Father Garrett Orr
Ordained: 1983
Laicized: 2008
Assignment History:
- 1984 - 1989: St. Joseph's Preparatory (Philadelphia, PA)
- 1989 - 2004: Georgetown Preparatory School (Bethesda, MD)
- 2003 - 2006: Loyola College (Baltimore, MD)
- 2006 - 2009: Baltimore Jesuit Fathers and Brothers Maryland Provincial Curia (Baltimore, MD)
Summary of Abuse Allegations Against Father Garrett Orr:
Father Garrett Orr was a Catholic priest who worked in multiple parishes in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and Washington, DC. Fr. Orr is listed on the Archdiocese of Baltimore's Credibly Accused of Sexual Abuse of Minors list and was listed as credibly accused by the Jesuits in 2018.
In April 2023, Maryland's Attorney General released a report alleging 156 Catholic clergy members sexually abused at least 600 children over six decades. The report lists the names of the abusers, including Father Orr. According to the report, the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) received an allegation in 2003 that Father Garrett Orr sexually abused a 16-year-old boy at Georgetown Prep in 2002. At the time of the incident, the boy told his guidance counselor. The headmaster dismissed the allegations as untrue, and the matter was not reported to the Montgomery County Police Department for seven months.
In 2004, the allegation was investigated by police and the Maryland Jesuits. Father Orr was suspended and barred from having "one-on-one contact with students" at Loyola College, where he had transferred. In 2006, the church found the allegation to be "substantially true."
In 2009, police reopened an investigation after learning of another allegation of abuse against Orr from the late 1980s. A former Prep student told police that Father Orr had sexually abused him over the course of a semester in 1989 when he was 14 years old. On at least five occasions, according to a court transcript, Father Orr fondled the boy's penis and had the boy fondle Orr's penis.
In 2011, Father Orr pled guilty to two counts of a fourth-degree sex offense in Montgomery County Circuit Court and was given a one-year sentence behind bars, with most of the jail time suspended. He was also ordered to serve five years of unsupervised probation and register as a sex offender, according to court records and published reports.
In 2018, Vanity Fair published an extensive article about Georgetown Preparatory School, which included an in-depth analysis of the 2002-2003 abuse by Orr. Specifically, the article described that the victim did not initially report the matter; however, two faculty at the school did advise school leadership of their concerns about Orr's "lack of boundaries with students." Georgetown Preparatory School denied that there was any record of such a report.
Father Orr was laicized in 2008.
Horowitz Law is a law firm representing victims and survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and other clergy in the Archdiocese of Washington. If you need a lawyer because you were sexually abused by a priest in Washington, contact our office today. Although many years have passed, those abused by Catholic clergy in the Archdiocese of Washington now have legal options to recover damages due to a compensation fund created for victims. Call us at 888-283-9922 or send an email to adam@adamhorowitzlaw.com to discuss your options today.