The Hampden County district attorney says there's a discrepancy between the number of clergy sex abuse cases the Springfield Diocese has published, and the number the Diocese has referred to the DA's office.
So he's starting a hotline for victims.
The Springfield Diocese recently published — in the February 2019 issue of The Catholic Mirror — the number of reports of clergy sexual abuse it has received each year, including 15 reports of abuse in 2018.
Hampden County District Attorney Anthony Gulluni said those numbers don't square with the reports sent to his office.
"Following a period of appropriate due diligence by my office in reviewing its files,” Gulluni said, “we have not received referrals of any kind from the Diocese that comport with its own public statements."
Gulluni said he's launching a hotline for victims and family of victims of sex abuse, so they can report it directly to the DA's office.
The Springfield Diocese said, in a statement, that it supports the initiative — and that the discrepancy is because in the mid-1990s, the DA's office told the Diocese not to report cases involving dead priests.
But now, the Diocese said, it will.
It also doesn't report anonymous complaints, and those filed by attorneys.
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