Decades Later, Portsmouth Abbey Sexual Abuse Survivors May Have a Renewed Path to Justice
Posted on: September 22, 2026 Catholic Church Sexual Abuse
For survivors of childhood sexual abuse, the passage of time does not necessarily bring an end to the harm.
Memories can remain buried for decades. Shame, fear and the power held by trusted institutions can make coming forward extraordinarily difficult. And for many survivors, by the time they were emotionally prepared to speak about what happened to them, the law had already closed the door to seeking accountability.
That reality makes the findings involving Portsmouth Abbey School especially significant today. In 2017, an independent investigation commissioned by Portsmouth Abbey found credible allegations that two former Benedictine monks sexually abused minors over a period spanning decades. The investigation identified Father Bede Gorman and Father Geoffrey Chase as the subjects of credible allegations involving abuse that occurred between 1959 and the early 1980s.
According to the investigation, the allegations emerged as Portsmouth Abbey undertook a broader review of misconduct in the school’s history. Survivors and witnesses who came forward helped reveal painful information that had remained hidden for generations.
The findings described abuse committed by men who held positions of trust and authority within a religious and educational community. For the young people involved, Portsmouth Abbey was supposed to be a place of education, guidance and safety. Instead, according to the credible allegations documented by investigators, some students experienced betrayal at the hands of adults entrusted with their care.
The Abbey publicly acknowledged the findings and apologized to survivors and their families. School leaders said the revelations represented a painful and shameful chapter in the institution’s history and recognized that the trust placed in Portsmouth Abbey had been violated.
But acknowledgment is not always the same as accountability.
For years, survivors of childhood sexual abuse in Rhode Island faced another painful obstacle: the statute of limitations. Even when allegations were credible, and even when survivors were finally ready to come forward, many found that too much time had passed under the law for them to pursue civil claims.
That has now changed.
On July 1, 2026, Rhode Island opened a two-year revival window allowing survivors of childhood sexual abuse to bring certain civil claims that had previously been barred by the passage of time. The window remains open until June 30, 2028.
The new law is especially important because it allows claims not only against alleged perpetrators, but also against institutions and supervisors accused of negligently enabling abuse, failing to protect children, or concealing misconduct.
For survivors connected to institutions such as Portsmouth Abbey, the change represents something many believed they would never have: another opportunity to be heard.
The significance of that opportunity cannot be measured simply in court filings. For survivors whose legal claims were previously extinguished by an arbitrary deadline, the revival window recognizes a fundamental reality about childhood sexual abuse: people do not all disclose trauma on the same timetable.
Some survivors spend decades trying to understand what happened to them. Some fear they will not be believed. Others carry the consequences silently into adulthood, building families and careers while continuing to live with experiences they were powerless to stop as children.
Rhode Island’s new law acknowledges that justice should not necessarily disappear simply because a survivor needed time before they were able to come forward.
The Portsmouth Abbey investigation itself demonstrates why that recognition matters. The school’s independent review uncovered additional allegations after members of the community were encouraged to share information and survivors and witnesses came forward. Investigators ultimately documented credible allegations involving Father Bede Gorman and Father Geoffrey Chase, with known incidents spanning from 1959 into the early 1980s.
Those findings are now part of a larger conversation unfolding across Rhode Island.
The state’s revival window has already led survivors to bring forward allegations involving decades-old abuse that previously could not have been pursued in court. On the first day the law took effect, more than 30 lawsuits were filed against Catholic institutions in Rhode Island and related defendants, involving allegations stretching back generations.
For many survivors, this moment is not about revisiting the past for its own sake. It is about finally having the choice that was once denied to them. Whether an individual survivor decides to file a lawsuit is deeply personal. But the revival window gives people who were previously shut out of the legal system an opportunity to consider their options and decide for themselves whether pursuing accountability is part of their path forward.
The allegations uncovered at Portsmouth Abbey are decades old. Some of the people connected to those events are no longer alive. But for survivors, the passage of time does not erase what happened. And now, in Rhode Island, time may no longer automatically erase their opportunity to seek justice. The state’s two-year revival window remains open through June 30, 2028, creating a renewed opportunity for survivors of childhood sexual abuse whose claims were previously barred to seek accountability from the individuals and institutions they believe were responsible.
For those who spent years—or even a lifetime—without a path to recourse, that opportunity represents something profoundly important:
The chance to finally be heard.
The entire article can be viewed here.
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