RHODE ISLAND
Providence Journal
By Mark Patinkin
Journal Columnist
Posted Apr 28, 2018
Long-retired leader of Providence Diocese sits down to discuss his career, continued religious work, and the Church’s handling of a long-running sexual-abuse scandal.
Retired Bishop Louis Gelineau greeted me with a firm handshake while keeping his other hand on his walker.
I’d learned he turns 90 on Thursday, so I had come to see him at the Villa at St. Antoine in North Smithfield, the assisted-living facility that’s now his home.
I’d covered Gelineau a few times years ago and remembered his proper public persona. But I’d never sat with him and was struck by his openness, even about difficult matters like the church sex-abuse scandal. …
“We had parishes with two or three priests,” Gelineau said. “You don’t see that anymore.”
Then I asked about the impact of the church sex-abuse scandals.
“That was harmful to us, yes,” Gelineau said. “I was in office when that came to us.”
I reminded him the Providence Diocese in 2002 paid $14 million to settle dozens of cases, many from during his years, and lawyers claimed a pattern of covering up abuse.
“That was the whole question against Cardinal Law,” said Gelineau of the Boston bishop who resigned in 2002. “He had a lot going on and didn’t take the steps he should have.”
And Gelineau?
“As soon as I knew — we set up an office for handling that. And it’s still there to reveal the truth.”
Monsignor Frappier headed that committee and he said one of their first actions was hiring a retired Massachusetts state trooper to investigate by the book.
I pressed the bishop, pointing out that lawyers representing three men who sued for abuse claimed that documents show Gelineau transferred one accused priest to a new church where he abused again.
The bishop said the truth wasn’t clear at first.
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