PROVIDENCE (RI)
Greater Boston, WGBH-TV, PBS-2 [Boston MA]
March 4, 2026
By William Brangham, Karina Cuevas and Bridget Craig
A new report says Catholic clergy in Rhode Island abused hundreds of children for decades as church leaders minimized the scandal. According to the report, more than 300 children were molested and assaulted by at least 75 different clergy members over 70 years. William Brangham discussed the investigation with Ann Hagan Webb, a survivor of clergy sexual abuse and an advocate for other survivors.
Read the Full Transcript
Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors.
Geoff Bennett:
A new report out today says Catholic clergy in Rhode Island abused hundreds of children for decades, while church leaders minimized the scandal.
William Brangham has more.
William Brangham:
Geoff, according to the report, more than 300 children were molested or sexually assaulted by at least 75 different clergy members over 70 years. The abuses documented date back to the 1950s all the way to 2011.
According to Rhode Island’s Attorney General Peter Neronha, whose office wrote this report, those numbers could be even higher. The report alleges the diocese kept a secret archive detailing abuse allegations and often moved accused priests to new parishes, rather than alerting authorities.
Following the report’s release, the new bishop of Providence, reverend Bruce Lewandowski, stressed that the church has instituted new standards for reporting abuse and he expressed sorrow for the trauma and pain experienced by victims.
Rev. Bruce Lewandowski, Bishop of Providence, Rhode Island: I take this opportunity to apologize to the victim survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy, for the failures of church personnel and others in past decades to protect them and keep them safe.
William Brangham:
But investigators and survivors continue to call for a fuller reckoning of this story.
For more on this investigation, I am joined by Ann Hagan Webb. She is a survivor of clergy sexual abuse and now advocates for survivors. Webb was abused between the ages of 5 and 12 years old by a priest at her school in West Warwick
Ann, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us today.
Some of your own abuse stories were detailed in this report. And I just wonder how this must feel to you, after so many years of being told that your allegations were not credible, to now have this report out in the public for everyone to see.
Ann Hagan Webb, Abuse Survivor:
Thank you for having me on your show, William.
I — this means so very much to me to be finally deemed credible after all these years; 32 years, the diocese has been calling me not credible. In spite of that, I have tried to work to better the situation for survivors across New England over these years.
But it really feels much better to have that be a part of this report. Up until just a few weeks — days ago, I still thought it was just going to say in that part under Monsignor DeAngelis that I wasn’t a credible witness.
William Brangham:
It is very difficult, obviously, reading this report. Both the allegations of the abuse are just ghastly to read, but also the lengths that the church went to cover it all up. In this enormous report, what stands out the most to you?
Ann Hagan Webb:
Well, a lot stands out.
I mean, most of it is information I knew. But one of the things that really struck me in reading this report — and Peter Neronha said it today in his remarks. In the case of one priest, Santilli, Father Santilli, the church heard reports about him about 10 years earlier than 2014.
And then, in 2014, another person came forward. He spoke to me first before he went to the church. And they told him he was not credible. Then, finally, another survivor of that same priest came forward in 2022. And I spoke with him as well before he went to the church.
And they actually said to him, OK, three strikes, he’s out about this priest. And they finally took the priest out of service. That is simply amazing to me. We are not talking about parking tickets or speeding tickets, where you get three strikes and you lose your license.
These are rapes. These are child molestations that change people’s lives. Many of the survivors committed suicide over the years. These are not minor crimes. And to have to be reported on three times over a period of 10 years is just ludicrous.
William Brangham:
The bishop in his video statement today said that we have got a system of reporting that this would never happen again, that if someone came forward with an allegation of abuse, that the reporting and the immediate standards would kick into place and that we wouldn’t see this hiding and shuffling and denying.
But it sounds like you do not believe that that’s the case.
Ann Hagan Webb:
Absolutely not.
One of the problems with this report — and the report is wonderful because it really — it is a horrifying report of men’s cruelty to children over seven decades. However, it’s only the information the church voluntarily gave the attorney general’s office, and they refused over this whole 6.5 years to ever come into the A.G.’s office and talk to them about any questions they had about what they were reading.
So there’s lots left to be discovered. And I don’t for a minute believe that they revealed all their deepest, darkest secrets in what they gave the attorney general’s office. In spite of that, he produced a phenomenal report.
William Brangham:
There, as you know, have been only a few prosecutions, legal prosecutions over the years. And the church has said, again, we apologize for this, it’s not going to happen again.
So what would you like to see happen? Most of the men detailed in this report escaped real accountability for any of their crimes to children. What would you like to see done going forward?
Ann Hagan Webb:
Right.
Well, first of all, I would like the diocese to be accountable. Saying I’m sorry as damage control or we apologize, have they ever said they’re ashamed of what has happened? Because they should be incredibly ashamed.
This is — to anyone reading, it has to be really horrifying that people could, with such disregard for children’s welfare, put their financial situation and their good name above children’s lives. I think they have done a lot in terms of monitoring who’s in the schools and things like that. They have given everybody programs about being safe — how to be safe with children and all of that.
They are fighting survivors as hard as they possibly can in the courtrooms, but especially in the legislature. They are lobbying very hard not to get any of the bills passed that we want that would make them more accountable. And they need to stop that yesterday.
William Brangham:
OK.
Ann Hagan Webb, thank you so much for talking with us. I hope today’s report offers you and other survivors a small bit of peace.
Ann Hagan Webb:
Oh, it does. It does. It — this gives us our power back.