Archdiocese settles abuse claims

BOSTON, April 6 (UPI) -- Four alleged sex abuse victims of a gay Catholic priest, Paul Shanley, settled with the Boston archdiocese, the Boston Globe reported Tuesday.

Among those settling was Gregory Ford, who will receive more than $1.4 million, according to an individual involved in the settlement.

Ford, Paul Busa and two other unidentified individuals decided not to accept the maximum $300,000 offered in the historic $85 million settlement the archdiocese reached with more than 500 other victims of clergy sex abuse last year.

Ford's parents had relentlessly pursued the archdiocese on behalf of their son, who as a young boy was allegedly repeatedly raped by Shanley at the now-defunct St. Jean the Evangelist Parish in Newton.

A lawyer for Ford read from a deposition of Bishop Thomas V. Daily, who acknowledged appointing Shanley to the Newton parish despite knowing that the priest "had attended and quite possibly endorsed the views" of the North American Man/Boy Love Association.