199 Catholic clergy and administrators outed as sexual predators in Maryland

199 Catholic clergy and administrators outed as sexual predators in Maryland.

Nearly 200 Baltimore Catholic clergy members and administrators were exposed Wednesday as sexual predators as part of a sweeping four-year investigation by the Maryland attorney general.

The “Report on Child Sexual Abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore” — released during Holy Week and just four days before Easter — describes how the religious leaders used their authority and trust to sexually abuse more than 600 children over the past 80 years, a corruption that was covered up by the church.

It added: “The sheer number of abusers and victims, the depravity of the abusers’ conduct, and the frequency with which known abusers were given the opportunity to continue preying upon children is astonishing.”

The disclosure of previously redacted findings was welcomed by victims and their families as a significant development for its contribution to the growing evidence of abuse from parishes across the country that has rocked the Catholic Church over the past decade.

Lori said the report “details a reprehensible time in the history of this Archdiocese, a time that will not be covered up, ignored or forgotten”.

He added: “It is difficult for most to imagine that such evil acts could have actually occurred.

“For victim-survivors everywhere, they know the hard truth: These evil acts did occur.”

Victims said the report was a long-overdue public reckoning with shameful accusations the church has been facing for decades.

Jean Hargadon Wehner said she was abused in Baltimore as a teen by A. Joseph Maskell, a priest who served as a counsellor and chaplain at her Catholic high school.

“This Report illustrates the depraved, systemic failure of the Archdiocese to protect the most vulnerable — the children it was charged to keep safe,” AG Anthony Brown said in a statement.

“Based on hundreds of thousands of documents and untold stories from hundreds of survivors, it provides, for the first time in the history of this State, a public accounting of more than 60 years of abuse and cover-up. Time and again, the Archdiocese chose to safeguard the institution and avoid scandal instead of protecting the children in its care.”

The damning report was released following an “intensive” investigation into allegations of abuse dating back to the 1940s at the hands of the oldest Roman Catholic diocese in the country.

It details the credible allegations of child sexual abuse for 199 current or former Catholic clergy, seminarians, deacons, members of religious orders, teachers at Catholic schools and other employees of the archdiocese.

Brown said: “The report seeks to document this long and sordid history.

“What was consistent throughout the stories was the absolute authority and power these abusive priests and the Church leadership held over survivors, their families and their communities.”