The state Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday on whether the Diocese of Providence as an institution can be defined as a “perpetrator” of child sexual abuse under a relatively new state law, and thus possibly sued by alleged victims of accused pedophile priests from decades ago. 

Rhode Island lawmakers in 2019 extended the deadline for victims of childhood sexual abuse to file lawsuits against those who abused them, even if the abuse took place outside of the statute of limitations.

The new law extended the deadline from seven years to 35 years after the victim’s 18th birthday. But it allowed a retroactive extension of that deadline only if they were suing a “perpetrator” — not a “non-perpetrator.” 

In a test case of the new law, Superior Court Judge Netti C. Vogel in 2020 dismissed three priest-abuse lawsuits against the diocese and its leaders, finding that the law defined “perpetrator” as the person…