Updated October 1, 2026 at 8:49 AM EDT
The Massachusetts attorney general’s office released its report Wednesday on its investigation into clergy sexual abuse in the Catholic dioceses of Worcester, Springfield and Fall River.
Attorney General Andrea Campbell called the report the first “full public accounting of the abuse, misconduct and institutional failures at the dioceses that allowed the abuse to happen.” The investigation found more than 270 Catholic clergy members abused nearly 1,000 children in these dioceses dating back to the 1950s.
While Campbell called on the Catholic church to take a number of steps to take accountability, she also advocated for legislation that would make it easier for survivors to pursue legal claims against their perpetrators.
“This investigation also demonstrates that government must do more,” Campbell said. “Massachusetts law continues to create significant barriers. Survivors may be prevented from bringing claims by the statute of limitations despite the reality that childhood sexual abuse is often disclosed years or even decades later.”
The state’s investigation included a list of recommendations to prevent sexual abuse of children in the Catholic Church including that dioceses properly investigate allegations and maintain transparent and accurate records. Campbell noted during a press conference Wednesday that Worcester is the only diocese in the state that has not disclosed a list of credibly accused priests and called on them to do so.
For years, survivors had been calling for the public release of the investigation, which began while now-Gov. Maura Healey was the attorney general in 2019.
Skip Shea, now 66, spoke to investigators in September 2021. He was repeatedly sexually abused at St. Mary Church in Uxbridge and said the abuse began when he was 11 years old. Another survivor, David Lewcon, 72, also met with investigators. He was also abused at St. Mary Church, starting when he was 16, by the same priest that abused Shea.
Shea and other survivors said they felt forgotten. After being coerced into silence as children, they said it compounded their pain to finally speak to state authorities about what had happened to them, only for the investigation’s findings to remain under wraps for years.
Campbell addressed the criticism in her announcement on Wednesday.
“I want to be very clear about something,” she said. “We never stopped working to release this report publicly. At no point were we idle.”
Campbell also said there was extra work involved to ensure that information included in the report didn’t violate any grand jury secrecy laws.
“We were in the weeds on that to ensure that the report that is out here today with the full findings from the investigation is out here publicly without having violated our grand jury laws,” she said.
Response from survivors
Shea said he wrote to Healey when she was attorney general, asking for an investigation into the dioceses outside of Boston. Healey started the inquiry in 2019.
Shea grew up in a home with pictures of the family’s priests on the kitchen wall. He was taught to believe that a priest is one step closer to God.
That was used as leverage by the first priest that sexually abused him at St. Mary Church in Uxbridge, when he was 11 years old.
“God doesn’t want to see you cry,” Shea recalled the priest saying, but he did cry. That was followed by years of abuse by multiple Catholic priests in the Worcester Diocese.
He said he was very pleased with the report released on Wednesday, calling it an official validation of what happened to him.
“The state’s largest law enforcement agency has put out to the public … ‘This is what’s happened in all three of these dioceses. This is how they behaved. This is how at times they continue to behave,’ ” he said. “That’s remarkable to me. It was quite empowering.”
Lewcon said it’s been tough waiting for the report to come out since he was interviewed in 2021.
“The silence that we experienced from five years of waiting isn’t neutral. It allows the guilty to become stronger and the vulnerable to be not heard,” he said.
But there are also survivors the investigators never interviewed.
“I think that she did a terrible job of reaching out to victims, even ones who were very public about their abuse,” Cyndi MacKenzie, 62, said about Campbell. MacKenzie was abused by her parish priest in the Notre Dame Church in Southbridge, starting when she was 4 years old.
MacKenzie said she was disappointed the report didn’t list all of the credibly accused priests.
“Why not release the names? she asked. “To me, they’re still keeping secrets.”
Terrence McKiernan, president of BishopAccountability.org said a list of the credibly accused would be valuable.
“When survivors see their name in this list, they will, for the first time, receive the kind of acknowledgment they need to receive, and to leave all the children who have been abused in the Diocese of Worcester without that kind of acknowledgment is cruelty,” he said.
Legislative change
Some survivors and advocates hope an investigation like this could change Massachusetts state laws, like the charitable immunity cap and statute of limitations for child sex abuse cases.
Currently, the charitable immunity cap puts a $20,000 limit on damages against nonprofits, like dioceses. That cap has prevented victims from being able to retain a lawyer. The state’s statute of limitations for bringing a lawsuit related to sexual violence has also prevented a number of survivors from pursuing justice, as many did not come forward about the abuse they suffered until later in life.
Right now, state lawmakers are considering an amendment that would both eliminate the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse cases going forward, and provide a “look back window,” which would lift time limits on past cases for a period of two years. The attorney general said she supports that legislation.
Campbell said on Wednesday that she was a survivor of childhood sexual abuse by a family member.
“For me to stand up here, it would be absolutely inauthentic to my faith to not share that I am a survivor of childhood abuse, not at the hands of the church, but at the hands of a relative,” she said, “and that frankly, my faith has allowed me to overcome that.”
State Sen. Joan Lovely called the report’s release and Campbell’s statement “an incredibly powerful moment.”
“As the attorney general has revealed her past, it brings that compassion that really that we really can help survivors,” she said.
She and state Rep. John Lawn co-sponsored a bill that would eliminate the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse going forward and would open a “look back window.”
Lovely has made many proposals over the years to change laws to better protect children.
“It’s moved further than it ever has. It’s currently in a conference committee, so that is incredible,” she said. “And we are very hopeful that it survives conference and makes it to the finish line, to the governor’s desk, [and] she will sign it.”
Diocesan response
Nearly 92% of dioceses and archdioceses in the U.S. have published a list of the names of credibly accused priests, according to BishopAccountability.org. Worcester is the one diocese in the state that has declined to do so.
The Worcester Diocese’s bishop, Robert McManus, said in a diocesan report earlier this year: “Such lists can be a cause for deep division among many members of our Church who see this as publicly branding as guilty those who have never been charged by law enforcement… This does not stop the diocese from responding to victims.”
In a statement released on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the diocese said it welcomes the attorney general’s report because it validates the effectiveness of efforts put in place in 2002 to protect minors.
“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 statement read.
In Fall River, Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha said he was “filled with sorrow” over the accounts in the attorney general’s report.
“We as a Church failed you when you were most vulnerable,” he wrote, addressing survivors of child sexual abuse. As a Diocese we are firmly resolved to continue to do all we can to help you heal, to make certain we are accountable, and to protect our children so that no other child suffers as you have.”
Da Cunha said the diocese cooperated with the attorney general’s investigation, providing more than 80,000 pages of documentation. Additionally, the bishop mentioned that as the attorney general sought permission to release the grand jury report, he was given opportunity to object but did not.
Da Cunha said the diocese published a list of clergy with credible accusations against them five years ago and reports all accusations of abuse to law enforcement.
“We are carefully assessing the AGO report and will continue to take the steps necessary to foster a culture of protection that we have worked to build over the past decade,” he wrote.
Springfield Bishop William D. Byrne said the attorney general’s report “is a humbling reminder of the need for continued vigilance in properly handling all instances of child sexual abuse when reported to us.”
“Prior to the report’s release today, our diocese has been busy correcting our past failures, putting into place many new, trauma-informed policies and procedures,” Byrne said.
He added that the diocese welcomes the attorney general’s recommendations.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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