The Call Is Coming From Inside The Church House: More Catholic Church Abuse Allegations Exposed
An investigation is underway in Providence, Rhode Island, where investigators say 75 people have sexually abused some 300 children since 1950, with the state’s top law enforcement chief warning Wednesday that the scope of abuse is likely much larger than that.
Amazingly — well, it might seem amazing to a MAGA conservative, anyway — those accused of carrying out these cruel and perverse atrocities are not trans people, or drag queens, or immigrants, or Muslims, or anyone other than who many would consider the usual suspects, due to their decades-long, well-documented history of systemic, organized pedophilia and sexual abuse: Catholic priests.
According to the Associated Press, the information about priests abusing children was part of a report released by Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha, whose office has been investigating the Catholic Diocese of Providence since 2019. And while diocese leaders have rejected the conclusions from the report, maintaining that there are no “credibly accused clergy in active ministry,” the contents of the report still echo a familiar history in a country that regularly villainizes outside cultures as inherently abusive and dangerous, but never seems to answer the call from inside the house.
From AP:
The report described church records as “damning,” declaring that the diocese often failed to take the proper steps to protect children from sexual abuse. While clergy abuse has been widely exposed, up until Wednesday’s report, the scope of what took place in Rhode Island had largely been unknown.
The report flagged that the diocese often transferred accused priests to new assignments without thoroughly investigating complaints or contacting law enforcement. This practice was common, as other investigations in Boston, Philadelphia and elsewhere have exposed.
This includes the Diocese of Providence opening a “spiritual retreat-style facility” in the early 1950s, where several accused priests were sent elsewhere for a period of time with the goal of returning to work. This practice evolved into sending accused priests to more formal treatment centers after determining clergy abuse may stem from mental health problems.
The report said the diocese’s “overreliance and misplaced faith” in the treatment centers was at best “absurdly Pollyannaish.”
By the 1990s, accused priests were sometimes placed on sabbatical leave.
Yeah — that line about no “credibly accused clergy in active ministry” hits differently once you realize the diocese is accused of playing holy musical chairs with accused clergy members, temporarily stashing them in so-called treatment centers where they’re, at the very least, out of the public view.
What’s worse, though, is that the exposing of abuse in the Catholic church has historically not led to mass convictions or actual accountability, and it’s no different in Rhode Island, where only 20 of the 75 accused priests faced criminal charges, and only 14 were convicted. ” A dozen others were laicized, or dismissed from the clerical state,” AP noted.
Neronha’s office has charged four current and former priests with sexual abuse they were accused of between 2020 and 2022. Three of the defendants are still awaiting trial, while the fourth was declared incompetent to stand trial in 2022, and has since died.
Despite the fact that the allegations those defendants face are relatively recent, the Diocese of Providence has suggested the report is simply dredging up history long passed.
“The report presents 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. They are not,” the diocese said in a statement.
According to PBS News, following the report’s release, the new bishop of Providence, reverend Bruce Lewandowski, apologized to survivors of abuse suffered at the Catholic church, and stressed that the church has implemented new standards for reporting abuse.
“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,” Lewandowski said.
PBS also spoke with Ann Hagan Webb, a survivor of sexual abuse by a priest at her school in West Warwick, where she was abused between the ages of 5 and 12 years old.
“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,” Webb said. “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.”
Again, Webb’s recollection of repeatedly being deemed not credible makes the diocese’s claim that there are no “credibly accused clergy in active ministry” hit differently.
It’s not just the clear pattern of abuse that seems to be continuing; the pattern of denial appears to be as well.
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