Massachusetts Report Finds Over 270 Catholic Clergy Abused Nearly 1,000 Children in Three Dioceses
Attorney General Andrea Campbell's first-ever investigation covers Fall River, Springfield and Worcester. It brings no new indictments, and survivors say state law still blocks many lawsuits.
BOSTON — Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell on Wednesday released the state's first comprehensive investigation into clergy sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, documenting 275 accused clergy and 944 child survivors across the dioceses of Fall River, Springfield and Worcester. The abuse stretches back to the 1950s. The investigation will not produce new indictments.
By diocese, the report counts 92 accused clergy and 469 survivors in Fall River, 93 accused clergy and 259 survivors in Springfield, and 90 accused clergy and 216 survivors in Worcester. Campbell's office began the work in 2019. Investigators reviewed more than 300,000 pages of documents and interviewed more than 100 people, including survivors, attorneys and clergy. The report found that diocesan leaders repeatedly failed to respond adequately to allegations and, in some cases, allowed accused priests to remain in ministry.
Campbell said "government must do more" for survivors. She pointed to two obstacles in state law: statute-of-limitations rules that have shut many people out of court, and a $20,000 cap on damages against charitable organizations, including church entities. Lawmakers are advancing amendments that would eliminate the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse cases and open a two-year "look back window" for older claims. Campbell supports both measures.
Survivors gave mixed reactions. Skip Shea, who was abused beginning at age 11, called the report "quite empowering" and said official validation mattered. David Lewcon said that "the silence...isn't neutral. It allows the guilty to become stronger." Cyndi MacKenzie criticized the outreach, saying some publicly known survivors were never contacted, and some survivors told local outlets they feared the totals were too low.
The report also singled out Worcester. Its diocese remains the only one in Massachusetts that refuses to publish a list of credibly accused priests, a step taken by about 92 percent of U.S. dioceses. Bishop Robert McManus has argued that such lists could cause "division." The Fall River and Springfield dioceses have published their lists.
The findings come two decades after the Boston Globe's Spotlight reporting exposed abuse in the Archdiocese of Boston and set off a national reckoning. Campbell's report extends that accounting to the western and southeastern parts of the state, which had never undergone an equivalent public review. With no prosecutions coming, the practical weight of the report now falls on the Legislature, where the bills on filing deadlines and damages caps will determine whether survivors can take their cases to court.
