More than two decades after widespread revelations about sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests, new allegations have emerged involving the late Bishop Louis E. Gelineau, who led the Diocese of Providence for many years. Gelineau, who died two years ago, faces a lawsuit filed by a 56-year-old man from Newport, Rhode Island, accusing the bishop of raping him during the 1980s when he was an altar boy at St. Luke’s Church in Barrington.

Gelineau’s legacy has long been contentious. Critics argue that, as with many church leaders during that era, his response to allegations of sexual abuse was to quietly transfer offending priests to new parishes, enabling continued access to potential victims. Supporters of Gelineau maintain that he was a well-intentioned individual operating within an opaque institutional framework that prioritized secrecy and marginalization of victims over accountability.

The recent lawsuit adds to unresolved questions about Gelineau’s past. In the early 1950s, when Gelineau was a seminarian working summers at St. Joseph’s Orphanage near Lake Champlain in Burlington, Vermont, separate accusations of abuse were made by another former resident, identified in a 1997 deposition as Robert Cadorette. Cadorette testified that Gelineau molested him, describing an incident where Gelineau led him away from other children, made threatening demands, and forced him to submerge his head in water multiple times. According to Cadorette, Gelineau told him he did not deserve to be with other boys his age.

Gelineau, in his deposition from the same legal proceedings, acknowledged knowing Cadorette but denied any physical contact or wrongdoing. The current whereabouts of Cadorette are unknown.

Lisa B. Shelkrot, an attorney who represented Cadorette and others in a 1997 lawsuit against the Diocese of Burlington, confirmed that a core group of survivors from St. Joseph’s Orphanage accused members of the religious community—including priests, seminarians, and nuns—of prolonged physical, sexual, and psychological abuse. Shelkrot described the environment at the orphanage as one where predatory behavior was widespread and victims were systematically mistreated.

The diocese has faced numerous claims over abuse allegations spanning decades, and the controversies surrounding Gelineau underscore ongoing tensions related to clerical accountability and institutional response. The recent lawsuit shines a spotlight not only on historical abuses but also on failures by church leadership to confront and prevent harm within their communities.