Victim: Catholic Priests Kept Jobs Despite Sex Abuse Claims

WCBS 880 Radio
July 16, 2019

https://wcbs880.radio.com/articles/alleged-sex-abuse-victim-says-catholic-priests-kept-jobs-despite-complaints

A new lawsuit filed Tuesday claims two Catholic priest that were accused of sexually abusing minors were allowed to remain active at their churches despite complaints to the archdiocese.

The lawsuit alleges church officials either covered up or misrepresented the abusive histories of Father Donald Timone and Monsignor John Paddack, who Joseph Caramanno says abused him when he was a student at St. Joseph’s by the Sea on Staten Island.

“I personally wonder if –while I was in high school back in 2001, 2002 – was there someone that knew about Monsignor Paddack, was there someone that knew that he had, you know, done some things to others before me,” Caramanno said.

The allegations forced Paddack to resign from the Church of Notre Dame on the Upper West Side.

Timone is accused of sexually abusing the late husband of one of the plaintiffs when he was a teenager. The alleged victim died from an apparent suicide in 2015.

“The allegations against Fr. Timone and Fr. Paddack were shared with law enforcement, and both are currently out of ministry while the archdiocese investigates these new allegations against them,” the archdiocese said in a statement.

It notes that earlier claims against the two were investigated but “were found not to be substantiated.”