An Episcopal priest in the Diocese of Maryland has resigned his cure after being named in a report by the Maryland attorney general’s office into child sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore.
On 31 July 2023 the Rev. Thomas Hudson resigned as priest in charge of St George’s Episcopal Church in Mount Savage, Maryland. On 21 May 2023 Fr Savage wrote to his congregation saying the Rt. Rev. Eugene Sutton, Bishop of Maryland, had directed him to take a leave of absence pending an investigation into an unstated personal matter.
On 25 May 2023, Bishop Sutton issued a pastoral message to the diocese saying: “On April 24, I was notified by the Rev. Thomas Hudson, rector of St. George’s, Mt. Savage, that he had learned his name was listed in a redacted version of an investigative report from the Maryland Attorney General’s Office detailing abuse allegations in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Thomas further related that there would be a hearing in July but no other specifics were available. At this time I provided a pastoral direction for him to go on leave out of concern for him, his family, and the congregation until we could learn more. It was only in the Baltimore Sun article released on May 24 that diocesan leadership learned specific details of the alleged incident.
“As is the process for our diocese, a full background report on Hudson was conducted. No charges were found and no red flags were raised. No contact has ever been made to our diocese from the Archdiocese of Baltimore or from any alleged victim regarding this matter. We learned through the May 24 article that specific information regarding an incident that occurred nearly 50 years ago was uncovered in a 2009 investigation and that Hudson’s name was redacted by order of a Baltimore County Court. The Rev. Thomas Hudson has served faithfully as a priest in the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland since his ordination in 2008.”
The Sun reported that Hudson in the 1970s was a public high school teacher and active at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Frederick, Maryland. According to the Sun, he was accused in the attorney general’s report of inviting the unnamed 15-year-old boy camping and giving him alcohol. When Hudson allegedly tried to take off the boy’s
pants, the boy resisted and left the tent.”
The Catholic archdiocese unearthed Fr. Hudson’s alleged misconduct when it was conducting a separate investigation into Fr. Thomas Bevan, who was pastor of St. John Catholic Church in 1976. Bevan pleaded guilty to felony child abuse in Frederick County in 2010.
Fr. Hudson has not been charged with a crime.
