PROVIDENCE (RI)
Brown Daily Herald - Independent Newspaper of Students at Brown University [Providence RI]
March 12, 2026
By Evan Tao
This month, R.I. Attorney General Peter Neronha P’19 P’22 released a report detailing the results of the state’s investigation into child abuse by the Diocese of Providence. Since 1950, over 300 children were abused by 75 priests. Criminal charges have been filed against four of the named clergy. The report found that the diocese systematically covered up abuse by failing to report complaints to authorities and transferring accused priests to different parishes instead of firing or reporting them. This resulted in more children being abused. It seems the prevailing mantra, at the time, was that “we must by all means avoid scandal,” as one bishop put it in 1971. In covering up child sex abuse, the entire church was complicit.
With all this public scrutiny, one might expect the diocese to emerge penitent. But their statement responding to the report was one long deflection of responsibility. They pat themselves on the back for voluntarily cooperating with the investigation, and emphasize that all the abuse occurred decades ago. “Today’s standards cannot adequately judge responses from forty years ago,” the church leaders argue, while pointing to the church’s accountability reforms from the ’90s, which it claims have been effective for its time. They criticize Neronha for presenting “this 75-year history in ways that might lead the reader to conclude these issues are an ongoing diocesan problem or that these are new revelations.” Never in its statement does the church apologize or ask for forgiveness. But in order to regain the trust of the public, the Diocese of Providence must repent.
The Bishop of Providence, Bruce Lewandowski, to his credit, does apologize. “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,” he said. Yet this apology is insufficient because he made it in his personal capacity, not on behalf of the diocese. The remainder of his statement on the report toes the line between an apology and an excuse. He emphasizes that “there are no credibly accused clergy in active ministry,” that this was “in the past” and that he is “confident that (their) parishes, schools and ministries are among the safest places for children today.” Though all of this is important to share with the public, it implies that no further investigation, reform or accountability is needed and that victims should simply move on.
But the diocese has not been cooperative with the investigation and needs continued reform, according to Neronha. In a press release, Neronha said the church only partially cooperated with the investigation — they refused in-person interviews and “dragged their feet” when turning over documents. Neronha wrote that “their tendency to reflexively turn inward is part of what perpetuated this crisis, and I’m not sure if all of the lessons have been learned.” According to some reporting, this is the reason the R.I. investigation took years longer than other regions. The report also claims that many of the diocese’s modern practices are far from adequate because they lack written procedures for internal investigations, fail to prevent grooming and insist that victims submit to polygraph tests, an inaccurate and legally inadmissible intimidation tactic. The report recommends tightening oversight, both within the church and in Rhode Island law.