All of the sexual abuse survivors and supporters we know have been devastated by the news on Friday, Sept. 29, that the Archdiocese of Baltimore (AOB) was filing for bankruptcy protection. Even though this was not unexpected, the timing was certainly a shock. Of note: The new Child Victim’s Act had not even gone into effect. It was scheduled to officially be law Sunday, Oct. 1st. We thought they would at least wait to see how many claims might be filed by church abuse survivors before saying they could not afford to pay them. It is another retraumatizing event and another effort to hurt and gaslight survivors.Some of us were asked by a reporter at a news conference on Thursday (related to the newly released partially unredacted Attorney General’s report chronicling decades of sexual abuse against hundreds of children) what we would like to say to Archbishop William E. Lori. At the time we all said, “Just do the right thing!” Now we extend our response to “what would we like to say to the parishioners of the Catholic Churches all over Maryland.”Advertisement— Betsy Schindler, on behalf of Maryland sexual abuse survivors and their supporters.Betsy Schindler is a member of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, which she joined to support her husband, Frank Schindler, and others. Here, she is photographed near the Baltimore Basilica. (Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun)At one point I was back in therapy to deal with issues related to childhood sexual abuse in my family, struggling with intense feelings of guilt and shame and self-blame. I kept wondering as a 5-year-old what I could have done differently to have a different childhood. My therapist told me to find a playground with 5-year-old children and look at them. Could you really see these children and feel any sense of blame or guilt for anything that happened to them?AdvertisementI say this now to the people who faithfully attend Catholic Churches throughout the state of Maryland. Look at your children or your grandchildren or even children in the church who are 5 years old or 8 years old or 11 years old or 15 years old. Would you blame any of them if someone were to sexually assault them? Would you blame them if priests, who are said to be God on earth, were to harm them and cover it up and silence them? What would you advise them to do if they were now adults and seeking justice and healing? Would you really tell them to just let it go and forget about it, knowing that is literally impossible to do when you experience trauma?Justice does not only come with a prison sentence or a financial settlement, but those are the only two legal ways for clergy sexual abuse survivors to seek justice in the U.S. system. Most survivors I know want the name of their predator exposed, those who protected the predator exposed and an apology from both. They want their day in court. I know the Catholic Church and many other institutions like to say that people “only want money,” but I know most people ask for money because it is the only option available to them. They will not get their apology. They will likely not get their day in court if the bankruptcy filing is successful. They may get a small lump sum of money, but no justice. Think about how you would feel if this was your son or daughter; your grandchild.The bankruptcy filing is unfair and unjust. The efforts of the Church to protect itself from transparency only further traumatizes survivors. Please help survivors and oppose the efforts of the AOB to deny justice.— Betsy SchindlerThe writer is a childhood sexual abuse survivor and victim advocate.Maryland SNAP Leader David Lorenz speaks at a press conference in front of the Baltimore Basilica about the Child Victim’s Act and the idea of Archdiocese of Baltimore declaring bankruptcy before the first case is even filed. (Jerry Jackson/Baltimore Sun)In filing for bankruptcy, the Archdiocese of Baltimore and Archbishop William E. Lori indicate that they estimate between 1,000 and 5,000 creditors. The Attorney General report on child sexual abuse in the archdiocese states that they investigated over 600 cases of abuse. As awful and horrendous as 600 children being raped and sodomized it, it is a much smaller number than 1,000 to 5,000.In all of his defense claims of how the diocese has fully cooperated with the A.G. and been open and honest about this crisis, never once did Lori mention that the number 600 was significantly lower than what he expected. Never once, in all of the heartfelt letters to parishioners, did he mention that there were up to 5,000 victims rather than 600. He just let that number 600 sit in everyone’s consciousness. He still has not sent out a letter to individual parishioners stating that he allowed them to be misled by the number 600 and that the actual number could be almost nine times that figurer.Lori has been disingenuous and is constantly dissembling on this issue. It’s time that he come clean on everything the diocese knows, opens up his files and explains why he believes the number is 5,000. And then he should resign and beg forgiveness not just from the victims but from every parishioner he has misled.Advertisement— David LorenzThe writer is a clergy sexual abuse survivor and advocate, and the leader of Maryland’s Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP).I think it is important for parishioners to know that their money is going to pay the legal fees of predators. I don’t think people understand that when they throw money in the basket or deposit into “faith direct” that the Church is using that to lawyer up against victims.— AnonymousThe writer is a family member of a child sexually abused by clergy.David Schappelle, shown here as an 8-year-old boy in 1985, says he is a survivor of child sexual abuse and rape by a Catholic priest when he was 9, in Gaithersburg, Maryland, which is part of the Washington D.C. Archdiocese. I would like to know if parishioners want some of their money to go to survivors. It seems like a big talking point Archbishop William E. Lori uses is: “your money will not go to fund the victims but will go to the Catholic missions and charities.” Why not? What if parishioners want to help survivors? What if parishioners said, I want to help the survivors if the Church doesn’t really want to. Can a special collection box be made in parishes so that people can choose whether their donations go to fund survivors or go to fund mystery box?Advertisement— David SchapelleDavid Schapelle is a clergy sexual abuse survivor and advocate.Teresa F. Lancaster says she was among those abused as a student at Baltimore’s now shuttered Archbishop Keough High School in the late 1960s and early '70s. Her story was featured in the Netflix documentary “The Keepers.” She has been seeking justice for victims of childhood sexual abuse since the 1990s. (Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun)We have individuals born into Catholicism who grew up wholly devoted to the Church. They were adorned in elegant white dresses and veils, participating in the Holy Sacraments that defined their entire childhood. They learned to confess their sins at the tender age of 7, were taught to love God with all their hearts, and believed priests were God’s representatives on earth. Imagine how these same children felt when the very essence of their faith, the priests, engaged in inappropriate sexual acts with them — acts they didn’t comprehend, acts for which they had no words. These sexual acts were even presented to them by your priests as manifestations of the Holy Spirit.Today, the Archdiocese of Baltimore can do something to help heal these children, now grown into adults. The Church can acknowledge its mistakes and take responsibility for the torment that still haunts them. The Church instilled in us values like love and doing the right thing. Yet, it now employs bankruptcy to shield its millions in assets. The Church seem indifferent to the victims who have struggled their entire lives to make sense of what happened to them. It appears to be solely concerned with amassing wealth.At the same time, no amount of money can ever compensate these victims for the time stolen from them, the shattered dreams and their ongoing struggles to maintain their sanity and trust. Nevertheless, it would be a starting point, a way to say, “I hear you, and I care.”Instead, the Archdiocese of Baltimore exploits financial loopholes, much like failed businesses do, further harming the victims. I say: Shame on them. Church officials are once again mistreating the very people who have suffered deeply due to their negligence and hypocrisy.Advertisement— Teresa LancasterThe writer is a clergy sexual abuse survivor, lawyer and advocate.Frank Schindler is a member of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. He says he was abused by a priest as a 5-year-old kindergartener while living in New York City, which he recalled in fragments for years, finally understanding the extent of what happened in his mid-40s. He advocates for justice for survivors in Maryland and elsewhere. (Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun)Archbishop William E. Lori has justified declaring bankruptcy by stating that this is the only course that would allow the “good works” of the Catholic Church to continue. He is therefore saying that the only reason dedicated, caring Catholics do good things is because he and the Archdiocese sanction those actions. Otherwise, the actions would not be done. This totally dismisses parishioners as the actual authors of those good works. This is both arrogant and demeaning. And it is also not true.— Frank Schindler, BaltimoreThe writer is a clergy sexual abuse survivor and advocate.Jean Hargadon Wehner says she was among those abused as a student at Baltimore’s now shuttered Archbishop Keough High School in the late 1960s and early '70s. Here, photographed near the Baltimore Basilica, she holds a photo of herself as a student. Her story was featured in the Netflix documentary “The Keepers.” Her memoir of surviving the abuse, "Walking with Aletheia," was published last year. (Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun)In 1992 I came forward as a Catholic parishioner with allegations of sex abuse by priests Joseph Maskell and Neil Magnus at Archbishop Keough High School decades earlier. The Archdiocese of Baltimore representatives told me I was the first to voice a complaint of this type about Maskell, and I believed them. If you read the Attorney General’s report of 2023 you know: THEY LIED!AdvertisementArchbishop Lori and his gang have never taken responsibility for protecting predator priests within the Catholic Church, like Maskell and Magnus, for decades. And now that survivors of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church can finally hold them accountable in a court of law, the cowards slither their way out of it by filing bankruptcy. It is time this organization answer for their crimes of colluding with child sex abusers within the Catholic Church. Love for one another demands this!— Jean Hargadon WehnerThe writer is a clergy sex abuse survivor and advocate.
