Maryland’s attorney general released Wednesday a detailed report on the history of clerical sexual abuse and cover-up in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. 

The report, some four years in the making, details how, when, and where clerical sexual abuse of minors occurred, and how Church authorities responded. Like similar reports issued in other states, the reading is sobering. 

The Baltimore report was released four-and-a-half years after a similar text was published by a Pennsylvania grand jury. While that report formed part of the whirlwind of ecclesial scandals unfolding in 2018, the Baltimore report is likely to make fewer waves across the country.

But the Baltimore report, the archdiocesan response, and the context in which it was released all give a clear snapshot of the state of the Church’s reform efforts on clerical sexual abuse — and the reason why progress on Church reform over child abuse is an often unheard…