Victims of sexual and physical abuse by priests and staff members at the Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore are preparing to bring hundreds of cases against the Church this fall.

Lawyers are gearing up as Maryland is set to abolish the statute of limitations on civil suits for sex crimes on Oct. 1 after the General Assembly passed a bill getting rid of the limits in this year’s session.

Billboards, Instagram advertisements and TV commercials are all reaching out to people who may have been impacted by the abuse and are interested in filing suits.

The cases stem from a Maryland Attorney General’s report released in April that implicated 156 priests in the abuse of more than 600 children.

However, experts and advocates say those people who came forward are just a drop in the bucket compared to the total number of people who were abused and could seek damages from the Church.

“They've suffered with these demons that were no fault of their own,” said Ben Crump, a civil rights lawyer who led George Floyd’s legal team and is representing some of the survivors, during a Tuesday press conference outside the Baltimore Basilica. “I mean these were children when they were betrayed.”

Former Maryland State Senator Timothy Ferguson was one of those victims.

When Ferguson was a young teenager, a priest took him fishing, got him drunk and abused him.

“I stayed awake all night, and couldn't believe what had happened,” he said. “I went many years, many decades without telling anybody. It affects us all.”

Some fallout has already begun from the AG report. Monsignor Richard Woy stepped down from his board of directors positions at the University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center.

The Catholic High School of Baltimore stripped Sister Marie Francis Yocum’s name from its auditorium after she was named in the report.