RUTLAND (VT)
Rutland Herald
Sept. 7, 2019
By Gordon Dritschilo
Editor’s note: A recent report issued by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Vermont listed 40 members of the clergy who had been accused of sex abuse and also served in parishes around Vermont during the past 50 or so years. Our ongoing coverage of the fallout of that long-awaited report and the years of abuse across the state, will include occasional stories of victims.
Dan Gilman said he was already at one of the lowest points in his life when he was molested by his now-defrocked priest, Edward Paquette.
“I had broken my neck in July 1972,” said Gilman, now 62. “I dove into an above-ground swimming pool … broke my neck at the C4 level and was instantly paralyzed from the shoulders down. I was 15 at the time.”
Gilman said everyone at Rutland Regional Medical Center told him he wouldn’t get out anytime soon, and he overheard a doctor saying his life expectancy was only nine years.
“I just shut down mentally,” he said. “Then, all of a sudden, Father Paquette waltzes into my life a week or so later.”
The priest gave Gilman communion, Gilman said, and told him that God could heal his injuries.
“The abuse started at the hospital while I was in traction — in bed with with weights attached to my skull,” he said. “He took credit for each little improvement and lack of pain that happened with the little rituals he did. … I fell for it hook, line and sinker.”
Gilman said Paquette molested him from August 1972 to October 1974, continuing to visit him when he moved home from the hospital. Then, one day, Paquette stopped coming. Gilman said nobody told him why.
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