UNITED STATES/AUSTRALIA
What They Knew
On the heels of a report released by the Victoria Police in Australia, newly uncovered documents show Jesuit priest and convicted child sex abuser Donald McGuire SJ traveled frequently to Australia from the 1980s to the early 2000s with the approval and knowledge of his superiors at the Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus, including taking victims on these trips. According to McGuire himself these trips over the span of two decades brought him to:
■Canberra
■Melbourne
■Sydney
The documents show the itinerant Jesuit priest Donald McGuire SJ traveled to Australia at least annually, if not more frequently. These transnational transfers occurred after his superiors had become aware of his sexual abuse of minors, restricted his ministry after he had been sent to two treatment centers in the US for sexually abusive priests and was facing criminal investigations in Chicago in 2002.
To date no investigation has been conducted to determine whether the American Jesuit priest, now convicted and imprisoned, abused any local children or vulnerable adults while in Australia. Testimony from victims at criminal trials and documents prepared by Jesuit superiors (below) show these trips included victims from the US accompanying him and alleging abuse occurring in Australia.
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