BishopAccountability.org
	Suits Filed against Priest By Bill Zajac Republican [Springfield MA] August 23, 2005 SPRINGFIELD - A Westfield man who was barred from serving as a Catholic priest after being accused of sexually abusing minors in three dioceses has been accused of sexually abusing four minors in Vermont in the 1970s in suits filed recently in Chittenden County Superior Court in Burlington. Edward O. Paquette Jr., of Belleview Drive, who was previously accused by two men of abusing them as minors in Vermont in suits filed in 2004, refused comment yesterday on the recently filed suits. In all the suits, the plaintiffs have listed the Diocese of Burlington as defendants. "We will investigate each complaint as they come forward and recognize that they date back to the 1970s. As lawyers for the diocese, our first job is to see if they can withstand test of statute of limitations," said William M. O'Brien, lawyer for the Burlington diocese. Five of the six men allege that Paquette sexually abused them while they belonged to Christ the King Church in Burlington. Those plaintiffs are Thomas A. Murray, Michael Gay, Perry Babel, David Navari and James Perras. No addresses or ages were listed in the suits. The other suit, which was filed by a man using the pseudonym of John Doe, alleges the abuse took place while he was an altar boy at St. Augustine's Parish and a student at St. Michael's School, both in Montpelier, Vt. Burlington lawyer Jerome F. O'Neill represents all six plaintiffs. Paquette first served as a Catholic priest in the 1950s and 1960s in the Diocese of Fall River, where a multitude of complaints alleging sexual abuse against him were filed with the diocese in the 1990s. He served next in the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Ind., which earlier this year released a statement saying allegations of sexual abuse against Paquette were made to the diocese when he served there in the 1960s and 1970s. Paquette was told by diocesan officials to leave each of the three dioceses in which he worked. He never was given a permanent assignment in the Springfield diocese. The Diocese of Burlington took steps to ensure Paquette didn't serve as a Catholic priest again. However, he was not defrocked.
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