It represents the first Roman Catholic seminary founded in this country more than two centuries ago, but now, St. Mary’s Seminary has emerged as the latest institution to draw legal action for allegations of child sex abuse.
Tom Finnerty’s family sent him there back in the Seventies for religious tutoring where a seminarian named John Banko allegedly exploited him.
“It happened at a very young age,” said Finnerty, “I was six years old in first grade and it went on for years.”
Whether it was outside in St. Mary’s parking lot or inside his private quarters, the alleged abuse ramped up over time with Banko plying Finnerty with alcohol and eventually even transmitting a sexual disease.
“This is a seminary. This is where they taught people how to be compassionate to people that needed it, cause that was their job,” said Finnerty, “and they did nothing to protect me. They took advantage of the people they were supposed to serve.”
With the Archdiocese of Baltimore already in bankruptcy, the state’s highest court is scheduled to take up the Child Victims Act within the next month.
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