the priest to the parish where he met their son. In the suit, they charged that the archdiocese had breached its duty to them by allowing Paquin, “a known pedophile who had engaged in predatory sex with minors in his parish, to remain a priest where he could continue to prey upon children to satisfy his unbridled sexual desires.”
Paquin, who has admitted in interviews to molesting children, left a tragic imprint in each of the parishes to which he was assigned. Ordained in 1973, Paquin started his career at St. Monica's, where he was in charge of the altar boys, Boy Scouts, and Catholic Youth Organization, Church directories show. He began abusing young boys almost immediately. When he was transferred to Haverhill in 1981, Church officials were aware of his sexual compulsions.
In one distinct way, Paquin stands out from most other abusive priests: he acknowledges a long history of sexually deviant behavior. In an interview with a
Globe
reporter, he admitted abusing boys in Methuen and Haverhill for over fifteen years, until the Boston archdiocese removed him from active ministry in 1990. In what he offered as an explanation of sorts for his abusive behavior, Paquin said he was raped by a Catholic priest when he was growing up in Salem. “Sure, I fooled around. But I never raped anyone and I never felt gratified myself,” Paquin said. His own psychiatrist, he said, told him he “had the sexuality of a thirteen-year-old. I was stuck as a thirteen-year-old. Whenever I felt pressure, I would hang around with the thirteen-year-old kids.” From 1990 to 1998, Church directories list him as “un-assigned,” “awaiting assignment,” or on “sick leave.” He was assigned to Youville Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1999 and 2000, the same year he was laicized, which meant he could no longer perform any priestly duties.
To date, at least seven of Paquin's victims have won financial settlements from the Boston archdiocese. One of them is Bartlett, who said he was molested by Paquin numerous times over six years during the 1970s. Paquin insisted that lie stopped abusing minors after he was removed from parish work in 1990, an assertion contradicted by one of his alleged victims, now in his midtwenties, who asked that he not be identified. That man, now married, filed a lawsuit against Paquin in March 2002 claiming that Paquin began to sexually abuse him soon after he became an altar boy at age eleven or twelve. It continued until 1993 or 1994, when he was seventeen or eighteen, he said.
The abuse had begun when the man was a young altar boy at St. John's in Haverhill, where he met Paquin, who was assigned there, “He immediately wanted to start being my friend,” the man said of Paquin, who often took him shopping, bought him gifts, gave him money, and invited him to visit the church, where they would talk about religion. His father and stepmother were grateful that the priest had taken an interest in their son. A friendship blossomed, and the man came to regard Paquin as a father figure. “I really became an active part of church and his life,” he said.
After about seven months, the man said, Paquin began to invite him on day trips to shopping outlets in Maine and, eventually, overnight trips to a camp in Kennebunkport. “We'd drink Corona, make lobster, eat ice cream,” he recalled. Before long, their conversations during the ride up Interstate 95 took a sexual turn, as Paquin steered the topics to psychology, then Freud, then sex. Had he ever masturbated? Paquin would ask him. Had he ever had an erection? “He just started making this a part of our normal conversation,” he said. “It was embarrassing at first, but he'd say, ‘I know this is weird and embarrassing, but it's normal to talk about this, and it's good to feel comfortable with your sexuality,’ and I'd listen to what he'd say. He'd say some good stuff, too — he'd talk about religion and faith and morals and being a good person. You
Paquin, who has admitted in interviews to molesting children, left a tragic imprint in each of the parishes to which he was assigned. Ordained in 1973, Paquin started his career at St. Monica's, where he was in charge of the altar boys, Boy Scouts, and Catholic Youth Organization, Church directories show. He began abusing young boys almost immediately. When he was transferred to Haverhill in 1981, Church officials were aware of his sexual compulsions.
In one distinct way, Paquin stands out from most other abusive priests: he acknowledges a long history of sexually deviant behavior. In an interview with a
Globe
reporter, he admitted abusing boys in Methuen and Haverhill for over fifteen years, until the Boston archdiocese removed him from active ministry in 1990. In what he offered as an explanation of sorts for his abusive behavior, Paquin said he was raped by a Catholic priest when he was growing up in Salem. “Sure, I fooled around. But I never raped anyone and I never felt gratified myself,” Paquin said. His own psychiatrist, he said, told him he “had the sexuality of a thirteen-year-old. I was stuck as a thirteen-year-old. Whenever I felt pressure, I would hang around with the thirteen-year-old kids.” From 1990 to 1998, Church directories list him as “un-assigned,” “awaiting assignment,” or on “sick leave.” He was assigned to Youville Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1999 and 2000, the same year he was laicized, which meant he could no longer perform any priestly duties.
To date, at least seven of Paquin's victims have won financial settlements from the Boston archdiocese. One of them is Bartlett, who said he was molested by Paquin numerous times over six years during the 1970s. Paquin insisted that lie stopped abusing minors after he was removed from parish work in 1990, an assertion contradicted by one of his alleged victims, now in his midtwenties, who asked that he not be identified. That man, now married, filed a lawsuit against Paquin in March 2002 claiming that Paquin began to sexually abuse him soon after he became an altar boy at age eleven or twelve. It continued until 1993 or 1994, when he was seventeen or eighteen, he said.
The abuse had begun when the man was a young altar boy at St. John's in Haverhill, where he met Paquin, who was assigned there, “He immediately wanted to start being my friend,” the man said of Paquin, who often took him shopping, bought him gifts, gave him money, and invited him to visit the church, where they would talk about religion. His father and stepmother were grateful that the priest had taken an interest in their son. A friendship blossomed, and the man came to regard Paquin as a father figure. “I really became an active part of church and his life,” he said.
After about seven months, the man said, Paquin began to invite him on day trips to shopping outlets in Maine and, eventually, overnight trips to a camp in Kennebunkport. “We'd drink Corona, make lobster, eat ice cream,” he recalled. Before long, their conversations during the ride up Interstate 95 took a sexual turn, as Paquin steered the topics to psychology, then Freud, then sex. Had he ever masturbated? Paquin would ask him. Had he ever had an erection? “He just started making this a part of our normal conversation,” he said. “It was embarrassing at first, but he'd say, ‘I know this is weird and embarrassing, but it's normal to talk about this, and it's good to feel comfortable with your sexuality,’ and I'd listen to what he'd say. He'd say some good stuff, too — he'd talk about religion and faith and morals and being a good person. You
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