Massachusetts Report Finds Nearly 1,000 Children Abused by Catholic Clergy in Three Dioceses
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell released the state's first comprehensive investigation into Catholic clergy sexual abuse on September 30, finding that more than 270 clergy members abused nearly 1,000 children across the dioceses of Worcester, Springfield, and Fall River, with most incidents occurring before 2002. The investigation, which began in 2019 under then Attorney General Maura Healey, reviewed roughly 300,000 pages of records and interviewed more than 100 survivors, advocates, clergy, and diocesan personnel over seven years. Campbell called it the first full public accounting of the abuse and institutional failures in those three dioceses.
Bishop Edgar da Cunha of Fall River said he was "filled with sorrow" and that the church "failed you when you were most vulnerable," and his diocese had already turned over more than 80,000 pages of records and published its own list of credibly accused clergy five years ago. Worcester Bishop Robert McManus has so far declined to release his diocese's list, saying it could cause division among parishioners. Campbell is urging the Massachusetts legislature to eliminate the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse claims and to raise the state's $20,000 cap on damages against nonprofits such as dioceses.
