The Diocese of Orange has agreed to pay a $3.5 settlement to a man who alleged he was sexually abused as a young teen decades ago while attending Mater Dei High School by former Monsignor Michael Harris, attorneys said Wednesday.
During a news conference announcing the settlement outside Christ Cathedral in Garden Grove on Wednesday, Dec. 18, victims rights attorneys alleged that their ongoing legal battle against the Diocese of Orange, which oversees Mater Dei, has unveiled “at least 13 child predators” who had worked at the campus over the years.
A once-popular and high-profile figure in Orange County, Harris served as principal at Mater Dei and Santa Margarita Catholic high schools before leaving the priesthood after the clergy scandal erupted more than two decades ago. Though Harris denied molesting minors and was never criminally charged, more than a dozen former students have accused him in lawsuits of sexual abuse.
The accuser tied to the new settlement — who is referred to in court filings by the pseudonym John Doe — wrote in a statement read by one of his attorney’s that he still struggles to overcome the abuse he suffered 40 years ago, when he was 14 years old.
“Harris, Mater Dei and the Diocese of Orange made promises to me and promises to my parents,” the man wrote. “They promised I would be safe at school. They promised I would be part of a community — a community that would help me grow as a student, as a Catholic and as a human. Instead, they put me in the path of a serial predator, Michael Harris, who took all those promises and broke them.”
The man wrote that he decided to come forward two years ago when he realized he could “stand up, not just for me, but for all the kids who were sexually abused.”
“No amount of money will ever give me back what Michael Harris stole from me,” the man wrote. “No amount of money will ever make Harris, Mater Dei or this diocese feel my pain — pain I have to live with every day of my life. I do have hope that other survivors continue to come forward, to break the silence, to speak out until Mater Dei and Bishop (Kevin) Van are forced to reconcile with every child whose soul they murdered through sexual abuse and coverup, through secrecy and silence.”
The settlement was reached on the eve of a pending jury trial in Orange County Superior Court, attorneys said. Representatives for the Diocese of Orange said the plaintiff had alleged he was sexually abused by Harris “one time in 1978 at Mater Dei High School when Harris was Mater Dei’s vice principal…
“The Diocese vigorously defended this decades-old claim and was prepared to take it to trial,” Jarryd Gonzales, a Diocese spokesman, said in a statement. “However, all parties—the plaintiff, the Diocese’s insurers, and the Diocese—agreed that a pre-trial settlement was most beneficial to everyone involved. The Diocese’s insurers funded the settlement entirely, and we are grateful for their participation.”
Diocese of Orange officials say they have since created a “comprehensive safe-environment system,” including requiring that clergy, employees and volunteers undergo fingerprinting, background checks and “recurring safe environment training.”
“In all claims alleging child sexual abuse, the Diocese is committed to seeking justice, fostering healing and providing unwavering support to survivors,” Gonzales said. “The Diocese of Orange deeply regrets the harm caused any and all incidents of abuse. The events alleged in this case occurred more than four decades ago; we recognize that such events have lasting impacts, and we are committed to ensuring the Diocese of today is safe for all.”
Attorney Jeff Anderson urged Diocese officials to “come clean” and release a list of all known offenders in their ranks. Anderson and the other victim right’s attorneys alleged that Diocese and Mater Dei officials for decades covered up abuse by transferring predators to new locations, allowing staff accused of wrongdoing to quietly resign and refusing to disclose accusations to parents and students.
“For decades, the bishop and the administrators at Mater Dei have allowed offenders to prosper, to teach, to build trust and then to prey on kids,” Anderson said.
Diocese of Orange officials argue they have provided transparency by publishing on their website a list of “credibly accused priests.”
The lawsuit was part of a wave of civil complaints filed against Roman Catholic dioceses statewide by now-adult survivors who were given a three-year window under state law to file complaints regarding decades-old abuse. Roughly 2,000 childhood sexual abuse cases involving the Catholic church were filed across Southern California, including around 200 related to the Diocese of Orange.
That wave of litigation has also kicked off a series of settlements.
In October, the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles agreed to pay $880 million to settle childhood sex abuse claims by more than 1,300 alleged victims. And earlier in the year, the Diocese of Orange and Archdiocese of Los Angeles reached a combined $10 million settlement in a clergy child sex abuse case involving two of Orange County’s most notorious predators — former father’s Eleuterio Ramos and Siegfried Widera.
Attorney Mike Reck noted during Wednesday’s news conference that two other cases involving alleged child sex abuse at Mater Dei are scheduled for trial in 2025.