BOSTON (AP) – A priest who was suspended after being accused of sexual abuse has been reinstated after the allegation could not be substantiated, the Boston Archdiocese announced Tuesday. An archdiocesan board that reviews such complaints determined that the allegation against the Rev. John H. Flynn was unsubstantiated.

Flynn, now 79 and retired, was placed on administrative leave in 2002 after the archdiocese received an allegation that he had molested a 6-year-old girl in 1978 while he was working at St. Paul Church in Wellesley.

“After careful review of the information available regarding the complaint, the Review Board determined that the allegation was unsubstantiated. In light of this finding, Archbishop O’Malley has lifted all restrictions on Father Flynn’s exercise of public ministry,” the archdiocese said in a statement.

Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who represented the alleged victim in a lawsuit she filed against the archdiocese, questioned the objectivity of the archdiocesan review board.

He said the woman “felt as though the review board was self-serving and just a kangaroo court.” The woman was among more than 550 alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse who agreed to drop their lawsuits as part of a global, $85 million settlement with the archdiocese in 2003, Garabedian said.