BOSTON — For more than half a century, nearly 1,000 victims were abused by Catholic clergy members in three Massachusetts dioceses, according to Attorney General Andrea Campbell.
Campbell announced Wednesday a years-long investigation that she said began under Maura Healey, when Healey was still AG.
Campbell said that for years the dioceses of Fall River, Springfield, and Worcester knew that children were being abused, and they did not do what they should have done to stop it.
The 7-year investigation went through 300,000 pages of records, according to Campbell.
She said priests used their authority and access to children to abuse them, and instead of taking action to prevent further abuse or additional victims, the leadership became part of the problem.
“The dioceses moved abusive priests to new parishes, in some cases even to a new diocese, without warning the communities there,” said Campbell.
She continued, “We spoke with survivors who feared even their parents would believe a priest over their own child – some waited decades to expose their abuse, some waited until their parents died.”
Campbell also called out the Worcester Diocese to release the names of the accused clergy.
She said it’s the only diocese in the state without a public list of credibly accused clergy.
Groups like Bishop Accountability want those names public.
“Some of them are in unsuspecting communities who don’t realize that they have a known or credibly accused person, a child molester in the midst,” said Anne Barrett Doyle, the Co-Director of Bishop Accountability.org.
Survivor Alexa Macpherson also wants to see the names printed.
“If they are going to continue to hide behind the walls of the Vatican and not put forth these people for criminal prosecution, then they just remain complicit,” said Macpherson.
The Diocese of Worcester released a statement referencing a report from this year and said in part, “There is no other precedent for the publishing of lists of the accused... Pope Francis in 2019 has stated that lists should not be published of cases which have not been found guilty.”
The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts called the investigation a “cheap shot” against the Catholic church and accused Campbell of “…recycling old news to incite a moral panic, misleading the public into believing that sexual abuse remains widespread in the church…”
Attorney General Campbell said these cases are not being prosecuted because of Massachusetts law and the statute of limitations.
Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
©2026 Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/7QOJU3BNCJERBNKJC5LWTBYFLU.png)
