Sex abuse lawsuit in Illinois focuses on actions of Newark archbishop

Newark, N.J., Archbishop John J. Myers, under fire for his lax supervision of a priest under court order not to minister to youth, faces new questions concerning his handling of clergy sex abuse allegations while he was bishop in Peoria, Ill., more than a decade ago.

Attorneys for abuse victim Andrew Ward announced Tuesday that they had reached an agreement with the Peoria diocese over a lawsuit accusing Msgr. Thomas Maloney of molesting Ward when he was a boy in the mid-1990s. The diocese settled the suit for $1.35 million. Maloney died in 2009 at age 73.

Records released as part of the agreement show the Peoria diocese received complaints about Maloney’s inappropriate conduct with children in 1995 and 1999, but that in 2000 Myers wrote to a family that the diocese had no record of complaints against Maloney.

That same year, Myers nominated Maloney for the honorific “monsignor.”

In a 2010 deposition, also unsealed as part of the settlement, Myers said he never had any suspicions of sexual abuse on the Maloney’s part, but acknowledged “there may have been things that got by me” and describes the administration of diocesan records and documents in his time in Peoria as a “loose system.”

Now archbishop of Newark, Myers served as bishop of Peoria from January 1990 through October 2001, and before that served the diocese as its chancellor, vicar general and coadjutor.

This spring, a New Jersey newspaper reported that a Newark priest, Fr. Michael Fugee, had violated a court agreement by interacting with children through youth retreats and trips throughout the state. In July 2007, Fugee, the local district attorney and Newark archdiocese had signed a memorandum of understanding restricting the priest’s ministry, related to charges against him for separate instances in 1999 and 2000 in which he had inappropriate contact with a 14-year-old boy.

Myers had assigned Fugee to positions away from minors, and the priest was supposed to be under supervision. After the news accounts ran, Fugee resigned from public ministry and later was arrested. The archdiocese’s vicar general then resigned his post to take responsibility for the Fugee case.

Myers has come under fire for the Fugee case with local media outlets calling for his resignation in editorials.

Joanne Ward, the Peoria victim’s mother, joined the chorus calling for discipline of Myers.

“I don’t want the resignation. I want [Arch]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,” she said at the press conference, according to the Newark Star-Ledger.

Jim Goodness, communications director for the Newark archdiocese, defended Myers against the latest wave of accusations, telling NCR “the characterizations are clearly incorrect.”

“When the archbishop was the bishop of Peoria, he removed priests. And here in the archdiocese of Newark, we have always reported allegations to the authorities, the archbishop has removed priests, and we have offered counseling and other services to victims,” said Goodness, who declined comment when asked if Myers would address the situation.

In the deposition, Myers said he had knew Maloney since the late 1960s, when both served as assistant pastors in Peoria. The two would occasionally meet for meals, but were not close friends, and did not stay in touch after Myers moved to Washington, D.C., to study canon law.

But their paths crossed again after Myers returned to Peoria and moved through various positions at the diocesan level, ultimately becoming bishop in 1990.

While Myers said the two “really did not travel in the same circles,” the deposition revealed that Maloney would occasionally send him gifts — from cash, to gold and silver coins, to his personal camera. Myers disputed anything odd about the gestures, describing them as customary during confirmation and Christmas seasons, and no more than other priests. The two would also visit while separately vacationing in Florida, Myers said.

In 2000, Myers elevated Maloney to the title of monsignor.

Back in July 1995, Fr. Gerald Ward, pastor of St. Patrick of Merna in Bloomington, Ill., was contacted by a Springfield, Ill., woman, who told him that her sister — who later moved to New York — was abused by Maloney in 1973, when she was 10 years old and he was assistant pastor at Epiphany Parish in Normal, Ill. Maloney was appointed to Epiphany in February 1973, and remained there until 1976; on July 31, 1995, Myers returned him to Epiphany, this time as pastor.

Ward relayed the allegation to Msgr. James Campbell, who documented it in a Dec. 6, 1995, incident report.

“The New York woman now wants Father Maloney confronted and stopped if he is now engaged in sexual activity with children,” the report read.

Campbell asked Ward to have the sister in New York provide her name so that Maloney could be confronted, and added Ward should indicate to her that “there would be no way to confront Father Maloney without clear indication of an allegation against him and to indicate, at the same time, that we do not doubt her sincerity. However, Father Maloney has a right to defend himself against any person making allegations touching on his reputation.”

When shown the report during his deposition, Myers said it was the first time he had seen the document.

In September 2000, a family wrote to Myers with concerns about “what we and many others believe to be the unacceptable and inappropriate behavior of Father Maloney.” Among the behaviors they cited was interjecting “inappropriate jokes” and comments into his liturgical celebrations; being spotted on a school night in his car at a pharmacy with a grade-school girl, who bought $20 of candy; and taking eighth-grade girls to lunch outside of school. 

Myers responded later that month, saying “We are aware that Father is not perfect, but we are also aware that he is a much-loved pastor, that he cares generously for people and that Epiphany School is thriving under his leadership.”

In addressing the non-liturgical complaints, Myers said, “I do know that Father loves people, especially young people, and that he cares from them generously. We have never had allegations of impropriety.”

But in August 1999, Vicar General Msgr. Steven Rohlfs copied Myers on a letter responding to inappropriate actions by Maloney during a recent confession with an eighth-grade boy. According to the boy’s parents, Maloney spoke of “the sexual acts of a fellow priest” with their son, as well as answered his cellphone in the confessional.

When asked if he recalled receiving a copy of Rohlfs’ response letter, Myers referred to the “loose system that we had with the two different buildings,” which he cited several times in his deposition. The bishop’s office was in the cathedral rectory, while the office of the vicar general and chancellor was a block away in the chancery. The arrangement, Myers said, led him to assume that his instructions were carried out but without direct oversight.

“It could be sometimes two weeks of copies that I would get when they moved them from building to building and I sometimes didn’t have time to read them all,” he said.

[Brian Roewe is an NCR staff writer. His email address is [email protected].]