CV NEWS FEED // The office of Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell recently said it is seeking court approval to release a public report that would disclose the names of priests who have allegedly sexually abused children.
New England Public Media reported that a few years ago, then-Attorney General Maura Healy conducted an investigation into claims of clergy child sexual abuse in three of Massachusetts’ four dioceses: Fall River, Springfield, and Worcester. The investigation, apparently, did not look into the Archdiocese of Boston.
One survivor named Skip Shea told New England Public Media that though he met with investigators in 2021, a report with the investigation’s results was never published.
In addition to picketing outside the attorney general’s office, Shea has written to the office several times in the last few years, each time asking for the report to be published.
It wasn’t until April 26, 2024, that Shea received an email concerning the report from Anne Kelley McCarthy, chief of the attorney general’s office’s victim services division.
According to New England Public Media, McCarthey said in the email that “the Attorney General’s Office is still in the process of seeking court approval to release the Diocese report” but the email did not state why court approval is needed.
“I realize that you have been waiting quite some time and this lengthy process is extremely frustrating!” McCarthey added, according to New England Public Media. “I want you to know that we will notify you and other survivors involved as soon as we receive the court’s approval for release.”
Shea told New England Public Media that the email was encouraging, as he hopes that when the report is eventually published, it will validate the experience of other survivors who have not yet come forward.
“I think once some of these names — if some of these names of the priests come out in this report, then I think more people may come forward and try to get seek [sic] justice,” he said.
