Suit Settled in Molestation Case as New Church Policies Instated
By John Millrany - August 21, 2001In what has been called the largest publicly disclosed payout of its kind in Catholic Church history, the church said it has paid $5.2 million and "made significant changes in the way it handles sexual abuse" to settle a lawsuit, according to a story today in the LA Times.
The suit alleged that a prominent Orange County priest and onetime high school principal molested one of its students.
The Times said the agreement was between the Los Angeles and Orange dioceses and Ryan DiMaria of Laguna Hills "Under the new guideline, the dioceses have agreed to create an independent victim assistance program for youths who say they have been molested," the paper said.
Orange County Superior Court Judge James Gray also ordered the dioceses to issue public apologies to DiMaria, now 28, and four other teenage boys who claimed Msgr. Michael A. Harris molested them.
There reportedly had been many complaints against Harris, nicknamed "Father Hollywood" in the Orange County Catholic community because of "his charisma and good looks." Harris formerly was principal of Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana.
According to the Times, Harris agreed to apply to the Vatican to be removed from the priesthood, even though he steadfastly denied, in a statement, that he molested anyone and accused church leaders of settling the case "for their own business reasons."
Expressing "profound sorrow," Diocese of Orange Bishop T. D. Brown issued a statement yesterday and saluted the five accusers for coming forward. "Although Michael Harris continues to deny any wrongdoing, (the diocese) has grave doubts about his innocence in these matters, taking into consideration the number of complaints made against him, the similarity of those complaints and the apparent sincerity of the persons making these statements."
The DA’s office reviewed DiMara’s accusations in 2000 but said there was insufficient evidence to file criminal charges against Harris.
| 
__May11th2017.gif)
