WORCESTER – The Diocese of Worcester Bishop Robert McManus and the Diocesan Review Committee released an updated report on its history of cases of sexual abuse of minors for the first time since 2004, after a review of all cases since the Diocese was established in 1950.
The report says there has been one allegation of abuse of a minor reported in the Worcester Diocese since 1998. As ThisWeekinWorcester.com reported, McManus announced in December that he had determined allegations against Reverend Alan J. Martineau were credible.
Over the 72 years covered in the review, the report says 173 individuals reported abuse to the diocese which it determined were credible or substantiated, with 93 of those coming forward since the 2004 report. A total of 209 allegations were made from 1950 to 2022, including those unsubstantiated, false or withdrawn, according to the report. Most allegations were of abuse that took place from the 1960s to the 1980s. In 53 cases, the priest alleged to have carried out the abuse was dead when the victim came forward.
The report also found that less than 25% of those abused were girls.
Since the adoption of the U.S. bishops’ Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, called the Dallas Charter, in 2002, when the diocese learns of an allegation of abuse, the Worcester County District Attorney’s office is notified. The Worcester diocese established the Office for Healing and Prevention the same year. The diocese maintains a confidential telephone number for victims to reach the assistance coordinator of that office at (508) 929-4363.
