PROVIDENCE – R.I. Attorney General Peter F. Neronha on Wednesday released a scathing report outlining decades of child sexual abuse within the Catholic Diocese of Providence, identifying 75 clergy members with credible accusations against them, including 61 Diocesan priests and deacons, 13 members of religious orders and one extern priest.
Together, they are reported to have abused more than 300 victims between 1950 and 2011.
The report is the result of a years-long investigation initiated in 2019, following a Memorandum of Understanding between the Attorney General's office and former Bishop Thomas J. Tobin whereby the Diocese agreed to voluntarily provide internal records related to clergy abuse dating back to 1950.
Investigators reviewed more than 250,000 pages of Diocese records, including personnel files, internal investigation reports and correspondence among senior officials. They also reached out to more than 300 victims, successfully contacting nearly 150 to discuss their experiences. A hotline was established to allow confidential reporting of clergy abuse.
In a statement, Neronha thanked survivors who shared their experiences during the investigation and “recounted unthinkable trauma at the hands of trusted religious leaders,” he said.
The investigation's findings revealed a staggering scale of abuse, with the Diocese reportedly concealing incidents and often relocating priests to different parishes or referring them to treatment rather than prosecution.
The report also scrutinizes the Diocese's historical response to abuse complaints, particularly under Bishops Russell McVinney and Louis Gelineau, during which accused priests were often returned to ministry.
Nerohna said the Diocese was reluctant to engage in the investigatory process, refused in-person interviews and delayed responding to document requests.
However, in a statement Wednesday church leaders countered that Neronha’s framing of the process as an investigation was misleading because it “did not result from legal compulsion, criminal or civil administrative proceedings or coercion.”
Acknowledging the “detestable” acts outlined in the report, the Diocese said it “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.”
In a video later posted to YouTube Bishop Bruce Lewandowski 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,” he said.
The Attorney General's office has initiated criminal charges against four current and former priests for alleged abuse while serving in the Diocese.
Among those charged is John Petrocelli, accused of multiple acts of child molestation against three male victims younger than 14 years old from 1981 to 1990. James Silva faces similar allegations involving a male victim younger than 14 years old between 1989 and 1990. Kevin Fisette is charged with first-degree child molestation against a juvenile male between 1981 and 1982. Edward Kelley, previously charged with multiple counts of sexual assault, was found incompetent to stand trial and passed away in 2022.
Neronha urged both the Diocese and the General Assembly to implement recommendations that include establishing an independent compensation program for victims and expanding the statute of limitations for civil claims, the creation of a monitoring program for credibly accused clergy, requiring nationwide background checks, funding an independent survivor compensation program, and expanding the Credibly Accused List and online document repository.
It also recommends amending the civil statute of limitations for child sexual abuse.
“The pain that survivors and their families suffer knows no statute of limitations, and history always has something to teach us,” said Nerohna.
Christopher Allen is a PBN staff writer. You may contact him at Allen@PBN.com.
