As the Rhode Island Attorney General released an in-depth report on its investigation of clergy abuse, survivor Hub Brennan spoke about the report’s importance and urged continued vigilance. We are publishing his statement in full because of his heartfelt assessment of the investigation’s impact.

PROVIDENCE, RI, March 4, 2026–Let me begin by thanking the Attorney General and his staff for their work. They recognized the gravity of this and did something about it.

The investigative courage demonstrated here rivals the work of The Boston Globe’s Spotlight investigation into the Boston Archdiocese in 2002. It is equally groundbreaking.

The report is both robust and exhaustive, outlining behavior that is grotesque and shocking to the senses. It objectively details—and confirms—what many have long known and some of us have lived through: that the Catholic Church, including the Diocese of Providence, has essentially overseen a child sex ring for generations.

This is a situation where, as one looks more and more closely at the details, it becomes increasingly reprehensible. At the same time, taking a step back and looking at the issue as a whole—locally, nationally, and globally—its enormity is stunning.

The permissive and accepting environment within its parishes—marked by secrecy, complacency, and an unspoken code—cultivated an internal belief that it was somehow acceptable for men in robes to rape children. As a friend who is a priest within the diocese once confided, “We asked for it, and now we’ve got it.”

Beyond the atrocities themselves, the grooming that preceded the crimes and the betrayal of trust that followed reveal the depth of depravity to which these priests descended. Aided and abetted by the Diocese of Providence, they placed their perverted desires and self-protection ahead of their spiritual mission.

If one wishes to learn the teachings of Jesus Christ, they should read the Bible. If one wishes to understand the Catholic Church, the need only to read this report.

It is mandatory reading for anyone with children in this—or any—organization where a child is left unsupervised with an adult. Abuse can occur in a moment, yet its effects last a lifetime.

Those who donate money or transfer assets to the Church may also wish give it a read.

Regarding the bishop’s recent claim that this is all behind us, I wish that were true. However, pedophilia exists as an aberration in nature and always will. Perpetrators are drawn to—and thrive within—hierarchical organizations where opportunity and trust abound. Grooming follows, then the crime. By then, it is too late: a life has been ruined—or in some instances, lost.

Parents and guardians, I beg you to be cautious. Trust in your deity, yet guard your children fiercely against false prophets.

Today, thanks to this report, we have a public record of deviant and criminal conduct that has been kept hidden for far too long.

Angela Walker, the Executive Director of the Survivors Network for Those Abused by Priests, hit the nail on the head recently, noting that “financial settlements alone cannot repair decades of harm. Institutions must confront the systems that enabled the abuse and secrecy in the first place.

This Report is a major step forward in delivering that accountability. There is more work to be done to be sure, but this extraordinary report of the Attorney General and his team has brought us closer than ever to that goal, and for that, I and all the survivors of the Church’s abuse, are profoundly grateful.

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