THE resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law brought relief, prayers and some sadness from Catholics who watched the priest sex abuse scandal mushroom over the past year.

THE Boston Archdiocese, struggling to contend with a flurry of sex abuse lawsuits, has moved a step closer to a remedy usually associated with troubled businesses and people buried in debt: a bankruptcy filing.

THOUSANDS of newly released personnel files show that the Archdiocese of Boston went to great lengths to hide priests accused of abuse, including clergy who allegedly snorted cocaine and had sex with girls aspiring to be nuns.