BALTIMORE — When Dontee Stokes first alleged nine years ago that his parish priest had sexually molested him, the church rallied around its popular clergyman. Yellow ribbons sprouted outside St. Edward Roman Catholic Church, where congregants asserted the innocence of Father Maurice Blackwell.
But Wednesday, as Blackwell lay wounded in a hospital bed and his now 26-year-old accuser faced a charge of attempted murder, the church was locked up tight. Its new pastor took no calls.
Attitudes have shifted as sex abuse by clergy, a crime few could fathom a decade ago, now seems terribly commonplace. This time, violence has marked one case of alleged abuse, a tragedy played out in a struggling neighborhood where a priest and a young man lived for years, each with their mothers, two blocks apart.
"We live every day with the fear that something like this may happen," said David Clohessy, director of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, a Chicago-based support group. "There is so much pent-up pain that just now is finally beginning to surface."
It boiled up on the 700 block of Reservoir Street on Monday night, when Stokes allegedly stuffed into a duffel bag a .357 Magnum revolver that few could believe such a peaceful man would own.
Blackwell, 56, was standing outside his row house when he was shot three times, allegedly by Stokes.
The priest suffered wounds to his hand and hip.
For some it was hard to figure why Stokes--a quiet barber who read the Bible and had no criminal record--would have sought revenge so long after the alleged crime was committed.
But others thought that was no mystery at all.
He was 17 when he told a therapist that his pastor had fondled him over a three-year period during Bible study sessions. Authorities investigated. Stokes never wavered from his account, taking two polygraph tests and passing them both.
But Blackwell denied the accusations and cooperated with police, insisting: "I don't have anything to hide."
The claim was classified as "inappropriate touching," a fourth-degree misdemeanor with no witnesses. The state attorney's office declined to file charges.
But an independent review board summoned by the church thought otherwise, finding the young Stokes "credible and consistent."
