Case of child molestation by a Jesuit elicits tough questions

Dear Jesuits,

I have some very important questions to ask you, starting with this one: are you freakin' kidding me?

Are you ever going to do anything to get rid of the criminally convicted child molester the Rev. Donald McGuire?

McGuire, a member of the Society of Jesus and former spiritual mentor of Mother Teresa, has been convicted of two criminal cases of molesting male minors in Wisconsin and is currently undergoing at least three other civil cases of child molestation.

Yet, he has not been removed from the priesthood, the Society of Jesus, and is even still being allowed to dress as a priest.

This is ridiculous. The inaction of the Catholic Church and the Society of Jesus to remove McGuire is both extreme and outrageously dangerous to all those Catholics under his sphere of influence.

According to Patrick Wall, a former monk, Catholic priest, and current In House Canonist working with the Manly, McGuire, & Stewart Law Firm which specializes in prosecuting cases of clergy sexual abuse, "the reason why it is so hard to prosecute criminal priests is because there is a concept within canon law that there's essentially clerical immunity for such crimes."

"There are a lot of Jesuit lawyers, and judges out there who have a lot of trouble putting priest pedophiles in jail, "Wall said. "When you put a pedophile priest in jail there's always a good chance they will be literally killed by other prisoners who believe the priests deserve to die for what they did to children, and it is hard for lawyers and judges to put a member of their order in jail when it may mean their death."

But I have to say, no matter how difficult it is to kick child molesters out of the church and criminally convict them, it is the only responsible thing to do.

According to Wall, most of the less intelligent Catholic priests who are sexual criminals have been removed from the Church and brought up on criminal charges.

However, McGuire is a "spiritual genius, a former spiritual mentor to Mother Teresa, and a spiritual leaders who has helped establish Catholic programs that have given him world exposure that rivals any bishop in the Church."

 

So what does this "spiritual genius" do?  He attacks the male minors via confessional solicitation, a crime which is a "centuries old thing," according to Wall.

The Society of Jesus has shamelessly attempted to avoid the problem instead of deal with it, and as a result a supposed spiritual leader has been allowed to molest at least two male minors.

The sole action of the Society of Jesus, outside of saying "no comment" to every question offered by this reporter, has been what is called a "geographic solution."

A geographic solution is when the Catholic church gets complaints about cases of priests molesting children and instead of taking legal action against them or excommunicating them from the church they just move them to another location.

In the case of Rev. McGuire, he has been moved from Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Ill.to Loyola University Chicago to the University of San Francisco, to a parish in Evanston, Ill. to Indiana to a treatment center in Philadelphia and back to Chicago for trial in criminal cases.

Additionally, according Wall, not only was McGuire relocated this many times but he was also granted a "medical assistant" by the Church to travel with him at all times. However, this "medical assistant" was never a physician, nurse, or trained medical professional but instead was always a high school aged boy.

I understand that not all priests are pedophiles, but to date there are more than 300 outstanding cases of sexual abuse by a member of the Society of Jesus, according to Wall.

I ask you, Rev. Robert Wild, members of the Society of Jesus, or any other Catholic Clergy member — how are we as Christians supposed to deal with the fact that these people who are suppose to be our spiritual mentors are instead taking sexual advantage of some of the most vulnerable people in the world?

How are we supposed to trust any member of the clergy when so many are guilty of these heinous crimes and so many more were aware of such crimes and did nothing?