BALTIMORE (MD)
Catholic Review
By Archbishop William E. Lori
Next week, a federal appeals court will hear arguments regarding John Merzbacher’s request to be released from prison. John Merzbacher was a teacher at Catholic Community School in South Baltimore who sexually abused and terrorized multiple children during the 1970s. Without getting into the legal technicalities, Merzbacher and his attorneys claim he was never made aware of a plea agreement that would have enabled him to be released by now had he pled guilty at his trial in the mid-1990s.
The archdiocese first learned of the abuse in 1988, when one of Merzbacher’s victims reported it to the archdiocese. In accordance with its policies at the time, the archdiocese met with the victim, offered her counseling assistance and encouraged her to report the matter to the Department of Social Services (DSS), which she did. The archdiocese confirmed Merzbacher was no longer working in the archdiocesan school system or any other church-related entity and noted his file so he could never volunteer or work again for the church.
A few years later, that same victim spoke with a priest (who also was a former classmate) following a funeral. He instructed the woman to report the matter to authorities and he contacted the archdiocese, which again met with the victim and encouraged her again to report to the authorities. The archdiocese itself reported the matter to DSS and the victim also reported it to the police who initiated an investigation which would result in a criminal indictment of Merzbacher. Incidentally, DSS responded to the archdiocese’s report by stating it would not conduct an investigation because the alleged victim was by then an adult.
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