Mother Teresa has been suspected for a long time of being a fraud. Her chequered past, hobnobbing with dictators and criminals, and the terrible facilities at the shelter homes she ran have left a bitter taste in the mouths of people who had earlier been fond of her. However, as it turns out, such sins, as bad as they were, come nowhere close to the latest allegations that have surfaced against her. A victim of an infamous Jesuit preacher, Rev. Donald J. McGuire, has now claimed that Mother Teresa knew about his sex crimes and yet, turned a blind eye to it.
Robert J. Goldberg, now 61, has claimed in a lawsuit that Rev. Donald J. McGuire, a Jesuit with close ties to Teresa, abused Goldberg “more than 1,000 times, in multiple states and countries,” Associated Press has reported. The sexual abuse, that occurred almost on a daily basis, included “sexual touching, oral copulation and anal penetration.” Goldberg’s attorneys claim that the abuse occurred over a period of time when powerful Church leaders, including ‘Saint’ Mother Teresa knew that McGuire was sexually abusing children. The lawsuit alleges that the Church went to great lengths to cover it up.
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Goldberg, who was being raised by a single Catholic mother after the death of his father, was in need of money. Thus, his family came to rely on the 300$-500$ that McGuire paid him to work as his assistant. The sexual predator used Goldberg’s dependency to continue to abuse him and exploit him sexually.
McGuire eventually went on to become Teresa’s ‘Spiritual Adviser’ while vetting nuns seeking to join the Missionaries of Charity. McGuire had a history of sexually abusing children. One official in Austria wrote in the 1960s that McGuire had “much relations with young boys, particularly some boys who work in our kitchen and who used to go to his room.”
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The AP report says, “Each time the Jesuits received complaints that McGuire was sexually abusing boys, they would move him to another post, where he would continue his predatory behaviour. Even after a psychiatric evaluation showed McGuire was sexually attracted to underage boys, the Jesuits continued to insist he was a priest in good standing, in part due to the urging of Mother Teresa.”
Teresa wrote in a letter dated February 2, 1994, “I have confidence and trust in Fr. McGuire and wish to see his vital ministry resume as soon as possible.” The ‘saint’ got her wish, and McGuire continued his world-wide ministry, “openly travelling with young boys as his companions,” according to Goldberg’s lawsuit. In June 2003, the first of several lawsuits against McGuire and his superiors were filed which eventually led to a trial. During the trial, nuns from Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity wore buttons that said: “I support Fr. McGuire.”
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The organized sexual abuse within Christian religious orders has become a known fact since then. Worse is the fact that there was a cover-up of the entire series of crimes right from the very top. It brings into question whether the entire clerical hierarchy of Christianity has been compromised. It is common knowledge now that the Church officials have actively participated and covered up heinous crimes of sexual abuse within their ranks. Mcguire was not removed from service until 2007 and was defrocked in 2008. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison for the crimes he committed.
