ILLINOIS/NEW JERSEY
The Record
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2013
BY JEFF GREEN
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
Complaints about the Rev. Thomas W. Maloney – that he dressed sloppily, made inappropriate remarks during Mass, and was seen kissing a teenage girl – began piling up within months of his assignment as pastor to an Illinois parish in 1995.
The most serious was contained in a memo written that year that documented a woman’s claim that Maloney sexually abused her when she was 10. Diocese of Peoria officials took no action on her report, and a month after they received it Maloney allegedly molested an 8-year-old boy, according to a lawsuit filed years later by the boy’s attorney.
At the time, the Peoria Diocese was headed by John J. Myers, now the archbishop of Newark, who is facing criticism from state lawmakers and others that he has failed to adequately protect church members from clergy in New Jersey who have been accused of inappropriate behavior.
How those complaints in Peoria were handled — detailed in the lawsuit which was settled for $1.35 million in June — heighten questions about Myers’ methods there and whether they may have carried over to his tenure in New Jersey.
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