GoLocalProv | Politics | Side of the Rhode: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not? – May 19, 2023

NOT

Kicking the Can

Diocese of Providence Priest Eric Silva — who has been removed from diocesan assignments at Catholic schools and parishes in Cranston, Barrington and Narragansett — now has a new home.

Silva had been removed for asking children “inappropriate questions” about sex.

Demers, Haiti, and St. Joseph’s Church

Now, Silva is assigned to St. Joseph Church on Hope Street — the parish associated with one of the most infamous Catholic priests — Priest Norman Demers. 

Silva’s name does not appear on the St. Joseph website, or weekly handout, nor does he introduce himself when giving mass.

Demers was assigned to St. Joseph from 1974 to 1990 — it was his longest assignment during his 42-year career in the priesthood. And it was at St. Joseph that he was involved with the parish’s Haiti project and allegations of sexual abuse came to light.

“The complaints about Father Demers were raised in 1989 by boys at an orphanage in Haiti. The boys complained that Father Demers, who had founded the orphanage, would touch them inappropriately, according to the orphanage and its director at the time. They complained that he would require them to come to his bedroom alone, strip in front of him and try on clothing that he was giving out, according to the orphanage and the former director,” according to one press report.

Others came forward with claims of abuse about Demers. In 2020, Robert Houllahan, 51, of Providence, claimed in a lawsuit he filed that he was sexually abused by the late Demers, who received the “protection and affirmative assistance” of the leaders of the Diocese of Providence.

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Houllahan said that he witnessed children from Central America when he was brought to Demers’ private quarters in the rectory of St. Joseph in Providence in 1976, where he was molested by Demers and another man, according to the allegations in Houllahan’s lawsuit

Demers died in 2018 and has been designated by the Diocese and law enforcement on the “List of Credibly Accused Clergy.”