BOSTON -- The Archdiocese of Boston and 86 alleged victims of defrocked priest John Geoghan agreed to a $10 million settlement Thursday.

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NewsCenter 5's Gail Huff reported that the agreement moved forward Thursday morning after Suffolk Superior Court Judge Constance Sweeney granted a petition to a 17-year-old alleged victim to be included in the settlement.

Sweeney addressed the alleged victims in the courtroom.

"You have put into place the recognition that children are at risk anywhere," Sweeney said. "What you have done is saved many children, and you have left a legacy that has made a positive difference."

All 86 alleged victims signed the document sealing the deal Wednesday. The amount is about half of what they thought they would be getting from the archdiocese.

"My clients want closure. It's time to end this. It's time to step out of the trauma. It's time to remove themselves from the darkness," attorney Mitchell Garabedian said.

Garabedian said his clients are not happy with the deal, which amounts to signficantly less money than the $30 million they agreed to six months ago. The church backed out of that deal, saying it couldn't afford the settlement in light of the hundreds of other lawsuits that have been filed in clergy sex abuse cases.

Geoghan's alleged victims accepted this offer, Garabedian said, because they recognize that the archdiocese could file for bankruptcy or stall for years in the court system.

"They know, they want to do the smart thing and remove themselves from all of this and try to heal," Garabedian said.

Here's how the settlement breaks down: The 50 people who allege they were molested by Geoghan will split $9.3 million. Sixteen parents will split $160,000 and 20 people who Geoghan allegedly exposed himself to will split the remaining $540,000.

Sweeney will review the new deal. She is expected to review a petition from a 17-year-old alleged victim, whose guardian signed the agreement on his behalf. If everything is in ordern, a check from the archdiocese will be turned over to the attorneys.

In a separate criminal case, Geoghan was convicted in January of groping a 10-year-old boy in a swimming pool in the early 1990s.

The sexual abuse scandal engulfing the nation's Roman Catholic Church was sparked in January with revelations that church officials shuffled Geoghan from parish to parish despite knowing of abuse allegations against him.