Fr. Donald Timone and Msgr. John Paddack Remained in Ministry Despite Multiple Prior Reports of Child Sexual Abuse
Archdiocese Officials Misled Public About Known Child Abusers
Sexual Abuse Survivor to Speak Publicly
(New York, NY) – At a press conference Tuesday in New York City, a sexual abuse survivor and the law firm of Jeff Anderson & Associates will:
- Announce the filing of a lawsuit against the Archdiocese of New York alleging that the church officials engaged in an ongoing pattern of conduct to keep priests in ministry after they concealed and/or misrepresented their sexually abusive histories. Discuss that in doing so, the Archdiocese is exposing the public and children to the risk of sexual abuse.
- Discuss and reveal the history of Fr. Timone, who has worked as a priest in the Archdiocese since approximately 1960. One of the Plaintiffs is the widow of a man who was allegedly sexually abused as a minor by Fr. Timone from approximately 1966-70. Her husband reported the abuse by Fr. Timone to the Archdiocese in approximately 2003 and the Archdiocese is believed to have received at least one other report of sexual abuse of a minor around that time. The Archdiocese briefly suspended Fr. Timone while those allegations were internally investigated before returning him to work. Plaintiff’s husband suffered for many years from the abuse trauma and died by suicide in 2015. In November 2016, this Plaintiff participated in the Archdiocese’s Independent Reconciliation and Conciliation Program (IRCP). She submitted a claim to the IRCP and accepted a settlement offer on May 24, 2017. The Archdiocese’s IRCP is believed to have awarded at least one other settlement to a Fr. Timone sexual abuse survivor. Despite knowledge of at least two reports and IRCP payments regarding sexual abuse by Fr. Timone in 2017, the Archdiocese continued Fr. Timone in his assignment at St. Joseph in Middletown, NY. Subsequently, on December 4, 2018, the Archdiocese certified in a letter to the Diocese of San Diego that Fr. Timone was fit to work in the Diocese and falsely stated that Fr. Timone had never been accused of sexual misconduct involving a minor. As a result, Fr. Timone continued to work in the Diocese of San Diego, California until December 20, 2018, when the Diocese of San Diego learned about Fr. Timone’s history of sexually abusing minors from a December 20, 2018, news article. It is believed that Fr. Timone remains temporarily suspended by the Archdiocese of New York.
- Discuss and reveal the history of Msgr. Paddack, who has worked as a priest in the Archdiocese since approximately 1984. One of the two Plaintiffs alleges that Msgr. Paddack sexually abused him as a minor in approximately 2001-2002. In approximately 2014, the Archdiocese received a report that Msgr. Paddack sexually abused another minor in 1994. Despite this report, the Archdiocese continued Msgr. Paddack in his assignment at the Church of Notre Dame and did not release any information regarding the allegations. In February 2019, Jeff Anderson & Associates law firm released a list of 112 names of Archdiocese of New York clergy accused of sexual misconduct of minors. The list included Msgr. Paddack. In April 2019, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, released a list of 126 Archdiocesan clergy credibly accused of sexually abusing minors. Msgr. Paddack was not on that list. Since Jeff Anderson & Associates released its list in February, seven survivors of sexual abuse by Msgr. Paddack have come forward and reported their abuse to the Archdiocese. Despite these reports, the Archdiocese has taken no action to restrict or prevent Msgr. Paddack from accessing children and has not updated its list to include his name.
- Demand that the Archdiocese of New York and Cardinal Dolan cease the ongoing practices of hiding the names of all of the offenders and their histories, failing to warn the public about sexually abusive clergy, and endangering the safety of the public.
- Demand the dangerous condition be remedied and ask for the release of the identities and files pertinent to the histories of each priest so the public, police, and parishioners know who was complicit in the ongoing concealment of this hazard.
When
Today: Tuesday, July 16, 2019 at 11:00 AM (ET)
Where
The New York Edition
Studio 1 and 2
5 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10010
The press conference will be live-streamed via YouTube and on Facebook
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