SPRINGFIELD (MA)
MassLive
By Stephanie Barry | sbarry@repub.com
on March 29, 2016
SPRINGFIELD — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield has added a new name to its list of priests accused of sex abuse, acknowledging that the Rev. Paul Archambault’s suicide was likely prompted by a confrontation over abuse allegations that led to a court settlement.
Archambault was 42 when he fatally shot himself with his own handgun at Our Lady of Sacred Heart rectory on Rosewell Street on July 3, 2011. It was a Sunday afternoon. His body was discovered by his brother in a closet after he missed a scheduled Mass at a church in Hampden, according to police records. He had not left a note.
The suicide, just six years after Archambault was ordained by former Bishop Timothy A. McDonnell, prompted an outpouring of shock and grief in the Catholic community. Church officials are now attributing the suicide to allegations of sexual abuse.
Two years after his death, Archambault was named in a lawsuit filed in Hampshire Superior Court by a 20-year-old Chesterfield man who said Archambault began sexually abusing him at 13.
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