PORTLAND – Critics are blasting a decision to let a Roman Catholic priest who let a sexual offender live in a church rectory return to part-time ministry.

Paul Kendrick of Freeport, a prominent advocate for abuse victims, says the reinstatement of the Rev. Paul Coughlin represents “a return to the ways of the past” when church officials covered up for priests who abused children.

Coughlin was removed from the parishes of Holy Cross and St. John in South Portland in 2004 as the church investigated complaints involving a volunteer who was later sentenced to prison for sexually abusing two boys he met through church.

Coughlin let the volunteer live in the St. John church rectory. Coughlin himself was accused of inappropriate touching of a child, but his actions didn’t constitute a criminal offense and he was not punished by the church for that incident.

Coughlin is remembered by Bangor Catholics as the man who helped St. Mary Catholic Church rebuild and relocate after the Feb. 3, 1978, blaze that destroyed the 105-year-old landmark on Cedar Street.