Father Donald J. McGuire
Ordained: 1961
Laicized: 2008
Died: 2017
Assignment History:
- 1961-1962: Westphalia Jesuit Seminary (Germany)
- 1962-1965: University of Innsbruck (Austria)
- 1965-1972: Loyola Academy (Wilmette, IL)
- 1972-1976: Loyola University (Chicago, IL)
- 1976-1981: University of San Francisco (San Francisco, CA)
- 1981-1989: Bellarmine Hall (Barrington, IL)
- 1989-2002: Canisius House (Evanston, IL)
- 2003-2005: Clark Street Residence (Chicago, IL)
Summary of Sexual Abuse Allegations Against Father Donald J McGuire:
Fr. Donald J McGuire was a Jesuit priest and convicted serial pedophile accused of sexually abusing numerous children throughout his 40-year career. McGuire preyed upon his students and boys in the devout families who attended his retreats, especially ones who acted as his assistants. Some of his victims were abused hundreds of times, and McGuire admitted to using pornography, forcing oral sex and penetration, and transporting victims across state and international boundaries.
According to media reports, the Jesuits allegedly first received reports of McGuire's child sexual abuse in the late 1960s. Three men alleged abuse on trips to Wisconsin in 1967 and 1968, when he was their teacher at Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Illinois. Several reports regarding McGuire's sexually abusive behavior were made in the decades that followed.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, McGuire was assigned to the University of San Francisco in the Archdiocese of San Francisco. McGuire worked in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in the early 1980s, until the Archdiocese permanently terminated his faculties as of January 1, 1985. During his time in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, McGuire reportedly lived at Sacred Heart Retreat House in Alhambra.
In 2006, McGuire was formally accused and criminally convicted for sexually abusing the two students of Loyola Academy and sentenced to seven years in prison. In 2008, he was criminally convicted for traveling to engage in sex acts with teenagers, whom he took on trips to Minnesota, Switzerland, and Austria. He was sentenced to another 25 years in prison.
McGuire has also been named as a defendant in multiple civil lawsuits brought by survivors who allege McGuire sexually abused them as children. He was listed on the Illinois Sex Offender Registry until his death. In 2019, McGuire was accused of allegedly sexually abusing an 11-year-old boy in the 1970s when living in Chicago. To this day, Jesuit leaders insist that they did not know about any abuse by the renowned priest. But documents show that over the past 38 years, Jesuit leaders were alerted many times about McGuire's behavior - even as criminal and civil cases were underway.
McGuire is listed on the Jesuits West 2018 list and on the Midwest Province 2018 list of clergy credibly accused of sexual abuse of a minor.
McGuire died in federal prison in 2017.
Horowitz Law is a law firm representing victims and survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and other clergy in the Archdiocese of San Francisco in California. If you need a lawyer because you were sexually abused by a priest in one of California's Catholic dioceses, contact our office today. Although many years have passed, those abused by Catholic clergy in the Archdiocese of San Francisco now have legal options due to a voluntary compensation fund created by the Archdiocese of San Francisco, but filing deadlines will apply so do not delay in reaching out to us. Our lawyers have decades of experience representing survivors of clergy sexual abuse in California and nationwide. We can help.
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