MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) – New Hampshire’s Roman Catholic bishop is preparing to testify against a defrocked priest charged with raping children in Massachusetts.

Bishop John McCormack will testify against Paul Shanley, whose trial begins Monday in Cambridge. The accuser, now 27, said Shanley raped him repeatedly at a parish in Newton, Mass., from 1983 to 1989.

Shanley became one of the most notorious figures in the clergy sex abuse scandal after documents released three years ago showed church officials knew about abuse complaints against him as early as 1967.

When Shanley left the Newton parish in 1990, McCormack took charge of his case. At the time, McCormack was an official of the Archdiocese of Boston, and investigated allegations of sexual misconduct. McCormack has maintained he did not know of any allegations of sexual misconduct with a child against Shanley until 1993.

“The bishop had no knowledge whatsoever of any allegations of a child being harmed until long after Paul Shanley had left St. Jeans parish in the early 1990s,” said Boston lawyer Eileen Quill.

Quill said she represents McCormack on church-related matters in Massachusetts. She said he was not subpoenaed.

“I can’t speak to what they may be asking (him). All I can tell you is the bishop will provide testimony for the commonwealth at the request of the prosecution and he is a cooperating witness,” she told The Union Leader.

Quill said this is the second time McCormack was a cooperating witness for the prosecution in a case against a priest from the Boston archdiocese.