‘They hid’: AG releases scathing report about clergy child sex abuse in New England diocese

For a list of accused clergy, visit this website.

Prosecutors lodged criminal charges against four current and former priests for child sexual abuse they allegedly committed while serving in the diocese:

• John Petrocelli - The indictment alleges that Petrocelli committed multiple acts of child molestation against three male victims who were all under the age of 14 at the time of the alleged assaults. The charges against him stem from his alleged actions while he served as an assistant pastor at Holy Family Parish in Woonsocket sometime between Nov. 6, 1981, and Oct. 3, 1990.
• James Silva – The indictment alleges that Silva committed multiple acts of child molestation against a male victim under the age of 14 between 1989 and 1990 during his time as Interim Director and Assistant Director at the Office of Ministerial Formation within the Diocese of Providence.
• Kevin Fisette - The indictment alleges that Fisette committed first-degree child molestation against a juvenile male victim in the town of Burrillville between Jan. 1, 1981, and Dec. 31, 1982. At the time of the alleged assault, Fisette was appointed to serve as a Deacon in Our Lady of Victory Parish in Hopkinton and as a Chaplain at Rhode Island Hospital.
• Edward Kelley – On May 5, 2021, a Statewide Grand Jury returned an indictment charging former Smithfield priest Edward Kelley with multiple counts of sexual assault. In February 2022, Kelley was found by the Court to be incompetent to stand trial. Kelley died at Eleanor Slater Hospital in 2022, and as a result, the case against him was dismissed.

Petrocelli, Silva, and Fisette are currently awaiting trial.

The investigation began in 2019 when, as a result of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Attorney General and former Bishop Thomas Tobin, the diocese agreed to voluntarily produce internal records relating to clergy abuse dating back to 1950.

“First and foremost, I want to offer my sincerest gratitude to the many survivors of child sexual abuse who came forward to share their stories for purposes of this investigation,” Neronha said Wednesday.

“Each survivor we spoke with recounted unthinkable trauma at the hands of trusted religious leaders, and yet what stood out most was their bravery, resiliency, and commitment to accountability,” Neronha said. “I also want to honor those who could not come forward, whether due to trauma or because they are no longer with us. We recognize and remember you, as well.”

Investigators reviewed over 250,000 pages of records produced by the diocese, which included personnel files of accused priests, records of internal investigations of abuse complaints, correspondence involving bishops and other senior Diocesan leaders, “treatment” reports for accused priests, Diocesan policies, and other materials.

Detectives and investigators also attempted to reach more than 300 victims, and contacted nearly 150 of them, to discuss reported instances of abuse by Diocesan clergy, Neronha said.

The attorney general’s office and Rhode Island State Police also set up a hotline to give the public a channel to report information confidentially about sexual abuse by clergy members.

“The Diocese would have you believe that this report is historical; that child sexual abuse by clergy members is a thing of the past and not worth drudging up,” Neronha said. “To that I say: the pain that survivors and their families suffer knows no statute of limitations, and history always has something to teach us.”

“Child sexual abuse in the Diocese of Providence occurred on an abhorrent, staggering scale,” Neronha said. “And as our report describes, for decades, the Diocese of Providence engaged in a well-worn pattern of protecting the reputation of the Church and its priests over the welfare of children.”

“They failed to report the abuse to civil authorities; they failed to properly investigate those complaints internally; and they failed to remove accused priests from positions where they had access to even more children, who tragically paid the price for those failures,” Neronha said.

Neronha said that although the diocese cooperated in producing a large volume of records, “which laid bare the deep institutional and personal failures at the heart of this crisis,” the investigatory process “was also not without roadblocks of the Diocese’s own making.”

The diocese denied requests by the attorney general’s office for in-person interviews.

Also, the diocese sometimes delayed responding to requests for documents or information, and in some instances, “simply did not answer those requests,” Neronha said.

“Instead, the Diocese kept the abuse secret; they hid and they obfuscated,” Neronha said. “And while the situation has improved in recent years, there remains work to be done. When my Office asked Diocesan representatives to engage in the investigatory process in person, they repeatedly refused. When my Office requested supplemental documents, they frequently dragged their feet. 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.”

Such obstacles unnecessarily delayed the completion of the investigation and, ultimately, limited certain aspects of the final report, Neronha said.

“Nevertheless, the report’s findings regarding the Diocese’s historical responses are clear, tragic, and damning,” he said.

The investigation found that the diocese’s historical failures to properly respond to and report complaints of child sexual abuse by clergy led to the abuse of additional children, Neronha said.

Particularly under Bishops Russell McVinney and Louis Gelineau, accused priests were repeatedly returned to ministry, in positions where they had access to, and sexually abused, more children, prosecutors said.

Rather than report complaints of child sexual abuse to civil authorities, “bishops and other senior officials withheld those complaints and instead sent accused priests to different parishes, or to ‘treatment,’ before ultimately returning them to active service,” prosecutors said.

These failures persisted from the earliest part of the “review period” in the 1950s until near the end of the 20^th century, when external pressures, such as civil lawsuits against the Church, criminal prosecutions of individual priests, and a heightened public awareness of clergy abuse, forced the diocese to begin reforming its responses, Neronha said.

The report discusses those reforms, as well as the Attorney General’s concerns with the diocese’s modern policies and practices, some of which persist in its handling of allegations of child sexual abuse.

The investigation found “significant gaps” in areas essential to transparency, accountability, and the safety of children and the public, including a failure to monitor and supervise accused priests; a lack of clear written guidance for internal investigations of abuse complaints; continuing to ask victims to submit to polygraphs; concerning failures to recognize and address behaviors of “grooming,” which can be an early warning sign of child sexual abuse; and a lack of adequate recordkeeping and public notifications concerning complaints of clergy abuse and abusers.

In response to those concerns, the report offers recommendations to the diocese to improve its prospective handling of child sex abuse allegations and investigations, survivor supports, and transparency and accountability.

Specifically, the attorney general’s office recommended that the diocese, among other things:

• Establish a monitoring program for credibly accused clergy;
• Strengthen preventive measures, such as requiring regular nationwide background checks for all clergy, and investigating and disciplining grooming behaviors;
• Improve and expand diocesan policies and procedures for internal investigations of sexual misconduct complaints, including clear deadlines, meaningful oversight, and the use of trauma-informed investigative practices;
• Establish and fund an independent survivor compensation program;
• Update and formalize the policies of the Review Board, which should include at least one victim representative;
• Adopt a survivors-rights policy;
• Improve transparency by (1) expanding the currently published Credibly Accused List and (2) creating an online document repository for key records relating to the diocese’s past and present response to the abuse crisis; and
• Enter into a revised Letter of Understanding with the attorney general’s office to include a wider range of sexual misconduct offenses involving minors, and clarify that reports to Neronha’s office and the State Police must be made within 24-48 hours of receipt by the diocese.

Neronha’s office also proposed four important legislative reforms intended to ensure greater accountability for child sexual abusers and their enablers:

• Amend Rhode Island’s civil statute of limitations for child sexual abuse to permit plaintiffs whose claims previously expired to sue the institutions and supervisors responsible for enabling or covering up their abuse. 
• Increase the criminal statute of limitations for second-degree sexual assault.
• Clarify the state mandatory reporting law to explicitly require the reporting of known or suspected child sexual abuse or neglect committed by clergy and other religious leaders, or any person employed by a church or religious body with supervisory responsibilities over children. 
• Adopt a grand jury reporting statute that authorizes grand juries to issue public reports on their findings, even when they do not return an indictment, subject to court oversight and procedural safeguards.

“To this day, survivors of Diocesan clergy abuse continue to come forward, and they deserve justice,” Neronha said. “As such, we’ve made targeted recommendations to help them obtain that justice, including a recommendation that the Diocese fund an independent compensation program, as many other dioceses have, as well as a recommendation for the General Assembly to expand the statute of limitations for civil claims against institutional defendants.”

“For survivors, and for our future, I urge the Diocese and the General Assembly to implement these and our other proposals. This must never happen again,” Neronha said.

Neronha recognized “the tireless work and contributions” of members of his office, the Rhode Island State Police, and “the many victims and survivors, without whom this report would not be possible.”

To report child sexual abuse by a clergy member, you may call the Rhode Island State Police Special Victims Unit’s dedicated clergy abuse hotline at 401-764-0142.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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