Over 270 Catholic clerics abused nearly 1,000 children, MA AG finds
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St. Anne Parish and Shrine in Fall River, MA on Oct. 11, 2015. Photo: Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via Getty Images.
The Massachusetts attorney general released a report Wednesday documenting more than 270 Catholic clerics accused of sexually abusing 944 children across three dioceses — but the investigation will result in no new indictments.
Why it matters: The dioceses created an illusion of safety while church leaders repeatedly exploited loopholes to protect the institution's reputation, systematically concealing staggering levels of abuse.
What they're saying: "We deeply understand that behind every number is a child whose safety was violated, a family that was changed, and a survivor who has carried the trauma of that abuse for years, and in many cases, decades," Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell (D) wrote in the report.
Catch up quick: The Massachusetts AG's office began its investigation in 2019, examining church responses to abuse allegations over more than six decades.
- Boston Globe reporters exposed widespread abuse and institutional cover-ups in the Archdiocese of Boston in the early 2000s.
- Wednesday's report sought to provide the first comparable public accounting of what happened in the Roman Catholic dioceses of Fall River, Springfield and Worcester.
- Investigators reviewed more than 300,000 pages of documents and interviewed more than 100 people, including survivors, attorneys and clergy.
Worth noting: After reporters uncovered the abuse, Massachusetts lawmakers criminalized the reckless endangerment of children and expanded mandated reporter requirements to include clergy.
- But those laws can't be applied retroactively to crimes that occurred before they took effect.
- Most of the abuse detailed in the report occurred before 2002, and the AG says newly found misconduct fell outside applicable statutes of limitations. Many accused clergy are also dead, leaving survivors with few options for legal recourse.
Zoom in: The report concluded that diocesan leaders actively covered up abuse allegations before 2002 by transferring accused clergy to new congregations without warning parishioners.
- Leaders also sent accused priests to psychiatric treatment facilities before allowing some to return to ministry. Some of these priests were then accused of reoffending.
Between the lines: Survivors described church processes that left some feeling pressured to testify to internal church investigators or stay silent and say the dioceses used NDAs to stop survivors from discussing abuse allegations.
- One survivor recalled a staff member saying, "[t]he best way for this to go away is not to talk about it." The survivor said the church's internal investigator "was as curious to get my story as she was to protect his."
- Another said an internal review board resembled "a tribunal," adding: "The Church is like your mother: when they call, you answer."
- Survivor Phil Saviano told the Globe that he had came forward and refused to sign an NDA because he was "dying of AIDS … at that point my career was over, I was on my way out physically, my reputation was shot in the eyes of many people, and I didn't have a lot to lose."
Zoom out: The institutional secrecy that enabled decades of abuse has not been fully addressed: 12 dioceses across the United States still have not published lists of credibly accused clergy.
- That represents less than 5% of all dioceses and orders. In Massachusetts, Worcester is the only diocese that still has not published a list. The Vatican did not respond to Axios' request for comment.
- The report says the lists can encourage survivors to come forward, reveal the scope of the abuse and promote transparency and accountability.
A spokesperson for the Worcester Diocese didn't address Axios' question on why they haven't published a list of accused clergy, but said that they "welcome the AG's report."
- "Our procedures over the past three decades, including the way we screen candidates for ordination, as well as the awareness and safety training which was implemented in all our parishes and ministries, have made an enormous difference," they said.
- "The diocese has passed each year's independent compliance audit" since a new Charter was adopted in 2002. The charter now "serve[s] as a model for other institutions, public or private, who care for children and minors."
The bottom line: The investigation provides a historical reckoning for nearly 1,000 survivors, but decades of concealment left hundreds with validation and little legal recourse.
Go deeper: Vatican criminalizes sexual abuse of adults by priests
