Netflix series on abuse prompts calls for priest's files

BALTIMORE — A Netflix documentary series has prompted calls for the Baltimore Archdiocese to release a dead priest's files.

The Baltimore Sun reported Saturday that the show about the priest's alleged abuse led to more than 11,000 signatures on an online petition. Archdiocese spokesman Sean Caine said state law bars the release of much of the confidential information.

"The Keepers" focuses on the unsolved death of a Catholic nun and abuse at then-Archbishop Keough High School. The priest at the center of the show is A. Joseph Maskell.

He denied abuse allegations and was never charged before his 2001 death. But the archdiocese has since paid $472,000 in settlements to alleged victims.

"The Keepers" explores the theory that nun Cathy Cesnik was killed in 1969 because she knew about Maskell's abuse.