Twenty years before he died, Francis “Frank” X. Gallagher Jr. wrote a letter to a Catholic bishop seeking information about Father Mark Haight, saying Haight abused him as a 14-year-old.

Had Haight had interactions with other children in Baltimore? Had the archdiocese made any effort to find other victims? What about assistance for other victims? Was there anything in Haight’s record to indicate a potential for abuse?

“One of my many regrets is that it took me 28 years to come forward,” Gallagher wrote in April 2002. “The thought that my silence on this matter could have contributed to others being abused is something that I will have to live with forever.”

What followed was largely silence and apathy on behalf of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, according to a wrongful death lawsuit Gallagher’s children filed June 27 against the archdiocese, the seminary where…