“There are lessons in the Pennsylvania experience,” Neronha said at a meeting Thursday with reporters at his office on South Main Street. “It’s unique. You know there’s tremendous public interest there, and being able to speak about it would advance the public interest.”

PROVIDENCE — Attorney General Peter Neronha shed new light on his office's review of clergy sex abuse in the Diocese of Providence, likening the report he's preparing — perhaps by the end of the year — to a sweeping Pennsylvania grand jury report.

“There are lessons in the Pennsylvania experience,” Neronha said at a meeting Thursday with reporters at his office on South Main Street. “It’s unique. You know there’s tremendous public interest there, and being able to speak about it would advance the public interest.”

In 2018, a Pennsylvania grand jury investigation of six of the state's eight dioceses revealed 300 abusive priests and more than 1,000 victims.

The report in Rhode Island involves reviewing decades of diocesan records. Neronha's office is scrutinizing the diocese's response to the abuse, and trying to determine if there are any criminal cases that prosecutors could file now.

“There’s just a tremendous amount of information,” Neronha said. “We’re going back a long way.”

Rhode Island’s own investigation will have to differ from the one in Pennsylvania, because grand jury secrecy rules here would prevent Neronha from publicly announcing the extensive results of an investigation outside the context of criminal charges. Efforts to pass legislation and allow grand juries to report on their findings have stalled.

By forgoing a grand jury, Neronha will be able to speak more about the findings, he said.

The diocese has pledged to turn over decades worth of records to investigators.

Other factors could weigh on whether it does actually come out by later this year, but Neronha said he does not expect it by the summer. Neronha’s office is about halfway through reviewing documents, he said. If the office does end up pursuing criminal charges against particular people, that would take priority, and the report could have to wait.

It’s unclear whether criminal charges will actually be filed. Neronha noted that many of the perpetrators are dead. The statute of limitations can also be a barrier. And sexual assault cases in general are challenging.

“What I anticipate is laying out what we found in terms of allegations of abuse, what the diocese’s response was, and whether in my judgment I think that was appropriate,” Neronha said.

He added: "What steps were taken by whoever was running the diocese at the time?"

A team of lawyers and other staff meet once a week or once every two weeks to go over the progress in the case, Neronha said.

As part of the review, the state police and advocacy organization Day One have both set up hotlines to report abuse. The state police’s line, housed in the Major Crimes Unit, can be reached at (401) 764-0142. Day One can be reached at (401) 421-4100 x444.

The diocese last year released a list of priests and deacons it deemed “credibly accused” of sexually abusing minors.

Neronha’s comments came as he sat with reporters from around the state in an on-the-record talk about subjects that varied from his office’s involvement in criminal investigations to his desire to get more aggressive in filing lawsuits to protect Rhode Island consumers.