PROVIDENCE (RI)
Boston Globe
March 6, 2026
By Edward Fitzpatrick
“If only the Diocese over this course of history had taken the approach of that religious sister,” R.I. Attorney General Neronha said, “many children would have been spared this horrific abuse.”
PROVIDENCE — In a scathing new report about clergy who sexually abused children in Rhode Island and the bishops who allowed that abuse to continue, one story stood out: A single nun who pushed back.
The nun not only confronted the priest who had nude pictures in his bedroom and nine “young men” living in his rectory.
She also challenged the bishop who tried to keep her quiet, telling him, “Assurances are not enough. To do nothing is to permit situations to continue.”
The 288-page report released Wednesday identifies 75 clergy in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence who were credibly accused of abusing more than 300 children between 1950 and 2011.
But the chronicle of appalling misconduct also includes the story of that one courageous nun.
Wednesday’s report did not identify the nun by name, but on Friday Neronha’s office identified her as Sister Mary Larkin.
“If only the Diocese over this course of history had taken the approach of that religious sister,” Neronha said on Wednesday, “we likely wouldn’t be here today and many children would have been spared this horrific abuse.”
According to that report, Larkin wrote to the Rev. Normand Demers in December 1985 to resign from her position as a pastoral associate at St. Joseph’s Church in Providence. Among other reasons, she wrote, she had found photographs of nude men and women in Demers’ bedroom.
“I find the presence of such pictures any place, least of all a rectory, offensive to me and questionable in a home where you have nine young men residing,” she wrote.
One month later, in January 1986, Larkin wrote to then-Providence Bishop Louis E. Gelineau, raising concerns about Demers having “inappropriate materials” in the rectory and “young men” under his care in the rectory. She included photographs from inside the rectory that showed a “vast number of books dealing with homosexuality” and depicting nude men and women, according to the report.
When Gelineau did not reply, Larkin wrote to the bishop again at the end of that month, threatening to bring her complaint to the media “unless I hear from you in the near future.”
Soon after, in early February 1986, Gelineau replied. “The issues you raise with Father Demers are very serious ones,” he wrote. “You may be sure that I take them that way.”
The bishop then asked the nun not to report the information because of the scandal that it could cause, particularly given the recent arrests of other priests in the Providence Diocese for sexually assaulting minors.
“With the special difficulties we have had in the Diocese recently,” Gelineau wrote, “I certainly want to avoid any further causes for scandal. I would hope, therefore, that you would not go to the public media. That would certainly be very harmful to us. You mention the ultimate good of the Church, and it is my conviction now that by bringing it to my attention, you have fulfilled your responsibilities, and I would ask you to leave the rest in my hands.”
Larkin wrote to Gelineau again a few weeks later, noting that the problem had not been addressed and she felt her responsibility had not been fulfilled.
“On the contrary,” she wrote, “my responsibility is not fulfilled until such time as you have taken action to meet the many spiritual needs of the parish. Assurances are not enough. To do nothing is to permit situations to continue.”
The report said there is no record that Gelineau, who was bishop from 1972 to 1997, took any further action to investigate the nun’s allegations at the time or to discipline Demers.
According to the report, Demers was accused of sexually abusing at least 11 boys and young men while serving as a priest in the Providence Diocese between 1965 and 1997. The Diocese reported several, but not all, of those allegations to law enforcement, and none resulted in a prosecutable criminal case.
Members of the Diocesan hierarchy first received notice of possible misconduct by Demers as early as 1965, but Demers remained in ministry until 2002, according to the report.
The Diocese sent Demers to Saint Luke Institute, a treatment facility, for about five months in 1989-1990, after the Diocese learned that he was accused of sexual misconduct with one or more boys in Haiti.
He then returned to the Diocese and a parish assignment at St. Martha Church in East Providence, where he served for another 12 years.
The Diocese finally suspended Demers from active ministry in 2002 after it had received at least five separate reports of abuse against Demers.
Demers retired on March 12, 2004, and died on July 21, 2018.
Neronha said Larkin clearly had the same spirit as former attorney general Arlene Violet, the former nun who made history in 1985 when she became the nation’s first female state attorney general.
He noted that Violet, who had to resign from the Sisters of Mercy to run for attorney general, brought criminal charges against four priests, making Rhode Island the second jurisdiction in the country to prosecute child sex abuse cases where the perpetrator was a priest.
“When I think of her, I picture Arlene Violet,” Neronha said, ”someone who was smart, tough, and willing to stand up to power to do what was right and protect children.”
In an interview on Friday, Violet said, “I was a Sister of Mercy, and social justice was a top ranking value, along with courage. Whoever that nun is, I bless her for doing what nuns should do when faced with such criminality against children.”
Violet, now 82 years old and living in Barrington, R.I., praised Neronha’s report.
“It’s a disgraceful chapter for the Catholic Church all across the board,” she said. “There is no excuse for how they handled it.”
Violet said she hopes new Providence Bishop Bruce A. Lewandowski takes a different approach than past bishops.
“Bishop Lewandowski looks like he will pay attention,” she said. “He comes across as someone who is very people oriented.”
Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at edward.fitzpatrick@globe.com. Follow him @FitzProv.
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