Newark archbishop says warning signs of sexual abuse by priest 'got by me'

Mark Mueller
Star Ledger (Newark, NJ)
August 14, 2013

In the Roman Catholic Diocese of Peoria, Ill., signs that the Rev. Thomas Maloney posed a danger to children were hard to miss.

In late 1994 or early 1995, a woman told church officials Maloney had molested her when she was a child, documents show. Later in 1995, the woman’s sister wrote to the diocese on her behalf, again insisting action be taken against the priest.

Four years later, a couple wrote to the vicar general, second-in-command of the diocese, complaining Maloney had an explicit sexual conversation with their 13-year-old son during confession, the documents show.

The warnings would continue in letters from parishioners and in internal diocese correspondence.

But Newark Archbishop John J. Myers, then bishop of Peoria, says he missed it all.

In a deposition unsealed as part of a $1.35 million settlement with one of Maloney’s alleged victims, Myers said he had no inkling Maloney — a friend who vacationed with him and lavished him with gifts of jewelry, gold coins and cash — was a potential molester.

"I did not have any suspicions," Myers said in the deposition, taken in Newark in 2010. "I — because of the, perhaps slipshod filing system that we had between the two different buildings of the office of the bishop, there may have been things that got by me. But I did not have any suspicions."

The deposition — released publicly Tuesday with a trove of letters and other diocese documents — provides a window into Myers’ unswerving support of Maloney. It also suggests the protection of predatory priests in Peoria trumped the protection of children, according to the parents of one of Maloney’s alleged victims and the lawyer who represented them in the long-running civil suit.

They say it is a pattern that has repeated itself in Newark, where Myers has come under fierce criticism in recent months for his handling of priests accused of abusing children.

"What you have here is a bishop complicit in the crime of child sexual abuse," Jeff Anderson, a Minnesota lawyer who filed the suit on behalf of the alleged victim, said Tuesday during a press conference outside Myers’ office in Newark. "The legacy of Myers and the choices he makes is alive and well and in the present."

Jim Goodness, a spokesman for Myers, declined to comment on the release of the deposition and other documents. He also would not directly address comments made by Anderson or the alleged victim’s parents, Joanne and David Ward.

"The record in Newark has been very clear," Goodness said in a statement. "The archbishop has consistently reported all allegations to authorities, has provided outreach to victims, and has removed priests."

Holding a poster with side-by-side photos of her son as an 8-year-old — his age at the time of the alleged abuse — Joanne Ward characterized the archbishop as a liar who knew full well Maloney, whom Myers helped elevate to monsignor, was a danger to children.

Andrew Ward, the family contended in the suit, was molested by Maloney in 1995 and 1996, nearly a year after the complaint by the woman who said Maloney abused her as a child.

"Bishop Myers knew Monsignor Maloney was molesting children and allowed him to go into my son’s school, and because of that, my family went through devastation," said Joanne Ward, 50. "I don’t want the resignation. I want Bishop Myers to go to jail as a predator because he was the one who played the chess game in allowing predators to be placed in our children’s school."



earlier stories:

Church pays $1.35 million in suit alleging Newark Archbishop protected abuser in Illinois

and click on Newark label at right