RHODE ISLAND
Providence Journal
Providence Diocese says clergy-victim group’s allegations against Smithfield priest unfounded
MARK REYNOLDS
Journal staff writer
PROVIDENCE — A news conference given Monday by members of a victims group prompted the Diocese of Providence to publicly declare that a diocesan investigation had cleared a Smithfield pastor and that the allegation against him “was deemed to lack any credibility.”
The priest, whom the diocese named, “is an exemplary pastor and continues to enjoy the total confidence and support of the Diocese of Providence,” says the statement issued late Monday afternoon.
The statement says allegations against the priest were reported to state police and “carefully investigated” by the Diocesan Review Board.
Hours before, members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) had called on Bishop Thomas J. Tobin to give a full explanation of allegations that the diocese had related to the Rhode Island State Police in an April 2012 letter.
SNAP’s founder and president, Barbara Blaine, who has traveled from Chicago to visit New England, handed out copies of that letter, which the organization had printed from the website of Channel 10.
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