BOSTON -- Cardinal Bernard Law and the Boston Archdiocese knew about a long history of abuse allegations against the Rev. Paul Shanley and his "deviant" sexual views about young boys, according to documents released by the attorney for alleged victim Gregory Ford Monday.

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Attorney Roderick MacLeish called Shanley a "serial child molester" for four decades and claimed that clergy leaders protected him and covered up the alleged abuse.

"You are going to see records of 1985 when Greg Ford was being molested by Shanley; of another report, this time to Cardinal Law, made by a woman in Rochester, N.Y., reporting Paul Shanley's remarks about deviant behavior in a public forum in Rochester," MacLeish said. "There was an offer to provide a tape to Cardinal Law. That warning, that letter, was ignored by Cardinal Law."

Ford claims that Shanley abused him over a 10-year period at St. John the Evangelist Church. Ford's lawsuit also alleges that despite the abuse allegations, Law allowed Shanley to continue as pastor at the Newton, Mass., church in until 1989.

MacLeish said that the documents also indicate that Shanley was involved in the North American Man-Boy Love Association, also known as NAMBLA -- an organization that promotes sex between men and boys.

"There was one document that stood out," Ford's attorney, Roderick MacLeish, said. "It stood out because it was higher than the other documents, and it stood out also because what we saw when we first looked at these documents -- this is the record's of Paul Shanley at the Archdiocese of Boston -- were the words 'Men and Boys."

MacLeish said that a New York lawyer sent the document to the late Cardinal Humberto Medeiros in April 1979.

"It contains quotations from Paul Shanley about the propriety of sexual relations between men and boys," MacLeish said. "This document expresses the lawyer's concern about the remarks that were made by Paul Shanley at a conference in Boston that was the start of what we believe to be the Man-Boy Love Association."

The document has been in the Archdiocese files since 1979, MacLeish said. In fact, he said, the earliest documents regarding Shanley go back to the mid-1960s.

The Archdiocese released more that 800 court records to Ford and his attorney's late Friday afternoon. Some of the records indicate that other priests warned Law about the abuse, and offered to help counsel the alleged victims.

"You are going to see records that show that as early as 1967, the archdiocese of Boston was on notice of Paul Shanley's deviant, pedophile behavior towards young men," MacLeish said. "You are going to see a record of a report that was made by a priest about Paul Shanley in 1967, about activities of child molestation, giving telephone numbers of victims, giving the list of other people who may have been involved and offering to give help."

In one of the earliest reports of alleged abuse, a priest at LaSallette Shrine indicated that Shanley allegedly molested teenage boys at a summer cabin.

"It reports that during the summer, July or August 1966, said priest masterbated the boy. This apparently took place in the Blue Hills were there was a cabin in Milton, Mass. Said priest brings teenagers to said cabin, every third or fourth week, more often in the summer," MacLeish said.

"All of the suffering that has taken place at the hands of Paul Shanley, a serial child molester, for four decades, three of them in Boston, none of it had to happen," MacLeish said.

"The archdiocese has learned from the painful experience of the inadequate policies and procedures of the past. Whatever may have happened, there were no intentions to put children at risk," the archdiocese said in a statement Monday afternoon. "We are committed to report any allegations against any priest to the appropriate authorities."

Shanley left St. James's parish in 1990, and went on to celebrate mass and set up youth retreats while working at St. Anne's church in California.

Shanley left St. Anne's three years later and went to work in New York in at children's organization called Leo House. Records indicate that Shanley was at Leo House from 1994 to 1997.

"New York officials were not made aware of Shanley's alleged actions," MacLeish said.

In a letter to Law in 1995, a group of nuns who founded Leo house asked if Shanley engaged in molestation against children.

"You are going to see how these nuns were lied to by the Archdiocese of Boston and how is was covered up. "There is a letter from Law urging that not withstanding multiple claims of pedophile, including lawsuits, demand letters, and other information there was a suggestion, a recommendation by Cardinal Law that Paul Shanley become the executive director of Leo House."

Alleged Victim, Parents React To Records

"I am very upset that a lot of people who knew about him and what he was doing, there has been 26 complaints. In my belief, I think he molested hundreds over his 30-year reign of terror," Greg Ford said. "I hope he rots in Hell."

Greg Ford's parents reacted with anger and emotion to the newly released documents and called for Law to resign from the archdiocese.

Fighting back tears, Greg Ford's father, Rodney Ford, a Boston College police officer, criticized Law for moving Shanley up in clergy ranks.

"Cardinal Medeiros, with the full knowledge that he had, assigned Father Shanley to St. Jean's Parish with the knowledge of him being a pedophile. Cardinal Law, with the knowledge, elevated him to pastor. I put the question out there to you people, if this were your child, what would you want done?"

"Am I wrong to think that Father Shanley should be put in jail? Am I wrong to think that Cardinal Law should resign, immediately. Am I wrong to think that Cardinal Law should not be prosecuted and put in jail? Am I wrong?" Rodney Ford said.

Ford's mother, Paula Ford, said that the family speaks for other alleged victims who have not come forward.

"For the people who aren't strong enough to come forward, we are here, we are speaking for you so that this doesn't happen ever again," Paula Ford said.