In 1972, a letter was sent to Mount Saint Mary’s Seminary regarding Father Michael Barnes, mentioning concerns about his behavior with a teenage boy, but no action was taken. In 1983, a memorandum from Father Wayne Funk described his inappropriate relationship with a teenage boy, citing excessive spending on him despite Barnes’s financial problems. However, sexual abuse was not the focus of these concerns.
Following counseling and a leave of absence, Barnes was appointed to St. Mary in Cumberland in 1988 but resigned following allegations of sexual assault and engaging in inappropriate activities with boys. Though the Archdiocese acknowledged Barnes’s sexual orientation, they denied knowledge of abuse. In 2008, a survivor reported that Barnes sexually abused him from 1977 to 1982 while the victim was a student at St. Clare in 1976/77. Barnes was convicted and sentenced to two years’ incarceration in 2010. Barnes died on May 20, 2017.
| Date | Position (If Available) | Church/Organization | Location |
| 1970-1974 | Seminarian | St. Paul Parish | Ellicott City, MD |
| 1974-1976 | Deacon, then Priest | St Michael-Overlea | Baltimore, MD |
| 1976-1982 | Associate Pastor, then Pastor | St Clare Parish and School | Essex, MD |
| 1982-1983 | Priest in residence/ Associate / Education Leave | St. Thomas More | Baltimore, MD |
| 1985-1986 | — | St Pius X, Rodgers Forge | Towson, MD |
| 1988 | Chaplain | Johns Hopkins Hospital | Baltimore, MD |
| 1988 | Associate Pastor | St Mary | Cumberland, MD |
| 2001-2009 | Lay Employee | St. Raphael | Rockville, MD |
