Five ex-altar boys from Pawtucket sue diocese over alleged abuse 21%
By Katie Mulvaney27%
7/31/2026, 2:07:15 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 15 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Emotion, Appeal to Authority, and Hasty Generalization, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 38.9% saturation with 241 hits. Analysis detected 664 faulty-reasoning hits from 620 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 30% and a BS Rank of 21% (20,564 of 25,796 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 79.70% of the article peer group.
Five former altar boys who grew up in the “hardscrabble” Prospect Heights public housing development in Pawtucket have joined together in suing the Roman Catholic bishop of Providence over abuse they say they suffered for years from a priest with a known history of such incidents.
The former altar boys, who are identified as John Does 1 through 5, allege they were molested repeatedly by the Rev.
Armand Ventre on weekends spent at a cabin on Lake Washington in Glocester.
They met Ventre during their service at the Church of St.
Teresa of the Child Jesus in Pawtucket and during Masses held in the housing complex.
“These families had no idea that St.
Teresa’s was a serial pedophile’s hunting ground that the Diocese and the Parish all but encouraged.
Rev.
Armand Ventre was a serial child abuser whose first documented abuse occurred in 1973,” the lawsuit filed July 29 in Providence County Superior Court says.
The lawsuit accuses the bishop and the church itself of negligence and of breaching its duty of trust to the children and their families by hiring Ventre and failing to inform the community of previous allegations.
They are seeking unspecified damages under a new law opening a two-year window for individuals to pursue civil claims against the church and other institutions over allegations of childhood abuse.
It is one of more than three dozen lawsuits filed against the diocese since the window opened July 1.
Allegations of shattered faith, hope
According to the 25-page complaint, the abuse by Ventre began against one boy at age 9 and enveloped other youths the priest invited to his lakeside cabin.
In each instance, Ventre told the boy that he must bathe in a large basin to “conserve” water or to remove algae and chemicals after a swim.
Ventre would then wash the boys by hand, molesting them by fondling their genitals under the guise of bathing.
Ventre, the suit says, would have the boys share his bed at night when more abuse would occur.
“The Diocese and the Parish gave a serial predator unfettered access to some of Rhode Island’s most vulnerable children, and the result was predictable,” the suit written by Steven J.
Kelly, of the firm Garrett Gitter, said.
The boys’ “faith, their hope, their sense of safety, their ability to trust, their ability to love, their manhood were all profoundly shaped both by Ventre’s abuse and the shameful way the Diocese allowed him to continue to abuse Rhode Island’s children for over twenty years.”
Ventre’s ministry over four decades
Ventre was first assigned to St.
Teresa’s as a part-time assistant in 1974, a year after his alleged first documented abuse.
He held that post through 1980, according to the suit, and served as a part-time chaplain at St.
Raphael Academy in Pawtucket from 1974 through 1977.
In 1985, Ventre was indicted for sexually molesting two altar boys and a mentally handicapped youth for three years.
In 1986, the charges concerning the altar boys were dismissed, and Ventre was found not guilty of abuse of the third child in a non-jury trial, the suit said.
Ventre remained in ministry until 1999 and died that same year.
Ventre was named in the scathing report Attorney General Peter Neronha issued in March detailing the Roman Catholic Church's alleged cover-up of abuse of at least 300 Rhode Island children.
He is also included on the diocese’s list of credibly accused clergy.
Ventre was accused of sexually abusing at least six boys and a mentally disabled adult across his years in ministry, the suit says.
A spokesman for the diocese did not respond to an email inquiry about the allegations.
Speakers
1speaker13%attributed speech537writer words
Selected voice
92%flagged-word coverageSteven J. Kelly
83 attributed words100% of attributed speech56% writer coverage
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