BREAKING NEWS — MASSACHUSETTS: Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell has released a sweeping report detailing the findings of a multi-year investigation into child sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Dioceses of Fall River, Springfield, and Worcester.
The Attorney General’s Office says investigators found evidence that more than 270 Catholic clerics abused nearly 1,000 children across the three dioceses over approximately a century.
The scale of the findings is extraordinary. The legal outcome, however, requires an important distinction: the Attorney General’s investigation concluded without new indictments arising from the investigation. An investigative finding that evidence supports an allegation is not the same thing as a criminal conviction, and the report does not mean every person discussed in it was prosecuted or convicted.
What the Attorney General Investigated
The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office began investigating the three dioceses in 2019. Three investigative teams composed of attorneys, investigators, police, and victim-witness advocates examined individual allegations of child sexual abuse as well as how diocesan leaders responded when allegations were made.
According to the Attorney General, investigators reviewed more than 300,000 pages of records and interviewed more than 100 people, including survivors, advocates, attorneys, clergy, diocesan officials and employees, and experts in canon law and child sexual abuse.
More Than 270 Clerics — Nearly 1,000 Children
The report states that investigators found evidence that more than 270 Catholic clerics abused nearly 1,000 children over the course of roughly a century in the Fall River, Springfield, and Worcester dioceses.
The Attorney General describes this as the first comparable public accounting of institutional failures in these three dioceses, following the extensive scrutiny previously focused on the Archdiocese of Boston.
What Investigators Say Diocesan Leaders Did — and Failed to Do
The report goes beyond allegations against individual clerics. Investigators examined institutional responses and documented what the Attorney General characterizes as decades of failures to protect children.
According to the AGO, investigators found instances in which diocesan leaders failed to act on allegations and warning signs; transferred accused or offending priests to other parishes without disclosing the reasons; returned priests to ministry after treatment without adequate supervision; failed to meaningfully enforce restrictions; concealed why priests were removed from ministry; and failed to consistently report allegations to law enforcement.
The Attorney General’s dedicated report page further describes evidence of intentional concealment of child sexual abuse over a period of decades and identifies both historical and current policies, practices, and lapses that the office says may continue to pose risks to children.
Why Were There No New Indictments?
This is one of the most important parts of the report to understand.
The Attorney General’s Office says it carefully examined whether criminal prosecution remained possible for conduct identified during the investigation. The investigation produced no new indictments.
That does not mean investigators concluded that no abuse or illegal conduct occurred. According to the AGO, some conduct could no longer be prosecuted because the applicable statute of limitations had expired. Other conduct occurred before Massachusetts enacted later criminal-law reforms, including 2002 changes involving reckless endangerment of children and mandatory reporting requirements for clergy. Criminal statutes generally cannot be applied retroactively to conduct that was not criminalized in the same way when it occurred.
The AGO also notes that many individuals identified in the investigation are now deceased.
During the investigation, three matters were referred to the appropriate District Attorneys’ Offices. The Attorney General reports that one referral to the Worcester County District Attorney’s Office resulted in criminal charges in District Court. That is separate from saying the AGO investigation itself generated new indictments.
Investigative Findings Are Not Criminal Convictions
Because this report covers hundreds of people and decades of allegations, precision matters. Jaded Evidence will distinguish among allegations, investigative findings, substantiated or credible findings by church or governmental bodies, criminal charges, and criminal convictions.
A person appearing in an investigative report is not automatically a convicted offender. Where individual clergy members are discussed in future coverage, we will identify the evidentiary and legal status of the allegation whenever that information is available.
Records May Not Capture the Full Scope
The Attorney General cautions that investigators could not conclusively determine the full extent of abuse. The report cites delayed disclosure, survivor privacy, incomplete historical records, and failures by dioceses to keep accurate and organized records.
The report also says investigators encountered records suggesting that older files sometimes used coded or euphemistic language when describing allegations. It discusses allegations and documentary references concerning possible destruction of records, while also noting disputes over some of those claims.
The Worcester Diocese Is Singled Out on Transparency
The Attorney General notes that the Diocese of Worcester remains the only Massachusetts diocese without a publicly accessible list of credibly accused clergy. Increased transparency is among the reforms the AGO is urging the dioceses to adopt.
Reforms Recommended by the Attorney General
The AGO is calling for stronger trauma-informed responses to survivors, consistent reporting and independent investigation of allegations, meaningful enforcement of restrictions placed on accused and offending clergy, increased transparency, and stronger institutional oversight.
The office is also asking Massachusetts lawmakers to consider eliminating the statute of limitations for civil childhood-sexual-abuse claims, eliminating the state’s $20,000 charitable-immunity cap for such claims, and creating an indefinite lookback period that could allow some survivors with expired claims another opportunity to seek civil relief.
Read the Full Massachusetts Attorney General Report
Primary source: Download the Massachusetts Attorney General’s 2026 Report on the Fall River, Springfield, and Worcester Diocese Investigation (PDF)
Massachusetts AGO — official report page and survivor resources
Massachusetts AGO — September 30, 2026 press release
What Jaded Evidence Will Be Watching
The next phase is not simply counting names. We will be examining the report’s diocesan timelines, how allegations were handled, which clergy had prior criminal proceedings or convictions, how often accused clergy were transferred or returned to ministry, what institutional officials knew and when they knew it, and whether Massachusetts lawmakers act on the Attorney General’s recommendations.
This report contains descriptions of childhood sexual abuse and trauma. Jaded Evidence uses careful attribution because an investigative finding, allegation, criminal charge, and criminal conviction are not interchangeable.
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