A case of sexual exploitation of children has come up in the State of Maryland. The Attorney General of the State of Maryland issued a 500-page report and said that since 1940, more than 156 Catholic priests and senior officials of the Roman Catholic Church in Baltimore have sexually abused more than 600 children. The State’s report released Wednesday revealed the scope of abuse spanning 80 years and accused church leaders of decades of coverups.
The Report documents a long history of widespread abuse and systemic cover-up by clergy and others associated with the Church throughout the Archdiocese. Young people in some parishes were preyed upon by multiple abusers over decades, and clergy used the power and authority of the ministry to exploit the trust of the children and families in their charge. The report also describes the repeated actions of those in positions of leadership to conceal and cover up the abuse, moving priests to other parishes, failing to investigate or report abuse to civilian law enforcement authorities, and providing financial support to priests in retirement. Finally, the Report recommends as the General Assembly is on track to do this session with the Child Victims Act of 2023, that Maryland eliminate the statute of limitations that has prevented survivors from bringing civil actions against abusers and recovering damages for the harms they have suffered.
The management of the Archbishop of Baltimore, America’s oldest Roman Catholic Church has spent millions of dollars to hide this black work for 80 years.
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 toward 105 voluntary settlements.
According to the report, since the 1980s, 13.2 million dollars have been paid as care and compensation to 301 abuse, including $6.8 million toward 105 voluntary settlements.
Attorney General Anthony Brown released the report and said, Easter Sunday is coming soon.
He said, there could not be a better time to put this report in front of the people after four years of investigation. State investigators began work in 2019 and interviewed hundreds of victims and witnesses based on a review of more than 100,000 documents dating back to the 1940s, he added.
The report said that most of the children were forced to do it by saying that it was God’s will to sexually abuse them. They were also threatened that if they told anyone about it, their families would burn in hell.
The Maryland state Senate has struck down legal restrictions that set time limits for filing sexual assault lawsuits after the case came to light. Under the new system, any victim of sexual abuse can file a case in the old case at any time.
Currently, none of the accused are active in the service of the church. Most of the accused have died. Apart from this, there are many accused who have already been accused in many other cases. 33 new names have come out in the report. The church has not disclosed the names of 10 people, the report said. It is possible that these people are still alive and are high officials involved in the management of the church.
Baltimore Archbishop William Lori, in a statement posted online, 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.”
“It is difficult for most to imagine that such evil acts could have actually occurred,” Lori said. “For victim-survivors everywhere, they know the hard truth: These evil acts did occur.”
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