Just to let you all know Frank has decided to step down as joint administrator. I will do my best to keep things moving. I always have Mark to consult with. Regards Ben

Father Romano Nardo

Mark Murray, 59, secretly filmed an encounter with Father Romano Nardo, 73, from the Verona Fathers, who, he says, sexually abused him at Mirfield trainee school for priests in Yorkshire in the 1970s.

The short clip was posted online by Italian newspaper La Repubblica and you can hear Mr Murray tell Father Nardo: “You have had a massive, negative impact on my life and my family and my children. I tried many times to meet with you.

“Romano Nardo, do you know who I am? I think you do. Mark Murray. Do you remember me?”

In the video, you can hear Father Nardo mumble: “If it is my fault that you bear a heavy cross, I believe I should ask the Lord for forgiveness. I’m sorry. I’m very sorry.”

Who are the Verona Fathers?

The Verona Fathers, also known as the Comboni Missionaries, are an order for priests founded in Italy in the 1840s, who run trainee schools for priests around the world.

What are the allegations?

In 2012, 12 men who attended the school during the 1960s and 1970s decided to launch a civil case against Comboni Missionaries seeking damages for the abuse they claim to have endured. They claimed they were routinely abused at the home.

Although most of the abusers have since died, Farther Nardo – now aged 73 – lives with the Comboni Missionaries in Verona.

In 2014, the Comboni Missionaries reportedly paid £120,000 in total compensation to the 12 men following the allegations.

West Yorkshire police have attempted to extradite Farther Nardo for questioning but the Italian authorities have deemed him unfit to travel.

What do the police say?

Detective Inspector Michael Brown, of the Kirklees Safeguarding Unit, said: “This is a long running and complicated investigation which dates back to alleged offences that were committed in the 1960s. There is an individual who we would like to speak to in connection with these allegations. This person left the UK for Italy at the time of the alleged offences and has not returned since then.

“The allegations were first investigated in 1999 but we were not able to progress at that time. In Spring 2013, new evidence came to light and we reopened the case with the hope of bringing someone to justice.

“We have conducted a thorough investigation and have been in close liaison with the authorities in Italy and the Catholic Church but, unfortunately we need to interview the suspect in this case and he is unable to travel from Italy voluntarily due to ill health.

“All legal avenues have been pursued to enforce his return to UK but his ill health means we are unable to go through the formal procedures to extradite him. I would like to stress that this investigation is not closed but has reached a point where we can’t go any further.

“We are still hopeful of progress and would be keen to speak to anyone who could provide more information or evidence to help us to progress it further.”

What do the Verona Fathers say?

Kathy Perrin, a lawyer with the Catholic Church Insurance Association, which represented the order, said the payment was not an admission of guilt.

She said: “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.

“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 cases pending of alleged sexual abuse of Mirfield pupils by priests, she said.

What do I say.

I never wanted to record my visit to Verona and my encounter with Nardo. However, I am fortunate that I did. Before the CM’s were aware of my wrist watch camera they threatened to sue me for trespass (even though I went through the open door of the Comboni House, and they were in agreement of my subsequent visits( and also for being drunk, just in it for the money, Nardo being in danger as a result of my visit and therefore “i had become the perpetrator.”

I was fortunate that I did record my visit as it shows all the above to be untrue.

I was in correspondence with a friend this morning – the following are his words for Combonis Missionaries to read; here are his words for many in the Catholic Church to read:

“My brain tells me that the RC Church is a sham and that it is nothing more than a mafia – a corporate conglomerate that has deceived the world for two millennia – but my heart hopes for some outcome to all this that tells me that it is the caring Church in which my faith was nurtured. My brain is winning that struggle at the moment. I feel dejected at the prospect that my life – the end of which is in view – has been lived within the walls of an institution founded on a gross lie.”

Mark Murray

By  Frank McGinnis

Apology to begin with ?

How difficult would it be for the Comboni Missionaries to issue an apology to those who suffered sexual abuse at the hands of Fathers Pinkman, Valmaggia and Nardo ?. Ten minutes and your intention to do so could be emailing it’s way to us. Pope Francis has shown you the way. It may take a little courage, not anywhere near as much as we survivors of those wayward priests show every day.

Would it make a Difference ?

Oh yes, it would make a huge difference. The responsibility for what happened to us at Mirfield is not ours. We were children. The trust we placed in the Verona Fathers was betrayed. The responsibility rests solely with yourselves. The Order is accountable. We need you to accept you let us down, we need you to tell us you let us down. We need you to make a start in helping us to mend these broken lives.

Can God ever Approve of lies ?

The depraved actions of Fr Pinkman and the others were acts against the very God you otherwise serve. You protected these people, moved them around, you are hiding Fr Nardo in Verona today. This is not Gods work you do, to turn and look away while children are being damaged, to obstruct natural justice, to lie to save yourselves from scrutiny. The God you taught us about would certainly not approve of you washing your hands. He cannot be mislead. He would never condone His Church harming children, you know that.

Reposted Post

Pope Francis has recently appointed Bishop Scicluna to work on addressing clerical abuse in the Catholic Church – http://www.ibtimes.com/who-bishop-charles-scicluna-pope-appoints-former-sex-crimes-prosecutor-lead-new-panel-1790168

Bishop Scicluna was also involved in similar work when Pope Ratzinger was in place.

I telephoned Bishop Scicluna in Malta last year. Bishop Scicluna informed me that he would be meeting Pope Francis the following week and he would raise, not only my situation, but also the situation of a number of my fellow seminarians that were also abused at the Comboni Fathers junior seminary in Mirfield in the 1960’s and 1970’s.

I also arranged a telephone meeting with him when he was sent to Scotland last year to investigate the clerical abuse that took place there. That meeting/conversation with me never took place – no excuses, no apologies – I was just kept waiting and hoping.

Kevin and I are still waiting for a reply to his – Kevin’s – letter, which I have copied below.

The correct email address was used – it was, in fact, the same email address that the Bishop had been using when he emailed me.

Dear Bishop Scicluna
My name is Kevin Deignan I was a seminarian at Mirfield with Mark Murray . I understand that Mark has been in contact with you to seek help in achieving some kind of closure for himself after the abuse he endured at the hands of Romano Nardo , and the mental abuse he is still suffering through the inaction of the order.
Prior to Mark’s disclosure to me 3yrs ago I considered my time at the seminary to be a totally positive one. I believed that the small community of priests who were entrusted with our care and wellbeing were amongst the most principled people I had ever met . After Mark’s revelation other people came forward and for me the illusion was shattered. Not one of these principled men could , for whatever reason , do the right thing .
As a naïve 11yr old boy I could not see , nor understand ,what was happening. I let a good friend down. As a 58yr old,worldly wise man, I will not let him down. I am trying to give Mark and his family as much support as they need to get through these difficult times. To this end I decided to contact you.
My main concern is that if nothing positive comes from his contact with you this will have a crushing effect on him. Mark has battled on in isolation for over 15yrs exploring all options to reach the closure he needs and deserves . Mark’s efforts have been thwarted by the order at every turn . Token gestures have been made to try and placate Mark while protecting the order and giving sanctuary to the abuser . The order’s actions ,or rather their inactions have forced Mark to look for a legal assistance .
I can only think that the order’s reluctance to meet Mark’s requests was due to fear of litigation but through their inaction they have brought about the thing they feared, Mark seeks closure not financial gain .
In all honesty I can say that I have had little faith in the church in matters of abuse within it’s ranks . There has been a lack of transparency and a reluctance for independent investigation . I am no longer a practising catholic . I was amazed by the fact that Mark and his family , until recently, were practising catholics . However on reflection this is not so strange as Mark was very devout as a young seminarian . I believe that it was this devout side of Mark , as well as several other young men , that Fr Nardo exploited. Nardo would often refer to passages from the bible to justify his action. The washing of Peter’s feet by Jesus would give him justification for intimate contact . The words ” suffer little children who come unto me ” would take on a completely different meaning .
I believe that you can bring pressure to bear that will ultimately give Mark the closure ,and his family the peace they deserve. The question is “ do I believe this will happen ? “ in truth the answer is no. Pope Francis is giving me hope ,a principled man. Can he guide the church to make the changes that will bring the disillusioned back to the fold ?
Mark hopes that something will come of this contact , but I would ask , no empty promises , honesty and fairness is all Mark asks for.

Your’s faithfully Kevin Deignan

Catherine Deveney:  “Why this apology from the Scottish Catholic church rings hollow to me”

They process slowly to the altar, Scotland’s Catholic bishops, their elaborate robes and red zucchettos symbols of their power and status. Around them, the light, honey-coloured stone arches of St Andrew’s cathedral in Glasgow soar, Italian-style embellishment spiralling up the slender columns in Madonna-blue paint and gold leaf.

On one side of me, Peter Howson’s depiction of the Scottish martyr, St John Ogilvie, seems luminous, glowing gold amid black, a study of unbowed resignation. To the other side, archbishop Philip Tartaglia is nervously welcoming publication of the McLellan report into abuse in the Scottish Catholic church, apologising to victims in a carefully worded statement. As he talks I am struck – not for the first time since the resignation of Cardinal Keith O’Brien two years ago – by the way opulence sits cheek by jowl with ugliness inside the Catholic church.

“The bishops of Scotland are shamed and pained for what you have suffered,” says Tartaglia. “We say sorry. We ask for forgiveness. We apologise to those who have found church reaction slow, unsympathetic or uncaring and we reach out to them as we take up the recommendations of the McLellan Commission.”

Only hours earlier, I had been on the east coast, in Edinburgh, listening as Dr Andrew McLellan, a minister and former moderator of the Church of Scotland, delivered what he referred to as, “the most important report of my life”. His words were emotional, impassioned, gathering momentum until they became a kind of hymn to justice. He talked of the “dark past” of the church, of the enormous damage it had caused victims, of the need for the church to act “from the heart”. Crucially, he had grasped not just events but a culture, a culture of cover-up in which the church said one thing and did another. McLellan had promised a report that was neither timid nor deferential. He delivered it.

It has been a long journey to hear those words. McLellan was commissioned in November 2013 to undertake a review of all aspects of safeguarding policy, procedures and practice within the Scottish church. It had been a difficult year for Scottish Catholics. Nine months before, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, had sent shock waves through Scottish congregations when he resigned following inappropriate sexual conduct towards his own priests. A few months later, allegations of historical abuse were made involving Fort Augustus Abbey school, an exclusive Catholic boarding school in the Scottish Highlands.

I had reported on both stories exclusively in the Observer. In the months that followed, a flood of abuse victims made contact. I listened to the horrors of childhood abuse recounted by adults whose lives were hallmarked by damage. The Catholic church had shaped my childhood. Flickering candles and the heavy scent of incense. Shadowy statues in dimly lit churches, the crucified Christ crowned with thorns and stained with blood. For me, those candles now flickered precariously and the bleeding figure of Christ took on the shape of abused children.

When McLellan was appointed, I hesitated. I had information that I believed was relevant to his inquiry. Would appearing before his commission be stepping inside the story rather than reporting it? But I was a human being as well as a journalist. The voices of the abused ran loudly in my head.

In any case, I believed the commission was vitally important because it was external scrutiny. For too long the Catholic church had been allowed to be lawmaker, judge, jury and hangman in its own world. This time, the judge wasn’t one of the team.

McLellan answered my request to speak to him within 24 hours. It signalled his intent. I had made the same request to Charles Scicluna, the Maltese bishop charged with investigating O’Brien. Despite two of the four O’Brien complainants urging Scicluna to speak to me, he refused to even acknowledge my letter. If you seek truth, you seek it from all quarters.

What did I tell McLellan? As much as possible, while protecting my sources. The decades of abuse; of cover-up; of moral and financial corruption. The enormous gulf between what the church said publicly and what it did privately. Its ruthless dismissal of victims and of criticism. The fact that it failed to have coherent, consistent policies because each bishop was deemed autonomous in his own diocese. McLellan had produced reports on the Scottish prison service in the past, and was neither delicate nor faint-hearted. “I am shocked,” he told me. “And I am not easily shocked.”

By then, I had gone on to write a controversial story about Father Patrick Lawson, an Ayrshire priest who had been speaking out against abuse for almost 20 years after exposing a fellow priest, Father Paul Moore, for sexually assaulting him and abusing two altar boys. Father Lawson, who was forcibly removed from his parish and is now involved in an industrial tribunal against the church, also appeared before the commission and the final report recommends a policy protecting whistleblowers.

As Tartaglia speaks, I mentally scan the group of bishops surrounding him. The bishop of Galloway, William Nolan, who has threatened Father Lawson with disciplinary action for appealing to civil law. The bishop of Aberdeen, Hugh Gilbert, who publicly expressed sorrow for Fort Augustus and pledged every assistance to victims, then privately sent a letter to a victim’s lawyer saying it was not his responsibility. Mario Conti, the former archbishop of Glasgow, who publicly stated that abuse victims were not looking for justice but pots of gold. Maurice Taylor, former bishop of Galloway, who protected abuser Father Paul Moore and bought him a house. Later, a contributor to Twitter notes the irony of Taylor’s presence.

As Tartaglia concludes, I glance at John Ogilvie. Scotland’s only post-reformation saint, he stood firm when his brother priests fled their oppressors and was hanged for his defiance. Who among today’s bishops will stand firm? McLellan had made something clear in his address. This was the Catholic church’s last opportunity to regain public credibility. Tartaglia assures the congregation the bishops will implement the report in full. So is it job done?

My answer is to tell you my knowledge of events in the Catholic church in the period around the publication of the report. Days before, I get confirmation from the police of a serious investigation into alleged abuse by a senior Catholic cleric in Scotland. The accused is a close friend of one of the most senior members of the church’s hierarchy and was not suspended while the investigation took place, despite the report’s recommendations to the contrary.

Leaving the BBC studio where I have given a reaction to the report, I receive a call from an abuse victim. She is distraught, wants me to know something in case anything happens to her. She has told her bishop of historical abuse when she was 15 by a serving priest. The bishop’s response? Nobody need know. Then the day after the report, I receive information that the church’s lawyers are pursuing costs against Father Lawson, the main carer to his elderly mother who is suffering from dementia, because he was ill on the day the employment tribunal was scheduled and it had to be postponed. “They are obviously trying to make life as difficult as possible for him,” says Father Lawson’s lawyer.

Andrew McLellan made something crystal clear in Edinburgh. Words were not enough. They had to be followed by two things: repentance and action. Until the church’s public words match their private actions, Philip Tartaglia’s words of apology will ring hollow around a cathedral that may be beautiful, but which has an ever-dwindling congregation.

The journalist, Catherine Deveney, who wrote about the Comboni  Mirfield abuse  in The Observer, October 2014: ” Sins of the fathers: sexual abuse at a Catholic order,”  has written in today’s Sunday Observer  a response  to the Scottish Catholic Church’s  apology to the abuse that happened by their priests and religious.

Catherine argues that words must be accompanied by actions.

Mark Murray

The Catholic Church in Scotland has started a dialogue with the many adults that were abused as children by their priests.

The Catholic Church in Italy has not.

The Comboni Missionaries have not.

The Verona Fathers in the UK have not.

When I went to Verona to meet my priestly abuser I was told to “go away.”

“There is nothing here for you.”

“Move on.”

“I will pray for you.”

“You should have never been allowed in here.”

“Nardo has never been out since I have been the  superior here.”

“There is nothing as strong as prayer.”

“I will pray for you.”

How do you accept those prayers.

Mark Murray

Once again the sentence:

“If you are waiting for an apology you will be waiting a long time and your wait will be in vain:”  Father Superior of the Comboni Mother House in Verona.

“That sentence will come back to haunt him.” I had an email stating that. It was sent to me by a friend after I had met the Father Superior of the Comboni House in Verona.

I think it may be  true – that it may come back to haunt him. I do not wish that. I want to talk. I want to be listened to and I want an apology.

Where are your thoughts now Father Superior.

You, and your Order, should look, and attempt to understand us.  Have you, the Combonis, the courage to do that. Be humble. Be compassionate.

My experiences in Verona this year indicates that you are struggling and unable to do that.

You have a chance to change how many see your Church.

You have a chance to change our lives.

You are not The Catholic  Church.

Mark Murray

“If you are waiting for an apology you will be waiting a long time and your wait will be in vain:”   Father Superior, Comboni Mother House, Verona.

Taken from a meeting  I had at 10.00 hours on April 15th. 2015  with Father Superior.

I believe it to be more than a little relevant and pertinent to the following article.

——————————————————————————————————————

The Catholic Church in Scotland must move from “secrecy to openness, from systems which allow evil to survive to systems which ensure that good is done.”

A commission led by the Very Rev Andrew McLellan published a report on Tuesday detailing the failures in the safe-guarding practices of the Catholic Church in Scotland, making eight recommendations, including calling for support for survivors of abuse to be an “absolute priority”.

Mr McLellan, a former moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland and one-time chief inspector of prisons, was tasked with evaluating the procedures in place to protect vulnerable children and adults. He said the Church must make an “unmistakeable and unequivocal” apology to survivors of abuse.

Using powerful language on Tuesday Mr McLellan said: “Our report gives the Catholic Church a chance – an unrepeatable chance – to make things better.”

He warned, “If this opportunity is not taken, survivors will know there is no hope left for them within the Catholic Church in Scotland. If this opportunity is not taken, many Catholics who are longing for a new beginning will feel betrayed by their church. If this opportunity is not taken, the public credibility of the Catholic Church in Scotland will be destroyed.

‘Profound apology’

Responding to the findings, Scotland’s most senior Catholic Archbishop Philip Tartaglia has offered a “profound apology” to survivors of abuse within the Catholic Church in Scotland, describing the actions of perpetrators of abuse as “criminal and sinful.”

The Archbishop said “I would like to assure the survivors of abuse that the Catholic Bishops of Scotland are shamed and pained by what you have suffered. We say sorry. We ask forgiveness.”

The McLellan Commission said there is no doubt that a culture of secrecy and cover-up allowed this abuse to remain hidden for many years. It was not the remit of the Commission to investigate or adjudicate on current or historical allegations, however a key part of the process was to listen to the experience of survivors, whose experiences were “accepted in good faith as the lived experience of those who gave it.”

Harrowing testimony

In a harrowing glimpse into the abuse allegations the inquiry has been dealing with, the report details the testimony of one survivor:

“When I was eight years old I was regularly locked in a darkened room by the nun who was my carer and told I was being punished because no-one loved me. The same nun sexually abused me.”

In a brutal example of the alleged breaches and abuses of trust, the person continues goes on: “I told the priest in confession, the priest told the nun and together they raped me. I was still only eight years old.”

The findings of the Commission directly compares the experience of those that of young people abused in Rotherham – around 1,400 children were sexually exploited in the South Yorkshire town between 1997 and 2013. Children come to believe, or are explicitly told, that what is happening to them is their own fault and so they must not tell anyone about it: “People were discarded and filled with self-loathing.”

Change will come when – and only when – the whole membership of the Church own this desire for change
The McLellan Commission

The commission was set up in November 2013 by the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland in response to a series of scandals, including the resignation of disgraced cardinal Keith O’Brien (pictured, right.)

He stepped down from the archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh in February 2013 after three priests and a former priest made allegations of inappropriate behaviour against him.

Pope Francis has spoken powerfully about his desire to address current and past failures of the church relating to child abuse. In February he wrote to some leaders of the Church: “Everything possible must be done to rid the Church of the scourge of the sexual abuse of minors and to open pathways of reconciliation and healing for those who were abused.”

Mr McLellan says the church must turn words into action, noting that since 2007 there has been a great deal of public concern about safeguarding within the Catholic Church and a great deal of concern within the Church itself. However, in terms of policy and practices little has changed in this time.

The Commission’s findings outlines specific and detailed safe-guarding measures. This morning Mr McLennan said: “Change will come when – and only when – the whole membership of the Church own this desire for change and embrace for themselves the agenda set out in our report.

“If they take this opportunity, if the Catholic Church in Scotland grabs this opportunity, then that church will be a safer place for all.”