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  Accused Priest Will No Longer Play Organ in Church

Associated Press State & Local Wire
September 15, 2004

A former Ludlow pastor charged with child sexual abuse no longer will volunteer as an organist at Arlington's Catholic church.

George Paulin played the organ this past Sunday at St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church in Arlington and First United Methodist Church in nearby Shaftsbury.

News reports about two misconduct lawsuits filed against Paulin prompted the Catholic Church to end the organ arrangement Tuesday, according to Arlington Pastor George Dupuis.

The Methodist Church will continue to pay Paulin for music, although Shaftsbury minister Deborah Estey said he won't be involved in any of the congregation's programs.

In a civil lawsuit publicized this week, a 45-year-old Newport man alleges that Paulin sexually abused him when he was a 13-year-old member of his hometown St. Mary Star of the Sea Church in 1971.

The statewide Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington spent a reported $20,000 a year ago to settle another sexual misconduct lawsuit filed against Paulin, this one involving a 15-year-old boy in the Northeast Kingdom town of Troy in 1984.

Paulin could not be reached for comment.

 
 

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