Br. Peter/Fr. Robert W. Barnes
Educator, school administrator, parish priest. Barnes was a member of the De La Salle Christian Brothers for thirty years, as Br. Peter. He worked in RI, New Orleans LA, New York NY, Memphis TN, Paramus NJ. In 1977 he entered the seminary in Weston MA. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1980 for Diocese of Norwich, using his given name, Robert. He died 7/5/2008. Per the Diocese’s 2/22/2019 list, Barnes was removed from ministry in 2002. He is included in the 3/4/2026 RI Attorney General’s Report, which notes that in 2002 a woman reported that Barnes raped her in East Providence RI when she was age 17 in 1963. The woman said that other Christian Brothers sexually abused her sister. There was no prosecution due to the statute of limitations. In 2019 a man reported that Barnes sexually assaulted him when he was age 10 in the 1950s, in Pawtucket RI. Barnes was assigned at the time of the alleged assault to St. Raphael’s Academy.
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