Sprawling investigation finds decades of sexual abuse among Catholic priests in Rhode Island

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Sprawling investigation finds decades of sexual abuse among Catholic priests in Rhode Island
By  KIMBERLEE KRUESI, MARYCLAIRE DALE and LEAH WILLINGHAM
March 4, 2026

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — 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 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....

One survivor described being groomed more than a year before he was abused by the pastor of Immaculate Conception Church in Cranston in 1981. The survivor, who is not named in the report, said the late Monsignor John Allard showered him with attention. By ninth grade, he said, the sexual abuse began in the priest’s bedroom. “His comment to me was always, ‘You need a hug,’ and that’s something that I can hear him saying very clearly to this very day,” the survivor told officials in 2013.

While a review board deemed the abuse credible, the Vatican — at the urging of then-Providence Bishop Thomas Tobin — let Allard retire rather than be defrocked. The report lists Tobin advocating for several accused priests, a trend that Neronha repeatedly criticized....

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, saying it refused to provide diocesan personnel for interviews.

Neronha criticized the diocese on Wednesday for treating the report as “ancient history,” arguing that more needed to be done by clergy leaders to address ongoing concerns about abuse. His office outlined multiple changes for the diocese, which include providing clear investigative timelines and guidelines. He also stressed the need for the diocese to abandon the practice of requiring victims take polygraph tests and to stop refusing to investigate third-party complaints about priests.  The diocese, in its response Wednesday, pushed back on that view, saying the report would not have been possible without the church’s cooperation. “There are no credibly accused clergy in active ministry,” said Bishop Bruce Lewandowski in a video statement....

https://apnews.com/article/rhode-island-priest-abuse-f40c99b76870a2516999bf2d676aa144