MARSHALL, Texas--A judge approved a settlement involving the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and 14 alleged sex abuse victims who claim church officials ignored warnings about an errant minister who was later convicted of molesting boys, according to the Associated Press.

Several church agencies also were included in the deal, which Harrison County District Judge Bonnie Leggat sealed pending the outcome of a civil trial against the remaining defendant -- the denomination's Northern Texas-Northern Louisiana Synod.

The case of former Lutheran pastor Gerald Patrick Thomas Jr., who was sentenced last year to 397 years in state prison for sexually assaulting boys in this East Texas town, has been compared to some of the worst cases in the Roman Catholic abuse crisis.

Besides the Chicago-based denomination, the Ohio seminary that Thomas attended also was included in the deal, as was a candidacy committee in Michigan and the Marshall congregation where Thomas served from 1997 to 2001

Scott Shanes, attorney for Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio, said the trial's resolution will have no effect on the settlement. Details of the pact will become public after the trial is finished, he said.

Jennifer Ainsworth, attorney for the 5 million-member ELCA, said the denomination was pleased.

"We continue to pray for all who have been adversely affected by this disturbing case, and we ask your prayers for the victims of Thomas and for the congregation that he once served in Marshall." John R. Brooks, a spokesperson for the ELCA, said in a statement released by the ELCA.

With the cooperation of its insurance carriers, the ELCA "is grateful its share of the total settlement payment is being funded without adversely affecting the mission and ministry of this church," Brooks said. "In reaching its settlement, the ELCA admitted to no wrongdoing by the church."

Under the settlement, all money paid out will be put into trust funds for the victims; it won't be controlled by parents or guardians, attorneys said.

Thomas, 41, was charged in 2001 after a teen found nude images of friends on the pastor's computer and tried to blackmail him.