Order: SSJ
Ordained: 1968
Status: Convicted
Diocese: Archdiocese of Baltimore MD
Father Brian Cox was ordained for the Josephites in 1968 and later joined the Baltimore Archdiocese in 1981. He served as a Parish priest and chaplain at Archbishop Keough High School from 1975-1978. In 1994, he admitted to a church secretary that he touched the genitals of a 13-year-old boy.
Despite the secretary informing others in authority, no action was taken. In 1995, a complaint was made to the Archdiocese about sexual abuse of a 16-year-old boy in 1981. Father Brian Cox admitted only to “sexual talk” with the boy and making a sexual suggestion to another boy, all occurring during 1979-1985. He was placed on permanent leave without privileges and sent to St. Louis for treatment.
Although the Archdiocese recommended he stay there to avoid charges, Father Brian Cox returned to Maryland. In 2002, he was reported to have abused a fifth-grade altar boy over six months in 1980. He was later arrested and charged with the abuse of two boys, one of whom had gone to the Archdiocese in 1984 to no avail. Cox pleaded guilty, was sentenced to 15 months in jail and 5 years probation, and served 9 months.
He was included on the Archdiocese’s list in 2002, laicized in 2003, and registered as a sex offender. In 2017, Cox was reported to have abused an altar boy, age 10 or 11, in 1987-1988. He said he told a Church official sometime between 1985-1990 about his “struggles” with pedophilia, whose response was “You’re a fine priest. Don’t worry about it.” Cox was also named in the 4/5/2023 MD Attorney General’s Report.