Today Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F. Neronha issued a Report on Child Sexual Abuse in the Diocese of Providence. Sadly, none of it is any surprise.
https://riag.ri.gov/diocese-report
The report found that most victims were boys between ages 11 and 14; many served as altar boys. It took an average of 26 years for the victims to report the abuse. The largest share of victims were abused in the 1970s.
The report plainly states: “Generations of Rhode Island victims, their families, and others who have suffered the impacts of this trauma deserve to know the truth of what occurred.” The online report attempts to interject some sunlight on these dark, dark crimes by priests and their enabling superiors in Rhode Island.
“You have no idea how important this is to me,” said Ann Hagan Webb, a survivor of childhood sexual abuse at her home parish in Rhode Island. “‘To be called “noncredible” by the diocese has haunted me. This report should make Rhode Island Catholics gasp in horror,’ she said. ‘Read it. Please read it. By reading it, you honor the children who were hurt.'”