Now the mystery and what has kept me busy this week…
For nearly two years Father Robert McGuire was under investigation in New Brunswick, both by police and by the Diocese of St. John, New Brunswick, …..and it was all kept hush hush.
McGuire disappeared from Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Miramichi without explanation, and not a word from Bishop Robert Harris who was well aware of the reason for McGuire’s departure. Instead, in tears from the pulpit at his final Mass at the Chatham Head parish,, McGuire read a letter advising a surprised congregation that he had requested and been granted a leave of absence. (I would imagine the same letter was read at the mission parish, Most Pure Heart of Mary Parish in Barnaby River )
That was March 2010. For nearly two full years the investigation has carried on, and not a word was uttered. It was all quiet in the Miramichi. It was all quiet in the Diocese of St. John, New Brunswick.
No a boo.
I have now learned that the Miramichi police and, more recently, the Fredericton police, have closed their files. No charges have been laid.
So, no charges, why do I add Father McGuire to the list? Well, no charges laid can mean many things. And, there were indeed allegations, so he has indeed been accused. The list on the site includes those charged, sued or accused.
I will tell you what I have learned, from reliable sources, since this situation was first brought to my attention:
The Investigation (s)
(1) Father McGuire ‘said’ his last Mass at Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Miramichi (Chatham Head, New Brunswick) around mid March 2010. It was a Sunday – probably 14 March 2010. As I said earlier, he said he was taking a leave of absence, And, he shed a tear or two;
(2) Bishop Robert Harris was aware that there were allegations of a sexual nature from the beginning. In fact Bishop Harris happened to be in the Miramichi that very weekend.;
(3) There were a total of four complainants in the Miramichi area: one was age 25. two were age 16; one was age 15. All are male. The allegations related to recent incidents.
(4) The 25-year-old male was ready to stand behind his allegations and go to court;
(5) The families of and/or the teenage boys themselves did not want to go to court. I have actually heard it is the families who were adverse to the boys having to testify, but it could be the boys as well;
(6) I am uncertain if the investigation by Fredericton police involved one of the complainants from the Miramichi or a fifth complainant. I believe it is the former – if McGuire took one of the boys to Fredericton and something happened in Fredericton then it would fall under the jurisdiction of the Fredericton police;
(7) Persons close to the situation tell me that a woman by the name of Mamie Murray was conducting a diocesan investigation.
Mamie Murray, President of Atlantic Forensic Investigations & Consultants Ltd, a private investigation company specializing in polygraph and lie detector serviced, is based in Fredericton, New Brunswick.
A cached copy linked onto the site from the Mamie Murray link can be accessed here. I will post both these pages on the Father Robert Borne page later. (8) It seems that in addition to the detective agency there may also be a team of three priests investigating for the diocese. I will try to confirm that.
This of course means that complainants have been subjected not only to questioning by and giving statements to police, but also to the same scenario with Mamie Murray – and she from a detective agency retained by the diocese.
There is a possibility that there has been yet another set of interviews/questioning conducted by three priests from the diocese. I have been told that there was a team of three priests involved but I want to check that further to ensure it is accurate. I actually have names of two of the three but will hold on posting them unil I am certain of their involvement.
Father Bob MacGuire
Now a little more information about Father Robert McGuire. (Father Bob McGuire)
(1) Father Bob McGuire was a “late vocation” to the priesthood. He was ordained 19 May 2000;
(2) Originally from the St. Stephen’s or St. John area of New Brunswick, McGuire graduated from St. Thomas University in Fredericton New Brunswick in 1981. He had attained a BA;
(3) After attaining his BA McGuire worked as a ‘behaviourist’ with the York Central Hospital Association in Toronto;
(4) Somewhere along the line McGuire felt he was called to the priesthood. In 1998 he entered the seminary. I don’t know which seminary;
It’s interesting to see that there was no bishop in St. John from around September 1997 when Bishop Troy suddenly and prematurely resigned, to October 1998 when Bishop Faber MacDonald was installed as bishop. I don’t therefore know who in 1998 would have given McGuire the nod to become a priest for the Diocese of St. John? unless he entered the seminary with plans to be ordained for the Archdiocese of Toronto or elsewhere and then changed his plans? or perhaps, and unless he was given the nod by Bishop Troy back in 1997? (Troy was bishop from April 1986 to September 1997)
Regardless, on 19 May 2000, after two years of seminary formation, McGuire was ordained as a priest for the Diocese of St. John, New Brunswick. The Bishop of the day was Faber MacDonald (MacDonald served as Bishop of Grand Falls, Newfoundland from 1980 until his appointment to St. John);
(5) From 2000-2002 Father Bob McGuire assisted at Sts. John and Paul Roman Catholic Church, in New Maryland, New Brunswick (that’s just outside Fredericton). The church has a mission at St. Columba Roman Catholic Church in Fredericton Junction, NB. The pastor was Father Ralph McRae;
(6) There was allegedly a problem of some sort at Sts. John and Paul. There is talk that McGuire left on a sabbatical in 2002. Whatever the situation it is understood, rightly or wrongly, that his last parish before arriving in the Miramichi was Sts. John and Paul in New Maryland: he did not, however, arrive in the Miramichi until 2004. I have as yet been unable to determine where Father McGuire was from 2002-2004 or if indeed there was anything untoward about his departure. Any assistance with this would be appreciated;
(7) Shortly after his arrival at Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Chatham Head, New Brunswick (summer of 2004) Father McGuire purchased a home in the Fredericton area. Parishioners in Chatham Head held a huge house warming party for him at the rec centre in Chatham Head. There were a lot of gifts, and a lot of cash gifts. Cash gifts allowed him to buy, amongst other things, a washer and dryer for his new home. Parishioners on the whole liked Father