______.oooOOOØOOOooo.______

* 1984 - Abuse scandals in Louisiana begin to attract attentionleading freelance journalist Jason Berry to shed new light on the issueof cover-ups. His 1992 book "Lead Us Not into Temptation" contends 400priests and brothers were involved in abuse cases during the previouseight years in North America.

* January 2002 - The Boston Globe reports 130 people were abused byformer priest John Geoghan during three decades where he was reassignedrather than removed from contact with young boys. The Boston scandalstarts to grow from there.

* April 2002 - U.S. cardinals called to Rome to meet with Pope JohnPaul II on the issue; in June 2002 the bishops approve plan for dealingwith abuse, calling for accused offenders to be removed fromministerial duties pending investigation and evaluation.

* December 2002 - Boston's Cardinal Bernard Law, the most seniorRoman Catholic official in the United States, resigns over his handlingof clergy sexual abuse.

* September 2003 - The Boston Archdiocese agrees to pay up to $85million to settle lawsuits filed by hundreds of people who say theywere sexually abused by clergy.

* February 2004 - U.S. bishops issue report on abuse of children bypriests over 52 years beginning in 1950. It finds 10,667 people accusedpriests of child sexual abuse from 1950 through 2002, and more than 17percent of the accusers had siblings who were also allegedly abused.

* July-December 2004 - The dioceses of Portland, Oregon; Tucson,Arizona; and Spokane, Washington, become the first to file forbankruptcy protection in the face of growing abuse-related claims andsuits.

* February 2006 - The Diocese of Covington, which covers a large area of Kentucky, settles abuse claims for $85 million.

* July 2007 - The Archdiocese of Los Angeles agrees to pay $660million to 500 victims of sexual abuse dating back as far as the 1940sin the largest compensation deal of its kind.

* December 2007 - A lay body appointed to oversee efforts to endabuse says nearly all dioceses have complied with an audit to make surethey have protective measures in place; warns that "prevention, healingand vigilance will be demanded for the rest of our days."

(Editing by Bill Trott)

______.oooOOOØOOOooo.______