Portsmouth Abbey abbot out after conduct inconsistent with monks' ideals

By Carol Kozma
Providence Journal
May 15, 2016

http://www.providencejournal.com/news/20160515/portsmouth-abbey-abbot-out-after-conduct-inconsistent-with-monks-ideals

The full letter from Portsmouth Abbey School, sent May 12.

Saint Gregory the Great Church, built in 1960 at Portsmouth Abbey, is restored in 2008.

PORTSMOUTH, R.I. — The Right Rev. Dom Caedmon Holmes, the abbot at the Portsmouth Abbey School has resigned suddenly and has left the monastery and campus under unclear circumstances.

A letter dated May 12, and addressed to the Portsmouth Abbey community, stated that Holmes, the head of the monastery, departed after “his acknowledgement of personal struggles involving conduct inconsistent with our expectations and with Benedictine ideals.”

On Sunday, assistant headmaster John Perreira in an email to The Providence Journal said, "We have received no allegation of sexual abuse, or have knowledge that this involves any students or other persons. We strive to be transparent with our community so they can communicate to us any issues or concerns that they have. Consistent with that goal and current best practices, we have provided an independent law firm contact should anyone have information we need to hear."

He added he did not have any further comments, and repeated that Holmes had resigned due to his own struggles. The letter, signed by the Board of Regents’ Chair W. Christopher Behnke and Headmaster Daniel McDonough, does not describe the personal struggles or the situation under review.

In that letter, school officials also said, “We want to stress that we have no knowledge that Abbot Caedmon’s conduct affected any students. However, as the safety and security of our students is paramount, consistent with best practices we have retained an independent law firm to review the situation and serve as a contact, should you have information about which we should be aware.”

Mary Beth Hogan and Helen Cantwell at Debevoise and Plimpton LLP are the lawyers hired by the school.

“If you have anything that you believe should be communicated to us or them, we encourage you to call them at 212-909-6996,” the letter stated.

According to the firm’s website Hogan is co-chair of the litigation department.

“In the past several years, she has represented a number of large financial institutions on various mortgage- and credit card-related investigations and class actions,” according to the website. “She has also represented several prominent educational institutions in sensitive sexual abuse investigations.”

Cantwell is a litigation partner.

“Ms. Cantwell represents a wide range of individuals, companies, schools, and nonprofits, and she frequently advises clients on their compliance obligations,” the law firm’s website states. She also gives counseling and advice to educational institutions in sensitive sexual abuse investigations, it says.

The same law firm conducted a review of allegations of sexual abuse at the Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts, according to a 2013 story in the Boston Globe.

In recent years, many private schools, including most recently St. George’s School in Middletown, have looked into allegations of abuse of students by former or current school staff. According to the Newport Daily News, Perreira said that is not the case in this matter.

Detective Commander Maj. Joseph F. Philbin said Rhode Island State Police are not investigating at the school.

There has been some discussion about the letter on the Portsmouth Abbey Facebook page, the Newport Daily News reported Saturday.

“Can we get some clarity on the letter the board sent out today or shall we all just rely on rumors?” wrote Farrell Ougheltree from Philadelphia. “I’m an alum and not in the area, therefore I’m not privy to some of the talk. I feel like toxicity is rooted in withholding. Let’s get this out in the open.”

“There should be more information,” John Grainger wrote. “They did not say they were prohibited from saying anything, just that they were choosing not to. The imagination runs wild these days.”

“Even if the letter may fairly be criticized for raising more questions than it answers, let’s cut the school’s administration some slack,” wrote Andrew Debicki. “If they had remained silent as word that something was going on with Fr. Caedmon filtered out , they would in very short order have been confronted with demands for a statement, not to mention the inevitable accusations of coverup.”

“It’s not unreasonable to conclude that the letter accurately summarizes all that the school administration currently knows about what, for now at least, appears to be a matter for the Monastery and the Benedictine order,” Debicki added in a second posting.”Unless there is good reason to believe otherwise, let’s proceed on the assumption that the school is responsibly informing the community of what it knows about the situation while also respecting privacy and avoiding speculation.”

On Sunday, The Providence Journal could no longer find these or other postings about the abbot on the school's Facebook page that the Newport Daily News reported on Saturday.

According to the Newport paper, Holmes began teaching classics at Portsmouth Abbey in 1965, entered the Benedictine monastery in 1968 and made his first profession of vows in 1970. He is a former head of the Classics Department and head of the Christian Doctrine Department. He has served as abbot of Portsmouth Abbey since Aug. 22, 2007.

This information about Holmes has been removed from the school's website.

The Portsmouth Abbey School, a Catholic Benedictine boarding and day school for boys and girls in grades 9 through 12, was founded in 1926. The campus sits on 525 acres on the shore of the Narragansett Bay, according to the school’s website.