Hartford offers $100 million to survivors of Baltimore Archdiocese sex abuse

BALTIMORE (WBFF) — Survivors of clergy sexual abuse in Maryland said they want more than repeated apologies from the Catholic Church as new developments emerge in the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s ongoing bankruptcy case.

Substantial progress was made Tuesday in mediation between the archdiocese and sex abuse victims in the bankruptcy proceedings, including news that a national insurer is offering several million dollars to local survivors.

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Attorney Jonathan Schochor, who represents survivors and advises the creditors’ counsel, said The Hartford Insurance Company has proposed a huge figure as part of the negotiations.

“The Harford Insurance Company, one of the leading insurance companies in the U.S., has put forward $100 million,” Schochor said.

Schochor said the money would help settle the bankruptcy case, but no one would receive payouts until both sides reach an agreement.

“We need the Archdiocese of Baltimore… and I’m calling upon (William) Lori, who is our archbishop, to step forward, take responsibility, be accountable, and get his assets up to help compensate the 940 plus or minus children who were sexually abused,” Schochor said.

David Lorenz, a Maryland resident and one of the survivors involved, said he has struggled for years with what happened to him.

“At one point in my late 20’s, I wanted to tell my wife, but I didn’t have the words or the ability to tell her,” Lorenz said.

Lorenz said he was 16-years-old at an all-boys high school in Kentucky when a priest — who had at least 50 accusations against him — targeted him.

“He was moving out of the area. We had going away parties for him. I stayed overnight at his residence as I had done at least a couple of times before that…In the morning he came in and raped me,” Lorenz said.

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Lorenz said the priest left the next day.

“Sometimes I look at that and it’s hard to say, it’s to say I was lucky, but in some sense I was because it didn’t continue,” he said.

Lorenz and other survivors are watching the bankruptcy case closely. The Archdiocese of Baltimore filed for bankruptcy in September 2023, just before the Maryland Child Victims Act became law. The legislation ended the statute of limitations for abuse survivors, allowing people to come forward decades after they were abused and sue the institutions that employed their abusers.

Lorenz called the latest developments a step closer to resolution, but said the process is taking too long.

“This is taking way too long. The diocese keeps saying… they will do whatever they can for survivors, but they’re dragging their feet. This is taking way too long. The diocese keeps saying… they will do whatever they can for survivors, but they’re dragging their feet. We’ve had survivors who had filed a claim against the diocese and they have since passed away,” Lorenz said.

The survivors committee is hopeful other insurance companies — about 10, according to those involved — will follow The Hartford’s lead with additional settlement money. The survivors committee has asked for nearly $890 million.

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