BERKSHIRE (MA)
The Berkshire Eagle
March 11, 2019
By Larry Parnass
District attorneys say they will probe complaints of clergy sexual abuse in Western Massachusetts, even if the passage of time leaves them unable to bring charges.
“We want to honor and respect what people in our area have gone through,” said Berkshire District Attorney Andrea Harrington. “Prosecution is about standing up for what’s right and wrong — and for morality. Whether you can or cannot win a case.”
Harrington and Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan, who represents Hampshire and Franklin counties, say they feel a moral obligation to aid survivors, amid questions about whether the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield has adequately relayed abuse complaints to prosecutors.
“It’s really about the Diocese of Springfield being transparent, disclosing all the allegations of adult and child sexual abuse and then being accountable,” Sullivan said. “It may not be a criminal prosecution, because the statute of limitations may have run on many people.
“But there’s other forms of justice, for people to be acknowledged for the harm that was done to them. That restorative justice that goes on can be outside of the courts,” he said in an interview at his Northampton office.
Separately, Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni last month created a telephone hotline staffed by state police detectives that is accepting complaints of clergy abuse from any time period.
Moves by the three district attorneys — the top law enforcement officers for the four western counties — come as the office of Attorney General Maura Healey fine-tunes a memorandum of understanding related to how Catholic church officials report complaints of abuse. A spokesman for Healey declined to comment on the memorandum, but said the office is working with district attorneys “to make sure the policies and systems we have in place are strong to protect against these crimes, and remain a resource for survivors.”
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