The Jesuit priest who was convicted of sex abuse is back in the news. Seems he’s not going without a fight:

The Rev. Donald J. McGuire, convicted of molesting two boys, said Wednesday that he’s fighting an effort by Chicago’s Jesuits to expel him from their religious order.

“They can’t abandon me,” a defiant McGuire told the Chicago Sun-Times in a rare interview.

Last year, a Wisconsin jury convicted McGuire of molesting two boys from Loyola Academy in Wilmette in the 1960s.

He now faces lawsuits on a string of new child molestation accusations as well as a federal indictment that alleges he traveled overseas with a minor with an intent of having sex with him.

McGuire wouldn’t discuss the allegations.

“I’m losing friends because people don’t know my side of the story,” he said. “But my lawyer says I can’t talk.”

When asked point blank whether he had molested children, McGuire declined to comment.

The 77-year-old prominent priest once traveled the globe as a retreat leader, often for Mother Teresa’s religious order.

“I continue to receive support from friends all over the world,” he said.

But one vocal non-supporter is his nephew, Kevin McGuire, a California lawyer representing the priest’s accusers.

“What he’s done to kids is unconscionable,” the nephew said. “He’s the original ‘Monster of the Midway.'”

Donald McGuire wouldn’t criticize his nephew. “I pray for him,” he said.

The Chicago Jesuits have presented McGuire with a dismissal decree from the order, which still needs Vatican approval to become official. McGuire said he has appealed to the Vatican not to allow the dismissal.

Citing confidentiality, the Jesuits would not say whether they’re also seeking McGuire’s removal from the priesthood — which is different from removal from the order.

“I will always be a priest,” McGuire insisted to the Sun-Times. “They can’t take that away.”