Parents, Alumni Defend Accused O.C. Principal

RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA — Friends and parents of former students flocked to the defense of Msgr. Michael Harris on Monday, a day after news reports that the popular former high school principal faced allegations that he had sexually molested at least two of his students.

Struggling with their emotions, his many admirers reached for the right words, or the right anecdote, to describe Harris, who was the charismatic principal of Santa Ana’s Mater Dei High School from 1978 to 1986. He then became the founding principal at Santa Margarita High School, which he ran from 1987 until he was asked to step down in January of this year pending the outcome of an investigation into allegations of sexual improprieties.

“If we were standing on a football field and asked everyone who had been affected positively by this man to come and join us, we would fill the field, I know we would,” said Mission Viejo Councilwoman Sharon Cody, whose son, Scott, attends Santa Margarita High School.

“I know him through Scott, who used to see him daily, and who will consider him a friend for the rest of his life. He is an extraordinary human being, with the amazing gift to reach children,” Cody said.

Joe Winkelmann, a political consultant from Corona del Mar and parent of a Santa Margarita High School graduate and student, said: “This man is truly something incredible. I think the world of him. . . . To think that some second-hand accusations can ruin his career bothers me tremendously about the state of the world.”

Sue McKeehan of Monarch Beach graduated from Mater Dei with Harris and is the mother of three children who studied under him at both schools. “This man has had a positive effect on thousands of people, not just the students,” McKeehan said. “He goes out of his way for so many people. I just can’t say enough about him.”

Through his attorney, Harris, 47, has “flatly and completely denied” the allegations contained in a lawsuit first filed last month in Orange County Superior Court by former Mater Dei student David A. Price, 29, who claims that Harris abused him during school hours by summoning him from his classes to the principal’s office with special hall passes.

But the lawsuit, amended and refiled last week, was only the latest in a series of allegations that have rocked the communities that revolve about Mater Dei and Santa Margarita high schools, two large but closeknit Catholic schools that serve sprawling segments of the county.

The first accusations of abuse, made by the mother of a student, came last December. Then, in January, Harris surprised students, their parents and the faculty at Santa Margarita by announcing he needed a break from the stress of the job and taking an indefinite leave of absence.

Finally, in March, officials of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange publicly disclosed for the first time that Harris had been accused of “sexual improprieties.”

Then, last Friday, the diocese also acknowledged that Harris had been asked to take a leave of absence in January while it investigated the allegations and that his right to “function as a priest” had been revoked.

To his many friends in the county, it was impossible to believe all this was happening to the same “Father Harris” that they had grown to love--not only as a teacher, but also like a family member.

“It’s just so bizarre, the whole thing,” said Dina Yankoff of San Juan Capistrano, the mother of two boys who both played quarterback at Santa Margarita. Harris was known to go on the team’s bus to every football game, home and away, and would invite the entire team to his home for pizza, ice cream and movies.

“He has been a wonderful friend to our family and especially our boys,” Yankoff said. “What was wonderful for us as parents was that kids can’t always and don’t always want to talk to their parents about things, and here was another person with whom we encouraged them to seek counsel, Godly counsel.”

“It just kills me to see this happen,” Yankoff said.

Pete Stevenson, 58, a printing broker from Lake Forest, has had five children attend the two schools under Harris, two at Mater Dei and three at Santa Margarita.

“My phone has been ringing off the hook since yesterday morning,” Stevenson said. “If he says he didn’t do it, as far as our family is concerned he didn’t do it. My wife and I and kids are in his corner.”

Harris’ friends say he is living in South County at the home of a friend, doing “about as well as you can do through this,” and working on a doctorate at Pepperdine University that he expects to earn by Christmas.

Many of his friends have been critical of what they see as the diocese’s lack of support for the man who had done so much for the Catholic community, and who nearly singlehandedly raised the $26 million needed to build Santa Margarita High School.

Spokesmen for the Orange County diocese were unavailable to comment Monday.

Dr. Burr McKeehan, 51, a foot surgeon from Monarch Beach, called Harris “the most honorable person I have ever met. He has touched more lives of young people and helped more young people than anybody I have ever known in Orange County.

“I heard the bishop has not supported him and I am disappointed at the diocese,” said McKeehan, a Catholic who had Harris as a dinner guest with his family about 10 days ago. “I have not talked to anyone who does not give him total support.”

Jerry Keane, 47, the father of three Santa Margarita students, said he worked with Harris on the football booster program.

“I’ll be honest with you. We thought he could be the Pope, that’s how good he is. . . . It’s not fair to destroy someone who is this good.”

* MORE ALLEGATIONS: At least four O.C. priests face molestation lawsuits. A23