Father John Gerard Brendan Smyth was not just a priest who abused children. He was a serial predator whose crimes spanned four decades, multiple countries, and dozens of victims, and the Diocese of Providence knew about his abuse in Rhode Island and said nothing. If you were harmed by Father Smyth, or by any priest while the Diocese looked the other way, you need to know that Rhode Island law has changed in ways that directly affect your right to seek justice today.

Table of Contents

• Who Was Father Smyth and What Did He Do in Rhode Island?
• How the Diocese of Providence Covered Up Father Smyth’s Abuse
• The Long-Term Harm Father Smyth’s Abuse Caused Survivors
• Rhode Island’s New Child Sexual Abuse Law and What It Means for Smyth Survivors
• Why the Attorney General’s Report Matters to Your Case
• How Sommers Schwartz Can Help Father Smyth Survivors
• FAQs About Father Smyth and Rhode Island Clergy Abuse Claims

Who Was Father Smyth and What Did He Do in Rhode Island?

Father John Gerard Brendan Smyth was a Norbertine order priest, born June 8, 1927, and ordained July 31, 1951. From 1965 to 1968, he served at Our Lady of Mercy Church in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. That three-year assignment left a devastating mark on the community.

According to the Rhode Island Attorney General’s report on child sexual abuse in the Diocese of Providence, Father Smyth is alleged to have sexually molested 17 children during just those three years at Our Lady of Mercy. His victims included altar boys and children in the parish school. At least one survivor was an altar server at Our Lady of Mercy Parish when the abuse began in the church sacristy, and a nun would pull him from class and send him to wait until Smyth arrived.

Smyth used his position of trust with precision. He came to Our Lady of Mercy in 1965 as an associate priest who taught religion classes, coached youth sports, and headed scout groups. These roles gave him direct, unsupervised access to children. He exploited every one of those opportunities.

The former Our Lady of Mercy priest was convicted in 1995 in Ireland of more than 140 counts of abuse against children spanning across four decades. Smyth died in prison in August 1997 at the age of 70. His crimes in Rhode Island were never prosecuted. The Diocese received complaints, confirmed the abuse, and sent him back to Ireland quietly, without ever contacting law enforcement.

How the Diocese of Providence Covered Up Father Smyth’s Abuse

The Diocese of Providence did not simply fail to act on complaints against Father Smyth. According to the Rhode Island Attorney General’s investigation, Diocesan records show that church leadership received at least four separate complaints about Smyth while he was at Our Lady of Mercy, all involving his sexual abuse of altar boys. When Monsignor William Varsanyi of the Diocese’s Chancery Office confronted Smyth in February 1968, Smyth reportedly “admitted freely that the charges were true.”

Bishop Russell McVinney then ordered Smyth to leave the Diocese within two weeks and return to Holy Trinity Abbey in Ireland. According to Diocesan records, Bishop McVinney told a Norbertine priest at Holy Trinity Abbey that Smyth “was being put on a plane back to Ireland in disgrace after it was discovered that he had been sexually abusing children in Rhode Island.” The Diocese never referred those complaints to law enforcement. Smyth was never prosecuted in Rhode Island.

What happened next is even more troubling. Nearly three decades later, when The Providence Journal published a story about Smyth and his time in Rhode Island, a spokesman for Bishop Gelineau told the paper that the Diocesan records concerning Smyth “are very sketchy,” and that “the diocese has no record of the priest having a problem with sexual abuse while he was in Rhode Island.” The Attorney General’s investigation found that those statements directly contradicted what the Diocese’s own records showed. A January 1995 memorandum from the Diocesan Director of Communications confirmed that the Diocese had also told the Journal there was “no evidence of any wrongdoing” by Smyth in Rhode Island, and that he “left on his own accord,” neither of which was true.

This pattern of concealment, where institutions protect their reputation rather than the children in their care, is exactly what Rhode Island’s new law is designed to address. Survivors who were told there was no record of their abuser’s crimes now have a legal path forward. A sexual abuse lawyer who understands how institutional cover-ups work can help you hold the Diocese accountable for what it chose to hide.

The Long-Term Harm Father Smyth’s Abuse Caused Survivors

Survivors of Father Smyth’s abuse have described carrying the weight of what happened to them for decades before they were able to speak about it. One survivor, Dr. Herbert Brennan, grew up in East Greenwich in a devoutly Catholic family. He has said that rape is one of the few crimes where the victim feels the shame, and that “the shame is enormous,” and that the secrecy that follows to hide that shame gets in the way of healing.

The Attorney General’s report also documented the experience of another survivor who said it was thirty years before the abuse found its way into his consciousness, and another fifteen years before he found the courage to seek help. When he finally contacted the Diocese, he was told there was only one other complaint against Father Smyth, which the report found to be an incredible assertion given what the Diocese clearly knew.

One survivor blocked out the abuse entirely after her family moved away, until 2005. These experiences are not unusual. Trauma from childhood sexual abuse often takes years, even decades, to surface. Suppression, shame, and fear are normal responses to what happened. None of this is your fault. The delay in coming forward does not weaken your claim, and it does not mean what happened to you was less serious.

If you recognize yourself in these experiences, know that you are not alone, and that the law now gives you a real opportunity to be heard. Reaching out to a compassionate sexual assault lawyer who understands the trauma survivors carry is a meaningful first step toward reclaiming your voice.

Rhode Island’s New Child Sexual Abuse Law and What It Means for Smyth Survivors

Rhode Island’s legal landscape for child sexual abuse survivors changed significantly on June 11, 2026, when Governor Dan McKee signed H-7200A/S-2616A into law. The law amends the statute of limitations for claims of sexual abuse of a child and creates a two-year window for victims to bring otherwise time-barred claims against institutions and supervisors accused of enabling or covering up sexual abuse. The new law takes effect on July 1, 2026.

The new law establishes a two-year civil “revival window” that opens from July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2028. During this 24-month period, survivors can file civil suits even if the statute of limitations on their claims had previously expired. This is a direct response to a critical gap that existed in prior Rhode Island law.

In 2019, the General Assembly extended the statute of limitations and gave previously time-barred survivors an opportunity to sue. But in 2023, the Rhode Island Supreme Court ruled that the 2019 law only applied to suits against individual perpetrators, not the institutions or supervisors who enabled them. The new law closes that gap. It specifically targets the institutions, like the Diocese of Providence, that knew about abuse and failed to stop it.

Future claims must be filed by whichever date is later: either 35 years from the date of the abusive act or seven years from when the survivor first discovers or reasonably connects their adult injuries to the childhood abuse. The statute of limitations begins running when the survivor turns 18. For survivors whose claims were already time-barred, the two-year revival window is the critical opportunity. It closes on June 30, 2028, and will not reopen.

Why the Attorney General’s Report Matters to Your Case

In March 2026, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha released a comprehensive report on child sexual abuse within the Diocese of Providence. The report accused the Diocese of a “well-worn pattern” of failing to remove dozens of priests accused of child sexual abuse and keeping the abuse secret over decades, and identified 75 clergy members who sexually abused more than 300 children since 1950.

Father Smyth is named in that report and appears on the Diocese’s credibly accused clergy list. The report’s findings about the Diocese’s deliberate misrepresentations in 1995 are particularly significant for survivors. They show that the institution made a conscious choice to deny knowledge of Smyth’s crimes even while its own internal records proved otherwise. That kind of documented institutional misconduct is directly relevant to civil claims under Rhode Island’s new law, which targets supervisors and institutions accused of enabling or covering up abuse.

The report also documented how Smyth’s abuse connected to broader patterns across the Diocese, including other credibly accused priests who served at parishes throughout Rhode Island. Survivors who were abused by Father Smyth, or at Our Lady of Mercy Church more broadly, are part of a much larger documented history of institutional failure. That documentation strengthens civil claims. A skilled sexual assault attorney can help you understand how the Attorney General’s findings apply to your specific situation.

How Sommers Schwartz Can Help Father Smyth Survivors

Sommers Schwartz represents survivors of clergy sexual abuse across Rhode Island, including those harmed by Father Smyth and other credibly accused priests within the Diocese of Providence. The firm’s attorneys understand that coming forward is one of the hardest things a survivor can do. They are committed to making that process as clear, dignified, and supported as possible.

Survivors who contact Sommers Schwartz receive a confidential, no-pressure consultation. You do not need to have all the answers. You do not need to remember every detail. You simply need to reach out. The attorneys at Sommers Schwartz will listen, explain your options under Rhode Island’s new law, and help you decide whether filing a civil claim makes sense for you.

Time matters here. All time-barred claims must be filed by June 30, 2028, or they may be forever barred. If you were abused by Father Smyth, or by any priest while the Diocese of Providence enabled or concealed that abuse, the revival window is open now. Waiting means risking losing the only legal opportunity you may have. Sommers Schwartz is ready to stand with you.

FAQs About Father Smyth and Rhode Island Clergy Abuse Claims

Can I still file a civil lawsuit related to Father Smyth’s abuse if it happened in the 1960s?

Yes. Rhode Island’s new law, H-7200A/S-2616A, signed by Governor Dan McKee on June 11, 2026, and effective July 1, 2026, creates a two-year revival window for survivors to bring otherwise time-barred civil claims. This window runs from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2028. If you were abused by Father Smyth at Our Lady of Mercy or elsewhere in Rhode Island, and your claim was previously blocked by the statute of limitations, you may now be able to file against the Diocese of Providence as an institution that allegedly enabled or covered up that abuse.

Father Smyth died in 1997. Does that mean I cannot sue anyone?

Father Smyth’s death does not eliminate your civil options. Rhode Island’s new law specifically targets institutions and supervisors accused of enabling or covering up child sexual abuse. The Diocese of Providence received complaints about Father Smyth while he was at Our Lady of Mercy, confirmed the abuse internally, and sent him away without notifying law enforcement. That institutional conduct is the basis for a civil claim, and the Diocese, as an institution, can still be held accountable in court.

What if I repressed my memories of the abuse for decades before remembering?

Delayed memory and delayed disclosure are common in childhood sexual abuse cases. Rhode Island’s amended statute of limitations recognizes this. Under the new law, survivors have seven years from the time they first discover or reasonably connect their injuries to the childhood abuse, whichever is later, to file a claim. The revival window also applies regardless of when you remembered. The law does not penalize you for the natural psychological responses to trauma. What happened to you was not your fault, and the delay in coming forward does not disqualify you.

What does it mean that the Diocese was listed on the credibly accused clergy list alongside Father Smyth?

The Rhode Island Attorney General’s credibly accused clergy list identifies priests, including Father Smyth, against whom credible allegations of child sexual abuse have been made. Being on that list means the Diocese itself acknowledged or was found to have sufficient evidence supporting the allegations. For civil litigation purposes, the Attorney General’s March 2026 report documenting the Diocese’s knowledge of Smyth’s abuse, and its subsequent public misrepresentations, is significant evidence of institutional misconduct. An attorney can help you understand how this documentation supports your specific claim.

How do I get started if I want to speak with an attorney about what happened to me?

You can contact Sommers Schwartz directly for a confidential, no-obligation consultation. You do not need to have documentation, a complete timeline, or certainty about what you want to do. The attorneys at Sommers Schwartz will listen to your experience, explain your rights under Rhode Island’s new law, and help you understand your options. There is no pressure and no judgment. The revival window closes June 30, 2028, so reaching out sooner gives you the most time to make an informed decision about your case.

More Resources About Clergy Abuse

• Diocese of Providence Clergy Abuse
• Father John Abruzzese
• Father Raymond Allard
• Father Argencourt
• Father Azzarone
• Father Barnes
• Father Battel
• Father Belhumeur
• Father Bordignon
• Father Dennis Brodeur
• Father Campbell
• Father Carpentier
• Father Cavanaugh
• Father Charland
• Father Corbesero
• Father Crafton
• Father D’Angelo
• Father DeAngelis
• Father Louis Demers
• Father Albert Desrosiers
• Father Paul Desrosiers
• Father Diogo
• Father Dolan
• Father Doran
• Father Dunn
• Father Dziob
• Father Edes
• Father Feeney
• Father Oscar Ferland
• Father Ferry
• Father Fitzgerald
• Father Flanagan
• Father Gagnon
• Father Gillooly
• Father Gorton
• Father Guertin
• Father Holden
• Father James Jackson
• Father Edward Kelley
• Father Lacasse
• Father LaMountain
• Father Leboeuf
• Father Paul Henry Leech
• Father Lepire
• Father Lonardo
• Father Philip Magaldi
• Father Manu
• Father Normand Marcantonio
• Father Joseph McCra
• Father McIntyre
• Father Meehan
• Father Meglio
• Father Menard
• Father Micarelli
• Father O’Connell
• Father J.F. O’Neil
• Father W. O’Neill
• Father Powers
• Father Rafferty
• Father Raiche
• Father Reynolds
• Father Rocha
• Father Sadowski
• Father Santagata
• Father Francis Santilli
• Father John Scagnelli
• Father Tanguay
• Father Tedeschi
• Father Tormey
• Father Tousignant
• Father Turillo
• Father Ventre