WORCESTER — A state investigation found that at least 90 clergy members abused 216 children within the Worcester Diocese over more than six decades and identified the diocese as the only one in Massachusetts that still refuses to publicly release a list of clergy credibly accused of child sexual abuse, according to a report Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s office released Tuesday, Sept. 30.
The report is the product of a criminal investigation into the Dioceses of Fall River, Springfield and Worcester that then-Attorney General Maura Healey opened in 2019. Investigators documented 944 survivors of clergy sexual abuse across the three dioceses combined, tied to 275 accused clergy. The report says the true number is likely higher given chronic under-reporting.
“For decades, survivors of clergy sexual abuse, including those who are no longer alive, have carried the devastating consequences of abuse, while the institutions entrusted with their care too often failed to protect them,” Campbell said in a statement. “While important reforms have been made, the report documents decades of failures by diocesan leaders to adequately respond to allegations of child sexual abuse and protect children from further harm.”…