Priest Assigned to Stonehill College in 1970s Among ‘credibly Accused’

By Cody Shepard
Enterprise News
July 4, 2019

https://www.enterprisenews.com/news/20190704/priest-assigned-to-stonehill-college-in-1970s-among-credibly-accused

A deceased priest who was assigned to Stonehill College in the 1970s has been “credibly accused” of sexual abuse, according to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence.

Robert Marcantonio, who died in October 1999 at the age of 56, was one of 50 priests named this week as credibly accused of sexually abusing children. The names of the priests and where they were assigned are now published on the diocese website.

Marcantonio was assigned to Stonehill College in Easton from 1975 to 1979. He served as a counseling psychologist and director of counseling services.

There are no known accusations of sexual abuse while Marcantonio was assigned to the Easton college. But a lawsuit previously filed in Des Moines, Iowa states that Chancellor Daniel P. Reilly and other church officials were notified in 1970 that Marcantonio had sexually abused more than two dozen boys while he was assigned in Rhode Island. The lawsuit stated church officials decided to send him to Iowa for graduate work and to receive psychiatric treatment.

Between 1970 and 1975, Marcantonio was assigned to various locations in Iowa, according to the list released this week by the diocese. He was at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Ames from 1970-75; Iowa State University from 1971-75; Ames High School from 1972-73; and Drake University in Des Moines in 1974.

Although the Rhode Island Diocese does not list Marcantonio as having been assigned to St. Cecilia Church in Ames, he was accused of sexually abusing at least two boys there. The Archdiocese of Dubuque in Iowa has confirmed Marcantonio was at the church.