Rev. Louis M. Diogo-Assignment

Assignment Record– Rev. Louis M. Diogo

Summary of Case: Retired and moved out of state 1993 after his cousin told the diocese he had abused her and her sister in the 1950s and 1960s. Never charged criminally but diocese found the woman to be credible. In 2005 the diocese learned from the woman that he had returned to R.I. and was saying mass. The diocese immediately told him that he could not say mass or function as a priest.

Ordained: 1946

Start	Stop	Assignment	Town/Accusations	State	Position	Notes
1946 Francis P. Keough was Providence Bishop (1934-1947), followed by Russell J. McVinney (1948-1971).	1954	?	?	?		Not indexed in Official Catholic Directories during these years.
1954	1957	St. Anthony's (Portuguese)	River Point	RI	1/1 ,2/2 From 1955-1957 Diogo worked under Rev. Manuel Rego.	St. Anthony's had a school with 125-150 boys and 114-144 girls. Diogo is listed in OCDs as Louis de M. Diogo.
1957	1964	St. Francis Xavier	East Providence • Accused in 1993 of having abused his young female cousins in the 1950s and 1960s. (WPRI Channel 12 November 11, 2005)	RI	2/3 Pastor was Rev. Manuel Rego. Third priest was Rev. Victor E. Reis.	Parish had a school with 128-264 boys and 98-241 girls.
1964	1965	Church of Jesus Saviour	Newport	RI	2/2 Diogo worked under Rev. Joseph A Cardoza, Administrator.
1965	1972	Our Lady of the Rosary (Portuguese)	Providence	RI	1/2, 1/1 Diogo is listed as Administrator. In residence 1965-1966 was Rev. Fernando Veiga, c.m. Working under Diogo was Rev. Gerard L. Claessens 1966-1968, and Rev. Daniel J. McCarthy 1969-1971.
1972 Louis E. Gelineau was Bishop of Providence diocese (1971-1997).	1993	St. Elizabeth's (Portuguese)	Bristol	RI	1/1, 1/2, 2/2, 1/3, 1/4 Diogo is listed first every year except 1978-1980, when he is second after Rev. Antonio de Sousa. Diogo is the only priest 1972-1974, 1975-1978, 1989-1990. Rev. Jose M. de Sousa, c.s.sp. worked under Diogo 1974-1975. Rev. Antonio de Sousa was the second priest after Diogo 1980-1987. Rev. Patrick Soares, c.s.sp. was the third priest 1981-1984. Rev. John C. Baker was the last priest listed 1982-1987. From 1987-1989 the second priest was Rev. Roberto de Serpa. In 19871988 a third priest was Rev. John E. Abreu. Rev. Douglas Grant was third priest 1988-1989. Second priest 1990-1993 was Rev. Dennis J. Kiton, and third priest during these years was Rev. David E. Green.	St. Elizabeth's had a school with 404-210 students.
1993 Robert E. Mulvee was Bishop of Providence (1997-2005).	2000	Retired	Swansea	MA		Left his parish and RI after his cousins reported he abused them as children. (WPRI Channel 12 November 11, 2005)
2000	2005	St. Francis Xavier	East Providence	RI		Retired and living in rectory.
2005 Thomas Joseph Tobin succeeded Mulvee (2005- ).	2006	?	?	RI		Retired with Providence chancery mailing address. Ordered to stop saying mass after nieces discovered in 2005 he was back in RI at St. Francis Xavier. (Providence Journal November 12, 2005)
2006	2007	St. Joseph's	Providence	RI		Retired and living at St. Joseph's.

Source: Official Catholic Directory (New York: Kenedy & Sons, 1946-2007).

Priests in a Parish: We use the following convention to show a priest's place among the clergy of a parish: 1/2 means that he is the first priest listed in the Official Catholic Directory (usually the pastor) and that there is a total of two priests at the parish. The shorthand 3/4 means that the priest is listed third on a four-priest roster. See our sample page from the Directory.

Note: The Official Catholic Directory aims to report the whereabouts of Catholic priests in the United States on January 1 of the Directory's publication year. Our working assumption is that a priest listed in the Directory for a given year was at the same assignment for part of the previous year as well. However, Kenedy & Sons will sometimes accept updates well into the year of publication. Diocesan clergy records are rarely available to correct this information. The Directory is also sometimes misleading or wrong. We have tried to create an accurate assignment record, given the source materials and their limitations. Assignment records are a work in progress and we are always improving the records that we post. Please email us with new information and corrections.