Bubbles Behind Bars

No one knew where the appellation came from. Suffice it to say, the boys called him Bubbles behind his cassock.

He taught Greek as part of the classical Jesuit education that the prep school was known for.

Give me the boy and I will give you the man.

Discipline was part of the package as well. Corporal punishment for the lads who got out of line, strict rules, but the young men who left after four years were ready for university education, ready to take their place as Catholic leaders in business or politics.

In later years, he became a retreat leader, organizing prayer sessions in far flung places. He even worked with Mother Teresa's group for a time. Don't be messing with the boys, the Jesuit provincial said to Bubbles, but Father McGuire turned a deaf ear.

Give me the boy and I will give you the man.


Bubbles, they called him behind his back. Now they call him a serial abuser to his face. Father Donald McGuire of the Society of Jesus appeared before a judge in Federal Court, charged with sexual misconduct with a minor. That's only one of the charges, however. Someone else has accused the priest of sexual molestation over the course of four years. The young man whose life was destroyed was entrusted to the care of the pervert by his parents, who had adopted Father McGuire as the family's spiritual leader.

It's the same old story, one that has been told several times. The priest cultivates his victim by going through the family, gaining trust and gaining access. The boy says nothing, too ashamed and convinced that his parents would never believe him anyway. Since 1969, it's been suggested, the Jesuits knew that Father McGuire was molesting young men he was supposed to be mentoring.

Give me the boy and I will give you the man.


While involved with Mother Teresa's organization, Father McGuire organized retreats around the world. Don't take young men on your retreats, the priest was told, but he did it anyway. Don't mess with the boys, and that's an order. That ought to do it, now on to the next pressing issue.

Perverts like Father McGuire can't just stop doing what they're doing because the boss said to knock it off. Yet that is all that was done. No one removed him from his post, even after it was known that he was molesting young boys. He was issued a directive, he failed, and no one thought to confine him to the rectory and then find him something to do that did not involve traveling overseas with minors who were brought along to be molested.

Year after year, since 1969, trusting parents gave their boys to the Jesuit, and in return, they were given the shells of men -- damaged, broken and crushed.