ILLINOIS
Daily Herald

Robert Mayer

By Charles Keeshan

Despite numerous complaints of inappropriate conduct toward children by a former priest at an Arlington Heights parish, officials in the Archdiocese of Chicago chose to move him to other suburban parishes — where other abuse claims arose — and keep secret the reasons for his transfer, according to church documents made public today.

Details regarding the allegations against former priest Robert Mayer, the former associate pastor at St. Edna Catholic Church in the 1980s, were among the hundreds of pages of archdiocese documents released Tuesday detailing the investigations into child molestation accusations against more than 30 priests and church officials’ reactions to them.

Cardinal Francis George said in a letter sent to parishes last week that the archdiocese agreed to turn over the records in an attempt to help the victims heal. “I apologize to all those who have been…