More than 150 priests, deacons, teachers and seminarians within the Archdiocese of Baltimore have been accused of sexually abusing more than 600 children and young adults over an eight-decade period.
An explosive report by the Maryland Attorney General’s Office details pervasive sexual abuse within the country’s oldest Roman Catholic diocese. In some cases, parishes, schools and congregations had more than one alleged abuser at work. One, St. Mark’s Parish in Catonsville, had 11 alleged abusers living and working there between 1964 and 2004. One deacon admitted to molesting more than 100 children.
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“The staggering pervasiveness of the abuse itself underscores the culpability of the Church hierarchy,” the report said.
The release of the findings marks a significant development in an ongoing legal battle. It also adds to growing evidence from parishes nationwide as numerous similar revelations have rocked the Catholic Church in recent years.
Protecting the Accused
Protecting victims was not a priority of church leadership, the report says. The 463-page document describes numerous instances in which leaders took steps to protect clergy rather than help victims. The Church allowed alleged abusers to retire with full financial support rather than be ousted, let them remain in the ministry, and failed to report victim outcries to law enforcement. And when law enforcement became aware of abuse allegations, police and prosecutors were often deferential and “uninterested in probing what church leaders knew and when,” according to the report.
In one instance, a priest was allowed to feign hepatitis treatment and make other excuses to avoid facing allegations. He was reassigned to a church in Sacramento, where he was later accused of abusing a teenage boy, and then reassigned to Baltimore, where he served as chaplain at a Catholic high school for boys and allegedly abused more than 20 more victims.
One complainant described being abused as a teen in Baltimore by A. Joseph Maskell, a priest who served as the Catholic high school’s counselor and chaplain. Maskell allegedly abused at least 39 victims, according to the report. He denied the allegations before his death in 2001 and was never criminally charged.
In a statement posted online, Baltimore Archbishop William Lori apologized to the victims and said the report “details a reprehensible time in the history of this Archdiocese, a time that will not be covered up, ignored, or forgotten.”
State investigators began their work in 2019; they reviewed more than 100,000 pages of documents dating to the 1940s and interviewed hundreds of victims and witnesses.
The Baltimore archdiocese says it has paid more than $13.2 million for care and compensation for 301 abuse victims since the 1980s, including $6.8 million for 105 voluntary settlements.
States Extending the Statute of Limitations for Child Sex Assault Victims
Across the nation, states are extending the time limit for abuse survivors to file civil litigation to hold responsible parties accountable. In July 2024, the Hawai’i lawmakers extended the deadline for civil action by more than 20 years.
How We Help Sex Abuse Victims
Our Hawaii sexual abuse lawyers work one-on-one with survivors, offering a direct, personal level of care and discretion. We use years of experience in prosecuting sexual assault cases to fight on behalf of survivors, aggressively taking on those responsible for the pain and suffering they’ve caused. Our results obtaining justice for victims speak for themselves. If you are a survivor of childhood or adult sexual abuse, we can help.
