Obituary: Fr Normand J. Demers

PROVIDENCE (RI)
Providence Journal

July 25, 2018

[The obituary does not mention that Demers was accused of sexually assaulting children in Providence and Haiti. It does not include his work in Haiti in its summary of his career history.]

85, a retired priest of the Diocese of Providence, died on Saturday, July 21, 2018.

Born in Woonsocket, he was a son of the late Eugene and Beatrice (Jarret) Demers, he attended St. Ann School and Mt. St. Charles Academy, both in Woonsocket.

In preparation for the priesthood, he studied at Our Lady of Providence Seminary in Warwick and at St. Mary Seminary in Baltimore, Maryland. He was ordained a priest on May 31, 1958 in the Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul in Providence by Bishop Russell J. McVinney.

After a summer assignment at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Wakefield, he served as Assistant Pastor at St. John the Evangelist Parish in Slatersville from 1958-1959 and at St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Coventry from 1959-1965. He then became Chaplain at Our Lady of Fatima Hospital in North Providence from 1965-1973 and also served as Chaplain at the Adult Correctional Institution in Cranston from 1971-1976.

In 1976 he was appointed Pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Providence and served there until 1990 when he became Assistant Pastor at St. Martha Parish in East Providence, serving for nearly 12 years. He retired from active ministry in March 2004.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.