WORCESTER (MA)
CBS News [New York NY]
September 30, 2026
By Gustavo Atencio Flores, and Aaron Parseghian
Hundreds of clergy members of the Worcester, Springfield and Fall River Catholic dioceses abused nearly 1,000 children over the course of decades, an investigation by the Massachusetts attorney general’s office found.
The investigation, beginning in 2019, detailed evidence that 270 clergy members abused nearly 1,000 children across all three dioceses for around 70 years, with some cases dating as far back as the 1950s, Attorney General Andrea Campbell said at a press conference Wednesday.
“For years, the dioceses of Fall River, Springfield and Worcester knew that children were being abused by priests, and they did not do what they should have done to stop it,” Campbell said during the press conference. “Instead, too often they protected the reputation of the church, rather than protecting children.”
The report demonstrated repeated failure by church leadership to properly respond to allegations of child sexual abuse by their priests, in some cases transferring accused priests to other parishes and dioceses without disclosing the reason and failing to report allegations to police.
“Priests were deeply trusted in their communities, and offending priests took advantage of that trust,” Campbell said. “They used their authority and their access to children to abuse them.”
Massachusetts report on Catholic clergy members
All three dioceses established offices dedicated to child protection and victim assistance and adopted new procedures for investigating allegations, following the exposure of clergy sexual abuse in the Boston Diocese by The Boston Globe in 2002. According to the attorney general’s office, those procedures have not been consistently followed.
The attorney general’s office referred three of the cases to Worcester County, Hampden County and Bristol County district attorney’s offices for criminal prosecution. In the Worcester referral, criminal charges were filed in the district court, according to Campbell.
The remaining cases will not bring criminal charges due to the expiration of the statute of limitations, and, in some cases, the conduct identified was not illegal in Massachusetts at the time, Campbell said.
Campbell’s office is calling on the dioceses of Worcester, Springfield and Fall River to take additional steps to protect children and improve their response to survivors.
“We hope that these recommendations do not end with the Catholic dioceses, but are also utilized as a measurement for all groups, schools and youth organizations,” Bishop of Springfield William D. Byrne said in a statement Wednesday. “We are committed to working with the Attorney General’s Office, our local District Attorneys, and law enforcement to become a trusted ally in protecting all youth.”
The attorney general’s office also called for the Worcester Diocese to create and maintain a publicly accessible list of credibly accused clergy members, a practice followed in every other diocese in Massachusetts.
“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,” Bishop of Worcester Robert J. McManus said in a statement released Wednesday.
“It’s about time my story be told”
Edna Wallace, a woman who said she was sexually abused as a 10-year-old orphan by a nun in Worcester, told WBZ-TV that she hopes this report will bring closure to victims.
“It’s going to give me some closure, because I am 67 now, and it’s about time my story be told,” Wallace said. “There needs to be a stop to it and if I can help it, I will help.”
Some are not content with the lack of named clergy members disclosed in the attorney general’s report. The leaders of Bishop Accountability, a group that tracks and names clergy members credibly accused of sexual abuse, told WBZ-TV that this is a strong step forward, but not enough.
“To know that they have found so many more and not identified them, not talked about those cases, is hugely disappointing to us and probably to the survivors aswell,” said Bishop Accountability co-director Terry McKiernan.
“We commend [Campbell] for urging Bishop McManus to release his list of accused priests. He is one of the only bishops in the United States to still be withholding this information,” added Bishop Accountability co-director Anne Barrett Doyle.
Why names weren’t included in report
The attorney general’s office listed grand jury secrecy laws among the reasons why clergy members’ names were not included in the report.
During Wednesday’s press conference, Campbell shared that she is a victim of child sex abuse.
“I would be remiss, if I didn’t share personally, that I am a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. And it’s the first time I’ve ever shared that publicly, and I think that’s important,” she said. “It’s an opportunity for us to finally lead in Massachusetts in such a way that no child will ever be abused ever again.”
“It would be absolutely inauthentic, and inauthentic to my faith to not share that I am a survivor of childhood abuse, not at the hands of the church, but in the hands of a relative,” she continued.
Campbell also said that her office supports legislation that would eliminate the statute of limitations and charitable immunity cap for civil claims involving childhood sexual abuse, and the establishment of an indefinite lookback period for such claims.