DOVER (NH)
Foster's Daily Democrat
By BRUNO MATARAZZO Jr.
Democrat Staff Writer
bmatarazzo@fosters.com
DOVER — The Roman Catholic Church has defrocked Rev. Paul Aube, the former priest with ties to Rochester who nearly 30 years ago was caught by Nashua police while engaging in a sex act with a teenage boy in a car.
The Manchester Diocese announced in a two-sentence press release on Friday that Pope Benedict XVI dismissed Aube from the priesthood back in May. It's unclear exactly what led the pope to dismiss the former longtime priest. Neither Bishop John McCormack nor other diocese representatives could be reached for comment.
The move brings an end to the career of a priest who ended up helping the state Attorney General's Office in its investigation into the diocese's mishandling of clerical sex abuse cases.
In 2002, Aube made himself available to the Attorney General's Office and was a key witness in exchange for limited immunity from prosecution.
"I'm willing to die for the church," Aube told The Associated Press in 2003, "but I had a moral responsibility, as the church teaches, to cooperate. I had a moral responsibility to participate with the civil authorities and that's what I did."