The New Life Church, which fired its founding pastor Ted Haggard back in 2006 under accusations that he had had sex with a male prostitute, revealed on Sunday that ever since 2007, it had been paying a young male church member who had had a relationship with Haggard before his dismissal.

The payments, which were entailed by a confidential legal settlement in 2007 that included money for counseling and college expenses, were taken from insurance money and not donations by members, according to a statement made by the senior pastor of New Life Brady Boyd during a sermon at the Colorado Springs church.

In an interview he attended on Monday, Boyd said that information about the payments had not been disclosed by virtue of legal constraints, on one hand, and ministerial confidentiality rules, on the other.

The senior pastor refused to reveal the identity of the boy, saying that he was in his 20s and that at the time of his relationship with Haggard, 52, he had been over the age of 18.

As for the reason behind his going public with the news, Boyd stated that he had received a call from the young man some weeks before, who said he was thinking of announcing the matter himself.

In an e-mail statement made by a public relations firm for an HBO documentary about Ted Haggard, the latter said that he had had no physical contact with the young man, although he described his relationship with him as having been inappropriate.