Any suspected case of abuse should be reported to the appropriate civil authorities and to the Office of Pastoral Support and Outreach. This website provides guidance in this area.

Reporting policy

All allegations of clergy sexual abuse of minors are immediately reported to law enforcement with notifications made to local District Attorneys’ offices, the Massachusetts Attorney General, and federal law enforcement when appropriate.

• Notifications are made whether or not the person reporting the abuse is still a minor, whether or not the accused cleric is still alive, and whether or not the allegations have been evaluated as credible.
• If the victim is under the age of 18 at the time of the report, the matter is additionally reported to the Department of Children and Families through the filing of a 51A report.
• The Archdiocese publicly discloses when a member of its clergy is removed from active ministry pending an investigation into an allegation of child abuse.
• The Archdiocese publicly discloses when a member of its clergy is convicted of sexual abuse of a child as a result of a criminal process or when, after a canonical process, a member of the clergy is removed from the clerical state.
• Sadly, approximately 250 priests of the Archdiocese of Boston have been accused of sexual abuse of minors.
• The timeframe for the vast majority of abuse cases was from the 1960s to the 1980s.
• A public list of these clerics – and their status – can be found on our website.

If you were sexually abused by clergy, there is help available, regardless of when it happened.  We want to know, and we want to help.    
To report clergy sexual abuse, please call the Office of Pastoral Support and Outreach at one of the following numbers:

• Main Office: 617-746-5985
• Vivian Soper, LICSW 617-746-5995

Director of Pastoral Support and Child Protection
Victim Assistance Coordinator

• Kristen Gotter, LICSW 617-746-5993

Social Worker – Victim Assistance
Our office is generally open from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday.  If we don’t answer, please leave a message.  We will call you back.

If you need to report abuse by a bishop from anywhere in the US, you can do so through the Catholic Bishop Abuse Reporting Service.  You can report through the website https://reportbishopabuse.org/   or by calling them at 1-800-276-1562.