BishopAccountability.org
	Providence Diocese Revises Number of Priests Accused of Abuse Associated Press, carried in SouthCoast Today October 21, 2007 http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071021/NEWS/710210372 Providence, R.I. — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence has lowered its own count of priests accused of sexual assault or sexual misconduct since 1971 from 125 to 85 after a review of its documents. The higher number was included in a court filing by Bishop Thomas Tobin, head of the diocese. That count of 125 was much higher than the 56 priests the diocese reported in 2004 that had been accused of sexually abusing a minor between 1950 and 2002. But the diocese said on Saturday that the discrepancy is because the number reported in 2004 included only credible allegations. The number in the recent court filing included an unspecified number of allegations that were "vague, anonymous, withdrawn, or ultimately found to be false." The number in the court filing also included allegations made after 2002, when numerous alleged victims came forward as the abuse crisis broke nationally. The diocese lowered the count included in its court filing from 125 to 85 after carefully reviewing its document, The Boston Globe reported. Diocesan attorney James T. Murphy said that comparing the numbers in the court case with those in the church report issued in 2004 is "a Rembrandt on one side and a Picasso on the other — they're two different portraits." The victim advocacy group, BishopAccountability.org, discovered the court document filed by Bishop Tobin and released it Friday. It said a count of 125 priests accused of abuse would give Rhode Island the highest rate of abuse allegations in the nation. "The Providence Diocese is sitting on secrets of crime, and they don't have a right to these secrets anymore," said Anne Barrett Doyle of BishopAccountability.org. "This diocese is surely keeping secrets of men who are molesting today, and the diocese has such clout in Rhode Island that the only hope is going to be a prosecutor seeing it as his moral obligation to find out what secrets they're keeping." Rhode Island attorney General Patrick Lynch said he was concerned about the previously unreported cases and would look into it. "We will pursue all credible leads, and, if appropriate, we will prosecute any and all resulting cases to the fullest extent of the law," he said.
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