New complaints filed this week allege that over the course of decades, staff at Calvert Hall College High School in Towson “repeatedly ignored credible reports of sexual abuse,” allowed known abusers to have continued access to students and failed to report misconduct to authorities.

The Calvert Hall Lawyers Working Group, a coalition of attorneys representing survivors of alleged sexual abuse at the private, all-boys Catholic school, said the survivors coming forward Monday “are breaking decades of silence” and “deserve a full, fair chance at justice.”

The group also called on Gov. Wes Moore to veto changes to the Child Victims Act, which would sharply limit how much money survivors of abuse can win in court.

As of Monday afternoon, though, a spokesperson for Moore said the governor intends to sign off on the changes.

Jonathan Schochor, an attorney representing survivors of alleged abuse at Calvert Hall, said he expects to see “thousands” of childhood sex abuse cases filed in the weeks before the changes to the Child Victims Act take effect.

He said the May 31 deadline for changes taking effect means that survivors no longer have “the luxury of time.”

The two complaints from the working group outline alleged abuse from multiple men — clergy and staff at Calvert Hall from the 1970s to 1990 — and request compensatory damages.

In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for Calvert Hall said the school is “deeply saddened” by abuse in the past.

“Their suffering and pain are real and remains with them today,” wrote Danielle Hladky, the school’s director of marketing and communications.

Hladky said the school is aware of documented cases of past abuse, “dating back over 50 years,” but rejected any characterization that the current organization is unresponsive. Calvert Hall takes all allegations seriously and has “complied fully” with requests from legal authorities, she said.

Christopher “Kit” Bateman, one of at least a dozen survivors, said he’s not looking to “destroy” Calvert Hall, but to help the institution. He said it was one of the greatest moments of his life to be accepted there.

In his civil complaint, Bateman said he was groped by Father Laurence Brett during confession in 1973. He referred to it as a day that changed his life and that “destroyed” his faith.

“This is an extremely painful day, because from the moment of my earliest memories of childhood, the only place I was going to school, like everyone else from the last 100 years in my family, the males, was Calvert Hall,” Bateman said. “It was my dream.”

Bateman said he was speaking out Monday because he wanted to see “repentance, compassion, sorrow [and] remorse” from the church and other institutions.

That was his “main reason for being here today,” Bateman said. “There needs to be some accountability.”

The allegations

In a second complaint, five named men and nine “John Does” bring allegations against five Calvert Hall employees and refer to abuse from others.

The men said they were abused between 1969 and 1990, in the school, on trips and in private homes near the school. The named abusers in the complaint are: Brett, who is also named in Bateman’s complaint; Father Francis “Father Fran” LeFevre; Father Jerome “Father Jeff” Toohey; Brother Geoffrey Xavier Langan and a science teacher at the school.

Langan died in 1985. Brett died in 2010.

Toohey pleaded guilty to child abuse after a 2004 complaint and is believed to live in Baltimore. LeFevre is believed to live in New Jersey.

Toohey and LeFevre could not immediately be reached for comment.

The complaint does not say whether the science teacher is still alive. The Banner was unable to contact the teacher as of Monday.

Brett, LeFevre, Toohey and Langan are all named in the attorney general’s 2023 report on sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

Brett’s abuse, according to the complaint, was “known to multiple bishops, archbishops, and dioceses ... even before his arrival at Calvert Hall” in 1969. He had abused boys in Connecticut, California and New Mexico, all of which was reported to leaders of the church in those states, the complaint alleges.

Brett allegedly “cultivated and groomed a group of student followers” at Calvert Hall who were called “Brett’s Mavericks,” according to the complaint.

LeFevre held positions at several churches with the archdiocese and victimized grade-school-aged altar boys, according to the complaint. The complaint said LeFevre sought out a chaplaincy at Calvert Hall so he could allegedly follow and continue to abuse “some of the same boys he had already been abusing for many years.”

Toohey had a private residence “across the street” from Calvert Hall and was openly “touchy feely” with students, according to the allegations. He was warned to “be careful of touching students,” the complaint states, but was allowed to continue serving as a chaplain after two students complained in 1990.

Langan was known as “Brother Squeeze-ums” in the Calvert Hall community because of his “prevalent and accepted” touching of students, the complaint says. In 1967, a teacher who would eventually become principal at Calvert Hall “walked in on [Langan] abusing a student” but failed to stop the abuse or report it, according to the complaint.

The science teacher abused children in the science lab, according to the complaint. In 1982 or 1983, a student complained he was “molested” by the teacher — and the only action the principal took was removing that student from his class, the complaint alleges.

A spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Baltimore said Calvert Hall was not an archdiocesan Catholic school and declined to comment further.

The archdiocese is mentioned in the complaints filed against Calvert Hall, but is not a defendant in either.

Steve Kelly, another attorney in the working group, said the group’s clients are not seeking to undermine Calvert Hall but to strengthen the institution.

“That means putting the entire problem out there, taking this dark piece and shining a light on it. And the individuals must be held accountable. In order to do that, they have to make restitution to their victims,” Kelly said. “They have to acknowledge what they’ve done.”

Changes to limit Child Victims Act

Legislators began working to change the Child Victims Act — passed just two years ago — as it became increasingly clear that Maryland could face billions of dollars in liability stemming from Child Victims Act lawsuits.

“But this isn’t about budget math,” said Robert Jenner, one of the attorneys in the coalition. “This is about moral clarity. This is about a promise that the state of Maryland made and is now poised to break.”

In a statement, a spokesperson for Moore said the governor intends to sign the legislation.

“Governor Moore acknowledges the trauma survivors of child sexual assault have endured and the difficult and unprecedented circumstances surrounding this legislation,” wrote Carter Elliott, Moore’s press secretary. “The General Assembly has carefully crafted legislation that will continue to allow the survivors to seek justice while preserving the long-term fiscal stability of the State.”

With changes to the law limiting how much survivors can be awarded after May 31, Schochor said there will be a flood of cases attempting to beat that new deadline.

Schochor, who was not part of the working group, said he expects the changes to the Child Victims Act to be appealed.

Banner reporters Madeleine O’Neill and Pamela Wood contributed to this report.