What survivors, advocates know about Mass. AG's inquiry into child sexual abuse at Catholic dioceses
A photograph of Phil Saviano in the room where he met with investigators from the Massachusetts attorney general's office, when he was in hospice in 2021. The office was investigating child sexual abuse at the Worcester Diocese, where Saviano had been abused. The results of the investigation have not been made public. Nancy Eve Cohen/NEPM
February 5, 2025
By Nancy Eve Cohen
This is part two of a series. Read part one here.
It’s been about five years years since the Massachusetts attorney general’s office launched an investigation into child sexual abuse by priests at three Catholic dioceses in the state.
Back then, Gov. Maura Healey was the attorney general. The state's current top prosecutor, Andrea Campbell, said her office is still seeking court approval to release the results of the investigation.
"I inherited a report that was completed, sitting there. And now I'm doing what I can to see what we can do in terms of releasing it," Campbell said on GBH Radio.
But survivors and advocates aren't waiting. They're revealing what they know about the attorney general's inquiry.
The investigation started as early as 2019 and continued at least until November 2021. Early that month, Assistant Attorney General Helle Sachse interviewed Phil Saviano. Matthew Stone, a state trooper, was also at the meeting.
Saviano was a survivor of child sexual abuse at the Worcester Diocese and an outspoken advocate for justice for those who were abused by priests. At the time of the meeting, he was in hospice at his brother's house, dying of cancer.
Brooks Egerton was also there. A former investigative reporter at The Dallas Morning News, Egerton is writing a biography of Phil Saviano. On Saviano’s request, he sat in on the meeting.
Although Saviano's voice was weak, he answered the assistant attorney general's questions and asked some of his own, Egerton recalled.
"Phil asked [Sachse] if the dioceses knew about this investigation," Egerton said. "She said that they did — that they had received grand jury subpoenas and that the investigators had spoken with both ... diocesan attorneys and diocesan managers."
According to Egerton, Sachse said, "The dioceses had responded by producing records to the attorney general."
She told Saviano one reason they wanted to talk with him is because he had so many records from the Worcester Diocese from an earlier lawsuit.
"She said ... that's a reason for talking to Phil, because she had no way to know whether what the diocese produced to the AG was complete," Egerton said.
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