State report: more than 270 clerics abused nearly 1,000 children in Massachusetts dioceses
The attorney general's 203-page report, released Wednesday, is the first comprehensive look at child sexual abuse in the Worcester, Fall River, and Springfield dioceses.
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell released a 203-page report Wednesday that found evidence that more than 270 Catholic clerics abused nearly 1,000 children across three Massachusetts dioceses.
The report covers the dioceses of Worcester, Fall River, and Springfield. Past investigations have focused on the Archdiocese of Boston. This is the first time the state has examined the other three dioceses in full.
In the Worcester Diocese alone, the report says 90 accused clergy abused 216 children.
The investigation began in 2019, when then-Attorney General Maura Healey opened the case. Campbell inherited it when she took office in 2023. Her office reviewed more than 300,000 pages of records and interviewed more than 100 people, including survivors, advocates, attorneys, clergy, and church officials.
Most of the known abuse, and the efforts by church officials to conceal it, happened before 2002, the report says.
The report says the church made reforms after the abuse scandal drew national attention in the early 2000s. But investigators found that written policies were not followed consistently, and that exceptions weakened the protections meant to keep children safe.
The report notes that the Worcester Diocese remains the only diocese in Massachusetts without a publicly accessible list of credibly accused clergy.
Campbell's office called on the Legislature to act. It asked lawmakers to end the $20,000 charitable immunity cap on civil claims for child sexual abuse, eliminate the statute of limitations for those claims, and create an indefinite look-back period for survivors whose claims have already expired.
The dioceses have said in the past that they cooperate with law enforcement. A Worcester Diocese spokesperson has said the diocese reports every allegation of abuse of a minor to the district attorney for the Middle District. The Springfield Diocese has said it investigates only after law enforcement, under a memorandum of understanding with district attorneys in western Massachusetts.
The report was years in the making. Campbell said in 2024 that her office needed court approval to make its findings public. Survivors and advocates had asked for the report for years. Campbell was scheduled to discuss the report at a news conference in Boston on Wednesday morning.
