One of the saddest documents you’ll ever read

In writing my June 30 Sun column, I found it impossible not to make the connection between the late Frank Gallagher and Deanmichael Harrod. The Catholic Church figures into both men’s stories, in very different ways.

The wrongful death lawsuit filed against the Archdiocese of Baltimore by Gallagher’s two adult children is one of the saddest documents you’ll ever read. Deeply personal. Painful. Wholly tragic.

Not only was Gallagher, a middle-aged lawyer and investment banker, abused by a Catholic seminarian when he was a boy. Not only, say his children, was he so haunted by that trauma that he took dangerous drugs that ultimately killed him. But the lawsuit tells the story of two betrayals — by the Catholic hierarchy and by the law firm his Irish Catholic father founded.

The lawsuit alleges that Church leaders did nothing to help Gallagher after he reported his abuse and that the law firm did nothing to help the Gallagher family after Frank Gallagher Sr.’s sudden death in 1972. For these reasons you could add “infuriating” and/or “outrageous” to the story told in the lawsuit.

I had some contact with Frank Gallagher a few years ago, when he was managing partner of Charlesmead Advisors. I found him to be a smart, thoughtful man with a keen interest in helping disadvantaged people, like Deanmichael Harrod, the main subject of today’s column.

But, according to the lawsuit, Gallagher’s life had started to fall apart when he was in touch with me. Here’s a letter Gallagher wrote to me in April 2015, around the time his drug addiction took hold and his self-destructive behavior caused him to become alienated from his family:

“I wonder if you might help me. I am very interested in doing some sort of volunteer work at the Baltimore City Jail. I read in the paper the other day about a project called Elevation, run by Operation Safe and Sound, but I can’t seem to get anywhere on their website. Do you know who I might get in touch with about that, or do you know of other volunteer opportunities at the Jail?
“Also, if you haven’t heard him speak you should try to see Bryan Stevenson speak at the Advocates for Children and Youth lunch on May 1. He spoke at the Pratt Library a few weeks back, runs the Equal Justice Initiative in the South and represents indigents on Death Row. He is a total rockstar and his book, “Just Mercy,” is electrifying and I strongly suggest that you read it.”

I don’t know if Gallagher ever volunteered at the jail, but I would not be surprised to learn that he had. Even so, he obviously had the intention. And just imagine that: A man coping with a horrible lifelong trauma — and spiraling downward — yet still wantng to help others.