Survivors say Rhode Island probe confirms long-hidden abuse, renewing calls for care and accountability
A report released this week by Rhode Island’s attorney general about decades of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in the Diocese of Providence is offering some survivors a long-sought sense of vindication, even as they and advocates continue to call for stronger accountability and better support. The investigation described abuse that lasted for years and, officials said, represents only a portion of the harm experienced by victims.
For many people who were abused as children, the report arrived alongside vivid memories that survivors say never truly faded. In describing how early experiences return later, survivors said the findings do not capture the full human story of what happened in childhood—and the long consequences they have had to carry.
The attorney general’s report identified 75 clergy members accused of sexually abusing more than 300 children since 1950. Investigators said they relied on thousands of church records and years of interviews with victims and witnesses, and they said the true number of victims is likely higher than what the report documented. Survivors interviewed by AP said that broader context matters to their sense of recognition, particularly when they say they were dismissed or not believed for years.
Herbert “Hub” Brennan, an internal medicine doctor who lives and works in East Greenwich, Rhode Island—where he said he grew up in a devoutly Catholic family—described being sexually abused in elementary school by the Rev. Brendan Smyth. Brennan said Smyth arrived in the community in the 1960s and that he was an altar server at Our Lady of Mercy Parish when the abuse began in the church sacristy. Brennan said a nun would pull him from class and send him to wait in the principal’s office until Smyth arrived and led him into the nurse’s room.
Brennan said the stigma and secrecy he encountered have complicated recovery, saying, “They say that rape is one of the few crimes where the victim feels the shame,” and that “the shame is enormous.” He added that the secrecy that followed “gets in the way of healing.” Brennan said he later confronted those barriers when a 1995 newspaper headline about Smyth’s arrest in Ireland reached his doorstep, and he said he worked to seek accountability after what he described as earlier assurances that no complaints existed.
Brennan said the attorney general’s report “felt like a culmination” of his efforts, describing it as a shift from being a survivor to an advocate. “That allowed me to switch from survivor-victim to advocate,” Brennan said.
Claude Leboeuf, who said he was abused by a priest as a child in neighboring Massachusetts and now advocates for victims in Rhode Island, said the report offers an important step toward dismantling what he described as the church’s “wall of secrecy.” Leboeuf said his memories resurfaced only a few years ago, prompting him to pursue legal action and speak publicly about what he experienced. He argued that survivors need tangible support, saying, “There’s a need to do something for these people — something real: money, tuition, therapy,” and that “The effects are real; they last a long, long time.”
In a video statement, Bishop of Providence Bruce Lewandowski said the report describes a “tragic history” of abuse that caused lasting harm to victims and their families. Lewandowski said he felt “extreme sadness” and “intense shame” while reading it and apologized to survivors for failures by church leaders to protect children. Lewandowski said the diocese has since implemented safeguards aimed at responding quickly to allegations and preventing abuse, while Leboeuf rejected the idea that clergy abuse is simply “old history.”
Leboeuf said that “It’s justice denied for more than 60 years for some people,” adding that survivors he described brought their complaints to the diocese as children in the 1960s and were, in his telling, ignored, ridiculed, or even punished.
Ann Hagan Webb described dread she said she felt before the school bus arrived each morning, recalling that her parish priest began sexually abusing her at school when she was a kindergartner in Rhode Island. She said the abuse took place between 1957 and 1965 and that she was abused from the age of 5 to 12. Webb, who said she later became a trained psychologist, said she turned to therapy decades afterward to help process memories of what she experienced, but she said reporting the abuse brought hostility.
Webb said she initially asked only for compensation to cover therapy bills, but she described leaders at the Diocese of Providence demanding medical records and questioning the veracity of her claims. She said that experience pushed her into advocacy and that, in 2019, she helped convince the Rhode Island Legislature to enact legislation dubbed “Annie’s Law,” which she said allows child sexual abusers to be held civilly accountable to victims.
Webb said her advocacy has been exhausting and that she still faces stigma when speaking publicly, including what she described as the way her abuse is often overlooked because many assume clergy abuse affected only boys. She told AP, “For 32 years, the diocese has called me not credible. I can’t tell you what that feels like,” and said the attorney general’s investigation has renewed her hope that change and justice are still possible.
“It feels like vindication,” Webb said, adding that she hopes the public presses for the church to be different.
The Rhode Island investigation adds to a broader pattern of scrutiny around clergy sexual abuse, with observers pointing to earlier federal and state inquiries and prosecutions. AP noted that the pushback around how allegations were handled gained momentum internationally after the Boston Globe reported in 2002 on how the Boston Archdiocese moved abusive priests between parishes without warning parents or police, prompting investigations around the world.
In Rhode Island, AP said, the shift took longer, even as accusations and lawsuits surfaced over the years. The reporting cited the diocese’s large Catholic population per capita—nearly 40%—and described how secrecy persisted even as legal action continued. Attorney Tim Conlon, who has represented sex abuse victims in Rhode Island, said that when he first filed suits against the Diocese of Providence, many people were unwilling to believe the allegations could be true in their own parishes. Conlon also said state law has made it difficult for victims to seek justice, including strict limits on civil suits against institutions such as the Catholic Church and narrow statutes of limitations for second-degree sexual assault.
“Clearly there’s a call for reform,” Conlon said. “The magnitude of the need is well documented.”