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Attorney General Andrea Campbell is asking the general public for “patience” as she waits for the discharge of a years-old report into clergy sexual abuse within the dioceses of Worcester, Fall River and Springfield.

During an appearance on Boston Public Radio On Tuesday, Campbell was pressed by anchors Jim Braude and Margery Eagan about why the report wasn't released. It was accomplished in fall 2021 under then-Attorney General Maura Healey, in line with New England Public Media.

“It’s up to the courts to decide whether it can be released or not,” Campbell said. “That’s all I can say.”

The report included quite a few sources, including grand jury proceedings.

“You have to be careful with a grand jury, which is normally secret, of course, and there is a particular way that these proceedings are run,” Campbell said. “Then to make it public you have to get permission if not all parties agree to release it. It’s currently before the courts.”

The timeframe for release is as much as the courts, she said.

“I take allegations of sexual abuse – you know, I'm a mother of two boys – very seriously, from whomever,” the attorney general said. “In this particular case, I inherited a completed report that was sitting there. And now I'm doing what I can to see what we can do in terms of publishing. But other than that, it's not my fault personally. It has to go through a process, and that process now involves the court. And when it’s over, people will know where we end up.”

Abuse survivors and advocates said New England Public Media Last 12 months they announced they were being interviewed by the attorney general's office in fall 2021 for a report on the dioceses of Worcester, Fall River and Springfield.

In 2003, a report by then-Attorney General Tom Reilly examined widespread clergy sexual abuse within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. finally that probably greater than 1,000 victims were affected over a period of 60 years.

“It is important to create an official public record of events,” Reilly wrote within the introduction to Report 2003. “The abuse of children was so massive and so prolonged that it bordered on the unbelievable. This report will confirm to all who read it now and in the future that this tragedy was real.”

On Boston Public Radio, Campbell wouldn’t deny or confirm Braude and Eagan's query about whether the three dioceses were the parties that objected to the discharge of the newest report.

“I don’t know if I can even say that,” she said.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — United Methodist delegates on Friday lifted their church's longstanding ban on clergy and churches celebrating same-sex marriages or civil unions.

The motion marked the newest major reversal in a series of LGBTQ bans and disapproval which have been enshrined within the laws and social teachings of the United Methodist Church over the past half century.

The UMC General Conference's 447-233 vote got here a day after delegates voted overwhelmingly to repeal a 52-year-old declaration that the practice of homosexuality is “incompatible with Christian doctrine,” and two days after they lifted the denomination's ban on LGBTQ clergy.

This is the UMC's first legislative convention since 2019, which boasted its most progressive delegate list ever after greater than 7,600 predominantly conservative congregations across the United States defected over virtually enforcing its bans on same-sex marriage and LGBTQ ordination had set.

Delegates voted to repeal a piece of their book of discipline, or church code, that states: “Ceremony celebrating homosexual unions shall not be performed by our ministers and shall not be held in our churches.”

Under current law, which the conference approved with minor changes on Friday, clergy will neither be required nor prohibited from marrying.

On Thursday, the delegates adopted the revised social principles and declarations of the church's values. This revision not only removed language that homosexuality was “incompatible with Christian teaching,” but in addition defined marriage as a union between two adults, without limiting it to heterosexual couples as within the previous version.

But while the social principles are non-binding, the clause deleted on Friday had the force of law.

However, regional conferences outside the United States have the power to set their very own rules, so churches in Africa and elsewhere with more conservative views on sexuality could maintain bans on same-sex marriage and LGBTQ clergy. A pending change to the church structure would also allow the US region to make such adjustments.

The amendment doesn’t require or explicitly affirm same-sex marriage. But it lifts their ban. It takes effect on the Saturday following the conclusion of general conference.

The Rev. Rebecca Girrell of Vermont told fellow delegates that she regretted initially rejecting a request to perform same-sex marriage based on church rules. “I promised that I would never again betray my heart and my calling to offer service and grace to all people,” she said.

She later said she defied church rules and performed the same-sex wedding for 2 service members before their deployment. “You will never convince me that this was wrong,” she said.

But Samuel Cole of Liberia urged the conference to not approve the measure. He said it will not be accepted in other parts of the world, adding that only a person and a lady could father children.

In 2019, a short lived window was opened allowing American churches to depart with their property, normally owned by the denomination, on more favorable terms than normal. While the conference voted against extending this window to international churches, the conference votes could still lead some international churches to exit in other ways – particularly in Africa, where conservative sexual values ​​prevail and same-sex activity is criminalized in some countries.

Separately, General Conference on Friday removed language that makes it a criminal offense for clergy to be “self-professed practicing homosexuals” or to perform same-sex marriages – just like previous repeals but affecting a special a part of church law. There was some debate since the measure also abolished other criminal offenses comparable to marital infidelity. But advocates said there are other parts of the Book of Discipline that allow the church to discipline clergy for immorality.