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.
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