Rev. Donald J. McGuire, S.J.
Detailed Assignment Record with Retreats

This page provides detailed information on McGuire's assignments, as well as a partial list of the retreats he directed.

Other sources of information about McGuire's career include his Mission FIDES biography and a Timeline developed by Kerns, Pitrof & Pearlman. For McGuire's approach to student victims in his teaching years, see Loyola Abuse Victim Speaks, by Ken Goze, Wilmette Life (9/18/03); and the complaint Letter from Rev. Schlax to Rev. Reinke, S.J. For McGuire's methods with personal assistants in his later years as a traveling retreat master, see the federal Affidavit by Jennifer Sapper (11/1/07) on the abuse of John Doe 116 and others; the Letter by Victim 7's parents to Rev. McGurn (10/25/00); the Letter from the father of Victim 8 (10/27/00); and the Letter by John Doe 117 and 118's father to Judge Carlson (10/8/07). See also our summary table of McGuire survivors.

ASSIGNMENTS

Born: 7/9/30
Schools: St. Agatha Grammar School in Chicago; St. Ignatius High School (graduated 1947)
Incardinated: Archdiocese of Chicago

Source: Official Catholic Directory (New York: Kenedy & Sons, 1966-2006); and the articles and documents linked below.

Note: The Official Catholic Directory aims to report the whereabouts of Catholic priests in the United States on January 1 of the Directory's publication year. Our working assumption is that a priest listed in the Directory for a given year was at the same assignment for part of the previous year as well. However, Kenedy and Sons will sometimes accept updates well into the year of publication. Diocesan clergy records are rarely available to correct this information. The Directory is also sometimes misleading or wrong. We have tried to create an accurate assignment record, given the source materials and their limitations. Assignment records are a work in progress and we are always improving the records that we post. Please email us with new information and corrections.

This assignment record collates McGuire's career history as it is represented in the Official Catholic Directory and other sources with the allegations against him as described in legal filings and reported in the media. He has been convicted on five counts of sexually abusing two boys, Victor Bender and the person known in a civil case as John Doe 84. We make no representation regarding the truth of the other allegations we report. We remind our readers that in the U.S. judicial system, a person is considered innocent until proven guilty.

A Note on Nomenclature: We use the term "assignment record," instead of the more common "service record," because "service" is not an appropriate word for the activities of an abusive priest. Dioceses are often less than forthcoming about the activities of retired priests, but when we can determine those activities, we list them in these assignment records, particularly if they involve ministry. Retired priests remain under obedience to their bishop, and even the activities of laicized priests should be a concern to the diocese.

This assignment record was last updated on 11/17/07.

RETREATS AND SPIRITUAL DIRECTION

McGuire was already directing retreats in the early 1960s and worked as a guidance counselor at Loyola Academy in the late 1960s, but in the mid-1970s he began to work formally as a retreat master and spiritual director for orders of nuns. His relationship with Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity provided him with multiple opportunities each year to travel with a series of young personal assistants, and Mother Teresa unwittingly provided the spiritual credentials that McGuire used to con the boys' parents. The first documented instance of abuse during a retreat occurred in the late 1970s, and in 1994 McGuire organized his retreat business as Mission FIDES.

Below we provide a summary of McGuire's retreat work with orders, dioceses, and lay people. Then we provide a partial list of the retreats and other event that often served as opportunities for abuse.

Retreats for Orders, Dioceses, and Lay People

1976-
Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart
Los Angeles CA
Retreats, conferences and spiritual direction
Contact: Sr. Mary Ines of St. Therese (introduced McGuire to Cristo Rey)
Biography para. 11.

1978-
Carmelites of Cristo Rey (cloistered)
San Francisco CA
Extraordinary confessor, spiritual director, retreat master, and consultant
Contact: Mother Elena de San Juan de la Cruz, O.C.D., prioress (introduced McGuire to Mother Theresa)
Biography para. 11.

1988-
Carmelites of Carmel (cloistered)
Las Vegas NV
Biography para. 11.

1983-
Missionaries of Charity
Pastoral minister and retreat director
Contact: Sr. M. Priscilla, M.C.
Biography para. 12.

- 63 eight-day retreats to Mother Teresa's Sisters: in San Francisco (the Novitiate), New York, Washington, D.C.(the Tertianship), Norristown, Pennsylvania, and Gallup, New Mexico in North America; in Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania and Guinea in Africa; on the Seychelles and Mauritius Islands in the Indian Ocean; in Tijuana and Mexico City, Mexico; in Guatemala, Honduras and Haiti in Central America; in Argentina, Venezuela, Peru, Colombia, Chile and Brazil in South America; in Albania, Lourdes, Prague, Rome, Warsaw, and Moscow in Europe; in Canberra and Melbourne, Australia; and in Calcutta, India. (about 4 per year)

- 59 series of three-, four- or five-day seminars.  These seminars were given to many of the Sisters of the different retreat groups, but especially to the novices and tertians. (3 or 4 per year)

- Extraordinary number of seminars for continued spiritual training for the Junior Sisters (1990-)

- Seminars for Superiors on their role in the community, the formation of the will and other formation-type seminars.

Gift of Love (AIDS home in New York)
Gift of Peace (AIDS home in Washington DC)
Gift of Peace (AIDS home in San Francisco)
- Spiritual direction, counseling, baptizing, last rites, Days of Recollection (1986-)

M.C. Soup Kitchen (Newark NJ)
M.C. Shelters
- Days of Recollection

Navajo Indian Reservation
- 3-day retreat for young men and women

Missionary Fathers of Charity
Bronx NY and other communities
- Spiritual direction (1987-)

Retreats for Other Religious Communities
- Carmelite Sisters in Alhambra CA
- Norbertine Fathers at the Abbey of St. Michael's in Orange CA
- Contemplative Carmelite Sisters of Cristo Rey Monastery in San Francisco CA
- Poor Clare Contemplative Community in Sauk Rapids MN
- Marian-Rite Benedictine Sisters in Rutland MA
- Daughters of St. Mary of Providence in Chicago IL
- Carmelite Sisters (cloistered) in Desplaines IL
- Parish Visitors of Mary Immaculate in Monroe NY
- Mexican Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in Anchorage AK
- Other orders of sisters, at Jesuit Retreat House in Barrington IL
- Legionaries of Christ in CT

Spiritual Conferences for Religious
- Dominican Sisters in Nashville TN

Retreats for Diocesan Priests
- New York NY
- Lincoln NE
- Peoria IL
- Fargo ND

Youth Mission of the Immaculata
- Spiritual director and retreat master

Work with home schools and family-group schools including:
- Kolbe Academy in Napa CA
- Trivium in Lancaster MA
- Holy Rosary Academy in Anchorage AK
- Immaculatae Gratiae in Payson
- Ville de Marie in Phoenix AZ
- Demontford Academy in Moorpark CA

Charismatic communities
•  City of the Lord in Phoenix AZ
• Alleluia in Augusta GA

Retreats and Other Events

Late 1970s

• Big Bear CA – During a retreat, McGuire's assistant found pornography that McGuire stated he used for "educational purposes" with a minor, Individual G, who was also his assistant. [see Affidavit para. 57]

1983

• San Francisco CA – Days of Recollection to the Novices and Postulants of the Missionaries of Charity [Bio para. 12] (Spring 1983)
• Rome – Eight-Day Retreat to novices of the Missionaries of Charity [Bio para. 13] (12/83)

1985

• Bronx NY – Inaugural retreat for Missionary Fathers of Charity [Bio para. 17] (12/85)

1986

• Bronx NY – Retreat for Mother Theresa's Contemplative Sisters [Bio para. 18] (11/86)

1987

• Bronx NY – 8-day retreat for novices of Missionary Fathers of Charity [Bio para. 17] (Holy Week/87)
• Bronx NY – Retreat for Mother Theresa's Contemplative Sisters [Bio para. 18] (4/87)
• "Fatherhood"; Mission FIDES later sold an audio recording of the talk. (6/14/87)
• Bronx NY – 5-day course for Mother Theresa's Contemplative Sisters on early encyclicals and Redemptoris Mater [Bio para. 18] (6/86)
• Bronx NY – 5-day course for Missionary Fathers of Charity on the encyclical Redemptor Hominis [Bio para. 17] (Summer/87)
• Lourdes, France – Retreat for more than 140 Lay Missionaries of Charity [Bio para. 16] (9/87)

1989

• Israel – Led pilgrimage for Lay Missionaries of Charity [Bio para. 16]
• Rome – 8-day retreat for novice of Mother Theresa's Contemplative Fathers and Brothers [Bio para. 19]

1990

• Rome – 30-day retreat for Mother Theresa's Contemplative Fathers and Brothers [Bio para. 19] (Summer/90)
• Phoenix AZ – "A Family's Call to Holiness" at a Family Life Conference. [See the Mission FIDES tape.]

1991

• Calcutta – Visit to home community of Mother Theresa's Contemplative Sisters [Bio para. 18] (11/91)
• First formal retreat for the Active Missionaries of Charity Brothers [Bio para. 19] (11/98)
• NY – Retreat for priests of the New York archdiocese [Bio para. 23]
• Weekend retreat for affiliated leaders of the charismatic communities City of the Lord (Phoenix AZ) and Alleluia (Augusta GA)

1992

• Specialized discernment retreat for an independent group of priests and seminarians. [Bio para. 23]
• Lincoln NE – Two retreats for priests. [Bio para. 23]
• CT – Seminar on "How to Give the Spiritual Exercises" to 50 Legionaries of Christ. [Bio para. 23]

1993

• Half-day of Recollection for doctors on the board of the National Federation of Catholic Physicians

1997

• Peoria IL – Annual retreat for diocesan priests.
• Fargo ND – Annual retreat for diocesan priests.

1998

• Panama City Beach FL – McGuire traveled to this city, in the Pensacola-Tallahassee diocese. It is not clear whether he was accompanied by Victim 7 or by Victim 7's prececessor, or whether McGuire traveled alone. It was during preparations for this trip that McGuire first exposed Victim 7 to pornography [see Affidavit para. 45]. (June 1998)
• Buffalo MN – Retreat at the Oblate's Christ the King Retreat Center, in the St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese. Victim 7 aka Victim C, who was McGuire's personal assistant 6/98 to 8/99, accompanied McGuire on this trip. While in Buffalo, Victim 7 objected to McGuire's showing him pornography. Beginning in 6/98 at Canisius House and continuing "on spiritual retreats in various states and around the world," McGuire had "forced Victim C to look at and discuss pornography continuously. In Buffalo, the victim called his parents to complain, an episode that is documented in a 10/25/00 letter by Victim 7's father, in an interview with Victim 7 described in the Sapper Affidavit para. 49, and in a 11/24/02 letter by McGuire quoted in the Affidavit, para. 53. (Fall/98)
• McGuire and Victim 7 travel to India to visit the Missionaries of Charity [see 10/25/00 letter by Victim 7's father and Affidavit para. 52. (Fall or Winter 1998)
• Fargo ND – Annual retreat for diocesan priests.
• St. Paul-Minneapolis MN – Annual retreat for diocesan priests.
• Chicago IL – Retreat for deacons of the archdiocese.

1999-2003

During 1999-2003, John Doe 116, who succeeded Victim 7 as McGuire's personal assistant, alleges that McGuire sexually abused him during most of the trips they took (usually connected with a retreat) in Illinois, Missouri, Georgia, Florida, Alaska, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Arizona, and Iowa. During busy retreats in Phoenix, there was less or no abuse. During less busy retreats in Buffalo and Minnesota, abuse was extensive. McGuire abused him during all the trips they took to Mexico, Nicaragua, Switzerland, Germany, Australia, and Austria. [see Affidavit para. 26]

1999

• St. Charles MO – While McGuire recuperated from hip surgery in Missouri, he allegedly abused John Doe 116 while they both stayed at the home of a physician who was treating McGuire after surgery [see Affidavit para. 17] (Summer/99)
• AK – McGuire directs retreat; Victim 8 accompanies him. [See 10/27/00 letter, p. 2] (9/99)
• Israel – McGuire directs retreat; Victim 8 accompanies him. [See 10/27/00 letter, p. 2] (9/99)
• India - McGuire meets with Missionaries of Charity; Victim 8 accompanies him. [See 10/27/00 letter, p. 2] (Fall/99)

2000

• Tijuana, Mexico – McGuire and John Doe 116 were with the Missionaries of Charity, presumably while McGuire led a retreat for the nuns and provided them with spiritual direction. McGuire sexually abused John Doe 116 during this trip. [See Affidavit para. 33] (3/3/00 to 3/6/00)
• St. Charles MO – McGuire and Victim 8 were staying at the home of McGuire's surgeon. See Victim 8's father's 10/27/00 letter. (6/00)
• Switzerland – McGuire took John Doe 116 to Switzerland, where they lived with a couple who paid McGuire to give them a personal retreat. In Austria, McGuire performed oral sex on the victim, fondled him, and had him massage McGuire.
• Salzburg, Austria – Then McGuire took John Doe 116 to Austria, where they visited spas with naked men. In Switzerland, McGuire took the victim into his bed and trained him in masturbation [see Affidavit para. 27-28]. (12/18/00 to 12/28/00)

2001

• Chicago IL – Retreat at Catholic Charities on "Fatherhood, God's First Gift to Us." See the Mission FIDES audio and video tapes.
• Peoria IL – "St. Joseph's Day Mass." [See the Mission FIDES tape.]
• Phoenix AZ – McGuire led Ignatian retreat at the Mt. Claret center. John Doe 118 assisted McGuire and slept in his room with him. See victim's father's 10/8/07 letter. (10-11/01)

2002

• Managua, Nicaragua – McGuire and John Doe 116 stayed in a missionary complex. McGuire performed oral sex on John Doe 116 there and digitally penetrated his anus. [see Affidavit para. 29-30] (5/5/02 to 6/3/02)
• Phoenix AZ – McGuire traveled here on Mission FIDES business and was accompanied by John Doe 116. [see Affidavit para. 22-23]
• Seattle WA – McGuire traveled here on Mission FIDES business and was accompanied by John Doe 116. [see Affidavit para. 22-23] (mid-7/02)
• Payson AZ - McGuire led an 8-day retreat, in which he was assisted by John Doe 116, John Doe 118, and another boy. See John Doe 116's father's 10/8/07 letter and date correction. (7-8/02)