Community Notification Statement - Former Jesuit priest Donald J. McGuire

Former Jesuit priest Donald J. McGuire

October 2007: The Diocese of Phoenix has learned that Fr. Donald J. McGuire, S. J., a Chicago Jesuit priest, is the subject of a lawsuit that was filed on October 23 in Cook County, Illinois. The lawsuit was brought by two men who report that Fr. Donald J. McGuire sexually abused them in Illinois and in Arizona between 1988 and 2002 when they were minors.

Fr. Donald J. McGuire, 77, is a convicted sex offender who was found guilty in 2006 in Wisconsin of molesting two students from Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Illinois, during the 1960s. He has been allowed by the court to live on probation in suburban Chicago, pending appeal of his conviction.

The Diocese of Phoenix has no record of Fr. Donald J. McGuire asking for or receiving faculties to administer sacraments in the Diocese at any time. However, the Diocese is aware that Fr. Donald J. McGuire conducted several privately-sponsored retreats for adults over the age of 21 at Mt. Claret Retreat Center in Phoenix in 1996, 1998, 1999, and 2001. Those retreats were not sponsored by or conducted by the Diocese of Phoenix, but were held at a Diocesan facility, which was rented out by a private association not affiliated with the Diocese. Fr. Donald J. McGuire is believed to also have conducted privately sponsored retreats in Casa Grande, Arizona, in the 1980s and 1990s as well as a privately sponsored retreat in Payson, Arizona, in 2002.

To date, the Diocese of Phoenix has not received any other complaints or reports of abuse or improprieties on the part of Fr. Donald J. McGuire. The Diocese takes this matter very seriously and urges anyone who may know of any sexual abuse or misconduct by Fr. Donald J. McGuire or who may have any information about him to contact the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office at (602) 506-3411 and the Jesuit Order’s Chicago Province at (773) 975-6363.

As always, Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted and the Diocese of Phoenix encourage anyone who has experienced sexual misconduct or abuse by a member of the clergy or by any worker of the Church to make a report to local law enforcement and to contact Jean Sokol at the Office of Child and Youth Protection at (602) 354-2396.

April 2, 2008: The Diocese of Phoenix has learned that Donald J. McGuire, a former Jesuit priest of the Chicago Province, has been indicted on child molestation charges by a Maricopa County grand jury. The indictment alleges that McGuire victimized two boys between 1988 and 2002 during visits McGuire made to Arizona.

A little more than five months ago, the Diocese of Phoenix published a “Community Notification Statement” regarding McGuire as a result of a civil lawsuit that was filed in Cook County, Illinois, in October 2007 by the same two men whom McGuire is accused of molesting in the indictment announced in Maricopa County. That lawsuit accused McGuire of sexually abusing the two men in Illinois and in Arizona between 1988 and 2002 when they were minors. The Diocese of Phoenix is not a party to that lawsuit.

McGuire, 77, has never been a priest of the Diocese of Phoenix. He is a former Jesuit priest who was found guilty in 2006 in Wisconsin of molesting two students from Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Illinois, during the 1960s. He had been allowed by the court to live on probation in suburban Chicago, pending appeal of his conviction, but after his arrest on April 1, 2008, on this indictment, he has been in a Chicago hospital under the supervision of the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, pending extradition proceedings to Arizona. McGuire has other indictments from other jurisdictions pending against him as well.

In February 2008, Fr. Edward Schmidt, SJ, Provincial of the Chicago Province Jesuits, announced in an official statement that “Donald J. McGuire was informed of his dismissal from the clerical state; this dismissal effectively confirms his dismissal from the Society of Jesus. This dismissal is final and cannot be appealed. Donald McGuire no longer has the rights and privileges of the duties and obligations associated with priesthood in the Catholic Church.”

The Diocese of Phoenix has no record of McGuire asking for or receiving faculties to administer sacraments in the Diocese at any time. However, the Diocese learned that McGuire conducted several privately-sponsored retreats for adults over the age of 21 at Mt. Claret Retreat Center in Phoenix in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2001. Those retreats were not sponsored by or conducted by the Diocese of Phoenix, but were held at a Diocesan facility, which was rented out by a private association not affiliated with the Diocese. McGuire is believed to also have conducted privately sponsored retreats in Casa Grande, Arizona, in the 1980s and 1990s as well as a privately sponsored retreat in Payson, Arizona, in 2002.

To date, the Diocese of Phoenix has not received any other complaints or reports of abuse or improprieties on the part of McGuire within the state of Arizona. The Diocese takes this matter very seriously and urges anyone who may know of any sexual abuse or misconduct by Donald J. McGuire or who may have any information about him to contact the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office at (602) 506-3411 and the Jesuit Order Chicago Province at (773) 975-6363.

October 27, 2008: The Diocese of Phoenix has learned that Donald J. McGuire, a former Jesuit priest of the Chicago Province, was convicted in federal court in Chicago on October 24 of two counts of engaging in sexual acts with a minor during trips abroad between 2000 and 2002. He reportedly faces up to 30 years in prison when he is sentenced December 18.

As previously reported by the Diocese of Phoenix in a community notification statement, McGuire was indicted on child molestation charges in April of this year by a Maricopa County grand jury. The indictment alleges that McGuire victimized two boys between 1988 and 2002 during visits that McGuire made to Arizona.

McGuire, 78, has never been a priest of the Diocese of Phoenix, and there is no record of him ever having been granted faculties to conduct ceremonies or administer sacraments in the Diocese of Phoenix. He is a former Jesuit priest who was also found guilty in 2006 in Wisconsin of molesting two students from Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Illinois, during the 1960s. McGuire had been allowed by the Wisconsin court to live on probation in suburban Chicago, pending appeal of his conviction, but after his arrest on April 1, 2008, on the Maricopa County indictment, he has been in and out of a Chicago hospital under the supervision of the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, pending extradition proceedings to Arizona.

While the Diocese of Phoenix has no record of McGuire asking for or receiving faculties to administer sacraments in the Diocese at any time, the Diocese learned in late 2007 that McGuire apparently conducted several privately-sponsored retreats for adults over the age of 21 at Mt. Claret Retreat Center in Phoenix in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2001. Those retreats were not sponsored by or conducted by the Diocese of Phoenix, but were held at a Diocesan-owned facility, which was rented out by a private association that was not affiliated with the Diocese. McGuire is believed to also have conducted privately sponsored retreats in Casa Grande, Arizona, in the 1980s and 1990s as well as a privately sponsored retreat in Payson, Arizona, in 2002.

The Diocese takes this matter very seriously and urges anyone who may know of any sexual abuse or misconduct by Donald J. McGuire or who may have any information about him to contact the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office at 602-506-3411 and the Jesuit Order Chicago Province at (773) 975-6363.