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  Group Wants Sex-Abuse Claims Made Public

By Ryan Kost
Arizona Republic
October 25, 2007

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/1025letter1025.html?&wired

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix was asked Wednesday to publicize recent allegations that an Illinois Jesuit priest sexually abused two Phoenix boys while operating retreats in Arizona.

In a letter delivered by western regional director Mary Grant of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, the organization asked Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted to make announcements in every parish about the assaults and to use its Web site, newspapers and parish bulletins to post the man's name, photo and history.

"We believe that you, Bishop Olmsted, have a moral and civic duty to publicly warn Arizona citizens about (Rev. Donald) McGuire," the letter stated. Two men filed a lawsuit Tuesday accusing the man who oversaw one boy's baptism and another's marriage of abusing them as recently as 2002, both while in Arizona and in McGuire's home state of Illinois. The two also blame the Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus, for negligence because they allowed him to remain a member of the church long after they knew he had abused children, the lawsuit says.

Jim Dwyer, a spokesman for the Phoenix Diocese, said that no one has come to him or other members of the diocese with similar allegations. He also said that there was no evidence that McGuire went to the Phoenix bishop for permission to administer the sacrament in Arizona, something that he should have done.

In 2006, McGuire was convicted of molesting two boys in Wisconsin. According to a press release issued by the society, McGuire has been removed from active ministry since mid-2003.

A third man then came forward earlier this year prompting these two brothers to also follow suit.

The father of the two most recent accusers said the revelation that his children had been abused by McGuire came as a great surprise. "I've known him for 25 years," he said. "I was beyond devastated."

The father says he thinks the Olmsted has already taken steps to show he wants to do what's right.

Though his children's faith in the church has been shaken, he said, his has only intensified.

"I realize just how fragile our human nature is," he said. If a man like McGuire, who he once trusted completely, can abuse children, "God, help the rest of us."

The two Phoenix brothers, 28 and 20, decided to file charges after hearing news that another man they had known did the same.

The brothers and their family knew McGuire well. He had been instrumental in the conversion of the men's mother to Catholicism, had baptized the youngest of the two and had performed the wedding ceremony for the oldest.

In the lawsuit, they allege that McGuire abused them both several times, asking for full-body "massages" and using confessionals as a time to "further his sexual grooming and exploitation" of the men. Much of this happened, the lawsuit says, during retreats McGuire conducted when he regularly visited Arizona.

What's more, the lawsuit continues, the Jesuit society to which McGuire belonged knew about his history of abuse no later than 1969 but made no effort to stop him. In the release, the society did not directly address these concerns but said in the coming days members would "announce additional measures we are taking to review our past actions."

 
 

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