John P. Maloney

Ordained: 1964
Diocese: Diocese of Pittsburgh

From Report I of the 40th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania:

On January 7, 2004, the Diocese of Pittsburgh received a report from an adult male that he had been sexually abused as a child by Father John P. Maloney beginning when he was in the eighth grade. The male explained that he was one of nine children and that his father passed away in November 1970, leaving the family with financial difficulties.   He, along with his brothers and sisters, obtained part-time jobs to assist the family financially.  His job was to deliver newspapers and one of his stops was at the rectory of St. Philip. When he would deliver the paper, Maloney would sometimes invite him into the rectory to sit and talk.  This usually occurred around 5:30-6:00 AM.  The male reported that during these times together, Maloney would take photographs of him.  At first, he was fully clothed when photographed but it eventually progressed to Maloney taking pictures of him in his underwear.  He stated that after this started to occur, he woke up around 3:00 a.m. when the papers arrived so that he could deliver the paper before Maloney awoke.  He stated that while this plan worked sometimes, there were other times when. Maloney would still grab him by his arm and bring him into the rectory.  He further reported that when he brought his younger brother along with him, Maloney would just have his brother wait in another room.  Eventually, he told his mother about the abuse, but she did not believe him. The abuse continued until he was a freshman in high school.

The male stated that he was not reporting the abuse for financial gain. He explained that he wanted to protect his family from discovering the evidence of the embarrassing photograaphs taken of him and to prevent such actions in the future.

When confronted with the allegations that he had taken photographs of the male, Maloney stated that he did ask the boy to take his shirt off to show his muscles. Maloney denied that he took photographs of the boy in his underwear or that he had any sexual contact with him. Maloney contended that he did not do anything inappropriate.

On January 9, 2004, the Diocese placed Maloney on administrative leave and he resigned as pastor at Holy Sepulcher.   On September 3, 2004, Maloney’s priestly faculties were withdrawn by Bishop Donald Wuerl.

The male reported that after the abuse by Maloney, he befriended a priest at Canevin by the name of “Dom McGee.” McGee was a teacher of his freshman religion class and became a family friend who would come to their house two or three times per month for dinner or to watch a Steelers game. McGee provided him with counselling with respect to the abuse.  However, McGee then began abusing him. He recalled McGee taking him to Williamsburg once.  He stated that there was a lot of hugging that occurred; however, at that particular time, he did not really think anything of it. He then stated that when he was a sophomore around the year 1973, he went to the home of McGee’s parents to help McGee paint.  While there, he went into the bathroom to use the toilet while McGee was in the shower.  McGee became extremely upset that he had entered into the bathroom. McGee got out of the shower and then grabbed him, pulled his pants down and masturbated him. McGee then said, “Now how do you like that, don’t you ever walk in on me again!”

The male also reported that McGee molested his brother. On January 15, 2004, his brother reported to Father Canice Connors and Rita Flaherty that he had been groped by McGee on one occasion while sitting on the couch with him, watching television. He stated that he fell asleep and awoke to find McGee groping his genitals. He also stated that there was a time when he and another boy went to Erie with McGee and McGee encouraged them to undress along with him behind a picnic pavilion so that they could go swimming.  He recalled that he and the other boy were embarrassed to undress in front of McGee. Finally, he recalled a time in class when McGee made each child talk about their sexual experiences.  He stated that he so embarrassed that he never said a word during that class or any other time.

Additional information regarding the widespread sexual abuse of children within the Catholic Dioceses of Pennsylvania and the systemic cover up by senior church officials is compiled in the Pennsylvania Diocese Victim’s Report published by the Pennsylvania Attorney General following a two-year grand jury investigation.  A complete copy of the Report is available on the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s website.