PROVIDENCE (RI)
Boston Globe
April 2, 2026
By Edward Fitzpatrick
“After all these years, in light of the attorney general’s report, I don’t know what else we could do to say to the Senate: Do the right thing,” said House Judiciary Chair Carol Hagan McEntee, whose sister is a survivor of clergy abuse
The House Judiciary Committee is expected to vote tonight in favor of three bills that Attorney General Peter F. Neronharecommended in his scathing report on clergy sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence.
But it’s clear the real battle over those bills will be in the Senate. Last year, the House passed a bill to allow previously expired civil claims against institutions such as the Roman Catholic Church. But the Senate balked.
House Judiciary Chairwoman Carol Hagan McEntee, whose sister is a survivor of clergy abuse, on Wednesday said she expects the committee to pass the bill she has introduced to open a “revival window” allowing previously expired claims against institutions and supervisors responsible for enabling or covering up sexual abuse. The window would open on July 1, 2026, and close on June 30, 2028.
“After all these years, in light of the attorney general’s report, I don’t know what else we could do to say to the Senate: Do the right thing,” McEntee said. “If this doesn’t do it, they are clearly more intent on protecting institutions than children.”
Senators have raised concerns that the bill’s retroactivity could potentially be unconstitutional. And in October, New Hampshire’s Supreme Court ruled that a 2020 law eliminating the statute of limitations for sexual assault cases could not be applied retroactively because it would violate that state’s constitutional prohibition against retrospective laws.
But Neronha has said his office is ready to defend the constitutionality of the proposed Rhode Island law.
The Rev. Bernard A. Healey, chairman of the Rhode Island Catholic Conference, has written to the House Judiciary Committee strongly opposing the bill.
“The Diocese of Providence accepts their responsibility for the abuse that occurred within our ranks and will support survivors as long as necessary,” Healey wrote. “It has paid over $21 million in legal settlements to victims of clergy sex abuse. It has provided and continues to provide millions of dollars for direct financial assistance for victims’ counseling.”
But statutes of limitations are a basic principle of American law that ensures fairness by requiring lawsuits to be filed promptly, he said.
“Without them, nonprofits and churches could face lawsuits alleging abuse from several decades ago,” Healey wrote. “It is nearly impossible for an institution that did not commit the abuse to defend against a lawsuit from 30, 40, 50, or 60 years past because, over time, witnesses’ memories become unreliable, evidence is lost or never found, and in many instances, perpetrators or witnesses may be deceased.”
Over the past five years, similar bills have been struck down in New Hampshire, Maine, Colorado, Kentucky, and Utah, he said.
But advocates for the bill told the committee that 21 states, two territories, and the federal government have eliminated civil statutes of limitations for some or all childhood sexual abuse claims, and 33 states and territories have enacted revival or lookback windows.
National director Kathryn Robb and legislative counsel Jessica Schidlow, of the Children’s Justice Campaign at Enough Abuse, wrote to the committee, saying the retroactive revival of civil statutes of limitation is constitutional under both federal and Rhode Island law.
They emphasized that the trauma of childhood sexual abuse creates “significant barriers to reporting.” Studies show 45 percent of male victims and 25 percent of female victims who eventually disclose do so more than 20 years after the abuse, and an estimated 70 percent to 95 percent never report to police at all, they said.
“This silence is not a reflection of a lack of courage but rather the profound neurobiological impact of abuse, including deep-seated fear, shame, and the manipulation tactics employed by perpetrators,” Robb and Schidlow wrote. “Rhode Island’s current (statute of limitations) fails to account for these realities.”
They said McEntee’s bill would “align Rhode Island with a growing national consensus that justice for survivors demands the complete elimination of arbitrary time limits and the full revival of past claims.”
Neronha’s report also recommends passage of a bill McEntee has introduced to extend the statute of limitations for second-degree sexual abuse from three years to 10 years.
And the report recommends passage of a McEntee bill that would expand the definition of “educational program” for purposes of the abused and neglected children law to include charter schools, parochial schools, after-school programs, and camps.
The House Judiciary Committee will meet after today’s 4 p.m. House session in the House Lounge.
This story first appeared in Rhode Map, our free newsletter about Rhode Island that also contains information about local events, links to interesting stories, and more. If you’d like to receive it via email Monday through Friday, you can sign up here.
Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at edward.fitzpatrick@globe.com. Follow him @FitzProv.