Attorney General Peter Neronha is preparing to release what he calls the most detailed examination to date of the sexual abuse of children by priests in Rhode Island.
Neronha’s investigation adds details to a familiar problem: how the Catholic Church for years overlooked sexual abuse by priests, in some cases shuttling them to other pulpits
The state’s top prosecutor said exposure through news reports eventually improved the situation. And the Diocese’s response to accusations of abuse improved over time, Neronha said.
“This report goes pretty far back in time — 40, 50 years,” Neronha said.“The takeaway about how the Diocese responded — if you were to look at that, take a snapshot of that 30 or 40 years ago — it’s much worse from where I sit, from my point of view and my opinion, than it would be today.”
The story of how Neronha has completed an investigation launched in 2019 was first reported by The Boston Globe.
Neronha said investigators were precluded from using a grand jury since they concluded they lacked a case for charging the Diocese criminally.
He said the findings include an appendix of credibly accused priests as determined by investigators, not by the Diocese, “and tells the story in those appendices for each priest, when they were first accused and what the Diocese’s response was to those accusations, and if they stayed in the priesthood where they were assigned thereafter.”
He plans to share his report with the Diocese of Providence and then the public in the next few weeks.
In response to questions from Ocean State Media, Michael Kieloch, director of communications for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, said “We await release of the draft report, and are unable to respond or comment until we are allowed to read and review it.”
This story has been updated with response from the Diocese of Providence.
