But Maskell professed his innocence. Member station WYPR's Scott Maucione has our report. I could tell by the arch of his back that he was personally feeling the suffering that was in front of him, remembers Chaplain Robert K. Shaffer. Maskell knew Jennifer had not let the matter rest, but he clung to the hope that his vocation would endure. In 1993, she says, she recalled that Maskell allegedly hypnotized her: He would use a certain phrase and everything would just stop. The phrase, she says, was, I only want whats best for you, just whats best for you. She says he told her that before divulging a certain incident to anyone, I was to kill myself.. The Subject Of Netflix's 'The Nurse' Denies Her Attempted Murder Convictions, Allan Gore Reportedly Lives A Quiet Life Decades After The Events Of 'Love & Death', The True Story Of Candy Montgomery From HBO Max's True Crime Series, Get Even More From Bustle Sign Up For The Newsletter. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. There were other Keough teachers whod abused her as well, Jennifer said, as had two of the nuns, including a high-ranking administrator of the school, who was with Father Maskel, and they were using the vibrator, and she went down on me.. A study by the medical journal BMC Public Health says the average age of a victim reporting sexual abuse is 52. I was kind of frightened. For memorials with more than one photo, additional photos will appear here or on the photos tab. Wehner contacted us and wanted to amend the story from her point of view: Before coming in to give an official statement, Wehner was encouraged by the diocesan representatives to get an attorney. One occasion he just spanked me., OK. The church administrator appeared unsure how to best respond; nonetheless, he told her to contact him if she remembered anything else. And please note there are details of sexual violence at moments over the next 3 1/2 minutes, and it may be unsuitable for some listeners. Maskell was one of those priests, and Hargedon Wehner says at one point during her alleged repeated abuses, he emptied the bullets from a gun and held it to her head. One day, Maskell took Bill and two other boys target shooting. To the parish community? 7 May 2001 (aged 62) Timonium, Baltimore County, Maryland, Diocesan spokesman William Blaul counters that celibacy does not pose an inherent problem, and that the paramount issue is screening out potential abusers. Her face has changed since high school: Her features are sharper, her gaze more penetrating. According to the film, the power held both inside and outside of the church, as well as the local connections priests had with law enforcement, made the abuse less likely to be stopped and could have made coverups easier. Maryland's Attorney General will soon release results of an investigation of abuse by 150 priests over eighty years. Bill didnt have one, but Maskell did, back in the rectory. She says he showed her a series of ink blots, diagnosed her as sexually frustrated, and recommended further counseling. He prostituted me. They scheduled one for June 2. Now lets talk about it. As one alleged survivor pointed out in a recent confrontation with the archdiocese: Gods not happy about that., As the Maskell case approaches winter unresolved, the beleaguered priest remains largely invisible. The Dantes legal team assembled their civil case while sharing information with the states attorneys office for a criminal investigation. Learn about how to make the most of a memorial. the reported wondered. You may request to transfer up to 250,000 memorials managed by Find a Grave. After years and years, its really hard to say, but some things you just need to bring out in order to heal, she said. Magnus was Keough High Schools Religious Services Director, Maskell was chaplain and counselor. Please enter your email and password to sign in. CNN reported in 2017 that police had the okay to exhume his body for DNA testing, but even then, the DNA wasn't a match with what was found at the crime scene. None of the defendantsMaskell, the archdiocese, Tracys gynecologist, or the School Sisters of Notre Dame who operated Keoughwere present except for a quarter of charcoal-suited attorneys. WILLIAM LORI: I extend once again my deepest apologies for the abuse suffered upon them by clergy and others whose sinful and criminal acts so badly damaged them. One day, Nelson opened the door to Evas hospital room to find Maskell, bent close over her daughter, his arm resting on the edge of her bed. Tracy first went to counseling with Maskell on October 5, 1970. I was confused, she says, yet excited that someone out there was going to take action.. Cesnik asked if she could help, but Jennifer said there were things she couldnt talk about. Within a week of receiving the lawyers anonymous ad in the fall of 1993, Tracy wrote to them, and got a letter in return explaining that the attorneys were seeking corroboration of alleged sexual abuse at Keough. But even the things she says shes always remembered were bad enough that, for part of her adult life, she kept track of Maskells whereabouts with the thought of killing him. As manager of this memorial you can add or update the memorial using the Edit button below. SCOTT MAUCIONE, BYLINE: Jean Hargedon Wehner was just a teenager when Father Joseph Maskell allegedly abused her at a Baltimore high school in the 1960s. In the comfortable home he shares with his wife, psychiatrist Marianne Benkert, Sipe recalls one seminarians experience. A fastidiously clean kid, a teenaged Maskell one year spent so much time immersed in his bathtub ritual, Heim recalls, that his father announced his displeasure over it. Sean Caine, Vice Chancellor at the Archdiocese of Baltimore, confirmed the church has been in communication with Mroz's lawyers regarding her alleged assault, but also said they have not engaged in mediation. In the first of these alleged abuses, she recalls confessing to a Keough priest that her uncle had urged her to let a dog lick her sexually, and that the dog later died. Oops, we were unable to send the email. Cesnik, however, met a different fate, and was found murdered in 1969. MAUCIONE: Hargedon Wehner was just one of the 600 alleged victims a Maryland attorney general's report found during an investigation into the Archdiocese of Baltimore over the past 80 years. WebOne name stands out among the rest in the Maryland Attorney Generals report on child sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Being dropped off at the St. Clement rectory. ' According to Karen, the priest had specific questions about her boyfriends anatomy. A system error has occurred. Taking Father Woy up on his earlier invitation, Cruz called him at the archdiocese to say she had additional memories and wanted a second meeting in her therapists office. Joseph Maskell. This article is the result of more than 100 interviews conducted over a nine-month period. I am one of his victims.". BRIAN FROSH: What we heard from survivors was that the abuse changed their lives. This relationship is not possible based on lifespan dates. That November of 1969, Sister Cesnik left the apartment she shared with another nun in Southwest Baltimore, went out on some errands, and never came back. Some St. Augustine parishioners, tipped off about Maskells circumstances, protested his arrival. Stacy* knew Maskell from both St. Clement and Keough, where she was a member of the class of 72. BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Following the release of the Netflix series, "The Keepers," which documents allegations of widespread sex abuse by a Baltimore priest, his time in Ireland is being investigated. Hawkins took Maskell in for several weeks last year, and got scolded by the archdiocese for doing so. Tracy says she had talked to friends back in high school about Maskell, even about going to the police, but abandoned that plan because Maskell was a police priest., I had been warned sternly by Father Maskell that I would not be believedthat I was a druggie slut and no one would believe me over a priest, she says. Family members linked to this person will appear here. I just ask the questions, Dantes replied, his back near the rear wall of the courtroom. At St. Augustine, as the deadline approached, Maskell drew withdrawn. During the year after her first meeting with Father Woy and diocesan attorney Dame, Eva Nelson Cruz says she avoided media accounts of the Maskell case because she didnt want to contaminate her own memory. Share this memorial using social media sites or email. In 2001, Maskell died from the effects of a stroke at St. Josephs Hospital, according to Failed to delete flower. ", Rolling Stone reports that Magnus was the Director of Religious Studies at Keough Catholic High School throughout the late '60s and '70s. The archdiocese, says this family source, countered with more restrictive choices: Either check in to a Connecticut psychiatric facility, or step down from the pulpit. In October 1992, nearly three decades after realizing his childhood dream to become a priest, Rev. In February 1995, Maskells priestly duties were permanently revoked. To focus on the narrow legal issue at hand, both plaintiffs allegations were to be accepted for now as truthful, and no corroborating witnesses were to be called. Jean Wehner, who was one of the anonymous victims who initially sued the church, said in the series she too began to recover her memory from high school, when she would go see her school counselor, Maskell. The sex abuse allegations against Maskell first came to light in the '90s one victim, Jean Hargadon Wehner, reported her abuse allegations to the Baltimore Archdiocese in 1992. The results came back on May 17 and revealed that Maskell's DNA did not match crime scene evidence, according to The Washington Post. He told me my problem was that I was frigid, she claims. Indeed, some popes, including the very first, Saint Peter, enjoyed the worldly pleasures of family life. Maskell, who died in 2001, always denied the allegations against him. One Finksburg woman, a friend of Jennifers who had abandoned Catholicism over the Maskell case, wrote bluntly to Cardinal Keeler: Through a technicality in the law, this archdiocese has succeeded in avoiding any responsibility to the victims of Joseph MaskellMay Gods justice be visited upon you.. I always wondered if he was going to revolt at some point, Heim says. I said, No, not that I can think of. I didnt know what he was getting at, says Stacy. I dont think Father Maskells connected to her death in any way., The newspaper ad mailed to Keough alumnae arrived at the Howard County home of Tracy* in the fall of 1993. JEAN HARGEDON WEHNER: He would put a gun to my temple. A private investigator hired by Jennifers attorneys contracted county police and asked to look through the old Cesnik file, but was denied access. Research assistance provided by Baltimore intern Wil Hylton. This intervention, the victims and Netflix series allege, may have led to her death and a massive cover-up of the crime. He spit in my hand. To an accused brother? Your Scrapbook is currently empty. The final cleansing process was for him to penetrate me with his penis, because Jesus worked through him, says Cruz. The crisis contains disturbing truths about the power of human denial. She laughed. Oxygen Insider is your all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more. He then referred to Jennifers memories of abuse outside of school, at a pub to which her uncle had taken her. McHugh is on the board of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation, a national support and advocacy group that helps parents whose children are purportedly misled in therapy into believing they were abused. A couple of months later, Wehner called a follow-up meeting at her attorneys office to share names of alleged abusers she had been remembering. As one deacon told Sipe, I dont see what difference it makes whether I use my hand or somebodys vagina to have an orgasm. This sort of naive, all-or-nothing thinking, when flamed by the loneliness of the celibate life, according to Burkett and Bruni, can leave a priest primed for bad behavior. And he said, Come sit on my lap. I sat on his lap, and he rocked me back and forth until I started getting weird feelings. (Courtesy of Netflix) In November 1969, she went to the bank to cash her $255 paycheck and then made her way to the JENNIFER WORTHAM: We need significant reform, and we can have uniform federal laws to protect children everywhere, because what applies to the Catholic Church also applies to other not-for-profit organizations. Things started coming back to me. Father Richard Woy and attorney Thomas Dame represented the archdiocese. Jennifer and her attorney soon parted ways, while the archdiocese continued to search for corroboration without her help. It was chilling, Mroz told Oxygen.com, recounting her allegations that she was one of the victims of school counselor and chaplain Father A. Joseph Maskell, but not to the extent of some of the other students. Sexual abuse by priests has rooted like a cancer within the body of the American Catholic Church, eluding most public detection until the early 80s. And he said, if your father ever finds out you've been whoring around, he'll do this, but he'll keep bullets in it. This new perspective does not deny the act itself, but reinterprets its meaning as benign or even heroic. One woman is even said to have handed out anti-Maskell fliers in the parking lot. students and teachers at Baltimores Archbishop Keough High School in the 1960s. Judge Caplan, after listening to the experts on both sides, did not believe there was sufficient scientific foundation to support the contention that Jennifer and Tracy had lost and then somehow recovered their memories of abuse. She remembered pain and bleeding. A. Joseph Maskell . Immediately after hearing this little voice, she says, she would briefly pass out. There are no volunteers for this cemetery. Allegedly, the preist then opened a vial of holy water and sprinkled some on her vagina, reciting a blessing in Latin. In their 1993 book A Gospel of Shame: Children, Sexual Abuse, and the Catholic Church, authors Elinor Burkett and Frank Bruni characterize the ascent of celibacybetween the fourth and 12th centuriesas an attempt by leaders of the Western European Church to maintain control of Church property and power, which might otherwise have passed to clergy members offspring. If one more person says something to me that came from you, Im gonna make sure you dont graduate.. One especially perilous aspect of the vocation, according to Richard Sipe, is confession. The email does not appear to be a valid email address. Since The Keepers release, more than 40,000 people have signed a petition asking the Archdiocese to release documents regarding Maskells alleged abuse. As she bent over the body, she claims she heard him say, You see what happens when you say bad things about people., When I first remembered Sister Cathy, says Jennifer, I felt that I had killed her. In 2001, Maskell died from the effects of a stroke at St. Josephs Hospital, according to Inside Baltimore. He was 62. 4. Baltimore County Police Announced This Week That Maskells DNA Does Not Match Evidence From the Crime Scene I never saw him with a girl the whole time we were in school, says Dennis Rogers, outside of his mother.. Escorted back to Holy Cross, his parish in South Baltimore, Maskell was given just hours to pack a bag and leave the rectory. Joseph Francis Maskell, an office-furniture salesman with Lucas Brothers, was known for his short fuse. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. It is a leap of faith that this court cannot make, Caplan concluded. That was her last confession for 20 years. Or even, for therapeutic or other reasons, he might need to recreate that sinas though his priestly presence would somehow transform the act. As far as the authors are concerned, this power play endures. You need a Find a Grave account to continue. Accounts from legal plaintiffs are taken from their court appearances and public documents. She says Maskell and a religious brother would show her itemsa necklace, for examplethat had supposedly belonged to Cesnik. His disappearance from Baltimore was cloaked in secrecy; even fellow priests were denied details. SCOTT MAUCIONE, BYLINE: Jean Hargedon Wehner was just a teenager when Father Joseph Maskell allegedly abused her at a Baltimore high school in the As a student in high school, she went to Maskell for advice on the usual teenage stuff. Decades later, Mroz said she is only now beginning the process of healing from what transpired during those visits. It was part of Maskells prescription for re-establishing her in Gods grace, she says. To use this feature, use a newer browser. In a 2014 statement to Inside Baltimore (which is a website published by Baltimore reporter and Keepers subject Tom Nugent), former Keough student Teresa Lancaster alleged that she approached Magnus for help with Maskell, but he allegedly brushed her off. She ran around her yard. Tracy offered to be a witness, she says. Over a three-year period, she says, she and Maskell had vaginal intercourse four times, including once during which he called her a whore. Other former students, including the original "Jane Doe" in the case, Jean Hargadon Wehner also allegedly suffered abuse by both Maskell and Magnus, allegedly sometimes at the same time, under the guise of healing her soul, according to The Huffington Post. People who you knew, all of a sudden theyre not talking to you. Now a 38-year-old mother of two, the Baltimore woman had only recently remembered these alleged abuses, and contacted the archdiocese in late June in search of an apology and some spiritual help. Romper reached out to the Baltimore Archdiocese for a statement regarding the accusations against Father Maskell and his potential involvement in Cesnik's death. It wasnt a relief that others were harmed, but I feel like it was comforting that I do have other people that I could talk to for support who could understand what I experienced too," Mroz said. He has been accused of molesting dozens of students during that time, and as WJZ investigations have revealed, some of his alleged victims think the abuse relates to the 1969 murder of a nun who also worked at the school, Sister Cathy Cesnik. From here on out, there will be several spoilers for The Keepers, so if youre still planning on watching the series, here is your warning. And for good measure, the attorneys tipped off a Sun reporter about the probe, hoping publicity would scare up witnesses. He served with Father Joseph Maskell, who was the chaplain of the school at this time. Maskell had insisted that in order for her to be completely cleansed of the incestuous sins with her grandfather, it was necessary for her to disrobe, she says. This account already exists, but the email address still needs to be confirmed. What was on trial now was memory itself. when 26-year-old Cesnik taught English and drama, were never recorded as evidence and "inexplicably vanished", announced that they'd exhumed the priest's grave, Maskell's DNA did not match crime scene evidence. cemeteries found in Randallstown, Baltimore County, Maryland, USA will be saved to your photo volunteer list. One priest who admitted to intercourse with a girl saw the act merely as a reserved embrace, because he did not ejaculate or display passion, according to Burkett and Bruni. Joseph Maskell was summoned downtown to Baltimores archdiocesan headquarters. (Though during the years that Jennifer was in high school, some 1,500 students attended Keough.). She claims he quizzed her about her sex life, which, at 14, was nonexistent, and as she tried to answer his questions, she squeezed her eyes tight in the vain hope that he wouldnt see her. You are only allowed to leave one flower per day for any given memorial. Kneeling in the gravel by the railroad ties, he administered last rites and tried to comfort those still alive, including a woman who had been carried from the wreckage without one of her legs. The seminary has to help the seminarian realize that he is not a disembodied or angelic being.. By May 1995, neither the citys criminal investigation of sexual abuselimited by the narrower laws of 1970nor the countrys investigation into the murder of Sister Cesnik had brought any indictments against Maskell. Hard.. If I lose this parish, he told his half-brother Tom, I dont know if Ill be able to handle it.. But the photos were never recorded as evidence and "inexplicably vanished" after being uncovered in the dig, so they cannot be considered evidence or even in existence. HARGEDON WEHNER: It's going to validate survivors to their families and to those loved ones that didn't necessarily know how to believe such a horrible thing. At Keough, Maskell was known by at least two contradictory personae. In August 1994, with Maskell back at the Connecticut facility, the archdiocese waited out the attorneys. In an earlier era, a concerned archbishop might have taken the accused priest aside, chastised him and transferred him discreetly to another diocese. His mother, Helen Maskell, was very keen on her son becoming a priest, recalls childhood friend Bill Heim. After hearing from canon lawyers that his clerical rights had been violated, says his sister Maureen, Maskell demanded a parish assignment. Their abuse was horribly tragic and the Archdiocese remains deeply saddened and regretful that someone representing the Church could have perpetrated such crimes against children, the statement read. The decentralized nature of the nearly 200 dioceses and archdiocese in the United States makes the reporting and prosecution of child sex abuse complicated. The priesthood can provide a dangerous domain for the narcissist, who might be overeager, for example, to embrace his appointed role as the sign of Christs presence in the world. At 14, Maskell went off to St. Charles Seminary in Catonsville, but returned In total, the church has paid out $472,000 in settlements to 16 of Maskells alleged victims, according to the Baltimore Sun. The silver-haired lawyer went on to list six additional male abusers, including the city politician who Jennifer claimed had given a pretend political speech while she was required to perform oral sex on him. Girls pretended to need his counsel so they could get out of class.