A sexual abuse lawsuit was filed Tuesday in Cook County against a local Catholic religious order and one of its priests, a convicted child molester who once led retreats for nuns in Mother Teresa’s community.
The suit alleges that Jesuit priest Donald McGuire abused a boy over a three-year-period, beginning in 1999, when the victim was 13 years old and living periodically with the priest at Canisius House, a Jesuit residence in Evanston.
A spokesman for Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus, commonly known as the Jesuits, cast doubt on the allegation, however.
“It is highly unlikely that a minor or a non-Jesuit would be living in a Jesuit residence in any capacity,” said Jeremy Langford.
The suit was filed under the name “John Doe 116.” His attorneys say he is a 21-year-old college student now living out of state.
One of his attorneys is Kevin McGuire — the accused priest’s nephew.
“I’m ashamed of my uncle and I’m unmasking him for the child predator that he is,” said McGuire, a personal-injury lawyer from Newport Beach, Calif.
Last year, a Wisconsin jury convicted the priest, now 77, of molesting two students from Loyola Academy in Wilmette while on a retreat near Lake Geneva in the 1960s.
Father McGuire, who lives in Oak Lawn, received a seven-year prison sentence and 20 years of probation. He was jailed twice last year for violating his probation, but remains out of prison pending an appeal of his criminal case.
The alleged victim in Tuesday’s lawsuit reported the abuse to the Jesuits eight months ago. Langford said the Jesuits notified the Cook County state’s attorney’s office in January and February, and again on Tuesday. A state’s attorney spokeswoman could only confirm Tuesday’s notification.
Father McGuire taught at Loyola Academy from 1966 to 1970. He led retreats for religious groups and others around the world from the early 1980s to early 1990s. He remains a priest but was removed from active ministry in 2003, Langford said.
BY SUSAN HOGAN/ALBACH