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	Priest Misconduct Trial Opens Today; First of 17 Lawsuits By Kevin O'Connor Times Argus [Vermont] April 17, 2006 http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article? AID=/20060417/NEWS/604170348/1002/EDUCATION05 Jury selection is set to start today in the first of 17 priest misconduct lawsuits against Vermont's Catholic Church. Burlington's Chittenden Superior Court has scheduled two days for choosing 12 jurors and three alternates to decide the civil case of Michael Gay, a 38-year-old South Burlington man who claims the Rev. Edward Paquette "sexually abused and sexually exploited" him as an altar boy from ages 10 to 12. In his lawsuit, Gay says the church knew the priest had a history of assaulting boys but did nothing to stop him. Court paperwork limits description of the allegations to "unpermitted, harmful and offensive sexual contact" and seeks financial damages "in an amount deemed appropriate by the jury." A gag order restricts lawyers from saying anything more to the press. But all involved anticipate Gay's lawyer, Jerome O'Neill of Burlington, will offer a headline-grabbing opening statement if the trial starts Wednesday as scheduled. The defendant, now 77 and retired in Massachusetts, has told the court he won't attend because he's about to receive daily radiation treatments for prostate cancer and can't afford lodging for a trial set to run up to two weeks. But that won't stop Gay's case against the statewide Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington, which is wrestling with its own concerns. Take O'Neill, for example. The chairman of the Burlington Police Commission and a former federal prosecutor compelled the diocese to settle a similar case in 2004 for a $150,000 cash payment — the largest such agreement in state history — and another the same year for $120,000. Also, O'Neill's opening statement promises to overshadow a Mass that Vermont Catholic Bishop Salvatore Matano will celebrate the same day in Burlington on the first anniversary of his ordination and the election of Pope Benedict XVI. Neither O'Neill nor the church's lawyer, David Cleary of Rutland, will comment on whether they're trying to settle the latest case. But the church has incentive to: Last fall, Judge Ben Joseph ordered the state Attorney General's Office to give O'Neill most of its priest misconduct findings. The lawyer could reveal those facts in this week's case or the trials of 16 other lawsuits he has filed against the church and five former Vermont priests. Twelve of those cases involve claims against Paquette, a former priest who worked in Burlington, Montpelier and Rutland from 1972 to 1978. Gay alleges his abuse took place at Christ the King Catholic Church in Burlington. O'Neill also has filed one case each involving former Vermont priests James Dunn, 76; James McShane, 65; and George Paulin, 62; and two cases against Alfred Willis, 61. Paquette repeatedly has hung up on a reporter seeking comment. None of the other priests could be reached.
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