Mount Saint Charles Academy Sex Abuse Lawsuit
Survivors of childhood sexual abuse often spend decades wondering whether something that happened to them at school was wrong. If you or a loved one was sexually abused as a student at Mount Saint Charles Academy in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, you may be able to file a civil lawsuit against the parties that failed to protect you. Rhode Island has temporarily lifted the statute of limitations for these claims, so Mount Saint Charles Academy sex abuse lawsuits from any time can be filed today. You can get legal help whenever you feel ready.
- Rhode Island’s child sexual abuse lawsuit revival window runs until July 1, 2028. The 2026 law applies to institutions that enabled abuse, not only to the individuals who caused the harm.
- A claim can move forward even if the individual perpetrator is now deceased. A perpetrator’s death does not automatically close the door to institutional claims.
- Helping Survivors can help you understand your legal rights and options, and we may be able to introduce you to our partner law firms.
Can You Still File If the Person Who Abused You Has Died?
Many survivors assume that when the person who harmed them dies, accountability dies too. This is not always the case. Civil claims can often still proceed because responsibility for child sex abuse may not be limited to a single individual. It can extend to the institution that employed or supervised that person.
A school or a religious order can answer for its own conduct, such as how it supervised the adults in its buildings, how it responded when someone raised a concern, or whether it quietly moved a known risk elsewhere. That conduct belongs to the institution alone, which is part of why a civil case differs from a criminal one. Whether these rules reach your situation is a question a lawyer would work through with you.
Defendants in Mount Saint Charles Academy sexual abuse lawsuits may include:
- The individual perpetrator or their estate, since a claim can sometimes proceed after a person has died.
- The religious order that runs the school, the Brothers of the Sacred Heart, which has operated the school since the 1930s.
- The school itself. Mount Saint Charles sits within the Diocese of Providence territory, though an order member is not a Diocesan priest, so supervision warrants careful separation.
Table of Contents
- Can You Still File If the Person Who Abused You Has Died?
- Rhode Island’s Two-Year Revival Window Closes June 30, 2028
- What Is Known About Abuse at the Woonsocket School
- The Brother Named in the Attorney General’s Report
- What Filing a Claim Actually Involves
- How Helping Survivors Supports Survivors of School Abuse
- Want To Speak With A Lawyer?
- Frequently Asked Questions
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Rhode Island's Two-Year Revival Window Closes June 30, 2028
In June 2026, Rhode Island revived child sexual abuse legal claims that had already expired under older time limits, and the statute requires that those lawsuits be commenced no later than June 30, 2028.
For anyone abused at a school, one change stands out. The earlier version of Rhode Island’s statute of limitations revived time-barred claims only against the person who caused the harm. The 2026 amendment extends revival to institutions for negligent supervision, hiring, employment, training, monitoring, failure to report, and concealment.
That shift is what makes an old school claim viable again. The entity that ran the building, kept the personnel files, and fielded complaints can be named, not only a person who may have died years ago.
What Is Known About Abuse at the Woonsocket School
Mount Saint Charles Academy is a Catholic junior and senior high school in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. It opened in September 1924 after Monsignor Charles Dauray invited the Brothers of the Sacred Heart to found a school for the city’s French-Canadian mill families, and that religious order has owned and operated the school since the 1930s.
One clergy abuse complaint tied to this school is publicly known. In 2002, a former student reported to Woonsocket police that he was abused during the 1985 to 1986 school year, when he was 12 or 13 years old. According to the Attorney General’s report, this was the only known complaint from that Brother’s time at Mount Saint Charles. Other survivors may exist who have never come forward, which is common and understandable.
The Brother Named in the Attorney General's Report
One person connected to this school appears in the Rhode Island Attorney General’s March 2026 report on the Diocese of Providence: Brother Roger C. Argencourt.
Who He Was
Brother Roger C. Argencourt, also known as Brother Odillion, was a member of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart, the religious order that runs Mount Saint Charles Academy. He taught at Mount Saint Charles from 1981 to 1986. He belonged to a religious order rather than serving as a Diocesan priest, a distinction that matters when identifying who supervised him. Brother Argencourt died on September 23, 2002, at the age of 64, of hypertension and heart disease, according to the state medical examiner.
The 2002 Report and Investigation
In 2002, a former student reported abuse by Argencourt to Woonsocket police, describing conduct from the 1985 to 1986 school year. Investigators worked alongside the Attorney General’s office as the matter developed, but Argencourt died before the case reached a grand jury, and the investigation ended at that point.
What Filing a Claim Actually Involves
Survivors often tell us the process itself is more intimidating than the decision to come forward. Knowing its shape helps. What follows is typical rather than guaranteed, and these stages often overlap:
- An initial conversation. Someone listens and explains what options exist, with no obligation to move forward.
- A review of what you remember and what records exist. Gaps are expected after decades.
- An evaluation of which entities could bear responsibility. The ownership and supervision questions above get worked out here.
- Filing in the appropriate court. For claims arising in Woonsocket, that venue is the Providence County Superior Court at the Licht Judicial Complex.
A civil claim can proceed without any prior police report, and there are ways to protect a survivor’s identity in a filing. Corroboration in decades-old cases can come from other survivors, personnel records, and institutional files obtained during the case, which is part of why lookback windows exist.
How Helping Survivors Supports Survivors of School Abuse
Helping Survivors work to find survivors of sexual abuse and assault the right lawyer to help them through the legal process. We can help you understand your rights and options, and we may be able to introduce you to a partner law firm handling Rhode Island school abuse claims. Our partner firms take these cases on a contingency basis, which means no upfront costs for survivors.
For mental health support, RAINN maintains a national hotline staffed around the clock. Whether to come forward remains your decision, and there is no wrong answer.
Want To Speak With A Lawyer?
If you attended Mount Saint Charles Academy and something happened to you there, you are allowed to ask questions about your rights and options without committing to anything. Rhode Island’s window closes on June 30, 2028, so there is time. Get legal help here whenever you are ready.
Frequently Asked Questions
Was the school named in the Rhode Island Attorney General's report?
A Brother who taught at Mount Saint Charles is included in the report’s appendix, and the school appears in coverage of it. That is different from a finding against the school itself.
What if the abuse happened in the 1970s or 1980s?
The revival window exists for exactly that situation. Claims from decades ago can now be brought, provided they are commenced by June 30, 2028.
Do I need to have reported the abuse at the time?
A civil claim does not require a prior police report or a complaint filed at the time of the abuse. Most survivors of child sexual abuse do not tell anyone for years, and the law accounts for that reality.