The handling of seven child sex abuse accusations against former Rev. Don Dickerson is one example of how Jesuit leaders, including longtime Dallas priest Philip Postell, relocated accused clergy members for decades. The practice kept abuse allegations secret and allowed the priests to reoffend. Dickerson was allowed to remain in the priesthood for 12 years after his first accusation.

■ In 1974, while Dickerson was studying to become a priest, he masturbated two high school boys, according to letters between Jesuit leaders that were uncovered in the lawsuit. A group of priests noted the incidents in a March 1975 meeting, but unanimously voted to advance Dickerson to the next level of his training, records from the meeting show. He was ordered to undergo weekly psychological sessions and special examinations for pedophilia.

■ Dickerson was scheduled to be ordained in December 1977. But seven days before the event, the southern region’s leader, Thomas Stahel, wrote a letter to the head of the Jesuits saying Dickerson had kissed a 14-year-old boy and made sexual advances toward him. The boy, a student at Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School in Indianapolis, told his parents, who reported it to Stahel. Dickerson admitted to making sexual advances on the boy during a high school retreat, according to Stahel’s letter.

■ Dickerson’s ordination was delayed. Records show a psychiatrist treated Dickerson for an undisclosed amount of time before deeming him to no longer be a risk to children.

■ In 1980, Dickerson was fully ordained in Alabama.

■ Dickerson’s next assignment was Jesuit College Prep in Dallas. The Jesuit order did not tell campus leaders about earlier accusations against him, Postell said in his deposition last year.

■ Not even a year later, in July 1981, a letter from Postell said Dickerson was to be removed. Letters showed that a another child’s parents had come forward to the school with an accusation against Dickerson.

■ Jesuit leaders relocated Dickerson to St. John’s Parish in Shreveport. But before he left Dallas, he was allowed to stay for a school retreat he wanted to attend. He also was offered a “leisurely vacation” before reporting to his next assignment, letters show.

■ That following spring, April 1982, Dickerson coordinated the parish’s first Youth Day at St. John Berchmans School with nearly 300 students from area churches, a church newsletter shows. A smiling Dickerson was photographed at the event. Dickerson’s new assignment didn’t keep him away from young boys.

■ In May 1982, the Dallas high school principal wrote a letter about a second boy in Dallas who had come forward to report Dickerson. The principal urged the Society to dismiss Dickerson if another incident occurred, according to his letter.

■ In April 1984, Postell wrote a letter to Dickerson recommending he advance to taking his final vows to become a full-fledged Jesuit priest. In his deposition last year with lawyers, Postell called his recommendation a “tremendous oversight.”

■ Three months later, in July 1984, a sixth complaint against Dickerson was received, records show.

■ The Jesuits moved him to Austin, where he continued to advance toward taking his final vows.

■ In February 1986, the church received a letter from a family reporting that their son said Dickerson was “feeling and touching on him in ways he shouldn’t have been.” Written communication stated this was the seventh documented accusation against Dickerson.

■ On March 6, 1986, Dickerson wrote a letter requesting to be dismissed from the order. He thanked the priests for providing counseling over the years and for reassigning him to a position that was “designed to keep me from harm’s way.”

■ Dickerson was removed from the ministry that year, in 1986.