David Monas Maloney
David Monas Maloney was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Wichita from 1967 to 1982.Biography
One of eight children, David Maloney was born in Littleton, Colorado, to James Edward and Margaret Maloney. His father was an engineer and later served as Mayor of Littleton.
After graduating from Littleton High School, he studied at the University of Colorado and at St. Thomas Seminary in Denver, from where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1933. He then furthered his studies in Rome and earned a Licentiate of Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in 1937. Maloney was ordained to the priesthood by Cardinal Francesco Marchetti Selvaggiani on December 8, 1936. In 1940, he earned a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical Roman Athenaeum S. Apollinare. Upon his return to the United States in 1940, he served as a curate at St. Philomena Church in Denver until 1943, when he became secretary to Bishop Urban John Vehr and assistant chancellor of the Diocese of Denver. He became chancellor in 1954.
On November 5, 1960, Maloney was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Denver and Titular Bishop of Ruspae by Pope John XXIII. He received his episcopal consecration on January 4, 1961 from Archbishop Egidio Vagnozzi, with Bishops Urban John Vehr and Hubert Newell serving as co-consecrators. Representing the ailing Bishop Vehr, he attended all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council between 1962-65. Maloney was named the fifth Bishop of Wichita, Kansas by Pope Paul VI on December 2, 1967. In 1969, he joined other Catholic bishops in Kansas in opposing changes in state law that proposed allowing physicians to perform abortions in licensed and accredited hospitals. In 1977, he publicly declared that he would defy a city ordinance that prohibited discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations based on sexual orientation.
After fourteen years as bishop, Maloney resigned on July 16, 1982. He later died at St. Francis Regional Medical Center in Wichita, aged 82.
