About this series
We have arranged the Globe's coverage of the priest scandal into 10 categories. Click a red link above or read a description of each category below. | Go | The Archdiocese of Boston moved defrocked priest John Geoghan from parish to parish for decades, despite substantial evidence that he was molesting children. | Go | As the Archdiocese turned over the names of nearly 100 priests to prosecutors, clergy elsewhere in the US and abroad resigned amid allegations they abused children or failed to stop abuse. | Go | More than 200 people have contacted lawyers with allegations they were abused by priests as children, or filed civil suits against priests, bishops, and Cardinal Law. | Go | Cardinal Law has apologized for his inaction in the Geoghan case, and formed a commission to advise him on handling abuse cases. Pope John Paul II has spoken publicly about the scandal only briefly. | Go | The Catholic Church has paid more than $40 million in settlements to alleged victims in the Boston Archdiocese alone, a cost that could soar to close to $100 million. | Go | Although he said he wants to lead the Archdiocese through this crisis, polls show a growing sentiment among Catholics that Cardinal Law should step down. | Go | The Mass. Attorney General and local prosecutors are examining hundreds of allegations against priests for possible criminal charges. Geoghan has been convicted of molesting a young boy. | Go | Most priests have discussed the scandal with their parishioners. But one accused priest -- the Rev. D. George Spagnolia of Lowell -- criticized Church officials for removing him from his duties without definitive proof. | Go | In a case similar to Geoghan, the Boston Archdiocese sent the Rev. Paul Shanley, accused of sexually abusing many children, to a California parish without telling officials there of the allegations. | Go | The Globe's editorial board has called for Cardinal Law's resignation, and other editorials and opinion pieces by columnists have debated the scandal and its implications.
Middlesex Superior Court
Former Roman Catholic priest Paul Shanley was sentenced to 12-15 years in prison on Tuesday, February 15, 2005. The sentencing occurred at Middlesex Superior Court in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. Shanley was recently convicted of multiple counts of child rape and indecent assault and battery against a child.

Shanley's conviction is part of the aftermath of what the Boston Globe called a series of "brutally damaging revelations about scores of priests who over a period of decades had kept their jobs despite raping, molesting, and groping children and adolescents." The revelations culminated in the resignation of Cardinal Bernard F. Law, leader of the Archdiocese of Boston on December 13, 2002.