NEWS ANALYSIS

MONDAY, MARCH 9, 2026

Contact: C. J. Doyle
(617) 524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com
www.catholicactionleague.org

WHY DOES THE CRIME OF SEXUAL ABUSE ONLY BECOME A MORAL PANIC WHEN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IS INVOLVED?

There is a new moral panic in the Boston and Providence media markets. It is about already known cases of clerical sexual abuse in the Diocese of Providence from 30 to 75 years ago.

In 2019, the Bishop of Providence, the Most Reverend Thomas Tobin—a prelate much maligned for his orthodox moral teachings--entered into a voluntary agreement with the Rhode Island Attorney General’s office, allowing state officials unprecedented access to all diocesan files on the clerical molestation of minors.

Tobin’s good faith effort at transparency has now been repaid with political grandstanding and media melodrama.

On March 4th, Rhode Island’s Democratic Attorney General, Peter F. Neronha, held a press conference to announce the release of a 288 page report detailing incidents of sexual abuse involving 75 priests and deacons—and 300 victims—between 1950 and 2025.

Neronha began by describing “The sordid and shameful history of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church,“ which he said occurred in the Diocese of Providence “on an abhorrent, staggering scale.”

After detailing numerous incidents and delivering extended criticisms of the Diocese of Providence, Neronha made the expected recommendations.

He called for more money for victims; the public release of one sided grand jury reports; and an extension of the civil and criminal statutes of limitations so additional lawsuits can be filed and additional prosecutions can be undertaken.

Neronha also demanded the expansion of mandatory reporting laws to include not only known incidents of abuse, but suspicion of abuse or “neglect” by clergy.

In a comprehensive response to the report, accompanied by video message from Bishop Bruce Lewandowski, the Diocese of Providence pointed out that 97% of abuse cases occurred between 1950 and 1997.

The Diocese went on to say that “The Report itself reveals no evidence of recent child sexual abuse by clergy, no credible accusations against those in ministry today, and no instances of the diocese’s failure to meet its legal reporting obligations.”

Many of the incidents mentioned in the report received media attention when they were first revealed, years ago.

The media however, went into full crisis coverage. The Boston Globe ran with no less than seven stories over three days, including a front page report on March 5th.

NBC10 Boston produced three extended stories, one of which described “massive” sexual abuse in the Church of Providence and made the unsupported claim that the real numbers were “much higher.”

Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle made the following comments:

“While there is no defending the past practice—common to many institutions—of regarding molesters as mentally ill persons needing treatment, rather than as criminal predators deserving incarceration, the numbers here, while disturbing, are not, as the media would have you believe, overwhelming.

“As I pointed out to NBC10 Boston, there are, today, 519 priests, deacons and religious brothers in the Diocese of Providence.

“Over the course of 75 years, and with many more vocations in the 1950’s and 1960’s, that total number since 1950 is probably in excess of 1,500.

“Those 75 abusers, therefore, represented no more than five percent of the Providence clergy and male religious—a number still far too high, but hardly indicative of massive, systemic institutional corruption.

“One of the report’s own findings was predictable. Although the word homosexual is never mentioned, 80% of the victims were male, with their abuse beginning between the ages of eleven and fourteen.

“Attorney General Neronha’s concern for the protection of children might be more credible if he did not believe that 66 million dead children are not enough.

“Described as a “Champion” of Planned Parenthood, Neronha has sued to continue taxpayer funding of America’s abortion giant.

“Outside of Rhode Island, Neronha is best known as the public official who refused to fire an Assistant AG who, while intoxicated, abused and threatened Newport police officers.

“Prior to becoming state Attorney General, Neronha was Barack Obama’s appointee as U.S. Attorney for the District of Rhode Island.

“In 2023, the newspaper of Boston’s African American community, The Bay State Banner, reported that students in the Boston Public Schools experienced 744 incidents of sexual assault in the 2021-2022 school year alone.

“In that case, there were no front page headlines, demands for resignations, or calls for prosecutions and government investigations.

“There was no daily drum beat of articles, editorials, columns, and op-ed pieces. There were no lead stories on television news or drive time discussions on talk radio.

“The Boston Globe actually downplayed the story, suggesting that the numbers were ‘murky.’

“When the sexual abuse of minors occurs in public schools, it is a statistic—to be questioned. When it occurs in the Catholic Church, it is a moral panic and a public outrage.

“Without diminishing the magnitude of the crime, the double standard is appalling.”

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THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2026

Contact: C. J. Doyle
(617) 524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com
www.catholicactionleague.org

WARREN GODDARD R.I.P.

The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts today is mourning the loss of one of its longtime members, Warren E. Goddard, of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, who died last Friday, February 27th, on the Feast of Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows. Warren was 96.

Born in Cambridge in 1929 and educated in Cambridge public schools, Warren attended Lowell Teachers College before serving his country as a medic during the Korean War.

While on active duty, he met the love of his life, Yvonne Marie. They were married in 1952.

Following his honorable discharge from the service, he graduated from Lowell Technical Institute in 1957 with a degree in Engineering. That same year, he moved to the Buckeye State to work as a Project Engineer for the BF Goodrich Company in Marion, and later in Akron and Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

In 1967 Warren moved to Connecticut to work for the world’s premier submarine builder—Electric Boat, then part of General Dynamics. As a member of their R & D team, Warren served as a Test Engineer on nuclear submarines at their shipbuilding facility in Groton.

From 1978 until his retirement in 1995, Warren worked as a mechanical engineer on nuclear subs at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in New Hampshire.

A one term state legislator, Warren Goddard represented the 33rd Rockingham District in the New Hampshire House of Representatives from 1995 to 1997.

Many of us remember Warren as a fervent traditional Catholic, a valiant defender of the Faith, and as a resolute champion of the right to life.

He was a founding member of both Connecticut Right To Life and New Hampshire Right To Life, where he served as Board Chairman and Treasurer.

Warren was also an early activist, going back to the 1980’s, with Operation Rescue Boston.

Committed to the public defense of his Faith, Warren’s comments, press statements and letters to the editor could be found in the New Hampshire Union Leader, in much of the Boston, Granite State, and even national media, and in various Catholic publications.

He was, for decades, a supporter of the Saint Benedict Center and the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Richmond, New Hampshire. He was also a lifelong member of the Knights of Columbus.

Warren Goddard was a loving husband and father, a pious Catholic, a patriotic American, a stalwart pro-lifer, a gifted professional and a Christian gentleman. He will be sorely missed.

The Catholic Action League wishes to extend its sincere and heartfelt condolences to Warren’s family on the occasion of their grievous loss.

Warren is survived by two sisters, eleven children, 31 grandchildren, 14 great grandchildren, one great-great grandson, and several nieces and nephews and their families.

Warren was predeceased by his wife of 60 years, Yvonne Marie (Landry) Goddard, his brothers Arthur and Donald Goddard, his sister Marion, his children Peter and Michelle, his granddaughters Rachel and Jillian, and his great-granddaughter Olivia.

Warren will be waked on Friday, March 6, 2026, from 4 pm to 7 pm, at the Farrell Funeral Home, at 684 State Street, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

A Requiem Mass will be celebrated on Saturday, March 7, 2026, at 10 am, in the Immaculate Conception Church, at 9 Summer Street in Portsmouth.

Interment will be at the Calvary Cemetery in Portsmouth, following the Mass.

For those wishing to send Mass cards and spiritual bouquets to Warren’s family, you may mail them to the Goddard Family, 8 Wilson Road, Portsmouth, NH 03801.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen. May his soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

It is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they might be loosed from sins. 2 Maccabees 12:46

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MEMBER ADVISORY

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2026

Contact: C. J. Doyle
(617) 524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com
www.catholicactionleague.org

FATHER TOM DILORENZO R.I.P.

The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts today is mourning the loss of Father Tom DiLorenzo, who died, unexpectedly, early this morning, while on a retreat in Florida. He was 79 years old.

A humble and faithful priest with a zeal for souls, Father DiLorenzo was the most fervent champion of the innocent unborn in the Archdiocese of Boston, and suffered for his fidelity to Catholic principles.

Born in East Boston in 1946, Thomas DiLorenzo was ordained to the priesthood in 1979.

In 1984, he began his Catholic radio apostolate, In Season & Out of Season, which could be heard on ten radio stations across the United States, and which, as a podcast, would eventually be seen on YouTube, Spotify, and on cable television networks throughout New England.

For twenty-five years, from 1995 to 2020, Father Tom was the beloved Administrator of Holy Rosary Parish in Winthrop. For the last six years, he has been a Senior Priest in Residence at Saint John the Baptist Parish in Quincy.

In 2005, the nominally Catholic President of the Massachusetts Senate, Robert Travaglini—serving the corporate interests of the powerful biotech industry—introduced legislation which would legalize and subsidize embryonic stem cell research and would open the door to human cloning in the Commonwealth.

The measure was so extreme that even the Bay State’s pro-abortion Governor, Mitt Romney, opposed it.

Father DiLorenzo threw his heart and soul into fighting this demonic measure, going so far as to have his parishioners pray the Rosary outside of Travaglini’s East Boston home.

In response, Senator Travaglini’s wife made the vile insinuation that Father Tom was somehow obsessed with Travaglini’s children.

The Archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Sean O’Malley was appalled—not by Travaglini’s betrayal of the Faith of his Baptism, nor by Mrs. Travaglini’s calumny towards an innocent priest, but by Father DiLorenzo’s determined opposition to the Travaglini’s assault on Divine and natural law.

Cardinal O’Malley—whose preferred method of dealing with apostate Catholic politicians was to give them awards, honors and platforms—ordered the protests to stop, publicly apologised to Travaglini, and instructed Father DiLorenzo to seek counseling from a church approved psychiatrist.

Father DiLorenzo was silenced, the legislation passed over Romney’s veto, and Travaglini resigned to found a corporate lobbying firm which boasted of the politician’s success in bringing embryonic stem cell research to Massachusetts.

Father DiLorenzo was a longtime friend to the Catholic Action League, who was always willing to make his corner of the public airwaves available to us whenever some moral issue arose in the public square.

Father Tom was a good and kind man, a pious Catholic and a dedicated priest with a burning desire to evangelize. It could be said of him that he was, truly, on fire for the Lord. He will be sorely missed.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen. May his soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

It is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they might be loosed from sins. 2 Maccabees 12:46

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LETTER TO THE EDITOR

FEBRUARY 4, 2026   Published by The Boston Globe on February 6th

Letters to the Editor
The Boston Globe
One Exchange Place, Suite 201
Boston, MA 02109-2132
letter@globe.com

To the Editor,

In her attempt to persuade readers that Don Lemon’s reprehensible conduct during a Minnesota church invasion was protected by the First Amendment, Jill Abramson seems to suggest that the incident was a matter of competing rights. It wasn’t. (Don Lemon’s arrest was wrong, but his reporting raises questions, 2/3/2026).

Most states, including New York, California, Minnesota and Massachusetts, have laws against disturbing an assembly of worship.

Most states, like Massachusetts, have laws prohibiting interference with the constitutional rights of others—including the right to worship. In the Bay State, that offense is now classified as a hate crime.

In Minnesota, the State Constitution is clear: “The right of every man to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience shall never be infringed.”

Freedom of the press is not a grant of immunity to podcasters who trespass, disturb lawful assemblies, and impede others in the exercise of constitutionally protected activities.

The January 18th invasion of Cities Baptist Church in Saint Paul shut down a religious service, terrified children and caused congregants to flee.

It was the sort of crime one would expect in Syria, not America.

Sincerely,

C. J. Doyle
Executive Director
Catholic Action League of Massachusetts
P. O. Box 112
Boston, MA 02131
(617) 524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com

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PRESS STATEMENT

TUESDAY, JANUARY 6, 2026

Contact: C. J. Doyle
(617) 524-6309
catholicactionleague@gmail.com
www.catholicactionleague.org

BILL FILED IN ARIZONA TO IMPOSE JAIL TIME FOR PRIESTS WHO REFUSE TO VIOLATE THE SEAL OF THE CONFESSIONAL

On January 5th, reporter Matt Lamb from LifeSiteNews, contacted the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts, seeking a comment about a proposed Arizona law which would impose prison sentences and six figure fines on Catholic priests who refused to violate the Seal of the Confessional, in cases of sexual abuse.

In response to questions from Matt Lamb, League Executive Director C. J. Doyle made the following comments:

Matt Lamb: Given that it is similar to a law that was federally enjoined in Washington and has since been revoked, does it seem there is any reasonable chance this would be implemented?

C. J. Doyle: The sanctity of the Seal of the Confessional—known in civil law as the priest-penitent privilege—has been upheld in American law since the New York case of People v. Philips in 1813.

The inevitability of a legal challenge should the Arizona legislation become law, the recent decision by the U.S. District Court in the State of Washington, and the likelihood of intervention by the U.S. Department of Justice, all supported by two centuries of common law and American jurisprudence, suggest that such a statute would not pass constitutional muster.

As the proponents know this, these proposals may be regarded as political posturing more than serious law making.

Matt Lamb: This legislator is joining others in Washington and Montana pushing to revoke the Seal of Confession. Why do you think politicians, particularly Democrats, are targeting the Catholic Church?

C. J. Doyle: It is, certainly, not difficult to ascribe motives to the author of the proposed Arizona law. The sponsor of the anti-Catholic law is State Representative Stacey Travers, the Democratic Minority Whip.

Travers was endorsed by NOW, Emily’s List, Stonewall Democrats and Arizona Equality.

She has co-sponsored legislation to repeal the state’s former 15 week abortion ban; to eliminate abortion reporting requirements; to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment; to erase conscience protections for health care professionals in the provision of contraceptives; to prohibit conversion therapy; to legalize assisted suicide; and to establish same-sex marriage as a right under the Arizona Constitution.

For Travers, and other left-wing Democrats, the Catholic Church is an ideological adversary which must be vilified and discredited at every opportunity.

They do this by exploiting the clerical sex abuse scandal of the past to portray the clergy as callously indifferent to abuse victims. Their methods are cynical, and their motives are malicious and punitive.

Matt Lamb: What should Catholics do to oppose this law?

C. J. Doyle: As reception of the Sacrament of Penance is indispensably necessary for the practice of the Catholic Religion, and as the sanctity of the Confessional is integral to the administration of the sacrament, Catholics must make clear that any effort to violate the seal will be regarded as nothing less than an attempt to criminalize Catholicism, which will be resisted by all appropriate means.

It must also be made known that the only way to enforce such legislation is through entrapment—the sending in of undercover police agents to the confessional to make false confessions.

The opportunities for abuse are rampant. A convicted sex offender could invent a claim that he confessed his sins, and then offer to testify against a priest in order to have his sentence reduced.

Finally, as Professor Jonathan Turley pointed out, a priest’s coerced admission would be useless in a court of law if he did not first give a Miranda warning to the penitent.

C. J. Doyle’s remarks were included in a story published today, January 6th, in LifeSiteNews.

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