'Deserve to know the truth.' Rhode Island releases clergy sex abuse report
USA TODAY
In the report, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said the investigation examined more than 250,000 pages of documents dating back to 1950.
PROVIDENCE, RI — A newly released, scathing report on the alleged sexual abuse of hundreds of children by more than 70 Rhode Island clergy members details the measures Catholic leaders undertook to conceal the magnitude of the scandal.
The over 280-page report was released on Wednesday, March 4, by Attorney General Peter Neronha following a yearslong investigation into the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence. The report revealed the number of victims, names and number of clergy members who allegedly abused them, and lengths — more extensively than previously known — to which the diocese went to hide their crimes against children.
"Generations of Rhode Island victims, their families, and others who have suffered the impacts of this trauma deserve to know the truth of what occurred," Neronha wrote in a foreword to his long-awaited report.
In total, the report identified 61 diocesan priests and deacons, 13 religious order members, and one "extern" priest, as having been "credibly accused" of abusing children. The investigation found that at least 315 children had been victims of clergy abuse since 1950.
In the report, Neronha said the investigation by his office, which began in July 2019, examined more than 250,000 pages of documents, dating back to 1950, voluntarily turned over by the diocese. That included personnel files, treatment reports, and internal investigation records from a "Secret Archive."
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