MAINE
Portland Press Herald
The Vatican has defrocked a retired Maine priest after substantiating claims that he sexually abused a minor in the 1980s.
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican gave a final decision regarding Antonin R. Caron, who has been retired since 1994, according to a news release from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland. He was stripped of his ability to perform priestly duties after diocese received a complaint in November 2012 about sexual abuse that occurred decades before.
The diocese began investigating Caron for “reported incidents” of abuse between 1982 and 1986, according to a press release issued in 2012.
Caron had a history of disciplinary and legal troubles, the diocese said at the time.
In 1993, he was brought to trial and acquitted of sexually assaulting a woman.
In March 2000, the church suspended Caron for several months for his involvement with a now-defunct website for gay clergymen. After his suspension in 2000, Caron resumed his ministry throughout Maine until 2010.
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