Journalist Natasha Del Toro lays the foundation for the piece with the harrowing stories of sexual abuse survivors of Msgr. John Paddack, who summoned the courage to share their truth (both publicly and anonymously) in the hopes that Archdiocesan leaders – specifically Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York – will come clean, and that Paddack will be held accountable and removed from any position in the Church where he has access to children.
Attorneys Jeff Anderson and Mike Reck discuss behavioral patterns of abuse practiced by Paddack and other, similar serial offenders. “Survivors have come forward from three different boroughs,” says Reck. “Survivors of different ages, at different facilities, and told the same story [about Paddack].” To Del Toro, the pattern is clear. She proceeds, undaunted, to bring light and heat to both Paddack and Dolan in person. Each cleric adamantly denies the allegations.
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Since the release of the Anderson Report in February 2019, seven survivors of sexual abuse by Msgr. Paddack have come forward, including Joseph Caramanno who spoke publicly at a press event in New York City on July 16, 2019, to report their abuse to the Archdiocese.
In approximately 2014, the Archdiocese received a report that Msgr. Paddack sexually abused a minor in approximately 1994. Until summer of 2019, Msgr. Paddack had worked as a priest in the Archdiocese of New York for 35 years. Paddack resigned his post on July 7, 2019. His current whereabouts and whether he has access to children are unknown.