A sweeping investigation released by the Rhode Island Attorney General has exposed decades of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church in the state, identifying at least 75 clergy members accused of abusing more than 300 children since 1950 till 2011.
After a multiyear investigation into the Catholic Diocese of Providence, Rhode Island, Attorney General Peter Neronha issued the findings on Wednesday.
Neronha outlined the longstanding pattern in which church officials prioritized institutional reputation over the protection of children.
According to Neronha, it remains difficult to fully understand the extent of the clergy abuse issue in Rhode Island, the smallest state in the union with the biggest Catholic population per capita (almost 40%). He concurred with victims who say that despite the issue being discovered in the adjacent Boston diocese in 2002, not enough has been done to address it.
The findings have drawn comparisons with the other high-profile transparency efforts of the recent public release of millions of Epstein files.
Read more: For survivors, Rhode Island clergy abuse report brings vindication and renewed demands
Victims still await justice
Just like the victims from the Epstein files, the victims of the Rhode Island priests still await complete justice.
Neronha told reporters on Wednesday, “If you’re the Diocese of Providence and you’re listening, you need to own and fix this scandal. We can’t slow walk solutions, and we can’t slow walk justice.”
Neronha said the investigation uncovered systemic failures in how abuse allegations were handled for decades. In many cases, accused priests were transferred to other assignments or sent for treatment rather than reported to law enforcement, according to the report’s findings.
Additionally, church documents reveal that accusations against accused priests were neither thoroughly investigated nor submitted to law enforcement, a pattern that was revealed in Boston, Philadelphia, and other investigations.
According to the findings, only around 20 clergy members were criminally charged, and just 14 were ultimately convicted, leaving many cases unresolved due to statutes of limitations or lack of evidence decades later.
A childhood sexual abuse survivor “from a catholic” from Rhode Island, Tricia Youngs, wrote on X, “As a native Rhode Islander, and a childhood sexual abuse survivor from a Catholic. I know all too well the depth of the sick web of cover-up and enabling of pedophile priest. It is well known that the average pedophile commits 114 acts of sexual abuse. It is Systematic abuse.”
For instance, in 1992, Robert Carpentier, a priest, resigned when a victim came forward to report that he had been sexually molested as a 13-year-old in the 1970s. After admitting to the abuse, Carpentier was placed in a treatment facility and subsequently took a sabbatical at Boston College. The diocese provided him with support after he retired in 2006 and passed away in 2012.
According to the research, the majority of accused priests escaped punishment from the diocese and law enforcement.
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Church disagrees with Neronha
In response, the diocese acknowledged the prevalence of child sexual abuse, particularly by clergy. Still, it stated that the study reflected the church’s commitment to divulge internal documents as part of a 2019 deal with the state.
The church further said, “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.”
Neronha initiated the inquiry in 2019, a year after a Pennsylvania grand jury delivered a landmark report revealing that over 300 priests had abused over 1,000 children since the 1940s.
However, Rhode Island law prohibits the release of grand jury reports, something Neronha has long sought to change. Instead, he reached a deal with the diocese to gain access to its vast collection of documents on clergy sexual abuse.
Neronha chastised the diocese on Wednesday for dismissing the study as “ancient history.” He urged that church leaders needed to do more to address ongoing concerns about abuse.
He also emphasized the need for the diocese to quit the practice of requiring victims to undergo polygraph tests and to stop refusing to investigate third-party accusations against priests.
However, in a video statement, Bishop Bruce Lewandowski in a video statement said, “There are no credibly accused clergy in active ministry. Today’s Catholic clergy here in Rhode Island are good and holy men serving Christ and his people with devotion and out of genuine pastoral concern.”
