Statement by clergy abuse survivor Ann Hagan Webb of Rhode Island SNAP (formerly of Boston SNAP)

For immediate release: August 5, 2024

During his brief tenure in Rhode Island, Bishop Richard Henning has done absolutely nothing to show that he will be any different or better on abuse than any US bishop anywhere. 

Bishop Henning has been in Rhode Island for a year, and we in the survivor community have heard nothing of substance from or about him regarding abusive priests or their victims.

We can assume he agrees with his predecessors and Rhode Island church lobbyists who have fought long and hard against reforming predator-friendly state laws. In fact, besides Rhode Island Catholic officials, the only group that opposed these legislative reforms has been insurance companies.

With church lobbyist, Rev. Bernard Healey, as his public voice in the State House urging legislators to block survivor-friendly bills, most child sexual abuse victims in Rhode Island are denied a chance to expose their perpetrators in court.  That, of course, leaves innocent children vulnerable to horrific crimes. 

A few other facts to keep in mind:

-- Bishop Henning spent the bulk of his clerical career on Long Island in the Rockville Centre Diocese, which has long had an abysmal history of ignoring and concealing clergy sex crimes.

-- Not until 2019 did the Providence Diocese release a list of "credibly accused" clerics, long after most dioceses did and more than 20 years after the first US dioceses, Tucson and Baltimore, did.

During my many years in Boston, I saw Cardinal Sean O’Malley take few effective steps toward more truth-telling about abuse and more enhanced safety of children. More recently, over the last few years in Rhode Island, it has been the same sad story.

Only continued courage and action – in the courts and in the streets, by victims, witnesses, whistleblowers, advocates and concerned Catholics – will force recalcitrant bishops to do what it actually takes to stop heinous crimes and cover-ups.

We challenge Bishop Henning to do more to safeguard the vulnerable and heal the wounded. He should start by expanding Cardinal O'Malley's list of "credibly accused" clerics and by backing legislative efforts in Massachusetts to give abuse victims their day in court. 

CONTACT: Ann Hagen Webb, EdD, Rhode Island SNAP ([email protected], 617-513-8442), Mike McDonnell, SNAP Communications Director ([email protected], 267-261-0578), Shaun Dougherty, SNAP Interim Executive Director ([email protected], 814- 341-8386)