A sweeping state investigation into clergy sexual abuse has documented allegations involving 216 survivors and 90 clergy connected to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester, part of what Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell described Wednesday as decades of institutional failures to protect children.
The 200-page report, the culmination of an investigation launched in 2019, examined the dioceses of Worcester, Fall River and Springfield. Across the three dioceses, investigators compiled allegations involving 275 clergy and 944 survivors.
The attorney general’s report cautions that those totals, compiled from diocesan records and other sources, are not an exact accounting and have not been filtered based on an assessment of the credibility of each allegation.
But investigators concluded that the records paint a picture of systemic failures over decades, including church leaders failing to act on allegations and warning signs, transferring accused or offending priests without disclosing why, returning priests to ministry without adequate supervision and failing to consistently report allegations to law enforcement.
The investigation involved a review of more than 300,000 pages of records and interviews with more than 100 people, including survivors, advocates, attorneys, clergy and diocesan officials and employees.
“For decades, survivors of clergy sexual abuse, including those who are no longer alive, have carried the devastating consequences of abuse, while the institutions entrusted with their care too often failed to protect them,” Campbell said in the announcement accompanying the report.
The report also singles out Worcester over an issue that has long distinguished the diocese from its counterparts across Massachusetts: its refusal to maintain a publicly accessible list of clergy members it has found to be credibly accused of child sexual abuse.
According to the attorney general’s investigation, Worcester is the only Catholic diocese in Massachusetts that does not make such a list publicly accessible.
The report says that while the Worcester Diocese has shared names of credibly accused priests with the Worcester County District Attorney’s Office since 2002 and has disclosed names at various times through its website and diocesan newspaper, it does not maintain the information in a readily accessible public format.
Worcester Diocese points to reforms
The Worcester Diocese, led by Bishop Robert McManus, responded Wednesday with a statement saying it welcomed the report and emphasizing changes it has made over the past several decades.
The diocese noted that the attorney general’s investigation resulted in no charges against the diocese and said allegations received since 2002 have been immediately forwarded to the local district attorney’s office.
It also pointed to its implementation of the U.S. Catholic Church’s 2002 Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, its use of clinical social workers and an independent Review Board to consider allegations, and annual compliance audits.
The diocese said the “vast majority” of cases documented in its own previous reports occurred 40 to 60 years ago and credited changes in screening, training and other safeguards with making “an enormous difference.”
“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 diocese said in its statement.
The attorney general’s report acknowledges significant reforms made by the Catholic Church and the three dioceses since the clergy sexual abuse crisis erupted publicly in 2002. Those include child protection and victim assistance offices, background checks, safe-environment training and procedures for reporting and investigating allegations.
Investigators nevertheless found that written policies were not always followed and that exceptions sometimes weakened protections intended to keep children safe.
The report calls on the Worcester, Springfield and Fall River dioceses to make additional changes, including using trauma-informed practices in responding to survivors, conducting consistent and independent investigations, enforcing restrictions on accused clergy and increasing public transparency.
For Worcester, that includes making information about credibly accused clergy readily accessible to the public.
Criminal charges limited
The investigation also examined whether criminal prosecutions were possible based on the conduct uncovered.
No new indictments resulted directly from the investigation. The attorney general’s office said some conduct identified by investigators was not criminal under Massachusetts law at the time it occurred, while statutes of limitations had expired in other cases. Many of the people identified in the investigation are also dead.
Three cases were referred to district attorneys during the investigation. One referral to the Worcester County District Attorney’s Office resulted in criminal charges in District Court, according to the attorney general.
The report also recommends changes to state law intended to give survivors greater ability to pursue civil claims. Those include eliminating the state’s $20,000 charitable immunity cap for civil claims involving child sexual abuse, eliminating the statute of limitations for such claims and establishing an indefinite period allowing survivors whose claims have expired to pursue them.
‘Behind the numbers are hundreds of people’
For organizations that work with sexual assault survivors in Central Massachusetts, Wednesday’s report carries consequences beyond its findings about church leadership.
Kim L. Dawkins, president and CEO of Pathways for Change, the rape crisis center serving Central Massachusetts, said the release could be particularly difficult for survivors in the Worcester area.
“Behind the numbers are hundreds of people who experienced sexual abuse as children and who have lived with its impact,” Dawkins said in a statement to the Worcester Guardian.
Dawkins said news of the investigation could bring back traumatic memories for people abused years or decades ago and that survivors may respond in very different ways.
“For some, it may bring validation. For others, anger, grief, or questions,” she said. “And some survivors may choose not to engage with this news at all. There is no ‘right way’ to respond.”
Dawkins also cautioned that the passage of time does not diminish the effects of childhood sexual abuse or a survivor’s need for help.
Pathways for Change provides confidential support through its 24-hour hotline at 800-870-5905. A 24-hour video-phone hotline for Deaf and hard-of-hearing callers is available at 508-502-7681.
“Survivors [should] know that they do not have to decide what to do next before reaching out,” Dawkins said. “They can simply call and get support because all of us at Pathways are here to listen, confidentially and without judgment, today and whenever they need us.”
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