Daily Telegraph

After La Repubblica’s article and video on Mark Murray’s trip to Verona to find his abuser Father Romano Nardo. the Daily Telegraph published an article on it along with an interview with Mark Murray.

The article is here British Man Confronts Catholic Priest He says Abused Him

Mark told the Daily Telegraph:-

“The Pope talks about cracking down on abusive priets but his message is not filtering down to the lower levels. It’s a form of secondary psychological abuse that compounds the original sexual abuse,” Mr Murray told The Telegraph.

“Nardo should be in a court of law and should go to prison. The missionary order have shown total disregard for the victims. It makes me very angry.”.

Abuse Payout by Comboni Missionaries

Last year, Comboni Missionaries paid out between £7,000 and £30,000 to 11 boys who said they were abused at Mirfield to a total of £120,000.

The comments on the abuse to the press by the Comboni Missionaries Order, certainly in the UK, seem to be softening a little. According Father Martin Devenish, the No. 1 Comboni mIssionary in the UK, as said to the Daily Telegraph:-

“It was with great sadness and regret that the Verona Fathers learned that a number of allegations of historical abuse had been made relating to our former junior seminary, St Peter’s, located in Mirfield, West Yorkshire.

“We condemn unreservedly any action which causes harm or distress to others, particularly children. We know that anyone subjected to abusive behaviour will experience suffering and we are dismayed to think that such suffering may have been caused to youngsters who attended our junior seminary.

“If that is the case, we are deeply sorry to anyone who was hurt whilst they were in our care at Mirfield and our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families.”

Although there are still  ‘ifs’ and ‘allegations’ in his statement this is a lot softer than previous statements he has made. Indeed, he told Mark Murray, when he called him, that he would get the police on him. Maybe things are gradually chaning in someparts of the Order.

Kathy Perrin of Catholic Church Insurance Association

However, according to Kathy Perrin of the Catholic Church Insurance Association, a Comboni Missionaries spokesperson, the payout wasn’t an admission of guilt.

She told the Daily Telegraph “The order chose to come to a settlement because they could not trace their insurance for the period in question so they would have faced a huge legal bill had it gone to trial,” she said.

“Everything happened an incredibly long time ago and two of the priests who were accused are now deceased. My clients simply don’t know what happened at Mirfield and don’t feel that it can be established now.”

There are three other current legal cases involving the Comboni Missionaries and ex-seminarians of theirs at Mirfield.