PROVIDENCE (RI)
Providence Journal [Providence RI]
June 11, 2026
By Katherine Gregg
Key Points
- Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee signed a new law allowing victims of childhood sexual abuse by clergy to sue the Catholic Church.
- The law creates a two-year window, starting July 1, 2026, for victims to file previously time-barred civil lawsuits.
- This legislation applies to the church and any other institution that concealed the abuse.
With the stroke of a pen, Gov. Dan McKee on June 11 signed legislation into law that will allow victims who were sexually abused by clergy as children to sue the Catholic Church.
The new law provides a two-year revival window that opens on July 1, 2026, for victims, who are now in many cases in their 60s and 70s, to file what had been time-barred civil suits against the Church and any other institution that not only failed to protect them from pedophiles but went out of their way to conceal their crimes.
McKee was surrounded at the signing by a group of now familiar victim-advocates who have year after year told lawmakers – at televised hearings – the horrific details of what was done to them by priests at the Sacred Heart elementary school in West Warwick, Our Lady of Mercy in East Greenwich and other locales across Rhode Island.
“This legislation sends a message to victims of child sex abuse, that Rhode Island stands with you,” McKee said.
“This bill is empowering victims of alleged abuse to stand up and seek justice. Many times it takes years, sometimes longer to process such a traumatic experience, and time shouldn’t be against them,” said McKee, thanking the victims by name who have led the legislative fight for the new law since 2018.
He named Ann Hagan Webb (sister of the lead House sponsor, House Judiciary Chairwoman Carol McEntee), Herbert “Hub” Brennan, Jim Scanlan and Robert Houllahan who, each in their own turn, talked about how much the enactment of the law means to them.
“This has been a really long David-and-Goliath fight for justice and for the protection of children, and we won. And I thank you all so much,” said Webb.
“I knew it would be an uphill battle, but it’s been a very long nine years,” Webb said. “We came back year after year with no success.
“Meanwhile, organizations like the Boy Scouts found a way to reconcile their past atrocities and settle with their victims. The St. George’s cases settled. Larry Nassar survivors were victorious in their fight. Even the insurance lobby stopped testifying against our bill,” she continued.
“By 2026, the only opponent to this bill was the Catholic lobby,” Webb said. “Even in the face of [Attorney General Peter] Neronha’s scathing report … they fought behind the scenes as they always have to keep survivors from justice and to convince the public that this was an anti-Catholic bill.”
“Many of us never imagined we would tell our stories publicly,” said Scanlan. “Yet together we discovered something powerful, that our voices are stronger than our shame and that our truth is stronger than our secrecy.”
Brennan, a prominent East Greenwich physician, called it an honor to “represent the many survivors” who, like him, “suffered abuse as a child … in the hands of criminals … who worked for organizations who shared [their] criminality through concealment, deceit and … moving these monsters to new communities, our communities, compounding the abuse and suffering exponentially.”
Houllahan said: “It’s a full-time job to maintain your mental health when this happens to you as a child. It’s deeply unfair. It’s sadistic,” but “this is definitely a victory for accountability.”