VERMONT
The Republican
By Stephanie Barry, The Republican
on January 05, 2013
BURLINGTON, Vt. – The state’s Roman Catholic Diocese will be forced to defend itself against allegations it hired a priest it knew had a history of child molestation in an upcoming trial in federal court.
The accusations surround a defrocked priest, Edward Paquette, 84, now living in Westfield, Mass., whom the complainant said sexually abused him when he was 12-year-old altar boy in 1974, according to the Burlington Free Press. The case is set to begin Tuesday in U.S. District Court.
The suit states the abuse occurred at Christ the King Church in Rutland, and that the diocese hired Paquette in 1972 knowing he had previously molested parishioners in Indiana and eastern Massachusetts. The diocese counters that officials believed Paquette had been cured of his problem.
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