Church officials say their lawyers have hired a firm to investigate Joseph Mallia, a Boston Herald reporter who recently wrote a five-part series that raised questions about church practices.

In a follow-up article last week, the Herald reported that an investigator contacted Mallia's ex-wife seeking what the investigator referred to as the "scorned wife story." The woman, who was divorced from Mallia 15 years ago, did not cooperate with the investigator, the newspaper said.

The investigation conflicts with statements made in 1994 by a top church official, Kurt Weiland, who handles international legal affairs for Scientology. During an interview at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., the St. Petersburg Times asked Weiland and church president Heber C. Jentzsch about the practice of investigating reporters.