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MORE THAN 270 CATHOLIC clerics abused 944 children within the Catholic dioceses of Fall River, Springfield, and Worcester over several decades, according to a report released by Attorney General Andrea Campbell, who also revealed Wednesday that she is a survivor of childhood sexual abuse.
The report’s release was accompanied by a call from the attorney general for the Legislature to strengthen remedies for survivors of childhood sexual abuse.
“Behind every one of those numbers is a child whose safety was violated, a family that was changed forever, and a survivor who carried the trauma of that abuse for years and, in many cases, decades. They continue to carry this trauma even today,” Campbell said during a press conference Wednesday. “This report provides something that did not previously exist: For the first time, a full public accounting of the abuse, the misconduct, and the institutional failures at these three dioceses that allowed that abuse to happen, and in some cases allowed it to continue for years.”
The 203-page report details decades “of failures by diocesan leaders to adequately respond to allegations of child sexual abuse and protect children from further harm,” Campbell said in a statement. This includes times when church leaders did not sufficiently respond to allegations and signals of abuse; the transferring of “accused and offending” priests to other parishes without sharing why they were transferred; allowing priests to return to ministry after treatment but without enough supervision; failing to enforce restrictions; hiding reasons priests were removed from ministry; and failing to consistently report allegations of abuse to law enforcement.
Campbell said she assessed whether to bring criminal charges based on the report’s findings, but that was not possible under current state law. That’s because some of the conduct was not considered a crime under state law at the time it occurred and the law can’t be applied retroactively. In other instances, the statute of limitations had expired.
During the investigation, Campbell said three cases were referred to their respective district attorneys offices, including one to the Worcester County District Attorney’s office which led to the filing of criminal charges in district court. Campbell added the investigation involved a grand jury and her office spent years ensuring it could release the full report without violating the secrecy of grand jury proceedings.
Campbell said her office spoke with survivors who feared their parents would believe a priest over them, some waited decades to share their experiences and some waited until their parents died. And, when allegations were made, Campbell said, the diocese “too often, found ways to explain away the conduct.”
“Serious abuse was characterized as loneliness, poor judgment, boundary violations, or personal difficulties facing the priest. The priest was treated as someone who needed sympathy or help. The child was too often treated as someone whose story needed to be questioned,” Campbell said. “And because abuse was hidden, minimized, and never properly documented, many survivors believed they were the only child their abuser had harmed. These failures did not simply leave children unprotected; they enabled accused and offending priests to maintain access to children.”
Representatives for the diocese of Springfield did not immediately respond to the News Service’s inquiries on the report.
Ray Delisle, chancellor and director of communications for the Worcester diocese, referred to a 2022 quote from Bishop Robert McManus in the diocese’s own childhood sexual abuse report.
“As your bishop, I am profoundly sorry for the abuse of minors by priests within this diocese since its founding in March 1950. I continue in my commitment with the help of many collaborators to do everything we can to ensure such abuse does not happen again,” McManus said in the quote Delisle provided.
Delisle also said the diocese welcomes the attorney general’s report because there were no charges filed and any complaints since 2002 have been forwarded to the local district attorney’s office. Also, Delisle said the report “validates” the diocese’s own report, which he said showed a majority of cases occurred between 40 and 60 years ago. The report also backs up the diocese’s implementation of a 2002 Charter for the Protection of Children and Minors, which Delisle said was adopted by dioceses across the country. Since then, the diocese has passed annual independent compliance audits, he said.
“We will study the AG’s report to identify any additional improvements that can be made to respond to victims of past abuse and to continue to strengthen efforts to keep children safe,” he said in a statement.
Bishop Edgar da Cunha of the Fall River diocese said in a statement, “I am filled with sorrow over the historical account of incidents and practices reflecting the tragic failings to protect our most vulnerable, especially for the innocent victims who suffered, and continue to suffer, in so many ways.”
“To all survivors of child sexual abuse, I am deeply sorry. We as a Church failed you when you were most vulnerable. As a Diocese we are firmly resolved to continue to do all we can to help you heal, to make certain we are accountable, and to protect our children so that no other child suffers as you have,” da Cunha said.
Da Cunha outlined steps the diocese has taken to improve protections for children including publishing a list of clergy who are facing a “credible allegation” of abusing a minor, creating a policy with instructions for staff who receive allegations of abuse to follow, mandated training for staff on how to recognize signs of abuse and what to do if they believe it has occurred, and cooperating with law enforcement to find and prosecute abuse as well as conducting investigations and removing clergy members who have been “credibly accused.”
“We are carefully assessing the AGO report and will continue to take the steps necessary to foster a culture of protection that we have worked to build over the past decade,” he said.
During the press conference, Campbell also shared that she is “a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, and it’s the first time I’ve ever shared that publicly.”
“And for me to stand up here, it would be absolutely one, inauthentic, and inauthentic to my faith, to not share that I am a survivor of childhood abuse, not at the hands of the church, but at the hands of a relative, and that frankly, my faith has allowed me to overcome that,” she said. “And I feel really blessed to have a platform that I never take for granted that the people of this incredible state gave me to bring about the findings of this investigation. And most importantly, to offer additional compassion for survivors in this moment in time who may want to come forward.”
Campbell’s office said its investigation led to several legislative recommendations for improving survivors’ access to justice. These include eliminating the $20,000 charitable immunity cap for civil child sexual abuse claims; getting rid of the statute of limitations for civil claims; and establishing an indefinite period where survivors whose claims fall outside the current statute of limitations can revive those claims.
State Sen. Joan Lovely and Rep. John Lawn have pushed for legislation that enacts similar provisions.
Lovely is backing a bill (H 4539) that eliminates the statute of limitations, gives survivors two years to revive claims that are prohibited under the current statute of limitations and removes the $20,000 cap for damages survivors can get from a charitable organization. The bill is a Joint Committee on the Judiciary redraft of several bills that has been pending in the House Ways and Means Committee since September 2025. Similar legislation to eliminate the statute of limitations cleared the Senate at the end of last session and died in the House. Lawn sponsored an amendment with very similar provisions that was included in primary care legislation ( H 5630 / S 3141 ) a conference committee is currently negotiating.
“If we care about the report, the findings, and the survivors, it is our responsibility as leaders who hold the power – they do not – to pass legislation that would allow for them to truly get justice and accountability,” Campbell said. “And allow folks who have come forward the opportunity to seek accountability, and most importantly, it would incentivize, I think, more people to come forward if they know that we in leadership, we in government, hear them, value them. This is the time.”
Similar bills have failed on Beacon Hill. Asked if there’s anything different about the proposal this session, Lawn said, “I just think there’s an urgency.” He added the Catholic church has consistently opposed removing the statute of limitations.
Also asked if this year will be any different for the proposals, Lovely said the legislation has moved “further than it ever has” by reaching a conference committee. On the status of her legislation, Lovely noted Lawn’s proposal is in a “very active moment.”
“We share this responsibility to be able to make – to get this to happen. So I’m so happy to support Representative Lawn and his efforts to put that language into the primary care bill, and that’s what we’re looking at,” she said.
Worcester is the only diocese in the state to not publicly release a list of accused clergy members. Campbell said her office has asked the Worcester diocese to release the list and they refused.
“What’s happening here is that the secrecy that sparked this conflagration back in 2002 is still happening, and until it stops happening, we’re not there. We’re not where we need to be,” said Terence McKiernan founder and co-director of BishopAccountability.org, referencing the exposure of childhood sexual abuse within the Boston Archdiocese by The Boston Globe‘s Spotlight team in 2002.
Delisle said there is “no other precedent for the publishing of lists of the accused in society – even of those accused in other positions of trust such as medicine, education or law enforcement.” He added The Vatican Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has said lists shouldn’t be published when a clergy member has not been found guilty of a crime.
“Such lists can be a cause for deep division among many members of our Church who see this as publicly branding as guilty those who never have been charged by law enforcement or had a chance to defend themselves in a court of law, given the fact that many decades have passed between the alleged abuse and the reporting of that abuse, or because they were already deceased when the allegation was first received. That does not stop the diocese from responding to the victims,” Delisle said.
Campbell also noted the full scope of the issue is unclear because of a lack of records and the fact that survivors don’t come forward until decades after their abuse.
Campbell said her office is open to receiving claims from anyone who has faced abuse and that “we will take their allegations seriously.”
The report comes almost 25 years after the Boston Globe reported widespread child sexual abuse within the Boston Archdiocese in 2002. In 2003, then-Attorney General Thomas Reilly also released a scathing report finding extensive abuse within the Boston diocese. Campbell said the latest report shows a need for a culture change “at the highest levels.”
Courtesy of Commonwealth Beacon
