WEST WARWICK (RI)
WPRI-TV, CBS-12 [Providence RI]
September 8, 2026
By Barbara Ron
A federally subsidized housing complex in West Warwick no longer bears the name of a credibly accused clergy member identified in a sweeping report earlier this year, detailing decades of child sexual abuse and systemic coverup.
The complex, located near Sacred Heart Church, has been renamed Wakefield Manors, reflecting the street on which it sits instead of priest Monsignor Anthony DeAngelis.
DeAngelis was among dozens of clergy members named in Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha’s report on credibly accused clergy members in March.
For abuse survivor and advocate Ann Hagan Webb, witnessing the name come down was an emotional moment years in the making.
“This whole year has been a series of weights off my chest,” Webb told 12 News.
Webb said she was surprised by family and friends in late August when they brought her to the property without telling her what was happening.
“As he went around that corner, I said, ‘What is he taking me to Sacred Heart for?’ Because I hate to. I don’t go up there if I can avoid it,” Webb recalled. “And then I saw the name coming down off the building, and it was like tears started rolling right then. And I’m not much of a crier, but I was that day. Happy tears.”
According to the report, the abuse occurred at Sacred Heart Church in West Warwick between 1957 and 1965, beginning when she was five years old. DeAngelis died in 1990.
Webb reported the abuse to the Diocese of Providence in 1994. Two years later, the diocese paid her $12,500 for counseling, though it said the payment was not an admission of guilt. DeAngelis is now listed by the diocese as a publicly accused clergy member.
“It’s like, the church doesn’t believe in me, but West Warwick does,” Webb said.
‘Sordid and shameful’: AG report details generations of clergy abuse in RI
While West Warwick does not control the housing complex, Town Manager Mark Knott said the town supports the Sacred Heart Housing Board’s decision to change the name.
The change comes months after Rhode Island enacted a landmark law opening a temporary two-year window for survivors of childhood sexual abuse to sue alleged perpetrators, institutions and supervisors accused of enabling abuse.
The legislation was championed by Webb’s sister, State Rep. Carol Hagan McEntee (D-Narragansett, South Kingstown).
“I think once the AG’s report came out it made it pretty crystal clear that this man was not the type of man that you should have a building named after, he was a pedophile,” McEntee said.
MORE: New RI law extends revival window for clergy sex abuse lawsuits
In a statement to 12 News, the Diocese of Providence said it respects the Sacred Heart Housing Board’s decision because the organization operates independently of the diocese.
“We continue to pray for all victim-survivors of clergy sexual abuse and offer our apologies for the harm done to them in the past as well as how it continues to affect their lives today,” the diocese said.
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