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Illinois diocese to pay $1.35 million in suit that alleges Myers failed to stop pedophile priest while bishop there

Monday, August 12, 2013 Last updated: Tuesday August 13, 2013, 6:40 AM
BY JEFF GREEN
STAFF WRITER
The Record


A Catholic diocese in Illinois has agreed to pay $1.35 million to settle a lawsuit that claims John J. Myers, its former bishop and now the archbishop of Newark, failed to keep an alleged pedophile priest away from children.

The Diocese of Peoria received a complaint from a woman in 1995 that she was molested by Monsignor Thomas W. Maloney during her childhood, but church officials did not act, the suit contends. A year later, the suit says, Maloney went on to abuse 8-year-old Andrew Ward, the plaintiff in the case.

The settlement will be announced Tuesday at a press conference outside Myers’ office in Newark. A deposition of Myers, which has been under court seal since 2010, and other documents also will be released.

Ward’s family is expected to attend the news conference, where they will “discuss Myers’ pattern and practice of repeatedly failing to protect children while working as bishop in Peoria and now as the archbishop of Newark,” said Ward’s attorney, Jeff Anderson.

Anderson said church officials talked to Maloney after receiving the woman’s complaint and he denied the allegation. They did not investigate further, saying it could not be substantiated, he said.

“That’s hardly an investigation,” Anderson said. “That’s what we call in lay terms simply a coverup.”

Ward and at least three other victims were abused by Maloney after the woman came forward, the lawyer said. Many of them reported the abuse following Ward’s lawsuit, he said.

“We know there is a long trail of sorrow and hardship,” the lawyer said. “It was clear he was a very oppressive priest. It’s also clear he was very close to Archbishop Myers.”

Victims’ advocate Robert Hoatson, president of Road to Recovery Inc., said Myers’ handling of the Illinois case bears resemblance to a recent scandal concerning the Rev. Michael Fugee, a former Wyckoff assistant pastor who was arrested in May for allegedly violating a ban on ministering to children. Prosecutors said Fugee, who was accused in 2001 of groping a 13-year-old boy, heard confessions of minors during youth retreats throughout New Jersey, in defiance of the ban.

“The basic modus operandi is keep everything under wraps, hopefully it will go away and just move priests from place to place like he did with Fugee,” Hoatson said.

Anderson agreed that the Fugee case was emblematic of Myers’ attitudes toward complaints of sexual abuse.

“I think there’s an overarching theme here of denial, deceit and deflection,” he said.

Myers’ spokesman could not be reached for comment Monday night. Patricia Gibson, the chancellor and attorney for the Peoria Diocese, said in a statement that the diocese has a policy of not discussing details of settlements. Awards are paid through the diocese’s insurance policies, she said.

The lawsuit, filed in 2008 against the Diocese of Peoria and Maloney, claims that Ward was molested by Maloney in 1995 and 1996. The alleged abuse of the boy began a year after a woman had told the diocese that she had been molested by Maloney as a youth, according to the suit.

Had Myers and the diocese “acted properly” to investigate the woman's claim, Maloney, who died in 2009, might have been stopped before he preyed upon the boy, said Anderson, who has sued the Catholic church hundreds of times on behalf of sexual abuse victims.

Ward’s mother, Joanne, previously told The Record that in 1995 or 1996, when her son was a second-grader at Epiphany School in Normal, Ill., Maloney picked the boy to help out in the church after Mass on Sunday and sometimes in the morning before school.

She said the abuse happened on two occasions while her son was helping Maloney.

“Maloney molested Andrew once in the church sanctuary before school and once behind the altar after 10:30 Mass on a Sunday.”

- See more at: http://www.northjersey.com/community/re ... zM347.dpuf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

NEW JERSEY
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

POSTED BY BARBARA DORRIS ON AUGUST 12, 2013

Tomorrow in Newark, parents of a child sex abuse victim will
-- announce a settlement of a child sexual abuse and cover up case involving a priest,
-- release a deposition of Newark Archbishop John Myers and
-- release long-hidden church records about a predator priest.

We are very proud of Andrew Ward and his brave and compassionate family. We are especially grateful they had the strength to take legal action, the persistence to overcome the church hierarchy’s seemingly endless delays. And we are glad they insisted that these records be disclosed. In child sex abuse and cover up cases, it’s crucial that the dreadful wrongdoing of both those who commit and those who conceal these heinous crimes are exposed. That’s the best way to prevent future child sex crimes and cover ups.

When clergy sex abuse and cover up cases settle for seven figures, the reason is simple. It’s almost always because Catholic officials ignored, minimized, hid and enabled horrific crimes against children and those officials fear these damaging facts will emerge in court. That’s why bishops are willing to pay large figures – to save themselves and their colleagues from having to answer tough questions, under oath, in open court, where their complicity will be laid bare for all to see.

We are anxious to see these records. We suspect they’ll show Myers acting as selfishly and irresponsibly in Peoria as he is acting in Newark. We also suspect there are other current and former Peoria church employees who played a role in keeping Msgr. Maloney’s crimes secret for years.

The predator, Msgr. Maloney, is deceased, so he can’t be prosecuted. But we hope that those who saw or suspected Maloney’s crimes or Myers’ cover ups and helped hide the truth might be prosecuted.

NEW JERSEY
The Star-Ledger

By Tom Moran/ The Star-Ledger
on August 14, 2013

The story is familiar by now, but no less infuriating. Newark Archbishop John J. Myers hears a credible complaint of sexual abuse against a priest. He hides that fact. He protects the priest. He doesn’t tell police.

And instead of stopping the abuse, he allows the abuser to search for a fresh victim among the children of the faithful, the little souls he should be protecting.

"I don’t want his resignation," said the mother of one victim. "I want Bishop Myers to go to jail."

Her name is Joanne Ward, she lives outside Toledo, Ohio, and she knows that’s not going to happen, despite the convincing evidence in freshly released court documents that Myers flat-out lied this time to protect the accused abuser.

But Ward wants to the world to know about Myers, at least. So she came to Newark yesterday with her husband and stood outside his office holding a poster-sized picture of her boy when he was 8 years old, the year she says he became a sexual play thing to a priest in the Peoria, Ill., diocese where Myers was in charge.

TABLE OF DEPOSITION EXHIBITS

The descriptions in this table are provided by BishopAccountability.org, and are not part of the original deposition. We have also supplemented the exhibits with links to other documents from the Maloney file. Those additions are in bullet points under the exhibits that they supplement.
Exhibit Depo
Page Description Date
A 71 "Doe List" on which confidential names (redacted by agreement of plaintiff and defendant for this document release) are paired with the numbers and initials used in the text of the deposition:
1. "E" See explanation on p. 72
2. "K" See explanation on p. 83; seminarian allegedly abused by Rev. John C. Anderson
3. "EB" See explanation on p. 106
4. "KS" See explanation on p. 125; author of the letter called Exhibit-31
5. "TM" See explanation on p. 138; authors of the letter called Exhibit-39
6. "JT" See explanation on p. 149; authors of the letter called Exhibit-41
5 91 Letter from Peoria chancellor Carton to Falk, rector of Immaculate Conception Seminary in Conception MO, asking for more information regarding a postponement in the advancement of Maloney to the subdiaconate
• Falk's 4/19/1966 reply is in Maloney's file (D-0269-0270) 04/12/1966
23 108 Letter from Myers to Maloney, thanking him for the gift of "your much-loved camera" but stating that he is "a bit squeamish" about the gift
• The Maloney file contains numerous examples of Maloney's gifts to Myers; in this document from 1989, Myers thanks him for a "generous gift" (D-0139)
• In this 6/21/91 letter, Myers thanks Maloney for a "wonderful gift" (D-0137)
• A few months later, Myers makes Maloney the Vicar of the Bloomington Vicariate (D-0212)
• Maloney was not discreet about his relationship with Myers; one Epiphany parishioner noted in a critical letter to Campbell that Maloney and Myers "evidently are personal friends" and Maloney "quite often tells stories that involve Bishop Myers"; she feels that a Sunday sermon is "not the place to reveal these stories" (D-0171-0172)
• In this 2000 letter, Myers thanks Maloney for a "wonderful dinner" and urges him to join Myers and Mark for vacation in Crete (D-0123) 11/09/1992
24 110 Letter from Myers to Maloney, thanking him for the gift of a silver object so big "it could be tied around one's neck like the proverbial 'millstone'." 04/13/1992
26 111 Letter from Myers to Maloney, thanking him for "chats" and a monetary gift, which Myers says he will use to gamble on the dog races in Florida; "Al" is Msgr. Albert W. Hallin of Peoria, a diocesan consultor, for whom see also Exhibit 33A 01/30/1995
29 115 Memo to the Maloney file by vicar general/chancellor Campbell, stating that Rev. Ward had been contacted by a woman who alleged that her sister had been abused by Maloney at age 10 in 1973 at Epiphany church in Normal IL; the survivor "now wants Father Maloney confronted and stopped if he is now engaged in sexual activity with children"; for Maloney to be confronted, the survivor must write or call and give her name; "Father Maloney has the right to defend himself against any person making allegations touching on his reputation" 12/6/1995
31 124 Letter from "KS" to "Monsignor" complaining that on arriving back at Epiphany church in Normal IL, Maloney took down the picture of his predecessor, Rev. John J. King, who had helped KS and her husband come back to the church; KS also mentions in the letter Maloney's inappropriate behavior during Mass and his "unprofessional" actions with "a rather young teenage girl" whom Maloney hugged and kissed on the cheek 01/04/1996
32 131 Letter from Campbell to Maloney, following up on the letter by KS; Campbell discusses "transition problems" – liturgy, the picture of Fr. King – but does not mention Maloney's actions with the young teenage girl 01/05/1996
33A 135 Letter from Myers to Maloney, thanking him for a monetary gift and confirming an invitation to join Myers and Msgr. Hallin in Florida (see also Exhibit 26) 01/10/1997
39 137 Letter from "TM" and her husband, informing the vicar general/chancellor, Msgr. Steven P. Rohlfs, of their 13-year-old son's experience during Lenten confession with Maloney, who "inappropriately discuss[ed] with our son the sexual acts of a fellow priest," asked the boy detailed questions, and took a cell phone call during the face-to-face confession; the parents asked for strict confidentiality lest their children experience retaliation, and suggested that an associate pastor be brought in, to "hold others accountable" 08/12/1999
39A 144 Letter from Rohlfs to TM, cc'ing Myers and Campbell, thanking the parents for their letter, referencing their phone call, and expressing sorrow about the "scandal" taken by their son and "presumably given to him by his confessor"; Rohlfs states that he is limited by TM's request for confidentiality and by the Seal of Confession, but he will visit Maloney and tell him to "adjust his confessional practice" 08/18/1999
40 147 Letter from Rohlfs to TM, confirming his meeting with Maloney; Myers, Campbell, and the law firm of Heyl, Royster, Voelker and Allen are bcc'd, and a stamp claims that the letter is " Confidential | Protected by Attorney/Client Privilege" 09/01/1999
41 148 Letter from "JT" to Myers, expressing concern about Maloney's behavior toward their family and others, prompting them to move to a different parish and school; in addition to inappropriate liturgical and confessional practice, JT states that Maloney was seen in a car alone one evening with a grade-school girl, and that "he typically takes eighth grade girls from school out to lunch at a place called, "The Pub"; JT and her husband tried to raise these concerns with Maloney, who told them they were "out of line" and totally out to get him; the letter is stamped (in Latin) as seen by Rohlfs, and marginal notes seem to indicate a discussion with Maloney; JT expresses concern that "Father still has influence over people, especially children"
• Between this letter and Myers' answer (Exhibit 42), Myers and Maloney met for 10 minutes, according to a note in Maloney's file (D-0109) 09/01/2000
42 154 Letter by Myers to JT, responding to Exhibit 41, stating that he and Rohlfs, who is cc'd, have made inquiries and determined that JT is "not generally accurate" about Maloney's Masses; "Father loves people, especially young people, and ... he cares for them generously. We have never had allegations of impropriety" (but see Exhibits 29, and 39); "I think it wise you have made other options. I am happy those other options are available to you"; the letter is stamped (in Latin) as seen by Rohlfs 09/14/2000
45 158 Letter by Rohlfs to Maloney, notifying him that the diocesan superintendent of schools, Patricia Kawczynski, came to see Rohlfs to report complaints by a parent regarding Maloney's behavior toward children; "it is my practice in such situations simply to alert the priest of the anonymous concern and ask him to examine his memory" and "how this person could have misperceived"; in the "present atmosphere we have to use extreme caution"; the parent stated that Maloney locked a class of junior high school boys in a classroom, gave them a two-and-a-half-hour talk on morality, and threatened to expel any boy who talked about the session; the parent also stated that Maloney is perceived to have favorite girls, "especially blond ones," and that some girls told their parents they "felt uncomfortable with you and did not want to be alone with you"; the parent refused to give her name to Kawczynski, "because she was concerned about 'retaliation toward her children'" (cf. Exhibit 39); Rohlfs, now the Administrator of the diocese with Myers' departure for Newark, thanks Maloney "for all the work you do at your parish and the vicariate" and warns that the parent could "continue to possibly misinterpret your attitude"; Myers and Campbell are bcc'd
• Kawczynski's original note to Rohlfs is in the Maloney file (No Bates; dated 1/31/02)
• Kawczynski wrote again to Rohlfs to report a second complaint about Maloney's morality talk; "he stated that statements made to the boys about not telling their parents about what he talked to them about is one of the signs of a pedophile. Therefore a full investigation should be made"; fear of retaliation by Maloney is again mentioned; "Monsignor was not going to meet with the second class of boys" (D-0003)
• Rohlfs wrote again to Maloney, attributing to Kawczynski a concern about "the present climate, Boston etc."; suggested that principal tell parents of a meeting with Maloney and apologize for "miscommunication"; Rohlfs asked Maloney what he thought about alerting parents and following up with them about future visits to the school; Jenky, Myers, Campbell, and Kawczynski are bcc'd, and Kawczynski's second report is enclosed (D-0081) 02/01/2002

SNAP responds to archbishop’s newly-released deposition

Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 862 7688 home, 314 503 0003 cell, SNAPdorris@gmail.com)

Archbishop John Myers answers under oath are pathetic. He wants us to believe everyone and everything else is at fault, while he allegedly did nothing wrong.

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/de ... eposition/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

He blames allegedly bad files, therapists, underlings, canon law (p. 188) and even buildings (page 34 & 145).

His memory of how others didn't act properly seems very clear. But his memory about his own wrongdoing suddenly gets very murky. (On page 35, for example, he can’t recall whether he ordered his staff to report suspected child sex crimes to authorities. Later, he can’t even recall whether he was on a bishops’ sex abuse committee in the 1990s.) Typical Catholic criminal bishop.

Over and over again he keeps claiming he does not recall reports of abuse, suspicions of abuse, what he did, what he did not do, or what year anything happened. (But corrected an attorney on what year Cardinal Ratzinger took over the CDF.)

In several letters Myers thanks Msgr. Maloney (a credibly accused child molester), thanking Maloney for gifts including "your much-loved camera," a silver object so big "it could be tied around one's neck like the proverbial 'millstone,’" gold coins and a monetary gift, which Myers says he will use to gamble on the dog races in Florida. *

These gifts seem inappropriate and troubling. We hope Myers will explain why he took them.

We can’t help but wonder if Myers is still accepting expensive gifts from priests in New Jersey, including those who are admitted, proven or credibly accused child molesters. We hope Myers will explain whether he is indeed still taking expensive gifts.

There's a lesson in all of this: Bishops still cannot be trusted to 'come clean' about clergy sex crimes and cover ups, even now, and even under oath

STATEMENT OF ANDREW WARD
My name is Andrew Ward and I was molested by Monsignor Maloney who was like a
God to me when I was young. I couldn’t tell and didn’t for a long time, but when I did my
parents and family believed me but nobody in the Diocese
or at the church did. I made a report
to the police, but they did not prosecute Monsignor Maloney because they did not know that
anybody else had been abused and so everybody acted like I had made this up and was lying.
The ones that made me the saddest
and hurt the most are Archbishop Myers and all those men at
the top who continued to protect him instead of help and believe me. At that time all I wanted
was to be believed. I then brought suit with the help of my family. Even though I’ve had a real
ha
rd time of it, I’m getting better because there were other people who did come forward who
reported the same kind of abuse of them that happened to me. To the other victims and my
family, I say thank you for believing me and supporting me.
I am making th
is statement because I want people to know my story so that the Diocese
and those top people aren’t allowed to continue to lie and deny and blame victims like me. I
hope me making this statement and my family going public with this helps others. I hope m
ore
than anything else that Archbishop Myers and Bishop Jenky don’t continue to get away with this
and other kids are not allowed to be hurt the way I was.

Editor’s note: This letter by Newark Archbishop John J. Myers was distributed to priests of the archdiocese over the weekend. Myers was responding to news stories about a $1.35 million settlement between the Diocese of Peoria, his former post, and the family of a boy who was allegedly abused by a priest there. The family and its attorney blamed Myers for failing to take action against the priest despite repeated warning signs.

August 15, 2013
Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary WTF is this? More catholic theobullshit.

My Dear Brother Priests in the Archdiocese of Newark:

This past week local media, once again, provided deceitful and misleading information about situations in the Diocese of Peoria and in this Archdiocese. I am dutybound to denounce the impressions presented as false and harmful to many people. They can also be confusing to many others.

To the best of my knowledge, the particular case cited was brought to the attention of the officials in the Peoria Diocese in or about 2007, more than five years after I left that Diocese and arrived in New Jersey.

In the deposition given by me and selectively quoted by an interested attorney, some upset parents, and a former Priest of this Archdiocese, I spoke under oath and truthfully about matters relating to a certain Priest. I never vacationed with him, and I received no gifts other than those often given to a bishop by Pastors or Parishes. Since we were both coin collectors, I recall that he once gave me a coin of minimal value, of which he had several examples. At no time was I ever aware that some people thought him to be a threat to children or young people. Officials at the Diocese of Peoria who investigated an earlier case during my years there found that no allegation was sufficiently supported by evidence. In 2007, when Law Enforcement officials investigated the case cited in the lawsuit, the Diocese of Peoria provided all information concerning the earlier case. That investigation by the authorities determined that neither allegation had any basis for any criminal action. If the opposite had been the case, I would have acted to protect children and young people as I did on any other occasions in Illinois and here in New Jersey. Priests would have been taken out of Ministry as I have done in both locations. Children should never be at risk in so far as we can know.

In Peoria, as here, even before the 2002 Charter for the Protection of Children, either I or other representatives of the Diocese met with those making allegations and often their families, and offered and provided counseling or other methods of support. One can understand when family difficulties lead parents, even by conjecture, to blame someone outside the family, but conjecture is no reason to undermine the Ministry of individual Priests (or Bishops, for that matter).

One might ask why the representatives of the media do not explore the records of those who are raising false and misleading statements, perhaps for their own benefit, and the records and personal lifestyles of either disgruntled former, or marginalized and retired clergy of either the Archdiocese of Newark or the Diocese of Peoria. One might also ask what are the true motivations of all who have become a part of these ‘traveling bandwagons’ — including our local media representatives and politicians? What is their own historical and present relationship or animus against our Roman Catholic Faith and its Teachings, the Teachings of which I have always been a staunch and outspoken supporter, despite their ‘unpopularity’ in the secular and ‘politically correct’ society that has developed around us? What a fucking fat slob baby pedophile protector.

For those who are truly with us — the Church — in the protection of children, they have my respect, gratitude, and embrace. For any who set out to claim that I or the Church have had no effective part in the love and protection of children, is simply evil, wrong, immoral, and seemingly focused on their own self-aggrandizement. God only knows their personal reasons and agenda. We are still called to love them. And God will surely address them in due time. Oooooh, god's gonna get em!!

Please feel free to share this with your parishioners, and all who are interested in the truth. I thank you sincerely for your continued leadership, Priestly Ministry, prayers, and support. Know that you can count on mine in return.

With kindest personal regards, I am

Sincerely in the Lord,

Most (full of shit) Reverend John J. Myers
Archbishop of Newark

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. *see letter below

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."