BOSTON (REUTERS) — One priest had a history of molesting boys, another maintained a “double life” with his girlfriend and a third supplied cocaine to a teenager with whom he was having sex — but the Archdiocese of Boston gave all three men new jobs even though it knew of their records.

The disclosures surfaced in thousands of pages from the eight priests’ personnel files that were made public Tuesday. A Massachusetts judge ordered the files released last month as part of civil lawsuits over the archdiocese’s handling of the Rev. Paul Shanley, who is accused of raping boys.

The release of the documents marked the latest chapter in a sexual-abuse scandal that has rocked the U.S. Roman Catholic Church since January. It came amid reports the Boston archdiocese may declare bankruptcy as a way of dealing with the estimated 450 lawsuits it faces from people who charge they were sexually abused by clergymen.

Lawyers for Shanley’s alleged victims said the personnel files prove a central claim in their lawsuits: that the archdiocese routinely protected and reassigned priests accused of sexual misconduct.

“These people knew that pedophiles were coming to town. They had advance warning. We didn’t,” said Robert Costello, who said he was abused by a Boston-area priest from 1968 to 1975.

A spokeswoman for the archdiocese did not return telephone calls seeking comment. Lawyers for the archdiocese were not immediately available for comment.

Memo to Vatican

The file of the Rev. Paul Burns contains a letter Boston Cardinal Bernard Law wrote to the Vatican in 1999 in which he admitted his archdiocese had assigned the priest to two parishes even though it knew he had been accused of molesting boys and had been warned to keep him away from minors.

Burns had spent time at a center for troubled priests in 1981 and 1982 to “treat incidents of and a proclivity toward sexual activity with boys,” according to a memo that accompanied Law’s letter.

“This propensity was known to officials within the Archdiocese of Boston, but overlooked in favor of Father Burns’ solemn assurance of his ability to control his impulses,” according to the document sent to the Vatican.

At the time the memo was written, the archdiocese said it was aware of at least six young men whom Burns allegedly molested while he worked in Boston between 1982 and 1991.

In 1996, after he left the Boston church, Burns pleaded guilty to criminal charges that he had sexually assaulted boys in New Hampshire. He was sentenced to two consecutive four- to eight-year prison terms.

Cocaine, porn and sex

The church’s file on the Rev. Richard Buntel show that as early as 1983 his fellow priests expressed concern to the archdiocese about his alcoholism, drug use and reports he was distributing cocaine to young people while working in Malden, Mass.

In 1994, the archdiocese received a complaint from a young man who said Buntel had performed oral sex on him in exchange for cocaine while the priest was in Malden between 1978 and 1983. The man also said the priest kept gay pornography in his closet in Malden.

Buntel, in an interview with the archdiocese, acknowledged he had a drug problem and admitted he had engaged in sex with the man, who he said was a teenager at the time.

The archdiocese placed Buntel on administrative leave and paid $55,000 to Buntel’s former sex partner, thereby avoiding a lawsuit.

But in 1999, after Buntel had received treatment, the church gave the priest an administrative job at a parish in Wilmington, Mass. — although it warned his boss that Buntel should not engage in any activity that put him in contact with minors.

Buntel did not return a telephone call seeking comment.

Double life

The documents also showed that the church knew in 1979 that a rectory housekeeper had accused the Rev. Thomas Forry of trying to throw her down a set of stairs in a fit of rage while he worked as associate pastor in North Scituate, Mass.

In 1984, a woman came forward to the church and claimed she had maintained an 11-year affair with Forry, and that the priest had even built her a house on Cape Cod where she lived until he threw her out. Forry later admitted to the affair with the woman, who was married to another man.

Despite the knowledge of Forry’s “double life,” the archdiocese approved his request to work as a military chaplain. He was later assigned to work as a prison chaplain and to fill in for priests while they went on vacation.

The church abuse scandal exploded this year when files in the case of another accused pedophile priest showed that Law and other church leaders knew about the man’s behavior but chose to shuttle him from parish to parish.

Law has apologized repeatedly for his handling of alleged sexually abusive priests, but has rejected parishioners’ calls that he step down from his post.

(additional reporting by Kathie O’Donnell)