BALTIMORE (MD)
Baltimore Sun [Baltimore MD]
December 15, 2023
By Annie Jennemann, Cassidy Jensen, Maya Lora and Lia Russell
This database shows individuals who have been accused of child sexual abuse or misconduct and have ties to Maryland and the Catholic Church. It includes a combination of 155 names from the Maryland “Attorney General’s Report on Child Sexual Abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore,” 47 from the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s list and 107 new names researched by reporters at The Baltimore Sun. Names from the lists of the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington and the Archdiocese of Washington are also labeled.
The newly compiled section lists those with ties to Maryland but who are not included in either the Attorney General’s report or the Baltimore archdiocese list. The master list is derived from a broader set of names compiled by an aggregator who independently kept track of over 800 individuals. View The Sun’s process and methodology at the end of this page.
This table is searchable by title, name and tie to Maryland. Each row expands when clicked to show known Maryland assignments and a description of the accusation. Readers who do not wish to read the accusations can view a tab that does not include them.
Accused individuals with ties to Maryland, the Catholic Church
[See original article to search database directly.]
How we compiled this data:
This database identifies 309 individuals connected to the Catholic Church and Maryland who have faced accusations of abuse or misconduct, along with their title, date of birth, last known status, known Maryland ties and a description of the allegations. Of these individuals, 155 are listed in the “Attorney General’s Report on Child Sexual Abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore” published in April 2023 and 47 are unique to the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s “List of Priests and Brothers Accused of Child Sexual Abuse.”
The Sun’s database publishes together for the first time 107 names that were not on the archdiocese’s list when the database was published and that are not in the attorney general’s report. These names were among more than 800 provided to The Sun by a researcher who independently tracked people connected to the Catholic Church and Maryland or to a diocese with a footprint in Maryland and who had been accused of abuse. Reporters attempted to contact all of the living people whose names The Sun reviewed.
Teams of reporters researched each person, identifying for inclusion in this database clergy or lay people who were accused in a public forum and who had a meaningful connection to Maryland. In many instances, those listed either faced criminal charges, were sued or have been listed as credibly accused of abuse by the Catholic Church or their religious orders.
Church directories, obituaries, news articles, court records and, in some cases, the church’s records, were examined to demonstrate whether someone lived in Maryland. An individual was determined to have a meaningful connection to Maryland if they were alleged to have committed abuse in Maryland or spent substantial time in the state.
Database notes:
Information about individuals named on either the attorney general’s report or the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s list came from the corresponding source. If an individual is listed on both, the information in the table comes from the attorney general’s report or Sun archives.
Any blank cell in the database means that the information was not readily available to reporters.
The last known status column refers to the most recent event related to the person’s connection to the church or the accusations against them at the time the database was published, such as laicized, placed on leave, sued or convicted. If a person was known to be dead when the database was published, their last known status is deceased.
The Sun is withholding one abuser’s name from the attorney general’s report because the report described that person as a potential child abuse victim themselves.
This database includes the two names redacted in the revised public version of the attorney general’s report, which were independently verified by The Sun.
The Sun intends to update the database as new information becomes available.
The Baltimore Sun’s 309 entries can be viewed with copyright information and downloaded on the GitHub repository.
Database reporters: Cassidy Jensen, Maya Lora, Lia Russell
Database: Annie Jennemann
Contributing research: John Coffren, Christine Condon, Darcy Costello, Abigail Gruskin, Sanya Kamidi, Sabrina LeBoeuf, Alex Mann, Paul McCardell, Luke Parker, Jonathan M. Pitts, Lilly Price, Angela Roberts, Lee O. Sanderlin and Victoria Stavish