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Francis E. (F.) Maloney

Timeline:

ORD. 1959    STEUBENVILLE DIOCESE

 

1960  Byesville, OH   Holy Trinity Church  2 priests 

Stations:  St. Mary’s church Walhounding; Harryette

1962, 1965  Athens, OH   St. Paul’s church   2 priests      school—180

1968, 1971  Miltonsburg, OH (P.O. Woodsfield)  St. John the Baptist

Administrator—Francis E. Maloney    

 Mission:  Ozark, Immaculate Conception

1972-73  Steubenville, OH   St. Peter, 425 N. 4th St.  2 priests  school:  265

Mission:  St. Paul, Pottery Addition

1974-78  Belle Valley, OH   Corpus Christi Church    diocese shows him as Edward E. Maloney, directory lists him as F. Edward Maloney

1975-78  Cambridge, OH  Guernsey Central High School  5 priests 

school: 122

1979  on duty outside diocese  F. Edward Maloney, Instituto De Idiomas, Padre de Maryknoll, Casilla, 550, Cochabamba, Bolivia

1980-84  on duty outside diocese   F. Edward Maloney, Casilla  5823, Guayaquil, Ecuador

1985  Bellaire, OH  St. John Central High School, Edward Maloney(Adm. Assistant to principal)

1985-86  Bellaire, OH  St. Michael Church  Francis E. Maloney

1987-90  absent on leave—Francis E. Maloney’59 (Steubenville Diocese)

482 SW Bridgeport Dr., Port St. Lucie, FL

1987-88  Stuart, FL  St. Joseph   Edward Maloney’59 (Palm Beach Diocese)

3 priests    school:  200

1989  West Palm Beach, St. Rita  2 priests  Francis E. Maloney(’70)

1990-91  listing in priest directory shows:  Francis E. Maloney ’59 (PMB)

West Palm Beach, FL, St. Juliana  2 priests  school:  286; (STU) absent on leave—Port St. Lucie address

1992-95  West Palm Beach, FL  St. Juliana, 3 priests       no longer listed in Steubenville info            incardinated to Palm Beach

1996  not listed in directory

1997  Port St. Lucie, FL   St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church  2 priests

1998-99  Lake Worth, FL   St. Luke Church  4 priests   school: 284

2000-04  retired   no address given

2005-06  not listed in directory

 

 

No directories available for 1961, 1963-4, 1966-7, 1969-1970, 1982

Started career in Stubenville Diocese. Moved to Florida. Removed from Florida parish in 2002 after 17 yr old accused him of acting inappropriately around him. Youth said he found Maloney in bed with another man and that the priest would walk around his home nude while the youth was there. No criminal charges filed. Youth filed civil suit 3/03. Suit settled in 5/04 for less than $1 million. Maloney admitted to a long-term, "sporadic" sexual relationship with the other priest

St. Lucie Priest Removed from Post

By Teresa Lane and Kathleen Chapman
Palm Beach Post [Florida]
May 4, 2002

A priest at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church has been removed from active ministry after a 17-year-old parishioner told church authorities he discovered the priest in bed with another man.

The Rev. Francis Maloney, who called the teen "very confused," admitted he made some inappropriate statements to him on a topic unrelated to sex but said, "What (the teen) concluded is all wrong." Maloney's dismissal on Thursday comes about three years after he was forced to retire and undergo treatment for engaging in sexual activity with a man while working as an associate pastor at St. Luke Catholic Church in Palm Springs, said Sam Barbaro, spokesman for the Diocese of Palm Beach.

Maloney, 71, said parts of the boy's story reported on a TV newscast were not true. Maloney denied making sexual advances to the teen - a claim the youth made during a TV interview, but didn't mention when recounting his ordeal to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton's pastor, the Rev. Edmund Szpieg.

"I asked him point-blank, 'Did he ever touch you or suggest anything sexual?' and he answered no to both questions," Szpieg said. "His story stayed the same both times he told it to me. Then he went on TV and said Father Maloney made sexual advances."

Maloney said he's known the teen for about nine years and hired him in the fall after the youth mentioned he needed money. Maloney paid him "good money" to come over after school, for two hours most days, helping with such odd jobs as trimming hedges and packing up Christmas decorations. But nothing sexual ever happened, he said.

"I made some statements to him that I should not have - not about sex," he said. "He's a very confused boy."

Although the teen called Szpieg about the allegations April 27, he earlier had told a teacher at John Carroll Catholic High School in Fort Pierce, Szpieg said. Diocesan officials directed the teacher to report the accusation to a statewide child-abuse hot line, but Barbaro said the abuse intake officer would not take the report and transferred the call to the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office, which also refused the call "due to the nature of the allegations," Barbaro said.

Sheriff's spokesman Mark Weinberg said neither his office nor the 911 emergency system has a record of the call, which reportedly was placed about 2 p.m. Wednesday. Police spokesman Chuck Johnson said police hoped to interview the teen Friday but were told he had hired an attorney and would meet with police Monday or Tuesday.

Police are investigating whether a call was placed to the abuse hot line, Johnson said.

"It just fell through the cracks somewhere," Johnson said. "No one's been injured because of this breakdown, and now we have learned of the incident and are moving forward with an investigation."

Szpieg said the teen claimed Maloney walked around in his home naked while the teen was doing housework and had a sexually explicit letter from another priest offering advice on how to interest the boy in a sexual relationship. When the teen returned to Maloney's Bridgeport Drive home to confront him about the letter, he told Szpieg, he found Maloney naked in bed with another man.

Szpieg said he was aware Maloney was helping the youth with tuition at John Carroll but was unaware of the housekeeping job.

"If I had known, I probably would have told him it wasn't a wise idea in this day and age," Szpieg said. "I would never have a young boy clean my house. I wouldn't want the appearance of any impropriety."

Earlier stint at church

Maloney said he was at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton from 1996 to 1999 before returning in early 2001. In the mid-1990s he was at Holy Family Catholic Church in Port St. Lucie for a short time - only six to eight months, he said.

Barbaro said Maloney also served for a time as a priest at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Stuart and St. Juliana Catholic Church in West Palm Beach.

In April, the interim leader of the Palm Beach Diocese, the Rev. James Murtagh, said that confidential church files contained five instances of improper sexual activity between priests and adults but none involving children.

Refusing to name any priests or victims, Murtagh said the five cases primarily involved relationships between priests and women but also included relationships between priests and men.

All but two, he said, involved consensual relationships gone sour. He provided no details of the two non-consensual relationships.

Port St. Lucie parishioners were shocked by the allegations Friday and defended the cookie-baking, pet-loving priest as a jewel at their church, built in 1999.

"He always made a point of getting to know everyone's name and making them feel welcome," said Al Soricelli, a founding member of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, which is on Tunis Avenue in southwest Port St. Lucie. "He even made a point to learn the pets' names and ask how Fido was doing when he'd see you. I'm extremely sad, because I'll spill blood to defend that church. It's the most incredible parish you could ask for."

Church member Frank LaMorell said Maloney was always baking cookies and other goodies for the church's bake sales and celebrated three Masses a week.

"I like his whole attitude - friendly and approachable," LaMorell said. "He never acted in a lewd or suggestive manner. I can't believe that."

Szpieg said that he arranged a meeting between the teen and diocesan officials on Wednesday and that after the teen recounted his story, officials asked him what he would like done in light of the incident. The youth said, 'I don't want him to be a priest anymore,' and the diocese complied the next day, Szpieg said.

Szpieg said officials wondered whether the teen needed psychological counseling and were dismayed to hear him tell a TV reporter it was an odd question.

"He had kind of a cocky attitude, and I plan to mention that in my sermons about it this weekend," Szpieg said. "I've given similar sermons when other priests in the diocese were removed for similar allegations. Every time you turn the TV on you hear the same thing. It's wearing on us."


Diocese Joins in Settling Teen's Suit against Priest

By Mary McLachlin
Palm Beach Post [Florida]
May 8, 2004

The Catholic Diocese of Palm Beach has agreed to join in the settlement of a lawsuit filed by a Port St. Lucie youth alleging sexual misconduct by the Rev. Francis Maloney, a retired priest.

The total settlement is more than $150,000 - which Maloney's home insurance company agreed to pay - and less than $1 million, according to attorneys and court documents.

Lawyers would not disclose the amounts to be paid by the other defendants - the diocese, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Port St. Lucie and another retired priest, the Rev. Donald Whipple, and his religious order, the Holy Cross Fathers.

Maloney, 73, acknowledged having a long-term, "sporadic" sexual relationship with Whipple, who wrote sexually explicit letters suggesting ways to seduce the then-17-year-old high school student while he worked as a houseboy for Maloney.

"It would not be appropriate for us to comment," said diocese attorney C. Brooks Ricca. The five-county diocese, based in Palm Beach Gardens, has acknowledged paying more than $900,000 to settle seven previous abuse or harassment claims in its 20-year history.

Andrew Pelino, attorney for "John Doe Jr.," said the youth, now 18, plans to go to college and wanted to keep both the settlement and his identity private.

"This was a very stressful, long process for our client," Pelino said. "He just wants to put this behind him and lead his life without any further distractions."

Maloney's share of the settlement, $150,000, will be paid out of a $300,000 homeowner's liability insurance policy issued by Metropolitan Property and Casualty Insurance Co. Ricca said he didn't know whether the diocese's portion, which also covers St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, would be paid fully by its insurance carrier, Gallagher Bassett Services, or if diocesan money would be required to supplement it.

Diocesan officials couldn't be reached for comment, nor could the attorney for Whipple and the Holy Cross Fathers.

Maloney came to the diocese from Ohio in 1986, starting at St. Joseph Church in Stuart. He later served at St. Rita in Wellington, St. Juliana in West Palm Beach, Holy Family in Port St. Lucie and St. Luke in Lake Worth.

The teen, who attended John Carroll High School in Fort Pierce, sued in March 2003, alleging Maloney was naked in front of him, asked sex-related questions during counseling sessions and showed him pornographic letters and pictures. He also said he found Maloney in bed with another man.

Maloney denied the allegations and accused the youth of ransacking his bedroom to find the letters and nude pictures put away in dresser drawers. His lawyer, Gean Junginger of Fort Pierce, said Friday that Maloney denied any wrongdoing, "civil, criminal or ecclesiastical."

"Mr. Maloney regrets that correspondence, received by him through the U.S. mail from other people, was taken from his home without his knowledge, presence or consent," Junginger said. "He further regrets that these documents were used against the church by its enemies. In the hysteria that followed the false allegations against him, Mr. Maloney was attacked by the media, and public officials as well as church officials. Mr. Maloney forgives these people for these attacks and prays for the salvation of their souls."

Junginger said he believed a jury would have exonerated Maloney, but a trial would have been painful and embarrassing for the Catholic Church.

In court documents, Maloney said he did not approve of a priest having any kind of homosexual relationship, because of the vow of celibacy, and that homosexual acts were "of grave depravity, intrinsically disordered (and) contrary to natural law."

He said he had only one previous sexual liaison, with an anonymous man in Washington in 1995, while on vacation from his post at Holy Family. But after Whipple testified they had a 12-year relationship, Maloney amended his statement and said he also had a yearlong relationship with a man he identified only as "Tony" and had sexual relations with two unidentified women.

Then-Bishop J. Keith Symons sent him to St. Luke's Institute in Silver Spring, Md., for six months of therapy in 1995. Maloney said he continued to receive outpatient treatment from a Stuart counselor until 2000.

Symons and his successor, Bishop Anthony O'Connell, later resigned after admitting past sexual misconduct.

Maloney was forced to retire in 2000 by the Rev. James Murtagh, then vicar general, after an allegation of a sexual relationship with another man while he was at St. Luke. He became a volunteer priest at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, where the teen and his mother were active in church ministries. When the boy complained to the diocese in 2002, Murtagh stripped Maloney of all priestly faculties.



Catholic Diocese of Palm Beach to Join Sex Abuse Settlement

The Associated Press, carried in Sun-Sentinel [West Palm Beach FL]
May 9, 2004

WEST PALM BEACH -- The Catholic Diocese of Palm Beach will pay part of a settlement to a teenager who accused a now-retired priest of sexual misconduct.

Lawyers would not disclose the amounts to be paid by the diocese or the other defendants _ St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Port St. Lucie, another retired priest, the Rev. Donald Whipple, and his religious order, the Holy Cross Fathers.

The teen sued in March 2003, alleging Rev. Francis Maloney was naked in front of him, asked sex-related questions during counseling sessions and showed him pornographic letters and pictures. He also said he found Maloney in bed with another man.

"It would not be appropriate for us to comment," said diocese attorney C. Brooks Ricca.

The five-county diocese, based in Palm Beach Gardens, has acknowledged paying more than $900,000 to settle seven previous abuse or harassment claims.

Maloney's home insurance company agreed to pay $150,000 of the settlement. Exact terms of the settlement weren't release, but it is more than $150,000 and less than $1 million, according to lawyers and court documents.

Andrew Pelino, attorney for "John Doe Jr.," said the youth, now 18, plans to go to college and wanted to keep both the settlement and his identity private.

Maloney came to the diocese from Ohio in 1986, starting at St. Joseph Church in Stuart. He later served at St. Rita in Wellington, St. Juliana in West Palm Beach, Holy Family in Port St. Lucie and St. Luke in Lake Worth.

Maloney denied the allegations and accused the youth of ransacking his bedroom to find the letters and nude pictures put away in dresser drawers.

His lawyer, Gean Junginger of Fort Pierce, said Friday that Maloney denied any wrongdoing, "civil, criminal or ecclesiastical."

Maloney was forced to retire in 2000 after an allegation of a sexual relationship with another man while he was at St. Luke.

He became a volunteer priest at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, where the teen and his mother were active in church ministries. When the boy complained to the diocese in 2002, Maloney was stripped of his priestly duties.
 

Related documents:

1.        Postings by BishopAccountability.org .   Enter the name of Maloney

2.        "For Pope Benedict XVI, Catholic Church's Holy Week roiled by sex-abuse allegations",  Palm Beach Post, March 31, 2010.

3.        St. Michael's Parish, Bellaire, OH .  1985.

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