Father Marion Helowicz
Archdiocese of Baltimore
Ordained: 1974
Laicized: 2017
Assignment History:
- 1973-1974: St. Mark’s Church (Catonsville, MD)
- 1974-1980: St. Michael’s Parish (Frostburg, MD) and Bishop Walsh High School (Cumberland, MD)
- 1980-1981: St. John the Evangelist (Severna Park, MD)
- 1981-1984: St. Stephen’s Parish of Bradshaw (Baltimore, MD)
- 1984-1988: St. Mary’s Parish (Cumberland, MD)
Summary of Sexual Abuse Allegations Against Father Marion Helowicz:
Fr. Marion Helowicz was ordained a Catholic priest and worked in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. In 2002, Fr. Helowicz was listed on the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s Credibly Accused of Sexual Abuse of Minors list. 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 Marion Francis Helowicz.
According to the Attorney General’s report, Helowicz was accused of sexually abusing multiple people in the early 1980s. In 1988, an individual called the Baltimore County Police Department and reported being sexually abused by Helowicz beginning in approximately 1981, when he was 16 years old, and continuing until 1984. The victim reported that the abuse often occurred at St. Stephen’s Church in Baltimore, Maryland, where Helowicz was assigned and where the victim and his family were parishioners. The abuse consisted of genital fondling, masturbation, digital penetration, and oral rape, which often occurred several times a week. The report also noted that the victim said he “was contacted a number of times by ‘unidentified’ persons from the Archdiocese who tried to obtain his silence with assurances that Reverend Helowicz was in treatment.”
In March of 1988, the Archdiocese was contacted by the Baltimore County Police Department to notify them of the victim’s report of sexual abuse by Helowicz. When contacted, Helowicz admitted to the abuse but assured everyone it was the only person with whom he had engaged in such activity. Just a few days later, Helowicz had admitted to abusing a second boy. Helowicz’s faculties were removed, and he was told to leave St. Mary’s and was sent to an inpatient treatment program at the House of Affirmation Therapeutic Center for Clergy and Religious in Missouri for a “sex addiction.”
The second victim was not reported to the authorities.
In October 1988, Helowicz was indicted in the Baltimore County Circuit Court on a single charge of “perverted sexual practice, a fourth-degree sex offense,” “involving a juvenile boy from July 1982 to early 1985.” Helowicz pled guilty to committing fellatio on the minor victim between July 4, 1982, and February 27, 1984. The statement of facts supporting the plea included information about the victim seeking support and guidance from Helowicz, his priest because the victim was struggling with emotional difficulties. Helowicz was sentenced, placed on probation, and ordered 200 hours of community service.
In February 1990, the archdiocese entered into a confidential settlement agreement with the victim. In April 1990, an additional victim reported that he was abused by Helowicz at St. Stephen’s from 1982 through 1984 when the victim was around 14 or 15 years old. This was the boy Helowicz previously admitted to sexually abusing when he was confronted by the Archdiocese after the report of abuse by the initial victim in 1988. The victim reported that the abuse occurred in the rectory and consisted of oral rape and genital fondling. The Archdiocese did not report this abuse to the authorities until July 2, 2002.
In March 1993, an additional victim contacted the archdiocese to report that he had been sexually abused by Helowicz when he was in 8th grade at St. John the Evangelist Parish in Severna Park. This, again, was not reported to the police until July 2, 2002. Helowicz was laicized in 2017. Within the petition for laicization, it is noted that Helowicz had been arrested in 1984 for soliciting a male police officer, but those charges were dropped since he went to treatment.
Horowitz Law is a law firm representing victims and survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and other clergy in the Archdiocese of Baltimore in Maryland. If you need a lawyer because you were sexually abused by a priest in Maryland, contact our office today. Our lawyers have decades of experience representing survivors of clergy sexual abuse nationwide. We can help. Contact us at 888-283-9922 or [email protected] to discuss your options today.