Catholics Are Shaken by Molestation Allegations

Leia Smith, a member of a Catholic poverty-relief agency, says some of the priests she works with have admitted to her that they now take off their Roman collar while not on official business.

“I feel saddened for all of those priests who can’t walk into a store with their clerical garb without being put under suspicion,” said Smith, a member of the Catholic Worker of Orange County.

Hers was typical of the sadness, outrage and a sense of inevitability voiced by priests and those in the Catholic community throughout Southern California Tuesday, the day after the church’s Orange Diocese and Los Angeles Archdiocese announced a $5.2-million payout to an alleged victim of sexual abuse by a well-known priest. The settlement included a set of strict rules to guard against future assaults, some imposed in areas that the church until now has jealously guarded as its own.

The news caused morale to plummet among many members of the clergy--men once described as “rumors of angels” who say years of controversial molestation cases have made them feel overworked and overly scrutinized.

“This kind of publicity is hurtful to priests,” said Orange Bishop Tod D. Brown. “But people will realize this is exceptional. . . . This doesn’t reflect the ordinary life between people and their priests.”

In a civil lawsuit, Ryan DiMaria, a former student at Santa Margarita Catholic High School in Rancho Santa Margarita, alleged he was molested twice in 1991 by Msgr. Michael A. Harris, a priest whose charismatic style generated the name “Father Hollywood.”

The Catholic Church also apologized to DiMaria and four others who claimed Harris molested them. Harris has denied the allegations and angrily accused church officials of settling the case for “their own business reasons.”

As part of the settlement, the two dioceses agreed to 11 rules, including an independent victim assistance program, distributing an annual pamphlet on sexual molestation prevention to parishioners, and interrogation by an independent third party of all would-be priests who leave the seminary before ordination, presumably to ferret out sexual issues that may have been involved in their decisions.

The rules say priests cannot be alone with minors in social situations, but do not apply to routine church activities.

The guidelines dominated most of the conversation among priests working in the front lines of the church. Some of the rules underscored current policies; others were new. All will be monitored by Orange County Superior Court Judge James Gray, who approved the settlement.

Father Andrew Greeley, a Chicago priest and Catholic columnist and author, said the settlement terms will erode morale among priests and respect for the church.

“It certainly is one more savage blow to the public image of the priesthood,” he said. “There’s no getting away from that.”

The allegations “hurt us tremendously,” said the Rev. Robert E. Howard of Transfiguration Church in Los Angeles, who warned of an inadvertent but chilling effect.

“I hate the idea of not being able to go out to the playground, and children expect you to be able to take them in your arms and we can’t do that anymore, because we would be accused of child molestation. That’s very, very sad,” Howard said.

Anonymous Complaint Line ‘a Little Scary’

Two other aspects of the guidelines--a toll-free 800 telephone number and Web site that will take anonymous complaints--drew the most complaints from priests.

“The 800 number is a little scary,” said Father John McAndrew, pastor St. Angela Merici Church in Brea. “Of course, you don’t need evidence to make an 800 call.”

Another priest, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, was even angrier.

“It’s so inflammatory--it’s outrageous,” he said. “Imagine if I’m a teacher and I give a person a poor grade, and then they can make an anonymous charge of molestation against me.”

Others have taken a practical approach to prevent allegations of molestation. The Rev. Michael Hanifin, the pastor of the new parish, St. Clara de Assisi in Yorba Linda, says he is constructing his new church with a sense of openness.

“We’re talking about putting windows on our doors so nothing’s hidden [and we’re putting] windows on doors of confessionals,” Hanifin said. “Building a church that creates a safe and open environment will be very important to me.”

Watchdogs of the church said past precautions hadn’t been heeded.

“The problem of sexual violation by priests is constant because it’s systemic,” said Richard Sipe, a researcher and author on priest sexual abuse and an expert witness in the DiMaria case. “The church is being pushed to reform--reaction rather than proactive. The church has really done very little. They’ve done it on paper, but not in practice.”

David Clohessy, national director of the Chicago-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, puts it another way: “It’s like making speed limits with no cops” enforcing them.

Priest ‘Should Be in Jail,’ DiMaria Says

Chris Peters, 39, a Mission Viejo resident who has two children who have attended Santa Margarita High, where Harris was the founding principal, was troubled.

“The church is ultimately responsible, and it looks like it has done the right thing,” Peters said. “But . . . you feel like it’s one of our own [who has fallen]. And people are always waiting for the Catholic Church to do something wrong.”

DiMaria, 28, said at a press conference Tuesday that “Father Harris should admit what he’s done.” DiMaria said the acts took place when he was 17 and a student at Santa Margarita. “He should be in jail.”

DiMaria said he hoped other victims would come forward as a result of the settlement and “get the help they need.”

Three other Harris accusers appeared at the press conference, including the mother of one man who revealed the alleged molestation as he was dying of AIDS.

“I feel sad that all of this turmoil had to come after [church officials] didn’t listen to us,” said a tearful Lenora Colice on behalf of her son, Vincent. “I know he’s here with me now.”

Larry Raheb said he was molested at age 21 when he went to Harris to seek counseling.

“I had come out to him as a gay man,” Raheb, of Monrovia, said. “He said the church was becoming more sensitive to the issue of homosexuality. [What he did was] unbelievable to me.”

Dr. Burr McKeehan, who has served on the board of nonprofit organizations started by Harris, defended him Tuesday. “I view him as I did prior to this: an excellent president of our group,” said McKeehan, a retired doctor from Monarch Beach. “He’s the most honorable person I’ve ever met.”

McKeehan said he was disappointed in the cash payout by the church resulting from “an unproven lawsuit.”

“It seems like he’s a criminal and he didn’t even go to trial,” McKeehan said.

An attorney representing the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles recently acknowledged that church officials received six child molestation complaints in the last five years, including two current allegations and four involving adults complaining of past misconduct.

Overall, there were about 50 cases of “sexual misbehavior” reported to the archdiocese in the last five years, diocesan attorney John P. McNicholas of Los Angeles wrote in a letter last week to Sipe.

McNicholas said he wrote the letter to refute a statement by Sipe during an Aug. 1 settlement conference. Sipe told Orange County Superior Court Judge James Gray that the archdiocese had received five molestation complaints a month for the last five years.

An archdiocesan spokesman said he could not disclose the disposition of the 50 cases because of concerns about “confidentiality” rules. But he said the fact that the church accepted the reports and looked into them was evidence that it cared. Given that there are 5 million Catholics in the archdiocese and 292 parishes, “the vast majority of priests are good people who have healthy relationships and are involved in wonderful ministries.”

Times staff writer Stanley Allison contributed to this story.