Massachusetts AG Report: 270 Catholic Clergy Abused Nearly 1,000 Children Over 70 Years, Only One Criminal Charge Filed

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell released a report Wednesday documenting what her office called the first full public accounting of clergy sexual abuse in the Fall River, Springfield and Worcester dioceses. The number: more than 270 clerics abused nearly 1,000 children over roughly 70 years, with some cases dating to the 1950s, according to Campbell's office.

The investigation started in 2019 under then-Attorney General Maura Healey, who is now Massachusetts governor. Investigators reviewed more than 300,000 pages of records and conducted over 100 interviews with survivors, advocates, attorneys, clergy and diocesan officials, according to the report cited by WGGB/WSHM.

Church leadership knew about the abuse. "For years, the dioceses of Fall River, Springfield and Worcester knew that children were being abused by priests, and they did not do what they should have done to stop it," Campbell said at a press conference. "Instead, too often they protected the reputation of the church, rather than protecting children."

The report, per CBS News and WGGB/WSHM, details a pattern: accused priests transferred to new parishes without disclosing why, priests returned to ministry after treatment with no real supervision, removal reasons concealed, and allegations not consistently reported to police.

No New Indictments, Despite the Scale

Despite documenting abuse of nearly 1,000 children, the investigation produced zero new indictments directly. Campbell's office said this was because some of the conduct wasn't a crime under Massachusetts law when it happened, the statute of limitations had run out on other cases, or the people involved had died.

Three cases were referred to district attorneys in Worcester, Hampden and Bristol counties. Only one, in Worcester County, resulted in actual criminal charges, according to Reuters reporting carried by U.S. News & World Report and KELO-TV.

A nearly-1,000-victim count producing one criminal case raises questions about whether Massachusetts law is adequately protecting children from institutions that cover for predators. Campbell is pushing this issue. She's calling on the state legislature to eliminate the statute of limitations for civil claims involving childhood sexual abuse, arguing the current law lets institutions run out the clock on accountability.

Retroactively reopening civil liability windows raises real due-process concerns for defendants facing decades-old allegations with faded evidence and dead witnesses. But child sex abuse cases routinely take victims decades to disclose, which is exactly why many states have already moved to extend or eliminate these windows. Massachusetts lawmakers haven't yet acted on Campbell's request.

Worcester Singled Out

Campbell specifically targeted the Worcester diocese, which she noted is the only one of the state's Catholic dioceses without a public list of credibly accused clergy. "Worcester is the only diocese in Massachusetts that does not have a public list of credibly accused clergy," Campbell said, per NEPM. "Every other Massachusetts diocese has one. Worcester needs to create one and publicly maintain one, too."

Raymond Delisle, chancellor and spokesperson for the Worcester diocese, told GBH News the diocese "welcome[s] the AG's report" and pointed to its own internal report from 2004, later updated, along with decades of reforms in candidate screening and safety training. "Both reports point out that the vast majority of cases occurred 40-60 years ago," Delisle said. The diocese is not disputing the abuse happened. It is arguing its current practices are materially different from what allowed abuse in the 1960s and '70s. Whether that argument justifies continuing to withhold a public accused-clergy list, which every other diocese in the state maintains, is a separate question Campbell's office has now put squarely on Worcester's doorstep.

Neither the Springfield nor Fall River dioceses had responded publicly to the report as of Wednesday afternoon, according to Reuters.

A Personal Disclosure

Campbell used the press conference to reveal she is herself a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, at the hands of a relative, saying it was the first time she'd shared that publicly. "It's an opportunity for us to finally lead in Massachusetts in such a way that no child will ever be abused ever again," she said.

The bulk of the abuse documented predates 2002, the year the Boston Globe's Spotlight investigation exposed the Archdiocese of Boston cover-up and triggered a wave of similar inquiries worldwide. Massachusetts tightened its child-protection and reporting laws that same year. This report shows those 2002 reforms weren't always followed consistently across all three dioceses in the decades since, according to Campbell's office, leaving the legislature's next move on the statute-of-limitations question and whether Worcester publishes its list as two concrete threads still unresolved.