Fr. Charles F. Dolan

Named publicly as credibly accused by the Diocese on its list 7/1/2019. Allegation(s) were received after Dolan’s death. Per the 3/04/2026 RI Attorney General’s Report, a woman reported to the Diocese in 2002 that Dolan repeatedly sexually abused her beginning when she was age 15 in 1938 and he was assigned to St. Joseph Parish in Pawtucket. Dolan told her to tell another St. Joseph’s priest about the abuse in 1940, and that priest also took sexual advantage of the girl, who was then 18. In 1949 Dolan was sent to the Servants of the Paraclete in NM for treatment. He was next assigned to St. Joseph Hospital in Warick as chaplain for three years, then to St. Brendan Parish in Riverside. In 1992 a woman told the Diocese that she and her sister and “numerous other little girls” were sexually abused by Dolan at St. Brendan’s and at his cousin’s house in Riverside. The abuse involved his taking nude pictures of them, fondling, and intercourse. He also allegedly offered the girls alcohol. Dolan was transferred from St. Brendan’s after one year. He retired in 1971 and died 11/5/1977.