A long, sad story appears to finally be reaching the end — at least as far as the general public is concerned. For the parents and his friends, this is never really over.

The Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh has reached an undisclosed settlement with the family of a 19-year-old University of Pittsburgh football player who died in 2003 after a fatal fall at a Homestead church, where the priest had served alcohol to underage college students.

“A settlement has been reached to the mutual satisfaction of all parties. All of those involved have also mutually agreed not to disclose the terms of the settlement,” said the Rev. Ronald Lengwin, spokesman for the diocese.

The settlement, reached during a conference yesterday, will be covered by insurance, he said.

The parents of Billy Gaines, Kimberly and William Gaines of Ijamsville, Md., filed a $75 million federal suit in September 2003.

In the summer of 2003, the Rev. Henry Krawczyk — in violation of diocesan policy — invited Billy Gaines to live in a former convent belonging to St. Maximillian Kolbe parish in Homestead, where he was pastor. Mr. Gaines and several of his Pitt teammates moved into the convent after a fire damaged their Oakland apartment.

On June 17 Father Krawczyk held a cookout, where he served alcohol to the underage Pitt football players. Mr. Gaines had a blood-alcohol level of 0.166 — well above 0.10, the state’s drunken driving threshold at the time — when he entered the attic crawl space of the church and fell through the ceiling to pews 25 feet below.

His roommate and friend David Abdul was up in the crawl space with him and watched him fall. While Krawczyk is still with the Diocese, he is stripped of his duties permanently and may never present himself or serve as a priest again.