What happened to you at St. Aloysius Home was not okay.

The brick building on Austin Avenue in Greenville. The dormitory wings, the chapel, the basement where the kids roller-skated. If DCYF sent you there, or your family did, any year before it closed in January 1994, and something happened that you have never quite set down, then yes. This is about you. Six men who lived there as boys went to court in July 2026. You would not be the first.

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6 questions. Your answers are private and go to one person.

This applies to you no matter what

You were a ward of the state. Most boys at St. Aloysius after the late 1960s were; DCYF paid the Home to keep you. It changes nothing about your right to ask.
It wasn't a priest. Sixteen boys said in 1992 that they'd been abused there, and the men indicted were lay staff and an optometrist, not priests. The men suing now name a gym teacher and a priest nobody can identify. The claim is against the place, not one man.
You told a nun, or a counselor, and got told you'd get over it. One of the six plaintiffs says exactly that. A report that went nowhere is still a report.
You sued once, or your family did, back in the 1990s, and lost. Some St. Aloysius cases did. A lawyer needs to hear that first thing, but it is not by itself the end of the conversation.
It was fifty years ago. We know. The Home shut in January 1994, which means the old clock had run out on nearly every boy who ever slept there, and stayed run out. Then Rhode Island reopened those claims, in June of 2026, and gave everyone until June 30, 2028. Details below.
You have a record now. Prison, drugs, a life that went sideways after Greenville. The man who sued first spent close to twenty years in and out of the ACI and said so in the newspaper. It counts for nothing against you.

The St. Aloysius Home record: what the public record says, and when

We didn't write what's below. The Rhode Island Attorney General did, and the Supreme Court, and the reporters who covered it, and we link to every line. Where it says a complaint alleges, that is all it is: an allegation the Diocese has not answered. Neither priest named here was ever charged with a crime, and both are dead. Nothing on this page decides any of it.

1946 to 1994

Two diocesan priests, decades apart, in the Attorney General's own assignment records. Father Rene Guertin: St. Aloysius Home, 1946 to 1969, then a parish in Burrillville, died January 23, 1982. Father Robert McIntyre: St. Aloysius Home, 1971 to 1994, suspended then retired in 1994, died June 23, 2020. Both are on the Diocese's list of credibly accused clergy, the Diocese's finding, not a court's. Neither was ever criminally charged. R.I. Attorney General, Credibly Accused Clergy (Appendix A index), entries for Guertin and McIntyre.

1992 to January 1994

This is when it became public. Sixteen boys said they had been sexually abused at the Home. Three former lay staff members and an outside optometrist were indicted for child molestation: one staffer pleaded no contest to five counts of second-degree child molestation, ten years suspended with probation; another and the optometrist pleaded no contest to simple assault; a jury acquitted the third. The State Child Advocate got Family Court orders making the Home tell DCYF about complaints before investigating them itself. DCYF pulled its children out in 1993. Bishop Gelineau's words that year, on June 23: "I have every confidence in the administration and staff at the home." Seven months later, January 1994, it closed anyway. R.I. Attorney General, Report Vol. I (Mar. 4, 2026), pp. 81-82 and n. 119.

June 11, 1999

Then the courts, and this part is not good news, so read it plainly. A dozen former residents had sued the Roman Catholic Bishop of Providence, the corporation sole that is the Diocese in a courtroom. The Supreme Court affirmed summary judgment for it: not enough evidence that it "so organized and controlled" the Home to answer for it, even with Bishop Gelineau as the Home's president, treasurer and a director. Doe v. Gelineau, 732 A.2d 43. The same year a jury found DCYF, the Home and McIntyre not liable in another resident's case. Doe v. Gelineau, R.I. Supreme Court, Nos. 97-611 et al. (June 11, 1999).

April 12, 2002

Another former resident, there from 1982 to 1985, sued the Bishop, the Diocese, St. Aloysius, McIntyre, the State and DCYF officers. Too late under the deadline law of the time, the Supreme Court held. Roe v. Gelineau, 794 A.2d 476. For twenty-four years, that was the answer everyone from St. Aloysius got. Roe v. Gelineau, R.I. Supreme Court, No. 2000-136 (Apr. 12, 2002).

November 23, 2018

David Silipigni, 57, of Warwick, told the Providence Journal what he says a priest did to him in the basement and in a room off the chapel in 1969, when he was 7 or 8. The priest's name he never learned. When he finally called a lawyer, in 2017, the answer was that he was decades too late, and that was that. In the same story McIntyre, retired, says he handled abuse complaints himself and told DCYF only about the ones he believed. Providence Journal, Nov. 23, 2018.

March 4, 2026

The Attorney General and the State Police published, and St. Aloysius has its own section, pages 80 to 82. The Home ran from 1939 to 1994 under the Rhode Island Catholic Orphan Asylum Corporation; "The Diocese owned the land and the building, appointed the facility's administrator, and the Bishop was the President of the corporation." McIntyre and Guertin "are together alleged to have sexually abused or attempted to sexually abuse 15 children at St. Aloysius Home from the 1950s to the 1980s." The Diocese's documents show it first learned of allegations against McIntyre in 1993, and that in 1973 officials learned a 14-year-old girl was living in a rectory with Guertin; no response was found. His findings, and his report says they are not findings of guilt. R.I. Attorney General, Report Vol. I (Mar. 4, 2026), pp. 74, 80-82.

June 11, 2026

The day Governor McKee signed the two bills, H 7200 Sub A and S 2616 Sub A. What they do, in one breath: they add a new subsection (a)(3) to R.I. Gen. Laws § 9-1-51, and under it a childhood sexual abuse claim that "would be time barred", the negligent supervision, failure-to-report and concealment claims against an institution included, is "revived and shall be commenced by no later than June 30, 2028." It took effect twenty days later, July 1, 2026. Governor's Office, June 11, 2026; bill text 2026 H 7200 Sub A.

July 2026

On July 1, the first day, David Silipigni sued. By the end of July there were six of them, men who had lived at St. Aloysius as boys, each filed in Providence County Superior Court, each against the same two defendants: the Roman Catholic Bishop of Providence and the Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum d/b/a St. Aloysius Home. Four of the six say McIntyre raped them, in the 1980s; one of those four was 6 when it started. Another says it was a gym teacher, in 1971, when he was 12, and that when he told a nun she said he'd "get over it." The complaints span 1969 to 1989, ages 6 to 12; St. Aloysius is named in more of the 50-plus diocesan suits than any other property. All of it is what the complaints allege. The Diocese's spokesman: claims from "30, 40 and 50 years ago" raise "lost evidence, deceased or unavailable witnesses and altered memories." No response filed as of the Globe's report; no docket numbers published. If either changes, this line changes. Boston Globe, July 29, 2026.

We checked this on September 13, 2026, and the newest thing in it is from July 2026. When something new gets filed or decided, it goes in here within 72 hours, with the link.

Who can be held responsible in a St. Aloysius Home lawsuit

Two defendants, and the second one is the point. The July 2026 complaints name two: the Roman Catholic Bishop of Providence, a corporation sole (that is how you sue a diocese in Rhode Island, you sue the Bishop as a corporation), and the Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum d/b/a St. Aloysius Home, the corporation that actually ran the place. The legal theory isn't exotic. It's the one Rhode Island wrote into its deadline statute back in 2019: negligent supervision, negligent hiring, training, monitoring, failure to report, concealment. Plainly: you take in children the State can't keep, you keep a priest over them for 23 years, a kid says something, and you have to act. The Attorney General found the Home reported complaints late and selectively, and that the Diocese owned the building, picked the administrator and had the Bishop as the corporation's president. His findings and the complaints' allegations, not ours; the Diocese has admitted none of it.

Now the honest part. In 1999 the Supreme Court let the Bishop's corporation out of the St. Aloysius cases for want of evidence that the Diocese "organized and controlled" the Home. The 2026 complaints come with the Attorney General's findings those plaintiffs never had, and the Diocese may fight the point again. Whether the Diocese answers, or only the Home's corporation does, is for the Superior Court. You should hear that before you pick up the phone, not after.

Everything filed since July 1, the St. Aloysius cases and the rest of the Diocese's (those belong on the parent page, diocese-of-providence-survivors), goes to one judge, Richard A. Licht, on a mass-tort calendar. The Diocese is not in bankruptcy: a search of the public docket archive for the federal bankruptcy court in Rhode Island on September 13, 2026 turned up no petition by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Providence. If that changes, this page changes.

Your deadline: the Rhode Island statute of limitations for abuse at St. Aloysius Home

The rule first, then the date. Rhode Island's childhood sexual abuse statute, § 9-1-51 of the General Laws, gives you 35 years from the act, or seven years from the day you understood what it did to you, whichever comes later, and the clock doesn't start at all until you turn 18. Sounds long. But the Home closed in January 1994, and until 2019 the rule was seven years, not 35, so for just about everyone from St. Aloysius the old clock had run out against the Home and the Diocese before the longer one existed. That is why nobody from Greenville could sue for a quarter century, and why the one date that matters now is June 30, 2028.

Then July 1, 2026 came. Twenty days before, on June 11, Governor McKee had signed H 7200 Sub A / S 2616 Sub A, and on July 1 it took effect. What it does is add one subsection, (a)(3), and the subsection says a claim for childhood sexual abuse that would otherwise be time-barred, and it means the negligent-supervision, failure-to-report and concealment claims against the institution too, "shall be revived and shall be commenced by no later than June 30, 2028." For anyone who was a child at St. Aloysius, in any year, that is the route. The one route. It has an end date, and the date is real.

And the sentence we owe you. In 1996, in Kelly v. Marcantonio, the Rhode Island Supreme Court said the state constitution "precludes legislation with retroactive features permitting revival of an already time-barred action." On July 31, 2026 the Diocese said the new law "abandons the prevailing principles of due process enshrined in the Rhode Island Constitution." As of September 13, 2026 no court has ruled on it in any of the 50-plus cases. A lawyer will tell you what that means for a case filed now. If you were 18 or older when it happened, § 9-1-51 doesn't apply to you; the general three-year rule (§ 9-1-14(b)) does, and whether anything paused it is a lawyer's call. Answer the questions anyway and say so.

Your situation still qualifies even if

You never told a soul. Not the nuns, not your caseworker, not your wife. The man who sued first didn't tell a stranger for 45 years.
You don't remember the name. Silipigni never knew his either. A face, the room, roughly the year: that's enough to start.
You were there a few weeks in the emergency shelter, not years in the dormitories.
It was another kid, an older boy. The Attorney General's report has a survivor who reported older boys and got beaten for it.
You were part of the 1990s lawsuits, or your parents were, and it went nowhere. Say so on the call; it changes the analysis, not the welcome.
You live in Massachusetts or Connecticut or Florida now. Plenty of St. Aloysius kids left Rhode Island. The firm we work with files in Providence wherever you are.

St. Aloysius programs covered

St. Aloysius Home, Austin Avenue, Greenville, in the town of Smithfield, 1939 to January 1994, under the Rhode Island Catholic Orphan Asylum Corporation · the dormitories and the emergency shelter · the residential treatment program for boys under the DCYF contract · the Home's foster-care program · the chapel and the grounds. The Sisters of Mercy ran it before the priests did, back to 1862 in Providence. Another Diocese of Providence parish, school or home? That is the parent page, diocese-of-providence-survivors. Another Rhode Island group home or DCYF placement altogether? Answer the questions and say where.

Questions people are asking

Can I sue St. Aloysius Home?

Six men already have, in Providence County Superior Court, in July 2026, naming the Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum d/b/a St. Aloysius Home and the Roman Catholic Bishop of Providence. Whether you can depends on when you were there, how old you were and what happened, and it has to be filed by June 30, 2028. A lawyer gives the real answer after one conversation.

Hasn't the Rhode Island statute of limitations already run out on St. Aloysius?

It had, for nearly everyone, because the Home closed in 1994 and the rule back then gave you seven years past your eighteenth birthday, no more. The law signed June 11, 2026 revives those expired claims, the ones against the institution included, if filed by June 30, 2028. The Diocese says the revival is unconstitutional and no court has ruled yet; a lawyer weighs that with you.

St. Aloysius Home closed in 1994. Who is left to sue?

Two corporations: the Home's own, which is a named defendant in the July 2026 complaints, and the Diocese, through the Roman Catholic Bishop of Providence. The 1999 ruling that let the Diocese out of the old cases is real, and we say so above. Who answers for what is the court's call.

Was anyone at St. Aloysius ever convicted?

Not the priests. Father McIntyre and Father Guertin were never charged and are both dead; their names on the Diocese's credibly accused list are the Diocese's finding. Of the three lay staff and the optometrist indicted in the early 1990s, one staffer pleaded no contest to five counts of second-degree child molestation, two others to simple assault, and the third staffer was acquitted. A civil case is a separate thing.

I was a ward of the state at St. Aloysius. Does that change anything?

Only in your favor on the question that matters: the State paid the Home to keep you safe, and the Attorney General found the Home reported complaints to DCYF late and selectively. One honest caution: damages on a claim against the State itself are capped at $100,000 under the new law, which is one reason the cases are pleaded against the Home and the Diocese.

How much does a sexual abuse lawyer cost?

Nothing, here. Every case is on contingency. The lawyer is paid only out of what is recovered, and if nothing is recovered you owe nothing. Not for the call, not for the review, not for the case.

Who sees your form

Kerim Eravci · Survivor Advocate · Not a lawyer

I was a victim, and I waited. Not because I didn't know what happened to me (I knew every day), but because I'd decided it was over, mine to carry, nobody's business. When I finally went looking for a lawyer, the answer came back in two words I'd never thought about: statute of limitations. My time had run out while I was busy getting through it.

What that has cost me since is a long story, and I'll tell you the whole thing in private, if you want it. The short version is the reason my name is on this page: I'm here to help people do what I wish I'd done, which is find out where you stand while the door's still open.

I'm not a lawyer. I read what you send, I call you once, on your terms, and nothing gets filed unless you say so. Ask sooner than I did.

Kerim Eravci is not an attorney. He's a survivor.

What happens next. Three steps, nothing more until you say so.

You answer 6 questions. Nothing is filed. Nothing starts.
A survivor calls you, once. Not a robot, not a call center. Someone who has been where you are.
You decide. You find out your options. If you want to stop there, you stop there.

How this works

ME2 Survivors Alliance protects the heart. Licensed Rhode Island attorneys do the legal work. We are not lawyers and we don't pretend to be.

You never pay a dollar

Every case is on contingency. There is no charge for the call, the review, or the case. The firm is paid only out of a recovery, and if there is no recovery you owe nothing.