The diocese disclosed its decision in The Catholic Register, the diocese' official newspaper, The Altoona Mirror reported yesterday.

"The time has come for this sad chapter in our diocesan history to end," Bishop Joseph Adamec said.

The victim, Michael Hutchison, was molested repeatedly by the now-defrocked priest, Francis Luddy, in the 1970s.

A jury awarded Hutchison more than $500,000 in compensatory damages after a trial in the early 1980s, but the issue of punitive damages was tied up in appeals.