‘Accept responsibility': Survivor behind lawsuit against Washington Archdiocese wants closure

A Maryland man behind a class action lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Washington said the assault he endured as a child by a priest caused decades of substance abuse, shame and depression.

“From age 15 until I was 40 … I used alcohol to cope with the pain, but all that did was turn me into an alcoholic," said the man identified in court filings under the pseudonym “Richard Roe.”

Roe is one of three men named in the filing, which asserts the archdiocese did little to prevent and protect them from abuse when they were children in the church.

He sat down with the News4 I-Team after the Archdiocese of Washington filed a legal challenge last month to the Child Victims Act – the Maryland law allowing child abuse survivors like him to bring forward civil claims regardless of when the abuse happened – in response to Roe’s class action lawsuit. The men filed the suit in Prince George’s County, where the archdiocese is headquartered.

In the filing, Roe said he was assaulted by an unnamed priest at St. Jerome Parish in Hyattsville in the 1960s. In the complaint, Roe alleges that, around age 10, he was lured to the priest's bedroom and molested.

“I couldn't tell nobody. My mother was a devout Catholic. Who was she going to believe? Who was anybody going to believe?” Roe said through tears.

The other two men in the complaint describe ongoing sexual assaults and rape at the hands of priests in Montgomery County, Maryland, in the 1960s and 1990s. One of the priests accused in the filing, named Robert J. Petrella, was later convicted of sexually abusing multiple children.

“We have to right this wrong,” said Baltimore attorney Jonathan Schochor, who represents the men.

In the complaint, Schochor laid out the Catholic Church's long history of admonishing priests for abuse of children -- an indication, he said, the church has known of the problem for hundreds of years.

“Once people gain that perspective and they understand the course of conduct by the priesthood and the archdiocese, they can better understand how important it is to back Mr. Roe and his fellow survivors to get what they deserve,” he said.

Schochor accuses the Washington Archdiocese of aiding and abetting abusers.

“They hid it. They concealed it. And then they would move" the offenders, he said. “They played a shell game.”

Schochor said it's not lost on the survivors he represents that the Baltimore Archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in September in anticipation of civil suits expected under the Child Victims Act, only for the Washington Archdiocese to now try to overturn the law.

“Their goals are twofold. One, shield their assets and not compensate these folks for admitted sexual abuse. And two, somehow circumvent the law," Schochor said.

The archdiocese declined an interview request with the I-Team but, in a statement, it defended its challenge to the Child Victims Act, saying, "The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington is asserting its legal defenses in the cases filed against it."

It continued that it remains "committed, however. .. to our longstanding efforts to bring healing to survivors through pastoral care and other forms of assistance..."

The I-Team reached out to St. Jerome's Parish for this story but did not receive a response.

In a statement, Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown’s office said it’s prepared to defend any challenges to the Child Victims Act. Earlier this year, the AG’s office announced it’s investigating claims of abuse against priests who worked for the Washington Archdiocese, just as it did in the Baltimore Archdiocese. According to a spokeswoman, the investigation is ongoing.

Under Maryland's Child Victims Act, survivors are eligible to receive up to $1.5 million in damages in cases against private institutions like the church. Roe said he’s also looking for an apology.

“Give me that bit of closure. Accept responsibility. You all knew about it,” he said. “That's what I want. I want that apology.”

This story was reported by Tracee Wilkins, produced by Katie Leslie and edited by Jeff Piper.