Newsman: A long-awaited report by the Maryland Attorney General spotlighted, the depth of a crisis that spanned decades, finding a “staggering pervasiveness” of child sex abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore that victimized at least 600 children between the 1940s and 2002.
The report on Wednesday, which listed more than 150 Catholic priests and clergy members accused of “horrific and repeated” abuse – as well as attempts to protect accused clergy by the church hierarchy – came as Maryland’s legislature voted to end a statute of limitations for child sex abuse-related civil lawsuits.
Cases of child sex abuse by clergy in the nation’s oldest Catholic archdioceses weren’t unknown.
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.
The report, which listed more than 150 Catholic priests and clergy members accused of “horrific and repeated” abuse – as well as attempts to protect accused clergy by the church hierarchy – came as Maryland’s legislature voted to end a statute of limitations for child sex abuse-related civil lawsuits.
While only one person has been indicted as a result of the investigation, advocates and victims’ groups on Thursday predicted that would bring more survivors forward and spark a wave of new civil lawsuits, while the report provided a necessary-if-painful reckoning.
“It’s a level of detail that is deeper, and as a result, affords us greater understanding” of the scope of the abuse, Terence McKiernan, head of the nonprofit Bishop Accountability, told USA TODAY.
