Donald McGuire, former SJ, is finally going to jail.
For 25 years. (I’ve mentioned him before here, here, and here.) The Trib reports:
The white-haired McGuire, convicted by a federal jury last October of traveling to engage in sex acts with a teenage boy, showed little reaction to the testimony. When it finally came time for him to speak, McGuire, 78, didn’t apologize but offered that he would pray for his accusers.
U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer, a daughter of a Lutheran minister, was not impressed. Noting that she can exceed federal sentencing guidelines in only extreme cases, Pallmeyer did just that with McGuire, sentencing him to 25 years in prison as a message to those who would abuse positions of power, respect and love. The federal guidelines called for a maximum sentence of just under 22 years in prison in McGuire’s case.
“I want any such person to know the system of justice, and this judge personally, finds it absolutely abhorrent,” the judge said of McGuire’s misconduct. He committed “a very, very serious sin,” she said.
(…)
But at his trial last fall, federal prosecutors said McGuire led a double life, taking untold dozens of young boys from their families—many deeply religious—as his assistants and sexually abusing them repeatedly once they were isolated. He already has been convicted of molesting two boys in Wisconsin and has yet to stand trial for sexually abusing two brothers in Arizona.
(…)
The mother of another victim known in court as “Peter” also turned and asked McGuire for the truth. McGuire stared back with a stoic look on his face. She told him he had committed his acts under the guise of being a man of God, making him “the vilest of traitors.” Still, it was not too late for McGuire to admit his wrongdoing, she said.
“Jesus loves you and longs for your repentance.”
Read the rest right here.
It’s very unusual that a federal judge would make reference to “sin,” a transgression not specifically identified in federal criminal statutes or the sentencing guidelines. However, given the judge’s background, the intense emotional circumstances of the sentencing, and the defendant’s failure to apologize, I can see how “sin” will now be part of the court record.
As I learned it, a “sin” is an offense against God. Since God is dead in our political culture, do we now only “make mistakes”? I recently read that Bernie Madoff had “made mistakes”. How can a judge (or anyone else) refer to such wrongdoings besides as “felonies”?
Has the death of God led to the death of sin? “Mortal” sins, it seems to me, were called that because such awful transgressions somehow killed the soul of the perpetrator/sinner, somehow made the person into something less than human.
With the loss of the old shaming word are we losing our ability to feel shame? Or is it really better to just feel mistaken?
I can hear Madow now when he’s asked if he has anything to say to the court before sentending — “Oops !”
Given that the sentencing judge is the daughter of a (Lutheran) minister and the fame/notoriety of Fr.McGuire (former confessor to Mother teresa and renowned retreat giver) the reference to “sin” and the fact of even greater exacerbating circumstances make me think the sentence beyond the guidelines made lots of sense.
Of course there’s lots more one could extrapolate here.
SNAP, for example, wants to know how SJ leaders of the province ther eoversaw the priest.
I would also note:-in the nearby Peoprai diocese, Bishop Jenky has written lashin gou tathe media and its antiCatholicism.
The Maciel story still lingers on and now the sleazy Deal Hudson is putting out some damage control for him.
-In Maryland, there’s an effort to open the SOL window, with the lead congressional figure telling how as a professor, she saw firsthand how hard victims had in coming to grips with abuse in younger years.
Wonder how the Bishops there will react?
‘What did you know and when did you know it?’
20 years ago my wife and I were giving an Engaged Encounter w/e in a Redwood City Ca retreat center, with 36 couples
McGuire was giving a retreat for about 15 woman who followed him around the halls/cafeteria like worshipping manniquins. He in cassock and birretta. At table two woman on either side cut up his meat on his plate. [gag gag gag by the brides to be]
The couples were flabagasted at the behavior of McGuire and the women. One of the cult woman asked us he could address the couples. Our answer was ‘Hell No’
We spent too much time trying to explain ‘weird Catholicism’ to the couples who were already questioning why they were being married in the Church.
The Franciscan sisters who ran the center were appalled at McQuire’s stance and behavior and said they would not give him a return accomodation.
So my Question is ‘Why did not some church authority see the signs of the times and act? The ‘barely Churched’ couples could see things was terribly amiss.Where the hell was ‘management?
How do I remember this so well? I’ve told the story about 10 times and just found out it was the same McGuire [pic etc] who was just sentenced.
A federal judge needs to be careful about invoking words like “sin” before imposing a sentence, especially a sentence that is higher than what is recommended. She just created an appealable issue on the length of his sentence.
“Has the death of God led to the death of sin?”
I think it is post-modernism more than secularism generally – just look at how precipitous the drop is even relative to the cratering of Catholic Mass attendance over the last 40 years. I.E. even frequent Mass-goers don’t feel the urgency to receive the sacrament of Reconciliation. That being said, Barbara is correct – that is definitely going to create an argument for a motion to appeal.
“Sin” is a word with no meaning and a negative connotation in secular society. But, moral evil perpetrated by even an atheist violates the horizontal web of relationships one has with every human being with whom we share our lives.
Many of today’s Christians in our contemporary society feel quite uncomfortable using such a “judgmental” word. I admit that the term was used and abused a great deal in the near past, and that people haven’t learned to differentiate between “guilt” and “shame.” I believe the guilt is your reaction to doing what you know is wrong (sin), and shame is the result of someone else judging your actions.
I think Franz Josef van Beeck has it correct when he said this:
“If conservatives tend to condemn, liberals tend to condone; but there is less difference between condemning and condoning than meets the eye. The arrogance of power lies at the root of both. To put the matter in psychological terms, the conservative may be blocked by dependency; the liberal tends to be blocked by counterdependence. The conservative may be prejudiced; the liberal tends to have a prejudice against all firm stances.”
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