WISN
March 30, 2011
http://www.wisn.com/news/27375873/detail.html
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| Marquette University President Rev. Robert Wild |
Marquette University's president is accused of protecting one of the nation's most notorious predator priests.
The allegations are part of a pending lawsuit against the Rev. Donald McGuire and his order.
The Rev. Robert Wild supervised McGuire in the late 1980s when he headed up the Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus.
Long before McGuire was a convicted pedophile, he was arguably the one of the country's most prominent Jesuits.
"Father McGuire is a saint, walking around among us," McGuire supporter Tony Mockus said at McGuire's sentencing in 2007.
McGuire was best known as spiritual adviser to Mother Teresa and often brought children and families to meet her, despite, claims the lawsuit, the growing number of sexual misconduct complaints against him.
"As Father McGuire is being presented to the world as Mother Teresa's spiritual adviser and the director of his order of nuns, the Jesuits, including Father Wild, never tell her that this man is a pedophile priest," said the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests spokesman Peter Isely.
Wild supervised McGuire from 1985 until 1991, as head of the Chicago Jesuits. In his deposition, Wild testified he was unaware of previous complaints against McGuire.
On Wednesday, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said testimony by a Christian brother contradicts Wild's statement.
"Father Wild told him we've got previous reports of abuse by Father McGuire," Isely said.
Wild declined comment, and the university issued this statement: "Today's news conference by SNAP is the subject of ongoing litigation involving the Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus. These events took place prior to Father Wild's 15-year tenure as Marquette University's president."
In 2006, a Walworth County jury convicted McGuire of assaulting two men in the 1960s.
"He's not a saint. He's probably the worst icon that you could possibly have," a victim of McGuire said at the 2007 sentencing.
McGuire is now in a federal prison on a different child sexual assault conviction.
Next week, the Jesuit university hosts an international conference on clergy sex abuse. SNAP finds irony in that, saying the Jesuits continue to refuse to inform police about pedophiles within the order. On Wednesday, it called on Wild to come release all offender files.
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