MINEOLA - Several civil lawsuits have arisen from allegations of sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic church, but very few have gone to trial. Most were settled out of court.

In what victims' lawyers called a powerful message to the church, a jury on found the nation's sixth-largest Catholic diocese and a church parish negligent in a case involving a youth minister who repeatedly raped and sodomized teenagers in his care over several years.

The jury awarded the two victims a combined $11.4 million in damages.

“Over 99 percent of the cases that have been brought since 2002 have settled in the quiet of lawyers' offices, and none of these cases have seen the light of day,” said Paul Mones, an attorney for the victims.

“This case has really shown exactly how these pedophiles operate, exactly how the church, unfortunately, has responded.”

The jury found that the Diocese of Rockville Centre, one of its churches and a pastor were negligent in the hiring and retention of the youth minister who carried out the abuse.

The jury cleared the defendants of being negligent in the supervision of the minister.

The six-person jury reached its decision after deliberating over eight days.

One of the victims' lawyers, Michael Dowd, said the decision - announced in a hushed Long Island courtroom - showed that “the church can no longer be reckless in the safety of children.”

A spokesman for the diocese, Sean Dolan, declined to discuss the verdict immediately. He said church officials hadn't decided whether to appeal.

The trial included graphic testimony from a female victim who told the jury that former youth minister Matthew Maiello seduced her and eventually had sex with her in a variety of locations on church property - including church pews and the elementary school principal's office - as well as at their homes.

Maiello, who now lives in Connecticut, pleaded guilty to third-degree rape and sodomy in 2003, admitting he abused four children. He served more than two years in prison.

Since Maiello did not contest any of the allegations against him, the focus of the monthlong civil trial became St. Raphael's Church in East Meadow, its pastor, the Rev. Thomas Haggerty, and the Diocese of Rockville Centre.

The jury awarded the female victim about $5.5 million in damages and a second, male victim about $5.9 million.

The two said Maiello repeatedly molested them, starting when they were 15. They said church officials failed to act when confronted by reports that the youth minister was acting inappropriately.

The victims, now 23, said the abuse lasted from 1999 to 2002. The woman testified that Maiello took her virginity in a basement office in the church convent and eventually cajoled her into having sex with the boy in the youth ministry. Before long, Maiello was engaging in three-way sex with the teenagers and videotaping other encounters.

“He would always tell me it was God's plan for us to be together,” said the woman. “He controlled all of my thoughts - he manipulated me.”

After the trial, the woman hailed the verdict as a vindication for her and other abuse victims.

“The reason for seeking justice in a civil trial was to ensure that the truth finally came out and that this might prevent the abuse from happening to children everywhere,” she said.

Brian Davey, an attorney representing the pastor, the parish and the diocese, insisted that Maiello alone was responsible for the sexual abuse.

Davey noted that testimony during the trial revealed that Maiello grew close with not only the female victim but her entire family. The relationship was so cozy that Maiello was a frequent visitor in her home, attended family parties and accompanied the victim and her family on two vacations.

But Dowd questioned why Haggerty did not pursue more information after receiving a negative job recommendation for Maiello from a youth minister at a church at which Maiello had previously worked. Dowd also said Haggerty failed to check on Maiello's educational background and other qualifications for the $20,000-a-year youth ministry position.

“Who in God's name would let this person work with kids?” Dowd asked.

David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network for Those Abused by Priests, applauded the victims for coming forward. “Their efforts to expose their perpetrator through the legal system will help keep children safe in New York,” he said.

The U.S. Conference of Bishops estimates the costs of abuse-related lawsuits have exceeded $1.5 billion. On Long Island, a grand jury found nearly two dozen cases of abuse going back decades in the Diocese of Rockville Centre, which includes 1.3 million Catholics in 134 parishes.

A Suffolk County grand jury report in early 2003 cited abuse cases involving 23 priests in the Rockville Centre diocese over several decades. Prosecutors said they were prevented from pursuing criminal charges because statutes of limitations had expired long ago. Civil lawsuits were dismissed, or never filed, for the same reason, according to victim advocates.

AP-ES-05-19-07 0121EDT