Report Details Priest Abuse, Cover-Ups in Rhode Island

Catholic priests in Rhode Island preyed on hundreds of children for decades, and were protected by bishops more concerned with the church's reputation than the victims, according to a new report on clergy sexual abuse that echoes findings elsewhere. The report, released Wednesday by Attorney General Peter Neronha, follows a multiyear investigation into the Catholic Diocese of Providence, Rhode Island, the AP reports.

• Neronha said the full scope of the priest abuse problem in Rhode Island—the smallest US state but the one with the highest proportion of Catholics, at nearly 40%—had long remained elusive. He agreed with victims who say not enough has been done to address the problem long after it was exposed in the nearby Boston diocese in 2002.

• "Not until now has there been a comprehensive review of this painful chapter in our state's history, with a view toward offering transparency, accountability, and systemic reforms that will, I hope, lessen the likelihood of future child sexual abuse, not just within the Diocese of Providence, but in our community as a whole," Neronha wrote in the report. Neronha, who was raised Catholic, hopes the report will spur legal reforms to boost investigative powers and help victims seek justice.
• The investigation found that 75 Catholic clergy molested more than 300 victims since 1950, but officials stressed that the number of victimized children and abusive priests is likely much higher.
• The diocese, in response, acknowledged the scourge of child sexual abuse—especially by clergy—but said the report reflects the church's willingness to share internal records under a 2019 agreement with the state. "The report presents this 75-year history in ways that might lead the reader to conclude these issues are an ongoing diocesan problem or that these are new revelations. They are not," the statement said.
• Church records show the diocese transferred accused priests to new assignments without fully investigating complaints or contacting law enforcement, a practice exposed in investigations in Boston, Philadelphia, and elsewhere. And, as in other cities, the Diocese of Providence opened a "spiritual retreat-style facility" in the early 1950s for accused priests to seek treatment. Later, when the abuse was deemed a mental health problem, priests were sent to more formal treatment centers. By the 1990s, accused priests were sometimes placed on sabbatical leave.

• Most accused priests, the report found, avoided accountability from both law enforcement and the diocese. Neronha's office has charged four current and former priests with sexual abuse for allegations stemming from 2020 to 2022. Three of them are still awaiting trial. The fourth priest died after being deemed incompetent to stand trial in 2022.
• Only 20 people—about a quarter of the clergy identified in the report—faced criminal charges, and just 14 were convicted. A dozen others were laicized or otherwise dismissed.
• "We identified at least 13 priests who were accused of abusing over 40 children, under circumstances where it appears the Diocese had some prior notice of [their] possible child sexual misconduct," Neronha said, per the Providence Journal. "But instead of removing those priests and taking steps to separate them from the priesthood entirely, the Diocese simply transferred them to other parishes (or permitted them to remain at their posts), where they reportedly abused more children."
• The church turned over 70 years' worth of material, including complaints from its secret archives, civil settlement records, treatment costs, and other documents. Yet Neronha called the diocese's help limited at times. "It repeatedly refused my team's requests for interviews of diocesan personnel responsible for overseeing the diocese's investigations," he said in the report.