be an “injustice.”
“The need for disclosure outweighs the need for secrecy,” Taylor wrote, according to a Banner Banner report. “The only form of justice that may now be available is a public reckoning — a disclosure of the facts as found (by) the Office of Attorney General and contained in this report.”
In addition to the list of accused abusers, the report contains hundreds of pages of abuse accounts by victims.
According to the report, abusers often singled out children who were “especially isolated or vulnerable” because of shyness, lack of confidence, or problems at home.
“They groomed the victims with presents and special attention,” the report states. “They told their victims the abuse was ‘God’s will’ and that no one would doubt the word of a priest. Some threatened that the victim or victim’s family would go to hell if they told anyone.”
Ahead of the report’s release, Archbishop William Lori posted a letter and video online asking Catholics to join him in praying for survivors of sexual abuse.
“The report is likely to evoke many emotions: anger, disgust, disillusionment and sadness among them,” Lori wrote. “On behalf of the Archdiocese, I offer my heartfelt apology to the victim-survivors and their families once again today, as I will tomorrow and every day that an expression of regret and atonement is meaningful to those who have suffered.”