Survivors reflect on Rhode Island clergy abuse report

Описание: (6 Mar 2026)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Providence, Rhode Island - 5 March 2026
1. Interior of Cathedral of Saints Peter & Paul

ASSOCIATED PRESS
East Greenwich, Rhode Island - 5 March 2026
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Herbert Brennan, survivor:
“I was in the third or fourth grade. I think I was 11 years old. That's when, of course, the trouble started. Grooming. And I was an altar server. And of course, in the sacristy, in the changing room, is where he began his advances.”
3. Various of the newspaper featuring Brendan Smyth
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Herbert Brennan, survivor:
"And I learned through my counseling it's absolutely common for a young child to black out experiences such as sexual abuse, which is exactly what happened with me. It was decades later that in 1995 when a local newspaper had Brendan Smyth's picture on the front indicating he'd been arrested in Ireland and there were no complaints against him at the time, which we later learned was untrue."

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Claymont, Delaware - 6 March 2026
5. Report on child abuse
6. Report excerpt showing complaints filed against Brendan Smyth

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Providence, Rhode Island - 4 March 2026
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Ann Hagan Webb, survivor:
“I was abused by a priest in my parish from kindergarten through seventh grade.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Providence, Rhode Island - 5 March 2026
8. Interior of Cathedral of Saints Peter & Paul

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Providence, Rhode Island - 4 March 2026
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Ann Hagan Webb, survivor:
“I continued in therapy for a number of years, and then the Spotlight stuff broke in 2002 in Massachusetts. And I identified myself in a letter to the editor as a psychologist and a survivor. And that really broke, for me, broke things open. My husband and I went out on the picket line. He went with a bullhorn. People started looking for me. Survivors started looking for me because they knew I would understand as a therapist because I'd been through it myself. And so I began specializing in that.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS
East Greenwich, Rhode Island - 5 March 2026
10. Close of stethoscope
11. Close of Brennan's hand

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Providence, Rhode Island - 5 March 2026
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Claude Leboeuf, survivor:
“I do a great deal of speaking out, advocating for people in the state of Rhode Island who were victimized by priests here. I feel it's important for me. One of the things I get from this is that all of our dignity was stolen from us as survivors, as being raped and abused as kids."

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Providence, Rhode Island - 4 March 2026
13. Exterior of of Cathedral of Saints Peter & Paul

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Providence, Rhode Island - 5 March 2026
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Claude Leboeuf, survivor:
"It's justice denied for more than 60 years for some people. It's not ancient history. These are people who brought their complaints to the diocese as kids in the 1960s and they were ignored, ridiculed, even punished from their public. So this is not old history. It's justice denied."

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Providence, Rhode Island - 4 March 2026
15. Exterior of of Cathedral of Saints Peter & Paul

STORYLINE:
The sound of the school nurse’s office door opening. Light reflecting off a stained-glass window. Tearful outbursts and fear of getting on the school bus.

For many survivors of clergy abuse, memories like these linger for decades.






Brennan confronted it years later when a newspaper arrived on his doorstep in 1995. The headline about Smyth’s arrest in Ireland read: “Diocese has no complaints against jailed priest.”



Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter:   / ap_archive  
Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​
Instagram:   / apnews  


You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...