BOSTON (AP) – Cardinal Bernard F. Law has testified before a federal grand jury investigating the case of a Stoughton priest who was transferred out of state despite concerns about possible sexual misconduct, according to a published report.

The Boston Globe reported Thursday that Law, who stepped down as Boston’s archbishop in 2002, testified before the grand jury in Boston for three hours on June 8. The Globe also said two other high-ranking bishops, including John B. McCormack, head of the Manchester, N.H., diocese, testified more than a month ago.

Boston Archdiocese officials transferred the Rev. William J. Scanlan, 58, to the Veterans Affairs medical facility in Palo Alto, Calif., where he became a military chaplain in 1998.

Scanlan’s personnel records, released under court order two years ago, contain an unsigned 1987 note saying that Scanlan “fools around with kids,” and a 1993 note expressing concerns about his “possible over-involvement with boys.”

Last week’s testimony was not Law’s first appearance before a grand jury. In 2002 and 2003, state Attorney General Thomas Reilly conducted a grand jury investigation into the clergy sex abuse scandal in the Boston Archdiocese. No criminal charges were filed.