Attorney General Andrea Campbell of Massachusetts said on Wednesday that she is a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, making the disclosure as her office released a report finding that Roman Catholic clergy had abused nearly 1,000 children across three dioceses over roughly a century.
Ms. Campbell, 44, did not identify her abuser or say when the abuse occurred. She said she decided to come forward after her office spent years investigating the clergy and she heard firsthand the trauma other victims endured. “Frankly, my faith has allowed me to overcome that,” she said at a news conference.
The report, exceeding 200 pages, found that more than 270 clerics abused children in the dioceses of Fall River, Springfield and Worcester. Since 2019, prosecutors reviewed more than 300,000 pages of records and interviewed more than 100 people, including survivors and their attorneys, clergy and experts, in what Ms. Campbell called a very difficult investigation for every member of her team.
Others in her office came forward about their own past trauma, she said, after “looking at the revelation of this report.” It made the work “personal for so many folks on a deeper level,” she said, and “for many, that can be very traumatic.”
Two Massachusetts lawmakers who have disclosed their own childhood sexual abuse attended the announcement. Representative John Lawn, a Watertown Democrat, has filed legislation to eliminate the civil statute of limitations on such abuse; the House passed a version of it inside a broader primary care bill, which is now in closed-door negotiations between legislative leaders. “Trauma does not operate on a legal timeline,” Mr. Lawn wrote in a Globe opinion piece in May. “It can take years to recognize what happened, decades to speak it aloud, and a lifetime to fully understand the harm.”
Senator Joan Lovely, a Salem Democrat, called the report’s release an “incredibly powerful moment” for the Legislature’s work on the issue, which she said is “personal.” “As the attorney general has revealed her past, it brings that compassion that really can help survivors,” Ms. Lovely said.
Ms. Campbell, the first woman of color to hold statewide office in Massachusetts, has long spoken publicly about family tragedy. Her father was arrested when she was months old; her mother died in a car accident months after that. She spent years with relatives and foster parents before her father returned when she was 8. Her twin brother died in custody before 30, and her estranged brother was convicted of a string of rapes and sentenced this year to life in prison. She graduated from Princeton and the University of California, Los Angeles, law school, served on Boston’s City Council, ran for mayor in 2021 and won the attorney general’s office four years ago.
She also spoke of religious conviction, which she has said runs through her daily life in prayer, gospel music and Scripture. “We can respect faith communities while also demanding accountability from the very institutions we give our trust,” she said. “This investigation was not about demonizing a faith or a church. Rather, it was about seeking justice.”
Ms. Campbell said her office’s work “isn’t done” and urged anyone with allegations to come forward. “To survivors whose courage made this investigation possible, we not only hear you and see you, we absolutely love you,” she said. “I will stand in my faith every single day, standing for what it actually means: Love, connection, and justice.”