944 Children Abused by 270-Plus Clerics Across Three Massachusetts Dioceses
October 1, 2026 · Frisian News
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
A report from Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell found at least 275 Catholic clerics abused 944 children across the dioceses of Fall River, Springfield, and Worcester over more than a century. Eight years of investigation produced no new indictments.
At least 275 Catholic clerics sexually abused 944 children across three Massachusetts dioceses over the course of a century, according to a report released by Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell on September 30, 2026. The investigation covered the dioceses of Fall River, Springfield, and Worcester. Campbell called it the first full public accounting of the abuse and of the institutional failures that allowed it to persist for more than half a century.
The eight-year investigation, launched in 2019 by then-Attorney General Maura Healey, reviewed more than 300,000 pages of documentation and interviewed more than 100 people, including survivors. The majority of the abuse occurred before 2002, the year the Boston Globe's Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation exposed similar patterns at the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, setting off a global wave of inquiries.
The report found that diocesan leaders repeatedly chose institutional reputation over child safety. Church officials in all three dioceses knew about the abuse for decades yet did not take effective action to prevent it, according to the attorney general's report. Leaders transferred accused priests to other parishes without disclosing why, allowed them to return to ministry after treatment without adequate supervision, and failed to consistently report allegations to law enforcement. A "culture of reverence and indulgence" toward priests, the report found, gave offending clergy easy access to victims.
The dioceses also deliberately obscured the record. The attorney general's office found that all three often intentionally did not document child sexual abuse allegations or used coded and euphemistic language to conceal them. The Worcester Diocese remains the only Catholic diocese in Massachusetts without a public list of credibly accused clergy. Survivors' attorney Mitchell Garabedian told reporters he has lost six clients to suicide during his representation of abuse victims.
The investigation produced no new indictments. Campbell's office said some conduct was not a crime under Massachusetts law at the time it occurred, and in other cases the statute of limitations had expired. Three cases were referred to district attorneys during the probe; one resulted in criminal charges in Worcester County. Campbell said the legal limits do not diminish what the investigation found.
The three bishops offered varying responses. Fall River Bishop Edgar da Cunha said he was "filled with sorrow" and enumerated steps his diocese had taken, including publishing a list of credibly accused clergy going back more than 70 years. Springfield Bishop William Byrne called the report "humbling" and said his diocese had been "busy correcting our past failures." The Diocese of Worcester said it would study the report to identify improvements, pointing to an apology its bishop issued in 2022 and noting that the vast majority of cases occurred 40 to 60 years ago.
Campbell called on state legislators to act. State Senator Joan Lovely filed a bill in 2024 that would eliminate the statute of limitations for civil and criminal child sexual abuse cases, allowing survivors to seek damages regardless of when the abuse occurred. The bill has been stuck in the House for a year.
Nine hundred and forty-four children is a floor, not a ceiling. Campbell herself said the numbers are limited because records were missing, others were withheld, and many survivors never came forward.
Published October 1, 2026 · Frisian News