Nearly 1,000 children were abused by hundreds of priests across three dioceses in Massachusetts for decades, a report by the state’s attorney general said.
The report, published on Sept. 30, found evidence that “more than 270 Catholic clerics abused nearly 1,000 children over the course of a century in the Dioceses of Fall River, Springfield, and Worcester,” state Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell said.
Leaders of the three dioceses failed to respond to allegations of abuse over the years, the attorney general said; diocesan leadership often transferred accused priests to other parishes and “failed to consistently report allegations to law enforcement,” according to the report.
Among the contributing factors to the abuse epidemic, according to the report, was a “culture of reverence and indulgence” toward priests.
Around mid-century, priests “were viewed as holy, and their attention or attachment to a particular family was encouraged,” the report says. These social dynamics “allowed offending priests easy access to victims.”
The investigation was launched in 2019 and involved more than 300,000 pages of documentation as well as interviews with more than 100 people, including victims of child sex abuse.
The inquiry is similar to those that have been undertaken in other states, including in Michigan, where the state’s attorney general has periodically released reports on the seven dioceses there.
The Massachusetts report covers every diocese in the state except the Archdiocese of Boston. That archdiocese has been subject to lengthy scrutiny after having been among the earliest subjects of abuse inquiries starting in 2002.
The attorney general’s report said the three dioceses “often intentionally did not document child sexual abuse allegations or used coded and euphemistic language to conceal them.” The office said it “worked diligently to create as complete a record as possible” of abuse in the dioceses.
As with similar reports in other states, the Massachusetts investigation mostly concerned abuse that was decades old. The “majority of known abuse” occurred “before 2002,” prior to major public awareness of the clergy abuse scandal, the report said.
The report expressed hope that the investigation would “result in a stronger commitment to a safer environment within these dioceses.” It thanked the child abuse victims who came forward to contribute to the inquiry.
It was not immediately clear how many of the instances of abuse in the report had already been identified and/or reported by the three dioceses. A query to the state attorney general’s office was not immediately returned.
Dioceses apologize
Both the Worcester Diocese and the Fall River Diocese had issued responses to the report by the afternoon of Sept. 30 in which they apologized to victims of sexual abuse. A statement from the Diocese of Worcester said it would study the report to “identify any additional improvements” it could make to its child safety policies.
The diocese noted that the report found the “vast majority of cases” occurred decades ago and that it had significantly updated its screening procedures in the years since.
Fall River Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, SDV, meanwhile, said in a statement that he was “filled with sorrow” over the details of the report.
The diocese has developed a “culture of protection” to ensure children are not abused, including reporting abuse allegations to law enforcement and enhancing safety protocols, the bishop said.
Da Cunha said that during his time as bishop he has “learned much about the best practices for protecting children and vulnerable adults in our care.”