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Church Sex Scandal Movie Features Character of Local Ex-priest

By Mike LaBella
The Eagle-Tribune
November 6, 2015

http://www.eagletribune.com/news/haverhill/church-sex-scandal-movie-features-character-of-local-ex-priest/article_f17a4278-b620-55f4-9ef4-265f881bb188.html

Lisa Poole

A major motion picture about a newspaper investigation into the Catholic priest sexual abuse scandal is showing in theaters, and the character of Ronald Paquin, a former Haverhill and Methuen priest, has a strong presence in the film.

Paquin is free after serving 12 years in prison for raping boys while he was a priest. The Essex District Attorney tried recently to get him committed to a mental hospital, where he would be held after his prison term, but a judge refused.

Boston lawyer Mitchell Garabedian, who has represented more than 100 victims of the scandal and currently represents victims from 13 different countries, recently filed a civil suit against the Archdiocese on behalf of a former Haverhill woman who said she was sexually abused by already convicted Haverhill priest Kelvin Iguabita.

Garabedian said he recently attended a screening of the movie "Spotlight" and found it to be accurate for the most part. Actor Stanley Tucci portrays Garabedian in the movie.

"It's a powerful film that drives home a message of the evils of clergy sexual abuse," Garabedian said. "It also addresses the cover up by the church, the power and influence of the Catholic church, and the ability to have the truth revealed. It's a film that shows how the law, the media, and victims of clergy sexual abuse are combined to overcome the most powerful institution in the world."

Robert Hoatson, co-founder and president of Road to Recovery Inc., said the female victim whom Garabedian represents is now 21 and decided to come forward because she cannot live with the emotional pain caused by the assaults.

Hoatson said he attended a screening of the movie as well.

"In the 1980s, I was assistant headmaster of Catholic Memorial High School in West Roxbury and went to the headmaster to report a priest ... was sexually abusing students," Hoatson said. "I was told that priest was a wonderful man and would never do something like that. Twenty years later, two of the students who I thought were being abused went public. It was the same priest I had reported."

Hoatson called the movie "terrific" and said he liked it as the suspense built to a crescendo.

"It was really well done," Hoatson said, noting that Paquin's character was featured in the movie.

Garabedian said Paquin is "eerily" portrayed in the movie by actor Richard O'Rourke.

"He states something to the effect that what he (Paquin) does to children is not wrong," Garabedian said. "There is an uneasy segment in which Paquin's character is discussing sexual abuse of children with a reporter. The scene is very powerful."

"There are thousands upon thousands of clergy abuse victims out there," Garabedian said. "This has been going on for decades."

The Essex District Attorney's Office recently withdrew its petition to hold Paquin as a sexually dangerous person. Neither of the experts who examined him found him "sexually dangerous," prompting the District Attorney's Office to withdraw its petition.

After pleading guilty in 2003 to raping and molesting an altar boy in Haverhill as many as 50 times from 1989 to 1992, Paquin was sentenced to 12 to 15 years at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Cedar Junction in Walpole.

Paquin said during his trial that his sexual abuse of teenage boys spanned four decades, including while he served at St. John the Baptist Church in Haverhill from 1981 to 1990, and at St. Monica’s Church in Methuen from 1974 to 1980.

Garabedian said the movie objectively portrays a cover up by the Catholic church and leaves the audience thinking about the pain of victims of clergy sexual abuse.

"Many of my clients have seen the movie at screenings and feel that they once again have a voice," Garabedian said.

He said screenings of "Spotlight' have been taking place worldwide for about a month.

"I don't think it (the movie) will change the attitude of the Catholic church, but I do think it will help raise awareness of children's safety," Garabedian said. "I have found there has been a spike in victims coming forward because of the movie, which has empowered many victims."

In the mid-1990s, Garabedian began his representation of 86 clergy abuse victims of Boston area priest John Geoghan, who in 2002 was convicted of sexual abuse and sent to a state prison. Geoghan was murdered by a fellow inmate in 2004.

Garabedian has represented 146 victims of clergy sexual abuse and is continuing to represent new clients who come forward worldwide.

In the civil complaint he recently filed on behalf of a former Haverhill woman, Garabedian said that from about 1999, when his client was about 5, to about 2001, when she was 6, Iguabita repeatedly sexually assaulted her.

The complaint says two priests in administration of the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston share responsibility for the assaults. The complaint states the abuse took place in the All Saints Church rectory, in the basement of the church and at other locations.

This is the second time Iguabita has been accused of assaulting a young female parishioner of All Saints Church. He was convicted in 2003 of raping a 15-year-old girl on church property in 2000 and in 2005 was defrocked by the Archdiocese, or thrown out of the priesthood. He was sentenced to 12 to 15 years in prison, served his sentence and is now free.

Garabedian said he believes Iguabita, a native of Columbia, is in Honduras.

Bassam Haddad, 42, formerly of Methuen and now living in North Andover with his family, publicly announced in 2012 that he was molested by the Rev. Ross S. Frey at St. Joseph Parish in Lawrence between 1986 to 1991. Haddad had hired Garabedian to represent him in an effort to file charges against Frey.

Frey, a member of the Melkite-Greek Catholic church, was ordained in 1974. He was accused in the 1990s of sexually abusing at least 11 teenage boys during weekend retreats at the Salvatorian Center on the grounds of St. Basil in Methuen and at St. Joseph’s Parish in Lawrence. Frey was transferred to Lebanon in 1996 and later placed on leave.

Haddad said Frey died last year in Lebanon of an illness.

"A lot of victims might not want to see a movie that will bring back bad memories," Haddad said. "I might not want to see something that happened to me that's going to bring back all that emotion and all that anger."

Haddad said he believes the movie will shed light on the clergy abuse scandal he said happened right under the noses of people.

"I think this movie will open people's eyes to what happened and what is happening and that it's not just some accusations from some kids," Haddad said. "For years I couldn't live a normal life."

 

 

 

 

 




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