Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell on Wednesday released a report on child sexual abuse in the Catholic dioceses of Fall River, Springfield and Worcester. Her office also said the investigation produced no new indictments. According to the office, that is not because nothing was found: it points to legal limits on prosecution, and notes that many of the people identified have died.
What the report found
The attorney general’s office says its investigation found evidence that “more than 270 Catholic clerics abused nearly 1,000 children over the course of a century” in the three dioceses. News reports give exact counts: the State House News Service reported 944 children, and the Fall River Reporter’s headline cited 275 accused clergy.
The investigation began in 2019. The office says it reviewed more than 300,000 pages of records and interviewed more than 100 people. The report runs 203 pages, according to the State House News Service.
What the dioceses did, according to the attorney general
The office says it found instances in which diocesan leaders failed to act on allegations and warning signs, transferred accused priests to other parishes without disclosing the reasons, returned priests to ministry after treatment without adequate supervision, failed to enforce restrictions, concealed why priests were removed from ministry, and failed to consistently report allegations to law enforcement.
The release also credits the dioceses with changes since 2002, including offices for child protection and victim assistance, safe-environment training and background checks. But it found that “written policies were not consistently followed.” It adds that Worcester remains the only Massachusetts diocese without a publicly accessible list of credibly accused clergy.
Why there are no new indictments
The office says it examined whether prosecution was still possible. It points to several obstacles. Some conduct “was not a crime under Massachusetts law at the time it occurred and cannot be prosecuted retroactively”; the release points, for example, to 2002 changes that criminalized reckless endangerment of a child and broadened mandatory reporting. In other cases, the statute of limitations had expired. The release adds that many of the people identified in the report are dead.
During the investigation, three cases were referred to district attorneys. One, sent to the Worcester County District Attorney’s Office, led to criminal charges in District Court. The office’s summary of the report says the investigation “identified illegal conduct” that falls outside those limits. Campbell’s message says the limits “do not diminish the seriousness” of what the investigation documented.
What the attorney general wants changed
Campbell is asking the Legislature to pass legislation that would make three changes to civil law. They would eliminate the $20,000 charitable immunity cap for child sexual abuse claims, which her message says has been “unchanged since 1971.” They would eliminate the statute of limitations for such civil claims. And they would create an indefinite lookback period, giving survivors whose claims have already expired a chance to bring them.
Her message argues that civil liability can address systemic failures and give survivors remedies when criminal prosecution is closed off.
Of the dioceses, the office asks for trauma-informed responses to allegations, consistent and independent investigation, enforcement of restrictions on accused priests, public information about credibly accused clergy, and stronger oversight.
How the dioceses responded
Fall River Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha said in a statement: “To all survivors of child sexual abuse, I am deeply sorry. We as a Church failed you when you were most vulnerable.” He said the diocese cooperated fully, providing more than 80,000 pages of documents.
Ray Delisle, chancellor and communications director of the Worcester diocese, pointed the State House News Service to a 2022 apology from Bishop Robert McManus, in which he said he was “profoundly sorry for the abuse of minors by priests within this diocese since its founding in March 1950,” and said in a statement: “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.”
The attorney general’s office lists the Massachusetts Children’s Alliance, which maintains a statewide directory of Children’s Advocacy Centers, as a place to report child sexual abuse by a member of the clergy.