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Comboni Missionaries Investigation Process for Abuse

Posted on by gerambo

By Brian Hennessy, as regards the Comboni Missionaries Clerical Abuse process. It is the 3rd of 3 articles on the Comboni Missionaries Code of Conduct.

Administrative Procedures Required in the Consideration of Alleged Abuse

1. The Code states that at the investigation stage, there must always be clarity about the the presumption of innocence, and no promises should be made regarding financial compensation to those making allegations.

2. The Code states that the person in charge of the inquiry, in agreement with and in the presence of members of the family, is to hear the testimony of the alleged victim, so as to become acquainted with the real facts, and to verify, with the appropriate respect, the psychological and spiritual situation of the person alleged to have been wounded by the confrere’s behaviour.

3. The Code states that as regards the inquiry, the general guidelines (for inquiries) are to be followed bearing in
mind that, in the case of alleged abuse against a minor, it is especially advisable to seek the services of a team or, in any case, of appropriately qualified persons. Equally, any meeting with the alleged victim should take place in the presence of witnesses.

4. The Code states that the choice of the method to be followed in conducting the inquiry will take account of the plausibility, entity and gravity of the allegations as well as of the availability of persons who can be relied upon to carry out this task.

Whatever the case, the inquiry is to be conducted in a circumspect and efficient manner, respectful of all those involved, and of the cultural context, as well as of the legislation in force in the country in question and/or issued by the respective Episcopal Conference.

5. The Code states that the following statement may be determined by an act of the provincial superior.: “that to preclude scandals, to protect the freedom of witnesses and to safeguard the course of justice” measures may be taken in accordance with CIC 1722 to the effect that “the ordinary, at any stage of the process, can remove the accused from the sacred ministry or from any ecclesiastical office or function, can impose or prohibit residence in a given place or territory, or even prohibit public participation in the Most Holy Eucharist”.

6. The Code states that after the process has been completed the provincial superior is to:

• Provides for the sentence to be carried out and in particular communicates the result of the process and the decisions reached regarding:

(a) the manner of providing aid and moral support to the victim;

(b) the imposition of the penalties on the guilty party;

(c) measures for the full rehabilitation of an accused person found to be innocent and for the necessary retraction and reparation by the accuser;

• Communicates the results of the inquiry to the Christian (and civil) communities affected by the event (while avoiding possible scandal) and puts in place suitable measures to heal the wounds inflicted on them.

7. The Code states that for the good of all concerned, everything possible will always be done to resolve the matter in a pastoral manner limited to the internal inquiry and its conclusions (CIC 1718 §4).

When however the conclusions of the preliminary inquiry are not sufficient to resolve the matter to the satisfaction of all the concerned parties, or to ensure the reparation of the scandal caused and the amendment of the person found guilty (CIC 1341), it is required to proceed to the canonical penal process.

This decision is to be taken by an act of the provincial superior.

8. The Code states that The relevant provision will define one of the following:

• The decision to proceed by a decree without a trial (CIC 1720), bearing in mind the directives of CIC 1342.

• The decision to initiate a judicial penal process (CIC 1721 and following).

9. The Code states that in the case of a decree without a trial, the provincial superior will proceed as directed by CIC 1720. The person who has been responsible for the inquiry cannot act as an assessor in the case.

10. The Code states that when the provincial superior decides that a judicial penal process is necessary, he will communicate this decision to the person responsible for the inquiry so that he may take on the office of promoter of justice. The provincial superior has full powers to appoint another person to this office.

11. The Code states that the provincial directory, bearing in mind the Code of Canon Law, may determine the procedure de qua agitur. In certain cases (for example the abuse of minors), however, the legislation of some countries includes the duty to report the matter to the civil authorities, foreseeing that this could lead to a trial before a civil court.

12. The Code states that when an abuse is at one and the same time under investigation by other bodies and persons concerned to establish the truth of the facts, the Institute is committed to cooperating in the required and appropriate manner with the various parties involved (diocese, judicial and civil authorities), so that justice may be done, following the dispositions of the law in force (civil and canonical), especially those regarding the duty of bringing the case to the attention of the competent authorities.

Regarding this latter point, both excessive zeal and the temptation to conceal facts and reports are to be avoided.

13. The Code states that the provincial superior communicates to the general council his decision to initiate an administrative or penal process sending a written document which sets out the legal and factual elements of the situation under inquiry, the name of the accused confrere, and a brief report. Every penalty imposed is also to be communicated to the general council.

14. The Code states that the provincial superior and those in charge of the case will keep written and secret documentation pertaining to the different stages of the process, as well as of its conclusions and the measures adopted as a consequence.

The provincial council lays down who may have access to such documentation and until when.

15. The Code states that once the internal inquiry has reached its conclusion, the person in charge of the investigation will present the provincial superior with a full report regarding both the matters of fact and of law involved. The provincial superior will then reach a decision regarding the case (CIC 1718) that can take one of the following two forms:

• Consigning the notitia criminis to the archives;

• Initiating a penal process.

16. The Code states that proof of admonishment and rebuke must always be retained, at least by a document conserved in the secret archive of the provincial superior (CIC 1339).

17. The Code states that at the end of his mandate, the provincial superior presents his successor with adequate information about confreres in special difficulty.

He then sends all the relevant documentation to the general archives in Rome so that it may be conserved by the competent authority.

18. The Code states that,in respect to documentation, directives CIC 489 § 2 are to be followed by the Provincial Superior and higher formations: “Every year documents of criminal cases are to be destroyed in matters of morals in which the criminal has died or in which ten years have passed since the condemnatory sentence; but a brief summary of the case with the text of the definitive sentence is to be retained”.

19. The Code states that offences defined in the Motu Proprio Sacramentorumsanctitatis tutela as being reserved for referral to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith .

20. The Code states that the following offences are listed amongst those to be referred to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith:

• CIC 1378: the absolution of an accomplice in a sin against the sixth commandment of the Decalogue;

• CIC 1387: soliciting a penitent to sin against the sixth commandment of the Decalogue in the act or on the occasion or under the pretext of confession;

• DG: any offense against the sixth commandment, committed by a cleric with a minor of less than 18 years of age.

21. The Code states that regarding the above offenses, the provincial superior, after having carried out the preliminary inquiry, transmits to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, by his own act and through the superior general, a full report drawn up by the person responsible for the investigation

22. The Code states that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith can decide to deal with the matter directly, or it can order the provincial superior to make provisions for the penal process according to the dispositions that the Congregation itself will consider opportune to give. Any appeal against the sentence lies within the competence of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith itself.

23. The Code advises that the Institute expects and requires its members to live consistently with the values and purposes that they have freely chosen by means of a public commitment. As a consequence, when faced with proven cases of sexual abuse against minors, the Institute, taking account of the sentence passed by the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, may adopt one or more (and hence also cumulatively) of the following provisions:

• to invite the religious to undergo a medical and psychological examination;

• to encourage him to accept the necessary help so as not to prejudice the welfare of other minors;

• to place him in a situation in which he has no direct contact with minors, even when he continues to deny his guilt;

• to prevent him in the future from working or having direct contact with minors, even when he has been helped by specialists.

24. The Code advises that in order to be able to entrust the religious in question with a ministry suitable to his situation, the superiors concerned must be informed of any precedents in the area of sexual abuse when the religious is assigned to their province and/or community. In his turn, the provincial superior must inform the bishop of the diocese in which the religious will exercise his pastoral ministry, if the religious has precedents in matters of sexual abuse against minors proven by one of the procedures described at no. 50 above.

25. The Code advises that regarding cases of sexual abuse, especially against minors, various episcopal conferences have developed their own praxis governed by detailed norms that in some countries are particularly severe and restrictive. In communion with the local Church, the Institute is committed to observing such norms and procedures.

They are thus to be included in the provincial directories.

26. The Code advises that civil law regarding cases of abuse varies greatly from country to country, but is becoming ever stricter and more severe, especially regarding sexual abuses committed against minors by persons of trust or in authority. The Institute is committed to informing its members regarding the civil and penal dispositions in force in the country where they work and requires them to obey these local laws.

Comboni Missionaries Clerical Abuse Code of Conduct

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By Brian Hennessy

Comboni Missionaries Code of Conduct

The Comboni Missionaries “Code of Conduct” deals with a number of issues other than abuse.

It is not an insubstantial document – and the Commission established for its most recent major overhaul in 2005 was headed by Father David Kinnear Glenday and consisted also of Father John Converset who was formerly the Provincial of the North American Province – and two other members of the Order.

Having administered and adjudicated both Military Law and Contractual Law in past lives, I offer them my commiserations as to the proliferation of articles of Canon Law of which they had need to be cognizant and the diverse subjects that they had need to consider.

Clerical Sexual Abuse

That aside, I was only concerned with their administration of the issues surrounding clerical abuse – including emotional and physical abuse, but, most especially, sexual abuse – which, in the Code of Conduct, come under the unwieldy, euphemistic heading of “The Brotherly Care of Persons in Certain Situations”. I have given my attention to three issues only:

• The considerations given to the Victims of alleged abuse.
• The consideration given to the Accused of alleged abuse.
• Administrative procedures required in the consideration of alleged abuse,

I will deal with the first one here and the other two in subsequent articles.

The Undertakings Given in the Code of Conduct to the Victim of Alleged Abuse.

1. The Code states that there is a period of prescription for an offence of sexual abuse in that consideration (for an inquiry) is ten years from the time when the minor who has been abused reaches adulthood.

In practice, victims may have recourse to an ecclesiastical court until they have reached 28 years of age.

2. The Code undertakes to regard all allegations of abuse seriously and to seek the truth of the allegations in a fair manner.

3. The Code gives a guarantee that the Institute will provide the alleged victims the respectful, patient and understanding in a hearing to which they have a right.

4. The Code recognises that the sexual abuse of minors is the commission of a serious offence, and that it may include physical forms of contact, harassment and other inappropriate behaviour, by an adult against a minor who is identified as a person under the age of 18.

5. The Code recognises that a religious cleric is in a position of trust and that a crime of abuse by a cleric is an abuse of power, a serious moral issue and a grave breach of that trust that creates serious and often longlasting consequences for the victim.

6. The Code recognises that the effects of abuse can be very deep and serious and may require continual psychotherapy due to psychological and spiritual trauma that may not be assuaged during the lifetime of the victim.

7. The Code states that the Institute agrees to assume towards the victim an attitude of pastoral concern expressed by way of adequate psychological, spiritual and moral accompaniment.

When suffering is evident in a victim, the Institute commits itself to the provision of a carer (in consultation with parents when necessary).

8. The Code states that the competent carer provided is tasked to offer the victim adequate moral, spiritual and psychological support and who, at the various stages of the process, may also act as an intermediary with the investigating team and the competent authorities.

9. The Code states that if the accused pleads or is found guilty, the victim (and their family in the case of a minor) has the right to adequate reparation for the harm inflicted upon them.

The Institute decides in what manner and to what extent to help the victim financially.

In this regard, the Institute advises that such help be given indirectly through appropriate channels, such as a Church institution or a competent and trusted person such as a lawyer.

Comboni Missionaries – 10 Questions They Must Answer

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By Brian Hennessy

Missionari Comboniani

Lord Nolan was invited by the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, to investigate the issue of paedophile priests and child protection in the Catholic Church in the year 2000. In his interim Report,

In his Final Report, dated 2001, Lord Nolan made a series of recommendations which the Order of Comboni Missionaries have given an undertaking to abide.

I am advised that the Order of Comboni Missionaries have also given their agreement to these principles by dint of being a member of the Conference of Religious of England and Wales – which is the sister Conference to the Conference of Bishops of England and Wales.

I am also informed that the Comboni Missionary Order within the UK have elected to use the Child Protection Co-Ordinator services of the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton – in which diocese their Sunningdale base resides.

Policy Statement

Lord Nolan also recommended that the Bishops Conference of England and Wales and all Religious Orders within the United Kingdom should abide by the Policy Statement.

There appears to be a discrepancy between the enshrined undertakings of the Order of Comboni Missionaries within the UK and the facts of their inertia, their inaction and their demonstrable hostility to Victims .

The Comboni Missionaries need to provide some answers – both to the abused seminarians and to the Conferences of Bishops and Religious of England and Wales for their failures to follow the protocols to which they have given agreement. I will assist them by defining just ten questions:

Ten Questions for Comboni Missionaries

• In what way have the Comboni Missionaries demonstrated exemplary best practice in their response to allegations of child sexual abuse within their Order in the UK?

• What reports did the Comboni Missionary Order in the UK make to the Child Protection Co-Ordinator of Arundel and Brighton when in 2006 a victim of the Mirfield abuse alleged that Father Dominic Valmaggia had abused him – at a time when that alleged Abuser was still alive and consigned to a Parish in Italy?

• What report did the Comboni Missionary Order in the UK make to the Child Protection Co-Ordinator of Arundel and Brighton regarding allegations of sexual abuse by an Italian priest of their Order who is currently alive and living in the Order’s Mother House at Verona, Italy?

• What reports did the Comboni Missionary Order make to the Child Protection Co-Ordinator of Arundel and Brighton when they were notified in recent times of historic allegations of emotional and physical abuse by two priests currently alive and working within the UK?

• What statutory Agencies of Law Enforcement and welfare have the Comboni Missionaries informed within the UK in respect to each of the allegations detailed above?

• In what way have the Comboni Missionaries within the UK made any attempts to bring the perpetrators of alleged abuse within the UK to account?

• Where are the support persons that have been allocated to the Victims of alleged abuse by Comboni Missionaries within the UK to meet their needs and those of their families?

• What notification to any diocese, other than Arundel and Brighton, has been made where any alleged abuser of Victims is currently undertaking work, temporarily or permanently, on behalf of the Comboni Missionaries in the UK?

• What safeguarding checks have been made by the Comboni Missionaries in the Uk in respect to external Comboni Missionaries who have been moved into the UK Province from other countries or Provinces of their Order?

Comboni Missionaries and Pope Francis on Clerical Abuse

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 Comboni Missionaries

By Brian Hennessy

In early 2012, Danny Sullivan was appointed as the Chairman of NCSC following the resignation of Baroness Patricia Scotland. In June 2014, he attended the Mass in Santa Marta, presided over by Pope Francis, and he listened to the Homily in which the new Pope demonstrated, in abundantly clear language, his sorrow at the failings of the Catholic Church in the pressing matter of Child Sexual Abuse.

He heard the Pope seek forgiveness of the victims of abuse for their suffering, for the failure of Church leaders to understand their torment or to believe their complaints and reports of abuse.

He stated categorically that there was no place for any cleric in the Church who had committed such “diabolical” acts.

Pope Francis, a practical diocesan Shepherd all his life, untainted by the dogmatic and defensive rituals of the Roman Curia, took responsibility in a way that none of his predecessors had done – and he set a new tone by outlining his determination to act comprehensively and speedily to rectify the issues that had, quite literally, brought the once mighty Roman Catholic Church to its knees by a loss of credibility and respectability – and the loss of the demonstrable practice of its basic virtues of love and charity that had always been its declared mission.

Sins of the Fathers

It so happened that in mid October, just a short while after that homily of Pope Francis, that an article, “Sins of the Fathers”, written by Catherine Deveney, appeared in the UK’s mainstream Daily Newspaper, The Observer.

The text recorded details of the trauma and suffering that clerical sexual abuse, perpetrated by Priests of the Comboni Missionary Order against child seminarians, had been caused to the victims during the abuse and throughout their subsequent lifetimes.

Missionari Comboniani

The article also highlighted the “response” by the spokespersons of the Comboni Missionary Order.

That response was significant in that it was diametrically opposed to everything that Pope Francis had said.

The Comboni Missionary Order cast doubt on the veracity of the signed victim and witness’s statements of more than a dozen ex-seminarians who had been in their care.

They stated, in effect, that the small payments made to those who had lodged a legal case against the Order were not compensation, but merely a “business” arrangement.

They stated that, in contradiction of the claims by the victims that the fully documented reports, said to have been made to Priests and Superiors by the victims at the time of the abuse, were untrue.

Comboni Missionaries View of Mirfield12

One priest, to whom historic reports had been made, claimed, in a conversation face to face with one of the victims that the complaints that had been made were only about “money” – and he had emphasised that point by rubbing his thumb and forefinger together in a grubby and insulting denial.

Three other priests have refused to speak to a Victim who was trying to establish a dialogue with members of the Order.

That same Victim has been denied, by the Superior General of the Comboni Missionary Order, the request by the West Yorkshire Police for the extradition to the United Kingdom of a priest of the Order to face charges of child sexual abuse.

Danny Sullivan

A week later, in a letter to the same Observer Newspaper, Danny Sullivan, the Chair of the National Catholic Safeguarding Commission, commented on the Observer article, “Sins of the Fathers” with a caution, which, in retrospect, appears both scathing and mocking. He said that the response by members of the Comboni Missionary Order to the Child Sexual Abuse Victims, predated upon by Priests of that Order, demonstrated just how far the Clerics of the Catholic Church had yet to travel to get their act in order (my paraphrase).

Danny Sullivan does not lead an organisation opposed to the Catholic Church, nor is he seeking to trample upon everything for which the Catholic Church stands.

He heads up an organisation that works on behalf of UK Catholicism – in an organisation set up by the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales – to promote the safeguarding of children in line with the principles of the Cumberlege Commission Report “Safeguarding with Confidence” (July 2007).

That Commission was set up in response to Lord Nolan’s Report, “A Programme For Action” (2001) – and his later “Final Report” – which has been adopted worldwide as the “gold standard” for child safeguarding.

Child Sexual Abuse of Minors and Vulnerable Adults

We know where Danny Sullivan stands on matters of Child Sexual Abuse of Minors and Vulnerable Adults.

We, ‘The Mirfield 12’, stand beside Danny and his aims. Danny Sullivan also stands shoulder to shoulder with Pope Francis. Presumably, even Padre Enrique Sanchez would concede that Pope Francis is on the side of God!

Yet, we remain totally mystified as to where the Superior General of the Comboni Missionary Order, Padre Enrique Sanchez himself, stands!

There is an old maxim – “If you are not for us, then you are against us”! Presumably, by deduction, Padre Enrique Sanchez will be able to work out in his own mind with whom we think that he and his entourage stand!

Suffice it to say, that if Padre Enrique Sanchez and his confreres do not yet know right from wrong and good from bad – and are unable to discern truth from lies – then both he – and, individually, they – are in the wrong job!

Comboni Missionaries Blog has Helped Me Recover

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Comboni Missionaries

This was written by Boy X who has contributed previous articles about his abuse.

I would just like to say a few things about the blog. The last time I had something posted on the Comboni Missionaries blog was at Christmas. I said that I didn’t know if I had moved forward or not. I was feeling very low, Christmas does that to me,

Since then,I have realised that moving forward doesn’t mean I should feel any happier or content. Maybe, sometimes, the road to salvation really is through hell and I probably will feel a lot worse before things can get better.

St Peter Claver College, Roe Head, Mirfield

I still am very confused about everything but recently I decided to ask for help. I’ve seen a psychological wellbeing practitioner and I’m being refered on to someone who will help me. For the first time in my life I have told someone,face to face, what happened to me at Mirfield.

So I have moved forward and I’m only where I am now because of the Comboni Missionaries blog. Coming across the blog enabled me to say, albeit anonymously, what I experienced at Mirfield and how those experiences affected my life.

The blog led me to talking over the phone with Mark Muray who has helped me tremendously. From not being able, all my life, to even think about Mirfield, I have now got to the stage where I have hope – hope of not being too frightened of my memories, hope that confusion will turn to some sort of ordered thought, hope that there is some light at the end of it all.

Father John Pinkman and Bishop Lorenzo Ceresoli

My memories do frighten me. I can see the face and feel the presence of Fr. Pinkman clearly, as clearly as if he was in my life right now. I can see Father Ceresoli clearly too (now Bishop Ceresoli),

They are in my life. I said my goodbye to Fr.Pinkman but he has never left me. I need to be able to step away from them.

I also see the faces of my friends at Mirfield. They comfort me. I feel I can never let go of them. They matter to me.

The logical part of my mind tells me they are long in the past, but I know how real they are. I see them every day.

Click on Comboni Missionaries – They still control me. I’m still at Mirfield

Comboni Missionaries Other Names

They are known in English-speaking countries as the Comboni MIssionaries (ex-Verona Fathers), in Italy as Missionari Comboniani, in Spanish-speaking countries as Misioneros Combonianos, in German-speaking countries as Comboni-Missionare and in Portuguese-speaking countries as Missionarios Combonianos.

See Boy X – My Last Goodbye to Pinkman

Comboni Missionaries Defy Pope Francis on Child Abuse

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Comboni Missionaries and Pope Francis

Pope Francis, last weekend, said that the aftermath of child abuse is enough to make one “cry out loud”. He was replying to fellow Argentine and anti-paedophile campaigner, Roberto Plazza.

Pope Francis then said that preventing child abuse is the main objective of his special child protection commission.

He has shown that he is serious about tackling child abuse by clerics several times recently. He has defrocked several priests for child abuse. He also had Polish Archbishop, Jozef Wesolowski, arrested in the Vatican for allegedly abusing children. That was the first ever arrest inside the Vatican for alleged child abuse.

It has cost the Catholic Church billions all over the world in the last few years. However, Pope Francis is tackling it head on. He has aplogised for the abuse several times. He has also stiffened punsihments for paedophilia in the Holy See’s laws.

Missionari Comboniani

So, what about the Comboni Missionaries? Are they following Pope Francis’s lead? Are they ruthlessly exposing and hunting down paedophile’s in their midst? Are they having paedophiles arrested?

Not a bit of it!

They are still obfuscating and dragging their feet.

They recently paid out £120,000 to 11 boys who accused Comboni Missionaries’ priests of sexual abuse of minors. However, they were very grudging about it. They said that, as they weren’t insured at the time, this was just the cheapest option. They said that as two of the priests were dead it would never be known what happened 50 years ago at Mirfield.

Father Romano Nardo

Two of those are dead. However, there is one still alive, Father Roman Nardo. When Mark Murray contacted the Comboni Missionaries in 1996 to tell them about the abuse perpertrated on him over 20 years before, the Comboni MIssionaries investigated it.

They decided that Father Romano should be removed immediately from Uganda where he had worked for 26 years. In 1970, just after Mark Murray was seen coming out of Father Nardo’s room in Mirfield at 6am by another priest, Father Nardo was sent immediately to the Missions in Uganda, before the time he was due to be sent there.

Crimes Have Been Committed

West Yorkshire Police have investigated the abuse accusations against Father john Pinkman, Father Domenico Valmaggia and Father Romano Nardo and announced that they believed that crimes had been committed. They would have sought the arrests of Father Valmaggia and Father Pinkman if they were still alive.

They requested that the Comboni Missionaries send Father Romano Nardo to the UK for questioning as regards the abuse accusations from the Comboni Missionaries house in Verona where he is resident.

Father Enrique Sanchez turned that down point blamk saying he was not in a fit mental condition to travel nor answer questions. However, he was mentally fit enought to say mass just a few years ago.

Grudging

The Comboni Missionaries, despite paying out £120,000 have admitted nothing. They have refused to apologise. They never reported any incidents to the police (like Pope Francis did) even though they were told about it multiple times at the time. They are refusing to hand over a priest for questioning to the UK police.

Not only are they out of step with the times, they are out of step with Pope Francis.

The Superior General of the Comboni Missionaries worldwide is Father Enrique Sanchez, He is refusing to hand Father Nardo over.

Father David Glenday

However, there is an even higher ranked Comboni Missionary in the Catholic Church and that is ex-Superior General, Father David Glenday, who has such a high position in the Vatican that he is in regular touch with Pope Francis. He must know Pope Francis’s thoughts on child abuse.

It’s about time that the Comboni Missionaries came round and adpoted the new Catholic Church policy on child abuse.

2015 would be a good time to start.

Note:- The Comboni Missionaries are known as Missionari Comboniani in Italy, Misioneros Combonianos in Spanish speaking countries, Comboni-Missionare in Germany, Missionaires Comboniens in French speaking countries and Missionarios Combonianos in Portunguese speaking countries.

Comboni Missionaries Will Appear before UK Sex Abuse Enquiry

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Father Martin Devenish

According to a new article from the Liverpool Echo, Father Martin Devenish of the Comboni MIssionaries has pledged that every member of Misioneros Combonianos will agree to appear in front of the Home Office enquiry into child sexual abuse.

Father Devenish told the Liverpool Echo “Every member of the Verona Fathers who is fit and able will be prepared to appear at the inquiry if asked to do so. However, it is regrettable that those from whom we all most need to hear, the alleged abusers, will not be able to appear because they are deceased or, in one case, medically unfit.”

Father Enrique Sanchez

The ‘medically unfit’ person refers to Father Romano Nardo, who is accused of serious sexual abuse by Mark Murray, an ex-seminarian at the Comboni Missionaries seminary in Mirfield, Yorkshire. Father Enrique Sanchez, the Superior General of Missionari Comboniani (the boss of the order) refuses to hand Father Nardo over to answer questions about it to UK police.

The claim is that the atrocities that Father Nardo encountered in Uganda has affected him mentally so that he cannot answer questions from the UK police.

Father Enrque Sanchez told Mark Murray, by letter, that they brought Father Nardo home after 27 years in Uganda after his accusations against him. He also assured him that Father Nardo would be kept in a Comboni Missionaries home for the sick in Verona and would have no acccess to children.

Misioneros Combonianos

According to Mark Murray, who had been a Brother out in Uganda,  Amins’  atrocities took place decades before Father Nardo was brought home. Indeed he was brought home immediately after the abuse accusations.

If he he was mentally ill, or unstable, it begs the question why the Comboni Missionaries left him in a position of responsibility in Uganda for so many years. They had a duty of care to him.

He was also pictured saying a concelebrated mass in 2008 and was spotted at carnivals in Verona. Surely he could, then, answer a few questions from the UK police.

http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=it&u=http://www.natisone.it/0_archivio_messe/messe2006/messe406.htm&prev=search

Equivocating Like Jesuits

However, it is good to hear that they will appear before the panel, even if Vather Martin Devenish has said that all those who are “fit and able” will appear. One wonders who that would exclude. One wonders if the Comboni Missionaries would think that those in positions of authority at the time and who are accused of covering up the abuse would be “fit and able” to appear as some of them are now in their eighties.

The Comboni Missionaries are an offshoot of the Jesuits and we all know what Shakespeare said about equivocation and Jesuits.

We shall see what the ‘fit and able’ means!

However, if the committee has full powers, they may not have a choice. The UK Government outrank the Comboni Missionaries in the UK.

See the Liverpool Echo article Fresh Hope for Catholic Abuse Victims

Comboni Missionaries | Do they have no shame? Have they no Conscience?

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Comboni Missionaries

I don’t know about other readers but it fills me with anger to hear how this Boy X’s life was ruined by a serial child rapist and paedophile priest. See the article below Comboni Missionaries – They still control me. I’m still at Mirfield

To think that the Comboni Missionaries won’t even apologise for the abuse and the cover up, which goes up to the highest levels of the Comboni Missionaries.

Indeed Missioneros Combonianos don’t even admit it happened. Callously, they even say that paying those abused out was just a bean count, It was the cheapest option.

Boy X hasn’t even claimed aginst them.

I remember a psychologist who once said that when a bad thing happens to you when you are a 12 year old, you close down that part of your personality. While the rest of your personality develops into adulthood, some aspects of your personality, which have been surpressed and locked away, don’t grow at all. Parts of your personality stay as just a 12-year-old.

This is what appears to be the case with Boy X.

Boy X’s Suffering

Boy X needs to somehow unlock that door and let the supressed parts of his personality out, so that they too can grow up as well, and he can become an all round adult.

As he says, he is still at Mirfield and feels that he will be there forever, locked up there by what happened to him.

We wish him well!

Comboni Missionaries Holy Men

As for those rapers of 11-14 year old boys, and those who are still covering it up, and saying that it never happened……..how could they? How can they?

And they are out there every day acting as ‘holy men’ lecturing Catholics on their morals.

As Jesus once said “By their followers ye shall know them”.

I wonder what Jesus would have made of priests who committed statutory rape on little boys.

I wonder what Jesus would have thought about those who covered it up and who protect statutory rapists and paedophiles from the clutches of the UK police.

To read about Boy X’s abuse at the hands of Comboni Missionary Paedophiles click on Boy X’s Story of Abuse

Comboni Missionaries – They still control me. I’m still at Mirfield

Posted on by gerambo

Comboni Missionaries

This was sent to us anonymously by Boy X. In pevious articles he has told us of his time at the Comboni Missionaries (then Verona Fathers) seminary at Mirfield in Yourkshire. He claims to have been tormented by Bishop Lorenzo Ceresoli, who was then Father Lorenzo Ceresoli, and chased into the hands of serial paedophile Father John Pinkman. A previous article also explains how he met Father Pinkman again in King’s Cross or Waterloo station, where he now plied his trade as a rent boy.

Here he tells us about his feeling of sadness at Christmas and the man he should have become.

Boy X’s Christmas Story

I’ve always found Christmas particularly depressing and have to force myself to pretend all is well especially for the sake of those close to me. Christmas should be a happy time and maybe that’s what brings the unbearable sadness to the front , making it almost impossible to hide.

There have been times I’ve felt like I am standing on the edge of the abyss, having asked all the questions and finding all the answers and with that realizing there is no meaning and purpose to anything.

All there is is complete emptineess and despair. But something has always held me back from taking that final step into oblivion. That damned religion still lingers there. Fear maybe,in the sense as Hamlet said ‘Conscience makes cowards of us all’. The fear in the possibility of hellfire. Also there is guilt knowing the pain caused to others, those I care about most. I don’t know.

Mirfield Has Haunted Him Forever

Consumed always with guilt. A hundred good things done, do not assuage the guilt of one bad thing done. It haults forever. Guilt about finding comfort in the caress of someone who was destroying me. Someone who I thought cared for me. Even after the sexual abuse started, rape I would call it, I would run towards that abuser to escape what i felt to be a worse fate.

The complete indifference , far more than that, the humiliation and ridicule heaped upon me by another, the complete feeling of utter sadness and fear I felt because of it, driving me further towards a more subtle abuser.

What an idiot. What worse fate could there have been than being victim to the unnatural affection of the one who destroyed me for ever out of his own need for self gratification.

With Me Forever

The way I feel right now, I don’t know if I have moved forward or not. Right now, I don’t want to see their faces anymore. I buried them most of my life but now they are here, vivid and real. I don’t want to even write their names or say their names but maybe that is silly and trivial considering their presence is forever.

Maybe I was right in what I said when I first had something posted on the blog. the acknowledment to myself that I am still there. in Mirfield, after all these years . I will always be there. It’s where something precious was stolen from me, that something being , me. The person I was before it all happened, the person I would have become.

To read about Boy X’s abuse at the hands of Comboni Missionary Paedophiles click on Boy X’s Story of Abuse

Comboni Missionaries | Christmas 2014 Appeal

Posted on by gerambo

Comboni Missionaries Christmas Appeal

They are known in English-speaking countries as the Comboni MIssionaries (ex-Verona Fathers), in Italy as Missionari Comboniani, in Spanish-speaking countries as Misioneros Combonianos, in German-speaking countries as Comboni-Missionare and in Portuguese-speaking countries as Missionarios Combonianos.

They have, in 2014, paid out £120,000 to 11 men who claimed to have been abused by Comboni Missionaries, Father John Pinkman, Father Domenico Valmaggia and Father Romano Nardo at their seminary in Mirfield in Yorkshire in the Sixties and Seventies.

Misioneros Combonianos

However, whatever the language, the one thing that Missionarios Combonianos have not done is apologise. As even little children know, if you don’t apologise, it means that you don’t think that you have anything to apologise for.

This is despite the current Superior General, Father (Padre) Enrique Sanchez, the boss of the Comboni Missionaries, admitting to Mark Murray that they brought Father Roman Nardo home in 1997, after 27 years in Uganda, after Mark’s accusations of abuse against him. He assured Mark that father Nardo was now under house arrest in a home for the sick in Verona and would be allowed no access to children.

Missionari Comboniani

And, yet, there has been no apology from Padre Enrique Sanchez or previous bosses of Missionari Comboniani like Father (Padre) David Glenday. Indeed, Missionari Comboniani are saying, callously, that paying out 120 grand to those accusing them of abuse, and the cover-up of abuse, was just the cheapest option for them. That really is a kick in the groin to those whose groins were so abused by Comboni Missionaries when they were just 11, 12, 13 and 14  years of age.

The same defence was used by Michael Jackson, and his representatives, when they paid out $20m to the father of a boy who accused Michael Jackson of abuse.

Comboni-Missionare

The closest that anyone from Misioneros Combonianos has come to apologising has been Father Martin Devenish, head of the Order in Britain who said  “We know that anyone subjected to abusive behaviour will experience suffering and we are dismayed to think 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 has been hurt in this way.”

However, there are a dozen, or more, men who were at the seminary as youngsters, who believe that the ‘if’ needs to be removed. There was no ‘if’ when they were being abused by Padre John Pinkman, Padre Domenico Valmaggia and Padre Romano Nardo of the Comboni Missionaries.

Pope Francis

Pope Francis has already apologised for the rampant abuse perpertrated on Catholic boys by priests of the Catholic Church. The Franciscans have already apologised to 14 boys abused by priests of their Order, to whom they had already paid out millions of dollars.

By not apologising, Missionarios Combonianos are out of step with the rest of the Catholic Church as far up as its very leader.

Missionarios Combonianos

2014 was the year that the Comboni Missionaries paid out £120,000 to 11 boys who were at their seminary in Mirfield. Despite what they said, those ‘boys’ have taken this as tacit admission that the abuse occurred.

Now, 2015 must be the year when the Comboni Missionaries, finally, apologise not only for the abuse that occurred but for decades of cover-up of the abuse at the very highest levels of the Order.

The longer they delay, the less any apology will be believed as being sincere.

This is the Christmas Appeal of the Mirfield 12 to the Comboni Missionaries on Christmas Day 2014.

Happy Christmas to everyone!

Let’s make it a better 2015!

Let’s make it the year that it is all over!

That would be better for everyone!

Let’s make it the year that everyone moves on!