As the Rhode Island Attorney General released an in-depth report on its investigation of clergy abuse, survivor Ann Hagan Webb spoke about her decades of work to bring the diocese to account. We are publishing her statement in full because her words are so powerful.

PROVIDENCE, RI, March 4, 2026–General Nehronha just said that the diocese wasn’t really taking responsibility for what they did and didn’t do, and I think it’s more than that. Shame is something most victims of abuse feel, despite that it wasn’t our fault. The diocese should be deeply ashamed! It’s time for the shame to change sides!

I have been waiting for this report for so long! I first publicly called for the Providence Diocese to release its files in 2003. And there are R.I. survivors who demanded these files long before me. In 2007 I called for Atty Gen Lynch to investigate the diocese. I had meetings at Atty Gen Kilmartin’s office in 2013 and 2014. Finally in July, 2019, Attorney General Peter Neronha stepped up to the plate and took action. I want to thank you, General Neronha. Thank you, Adi Goldstein, Sean Malloy, Andrea Mauro, Patrick Dolan, members of the state police and the rest of the team for your tireless work on this investigation.

I’m sure it’s been a difficult road, sometimes heartbreaking, often frustrating.

While you were doing your investigation, my sister, Rep. Carol Hagan McEntee and I, and others have been on a parallel path – trying to find justice and protect children through the legislative process. Our path was equally heartbreaking and frustrating. I thank all who worked on this legislation from the bottom of my heart for your perseverance, resilience and dedication.

Today, for the first time in RI, the complicity of the Providence Diocese in a crime wave of child sexual abuse scanning more than 7 decades will be there for all of you to see in black and white.

I have heard thousands of survivors’ stories over the last 30+ years. Last May, in Rome for the Papal Conclave, I met survivors from all over the world. We were all trying to make this issue important in choosing the new Pope. Sometimes after spending hours in Vatican City, the enormity of the worldwide Abuse of children by Catholic Clergy got the better of me, and I had to walk away and cry. But nothing is as heartbreaking as knowing the depth of the complicity of the Providence Diocese here at home.

This report should make RI Catholics and non Catholics alike gasp in horror at the organized culture of cover up. They protected scores of pedophiles, while they silenced their young victims, over at least 7 decades. The report gives examples of this continuing to happen even in the last few years. It is not ancient history!

After this sinks in, I hope you will all reach the same conclusion “Never Again“.

The only way to stop this culture of protecting their own is through consequences, and in this country that means through the civil courts. Today the diocesan lawyers do everything they can to prevent victims’ stories from being heard, by fighting them in court, and in the State House. The diocese is actively lobbying against our revised Annie’s Bill which would hold them financially accountable. Meanwhile the Diocese continues to financially support many of the pedophiles in this report, paying them a retirement salary and health benefits and more! Yes! You should be outraged by this.

Ask any survivor who has tried to get justice, or personnel files, or even a sympathetic pastoral response from the Diocese. Most of us will tell you the same story. The process of dealing with the Diocese of Providence is a second layer of abuse and trauma. I dealt with my childhood abuse years ago in a therapist’s office, but I continue to be traumatized by this process of seeking justice.

This report was based on mountains of files provided voluntarily from the Diocese to the AG’s office, over 6 years. They never once agreed to come in and answer questions about their files. It is impossible for me to believe, to trust, that the Providence Diocese is suddenly totally transparent, that they revealed all their worst secrets, especially ones previously uncovered by the press. The Catholic Church has been secretive for 2,000 years, and the Vatican still expects abuse to be reported directly to Rome, not to local law enforcement. Robert McCarthy admitted that there was a policy of destroying the files of dead priests before 1990.

Given that….

This investigation is truly remarkable in what it could uncover.

Like the Epstein files, the closer you look at this report, the more you will see how insidious the culture of coverup is. The Epstein files exposed powerful and wealthy people trafficking and abusing children and young women. This report recounts in detail how scores of trusted clerics preyed on the children of R.I. The Diocese, by reassigning priests, to new unsuspecting parishes of more children, did the trafficking. They moved the abusers, not the children, but the
result was the same.

On a personal note: This report finally declares me “credible”. You have no idea how important this is to me. To be deemed “not credible” by the Diocese for the last 32 years has haunted me in ways I cannot begin to describe. Monsignor DeAnngelis was pastor of Sacred Heart church for decades and wasn’t transferred like the others. But, I don’t think it was a coincidence that our church had 6 pedophiles serving there.

Next steps

Call the AG’s office if you haven’t yet told them your story of abuse in the Providence Diocese.

We cannot allow the Diocese to go back to business as usual.

Demand that they stop discrediting victims in the courtrooms and at the statehouse. Demand continued oversight by law enforcement. Change the Grand Jury law in RI that prevented a truly in-depth investigation of the Diocese.

Contact your legislators. Insist that they pass this year’s revised Annie’s Bill. Then we can be sure the Diocese and other complicit organizations will be held legally accountable. Lawsuits expose the truth and protect our children from the predators out there.

One last thing….

Childhood sexual abuse is hard to read about, and very sad. It is much easier to turn away. If we all look away, the children who are in danger today have no hope of protection. If we look away, the young people who have not yet come forward, will be silenced in advance.

This report is 400 pages of men’s cruelty to children, and its diabolical cover up. Read it. Read it in sections or all in one sitting, or skim it, then go back. By reading it you honor the children who were hurt. It will make you want to protect the children who have not been hurt yet.

Together we can do that.

Thank you.

Annhaganwebb@gmail.com
617-513-8442

Upcoming legislation:
House Judiciary Committee Hearing 3/12/2026
Sponsor: House Judiciary Chair Carol Hagan McEntee
H 7200. Annie’s Bill, Extending Civil SOL and creating a Look Back Window
H 8078. Grand Jury reports when there is Compelling Public Interest
H 8086. Regarding Criminal indictments for 2nd degree Sexual Assault
H 8093. Expands Mandatory Reporting
Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing, date TBA
Sponsor: Senate Judiciary Vice-Chair Mark McKenney
S 2016. Annie’s Bill, Extending Civil SOL and creating a Look Back Window

Read SNAP’s statement on the Rhode Island AG’s report in full