I have to commend the Guardian for once because all of the relevant information was provided; you just have to read closely.
So the priest in question indeed molested the kid, an altar boy. He was convicted and went to prison for seven years. The family elected not to seek civil damages during the time when such a suit was possible.
To be vulgar for a moment and speak of money, the abuser was and remains impecunious, so he is what lawyers refer to as "judgment proof." He, the abuser, was totally to blame for the atrocity that was visited on the kid. Nobody else.
But the State Legislature, in a bid to buy votes, created a law that removed the time limit for abuse cases, thus making it possible for victims and their families to PROFIT FROM the long-ago abuse. Not only are they able to profit from the abuse, but the profits come, not from the person or persons responsible, but in this case from the Faithful Catholics who had nothing to do with it, and who were undoubtedly as appalled as the victim's families were. This happy result comes out of the evil legal principle of "vicarious liability," by which victims can forego suing the actual perpetrators and find someone with the money to pay a judgment, regardless of whether they were actually culpable. Nice, eh?
It appears that the ex-Deacon/father was excommunicated for availing himself of that perverse law to profit from his son's victimization, at the expense of "The Church" (that is, the butts in the pews).
I feel certain that there is more to it that didn't make "the papers," but one can gain sufficient information from this report. I'm a little surprised at the public excommunication, but I can't blame the Bishop at all. It is as if the dad stole the money from the Poor Box at church, eh? Money is fungible.