An ‘Old Boy’s Network’: Groundbreaking Report Exposes Decades of Catholic Clergy Abuse and Ongoing Protection of Abusers

An ‘Old Boy’s Network’: Groundbreaking Report Exposes Decades of Catholic Clergy Abuse and Ongoing Protection of Abusers

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell released a 203-page report on Sept. 30 showing more than 270 Catholic priests abused at least 1,000 children over several decades in the dioceses of Fall River, Springfield and Worcester. The report focuses on how church leadership, including bishops, perpetuated this abuse by failing to report crimes to the police, obstructing investigations into these crimes and repeatedly reassigning perpetrators…

Only 1 criminal case emerged from Massachusetts' sweeping clergy abuse investigation

A sweeping investigation into three dioceses of the Roman Catholic Church in Massachusetts — those in Fall River, Worcester and Springfield — found evidence that 270 religious leaders abused almost 1,000 children over more than a century.

944 children, 275 clerics, and more than half a century of silence: Massachusetts Attorney General brings to light abuses in three Catholic dioceses – BishopAccountability.org

An investigation by Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, initiated in 2019, documents child sexual abuse in the dioceses of Fall River, Springfield, and Worcester since the 1950s Massachusetts was the place where the biggest crisis of abuse in the Catholic Church in the United States erupted. In 2002, an investigation by The Boston Globe uncovered how the Archdiocese of Boston had covered up pedophile priests for decades. That same year, in dir…