Ordained: 1963
Status: Accused
Died: 11/27/1988
Diocese: Archdiocese of Baltimore MD
In 11/2016, a woman who attended Keough High School received acknowledgment of crimes and financial assistance for counseling from the archdiocese. She claimed that Father Neil Magnus, Keough’s Religious Services Director, and Rev. Joseph Maskell, Keough’s chaplain and counselor, raped her at a CYO picnic in 9/1970 when she was 14 and a new student. Father Neil Magnus arrived in a police car, and after she was given a drink that weakened her, Magnus raped her while Maskell watched.
The woman claimed that Maskell then raped her as well and continued to assault her throughout her high school years. She also alleged that on one occasion, a Baltimore police officer joined Maskell and raped her after paying the priest. Magnus has been accused by at least one other former student, and Maskell by many. Both men have been linked to the unsolved 1969 murder of Sr. Cathy Cesnik, to whom girls had confided abuse. Magnus died on 11/27/1988. Father E. Neil Magnus was included on the archdiocese’s list on 12/14/2018.