We have just returned from a holiday in Europe so to all those people I should have contacted but did not , my apologies. (Tony Rowe if you are reading this I will be in touch ) I know that things are slowly gathering momentum behind the scenes, however the blog needs feeding to survive .

The blog is serving many purposes. It has become a catalyst , a contact point ,a memoir, a therapeutic aid and primarily a platform where anyone can air their opinions and thoughts . Input is what is needed to stop the blog stagnating . With the April reunion fast becoming a distant memory and everyone settling down to the everyday grind things can be put on the “back burner”. So lets hope that we can swell the ranks of the regulars with some input from the watchers .

So here is a small contribution. Firstly I was very saddened and shocked by the news of Aiden Donovan’s illness , and I much appreciate Eamon and Michael’s efforts in keeping everyone up to date with a very difficult situation for Dono and his family . It also gladdened my heart to hear that several MOBS had visited and others intend to visit if circumstances allow . I am sure that all our thoughts are with him and his family. If anyone has visited and feels that it is appropriate , please post , or perhaps if Aiden is up to it could someone let me have his email address . I have also heard on the grape vine that Fr Bob Hicks has experienced a period of bad health , I hope that he will soon be back to good health.

On our return I was surprised to find out that the inevitable had happened, several newspapers had run with a piece on the abuse at Mirfield. Everyday the papers seem to carry some new articles on abuse in some form, perpetrated by abusers from all walks of life . However the more celeb status the perpetrator has the greater the media coverage is . The Roman catholic church has quite a celeb status , but abuse carried out under it’s protection has now almost become commonplace with cases being reported on a daily basis . Every case needs to be heard and acted on . One thread that runs through a lot of these cases is that these events were at sometime brought to someone’s attention , and that someone did not believe or did not act on the information . I cannot imagine the distress and anguish that this must cause but by the same token I am in awe of the courage required to persist,” the truth will out ” . One thing that I have noted with pieces about abuse within the church , is the church’s muted comments .They should be very vocal in their condemnation and very open in their efforts to stop these events . Or is it that the rot has gone too far??

It occurred to me the other day that at past reunions when the subject of abuse was being talked about it was being discussed by a group of 50- 60 year old men in a pub after a pint or two . The events happened decades ago. Is this the reason that we can talk about it now ? Has time dulled the pain, taken the raw edge off ? . If so let me refresh our collective memories , because the abuse happened not to the 50-60 year old men but to 11-14 year old bewildered and frightened boys . Let me tell you part of my story-

I was born in Jarrow in 1955 .My family were involved in the heavy engineering industry . When my father was promoted to welding shop manager we bought a house in Felling and moved . Our local parish church was St Patrick’s and the local R C primary St John’s . These name should stir the memories of some of the old boys as Ambrose Mullroy , George Anderson , Gerald Meene and Gerald Murphy (Muff) were all recruited from the parish over a two or three year period . Fr Strong  was the parish priest , strong by name strong by nature .

At that time and in that area the church’s hold was considerable ,congregations were huge , the clergy played to full houses , they instilled the fear of god into all. The parish priest was all powerful his position in his parish was second  only to that of god himself . Hard men even like my  father (who had quite a reputation  amongst the men at welding shops 1 2,and 3 at Reyrolls , they called him Metal Mickey ! ) were in awe of all clergy. The day after Fr Fulvi made a recruiting drive at St John’s I declared to my family that I was going to become a Verona Father. Kevin Deignan was going to Africa to convert the Masai and the Karamajong after he had spent several years playing football, doing the Duke of Edinburgh award , building and sailing canoes ,swimming , table tennis , billiards ,snooker, volley ball ,basket ball, camping , walking , singing, larking about in the woods , and  generally having a great time with a little bit of academic work thrown in for good measure . Or that was my interpretation of what Fr Fulvi had said?

After the initial shock my parents warmed to the idea. I can only imagine the kudos that having a son as a priest would bring to a  devout catholic family at that time and in that close knit community . Perhaps this was among the reasons why there was no great effort to dissuade an 11yr old boy  from this momentous decision . Ringing any bells anyone ? any similarities ? . After a letter of interest , references from the parish and school , the die was set , a letter  of acceptance  was received and my life changing adventure was about to start .

In September  in the late 1960’s I arrived at Mirfield my parents dropped me off with more handkerchiefs and underwear  than I had ever seen in my life as well as something called a serviette and a ring in which to keep the mysterious  object . We said our goodbyes and I watched my family disappear down the Roe Head drive in our old Ford Anglia , what would I have given to be with them ? .The die was cast ,I knew (even at 11yrs old ) that too much emotionally and financially had been invested for me to fall at the first fence . I turned and walked into the totally alien environment of the seminary which was to become my surrogate home for the next 6yrs or so . ( yes I was one of the select band who repeated the first year) .

The early days were good for me ,  new friends , new routines  ,new freedom , I was my own man . At the age of 11 it was up to me to make my own place in this small community to stand on my own two feet. At night in the dorm after lights out , once the shadowy figure of a priest floating from one night-light to the other had disappeared ,the muffled noises of homesick new boys could be heard . No solace would be given , it would not be talked about in the welcomed daylight . Each boy would deal with it in their own way . The old hands had been through it they knew that it would pass , a few would falter  and leave . Homesickness crept up on me  and hit me like a train. I can remember the exact moment . I had come through the first fortnight relatively unscathed , kept a low profile , made a few friends , avoided confrontation , did not show any weakness that could be exploited and found out what a serviette was for !!. At rosary one Sunday evening without warning I started to cry ,sobbing uncontrollably , my whole being suddenly craved home . That little piece of Felling called me back to the comfort and security of my family who accepted me just because I was Kevin , younger brother to Michael ,older brother to Joan  and Maria ,and son to proud parents Big Michael and Big Joan . I walked out of that service to the rectors room , Fr Frazer , and told him that I did not belong here and I should return immediately home . After a brief discussion and a tearful telephone call home ,the decision was made that I should sleep on it and speak to Frazer in the morning . That night I probably contributed to the nocturnal sniffling , but I can’t remember. However I do remember that the next morning my homesickness had disappeared without a trace . I had joined the elite band of survivors , I had overcome the first and most difficult obstacle .

It now occurs to me that at this point ,at my most vulnerable  , through  sheer chance I spoke to the right person . I know some lads  were less fortunate. A predator stalks his prey he feeds on the vulnerable and the isolated . Having spent all of my working life as a shepherd I can tell you that in all that time I never seen a fox take a healthy lamb , he is an opportunist. A fox will hunt alone at night seeking out the weak and motherless , the defenceless . A junior seminary at intake time must have been the perfect hunting ground for anyone with paedophile tendencies . A priest in this environment could act unchallenged for they were untouchable, infallible , the ambassadors of god himself in the flesh . Like lambs to the slaughter boys in the exact situation I was in would even seek them out for solace and reassurance , boys who took that little bit longer to fit in , find their feet could be easy prey . To continue my analogy at lambing time shepherds are at their most vigilant .Any weak or mis-mothered lamb is caught and brought in ,treatments are given and foster mothers found . Any lamb unable to be fostered will be hand reared until it is able to rejoin the flock . Gamekeepers are contacted and rogue foxes dealt with . The safety and wellbeing of the flock is paramount. Where were our shepherds , our guardians , our surrogate parents?? Who came to the defence of the vunerable ?. Who came to denounce  and surrender the perpetrators to the correct authorities ?

To those who say or think that the order did its best ,lets put things into context . Abuse did not happen to the gnarley  old buggers singing their hearts out  at the New Inn but to  young frightened isolated children who through a devout belief trusted implicitly that the order would protect them .They were let down . If even one of them was let down then we were all let down .Remember your darkest moments at Mirfield ? We all had one , but we who came out unscathed cannot imagine the depths of despair that those who were abused felt . So they deserve our support , and the Combonis what do they deserve ?? I will let your conscience answer that .

All the best Degs (Kevin Deignan)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=QhKyoV5pXYo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fVTEoDaIDX0

A large number of people, that have left comments on the Mirfield blog about their abuse, may have felt, in the past, that they were alone.
They thought that the sexual abuse they experienced at Mirfield, had only happened to them.
That is, often, how the perpetrator grooms the child – convincing them that they are the only one that matters – that they are special, and more important than all the other children around them.

The blog has been, for some people, the catalyst that has put them on the journey to find, justice, closure and inner peace. It certainly has been that way for me.

Prior to the blog, I too thought, I was the only one that had been abused in the way that I had been at Mirfield.

It has been a long and drawn out process to reach ‘the place’ where I am at now.

The Mirfield blog has empowered people. It has given them the the power and the courage, as a group, to seek recognition and justice for the inexcusable abuse that happened to them and their friends at Mirfield. The abuse they suffered has blighted and effected large parts of their lives for many years – unfortunately, in many cases, the pain and suffering continues to this day.

Mark Murray

I suspect, some of the children that went through the Verona Father’s Junior Seminary at Mirfield, that are now adults, are thinking, how is it that abuse was allowed to take place at Mirfield – and more importantly why was it allowed to carry on?

I know, and a part of me understands, the feeling that some people think that the ‘Mirfield Memories Blog’ has run its course and it should be wound down.
However, I also know there are some ‘Mirfield Old Boys’ that, for the first time in their lives, have been able to speak about their abusive experiences at Mirfield. They have had the strength and courage to do this because of the blog – other people have written on the blog, and this has had a massive positive effect on them.

Their responses and experience may not have been written on the Mirfield Blog, however, the blog has been a catalyst for them – it has given them the courage and strength to talk and email others about their time at Mirfield.

They no longer feel alone. They do not believe that they were the only one’s abused – they now know that there were others. This knowledge gives them, perhaps for the first time in their lives, some sense of control in dealing with their abuse.

I think, a large number of ‘Mirfield Old Boys’ – the abused and the non abused – are trying to make sense of what took place at Mirfield, and because of that I believe that the Mirfield Blog, at least for the time being has a purpose to serve.
Write on the blog If you have any thoughts or experiences – it can only help.

Mark

Bishop Wright has apologised that priests in his diocese used their positions of trust, power and authority to sexually abuse children, and then used that power, control and authority, to conceal their acts. He went on to say, that the abuse perpetrated by the priests was: “exacerbated on occasion by the failures of church leaders” and had caused “real and enduring harm” to the victims, their families and many others.”

Why will the Verona Fathers not apologise for the sexual abuse that took place at Mirfield? As far as I am aware, they know now, and they knew then, that priests at Mirfield were abusing children.

Why is it that so many religious, orders, even when faced with overwhelming evidence of abuse, will not hold their hands up and say we failed and we are sorry, so let us talk? Instead, what seems to happen, and what is often said is – abuse did not take place; it was just inappropriate actions; you are lying; you are in it for the money; it was too long ago; we dealt with abuse differently then – or as I heard recently, “it is a conspiracy and you want to destroy us.” It was then followed by: – we the priests, and the order as a whole, are also suffering as a result of the abusers (that were named).

They are all in denial land or cover up land – whatever land it is, it is a completely different place to the one that I live in. We must protect our name and our church at all costs – that is the land that they seem to be living in.

Their Church – what, and who, is their church, and what does it stand for – more importantly, who does it belong to and where is it now?

They have no idea, they could not possibly have – or at least I hope so – of the pain and suffering that they are causing so many people by their inaction.

Mark

http://www.theherald.com.au/story/1608135/video-bishops-unreserved-apology-inquiry/?cs=305

Mark Murray ! I remember your name, do you remember me?

John McCabe.

Reply

A Mirfield Boy says:

12 June 2013 at 6:09 PM (Edit)

I am sorry, I do not.

A Mirfield Boy says:

12 June 2013 at 6:28 PM (Edit)

What year where you at Mirfield?

I was there from September 1969 – Fraser, Russell, Heirons and Hicks were rectors during my time there – Luigi Cocchi, may have, had a period as rector at some point

I knew of a Father Wilkinson, and met Maguire on more than one occasion. Neither of them were based at Mirfield during my time.

Mark

John McCabe says:

12 June 2013 at 5:14 PM (Edit)

Is there anyone out there who might remember the reign of wilkinson and maquire….a reign of unspeakable terror, a compact contrived and brokered in the darkest hour of my life and I am certain of many others…

Written by Dr Ann Olivarius on May 31 2013

When the Australian government announced that it would establish a Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Cardinal George Pell, Catholic archbishop of Sydney and Australia’s most senior Catholic, objected to his organisation being singled out by the media, claiming that the Catholic Church was not “the only cab off the rank” when it came to the sexual abuse of children.

Leaving aside his turn of phrase, on the face of it, his objections seem to have merit. Day by day it becomes clear that there have been incidents of sexual abuse in almost every type of institution which has any dealings with children. Catholic priests, protestant ministers of every description, Jewish rabbis, schoolteachers, Scout leaders, dance teachers, youth workers, television personalities – the list goes on and on. The Catholic Church is certainly not alone.

This, however, is only a superficial assessment of the situation. If one could imagine a Catholic priest, a Protestant minister, a Jewish rabbi and a Scout leader, all committing sexually abusive acts identical in severity and frequency Cardinal Pell would, nevertheless, still be in error in claiming as he seemed to do, that the Catholic Church is no worse than any other institution in this matter.

All sexual abuse, whether committed by a member of an institution or by a private citizen, has some things in common. Sexual abuse is always an abuse of power and authority. It is always a betrayal of trust and it always committed with some form of duress. Often there is a simple use of greater physical power. Adults are always physically stronger than children and men are more often than not stronger than women. Physical strength is often the first line of duress used by abusers, but many other techniques are used: long-term grooming designed to convince the child that the abuser is his or her friend; claims that no one will believe the child if he or she tries to disclose, and threats to retaliate if the child tries to.

There are also common elements in the effect sexual abuse has on victims. Problems like adult sexual dysfunction, depression, low self esteem, the inability to form relationships, feelings of betrayal, powerlessness, shame and guilt are just a few of the burdens survivors of child abuse carry with them, usually forever. The infliction of all this injury on a person is most certainly a crime, regardless of who commits it.

When the crime is committed by a Catholic priest, however, the crime is compounded because of the very nature and structure of the Catholic Church. There are four interrelated reasons as to why this is so.

To begin with, the nature and structure of Catholic organisation and the theology surrounding priesthood in the Catholic Church means that its priests are not the same as leaders in other religious groups, even though they perform many of the same duties and roles. The Catholic Church has always proclaimed that priests are men set apart from other men (not to mention women and children), by virtue of the sacrament of ordination. The Church claims that ordination enables a priest to act as a representative of Christ (Note 1581 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church 1994) and that it possesses him of “the authority to act in the power and place of the person of Christ himself” (Note 1548 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church 1994).

Secondly, the Catholic Church vests in its priests the two most important elements of its life as a religious organisation, namely the power to celebrate Mass and the power to forgive sins in the name of God. Both of these powers are fundamental to the very existence of the Church. The Mass is seen as the only means whereby Christ or God can be present to the people through the consecration of bread and wine and only priests have the power and authority to perform this consecration in the celebration of the Mass – so without priests there can be no Mass and without the Mass there can be no church. The mainstay of Catholic teaching is the doctrine that humans are sinful creatures who require God’s forgiveness in order to avoid an eternity of suffering. For a Catholic, remorse and determination to do better in future, no matter how sincerely felt and adhered to, are not enough for the remission of past sins – what is also needed is the intercession of a priest. Only a priest has the power to grant absolution from the effects of sin. Thus through the authority to celebrate Mass and the authority to grant absolution from sin priests are vested with the astounding power to control access to God, and to speak for God.

Thirdly, the Church has buttressed the power and status of its priests by creating around them an aura of mystery and inscrutability. So, priests have traditionally lived apart from the ordinary people, and they have dressed differently and their difference has been justified and reinforced by mandatory celibacy. Indeed, celibacy is seen as an almost superhuman power over sexuality which in itself gives the priest extra authority and mystique.

The Catholic Church’s teachings about sexuality is the fourth element which makes sexual abuse by Catholic priests a more heinous crime than abuse by other categories of leaders. Catholics are taught from a very young age that outside of marriage sexual activity of any kind, in thought, word or deed is mortally sinful. In addition homosexuality is seen in traditional Catholic teaching as being an abomination in God’s eyes.

This then is the nature of Catholic society. In its pure form, it is hierarchical and deeply unequal with the clergy being invested with the political and spiritual power to determine whether an ordinary person will or will not be saved, and these powers are overlayed with the strongest possible prohibitions against any kind of sexual activity outside of marriage.

All sexual abuse is horrifying but it is not hard to imagine the extra layer of horror felt by a young Catholic child if the abuser is a priest. Here is a man who, in the mind of the child is Christ’s representative on earth asking or forcing her or him to do things which this very man probably rails against from the pulpit on a regular basis. It is not hard to imagine the complete physical and emotional paralysis that such an event would occasion, but that is just the beginning. The church has encouraged the child to think that the priest can do no wrong so childlike reasoning would therefore say that these obviously wrong activities must be the child’s own fault. Not only that, but by his actions the priest has condemned the child in her or his own mind to eternal damnation for he has effectively blocked off access to the only thing which the child thinks can provide salvation, namely confession and absolution. How could it be expected that a child would be able to confess to her or his parish priest the acts which have been committed with the very man behind the screen, or to someone who almost certainly knows the abuser and will naturally be his ally? . In most churches, but especially in a small community the supposed anonymity of the confessional is a farce. The argument that confession is not made to the priest but to God because the priest is acting in persona Christi, is really not very helpful either. If the priest is acting in persona Christi, in the confessional it is reasonable for a child to assume that he was also acting in persona Christi when he was committing the abuse.

When a Catholic child has been abused by a Catholic priest he or she is left to deal not only with the physical and emotional wounds which every abuse victim faces but also with a sense that they have been abused and abandoned by God himself. If one believes the theology and doctrine it is hard to imagine a worse condition. Many victims have described their experience as “soul murder”. This conviction, of course, leads to an even more troubling thought — because it is possible to believe that if one’s soul is already dead and condemned to hell for all eternity, the death of the body is a very minor step indeed. It is little wonder that so many victims of Catholic priests have committed or attempted suicide.

This is why Cardinal Pell is wrong and disingenuous when he claims that the record of the Catholic Church in matters of child sexual abuse is no worse than many other organisations. The perpetration of the abuse in a Catholic context carries with it an overlay of theological, spiritual trauma which is exclusive to the Catholic Church.

There is, however, one more level of extra culpability for the Catholic Church. It is now common knowledge that the upper echelons of Catholic hierarchy systematically denied or covered up abuse by priests for decades. Even if the priests themselves did not understand the full spiritual horror of the abuse they were committing (and it is hard to imagine how that could be), any bishop to whom this abuse was reported should have had a sufficient grasp of Catholic theology to know that this apprehended “soul murder” was an unavoidable outcome of the physical acts. To that extent, those bishops who covered up or denied the abuse are accessories to this extra layer of crime, which is exclusive to the Catholic Church. It is to be hoped that they will be held culpable and accountable.

Posted by Mark Murray

Copied from the editor’s desk -The Tablet — Abuse inquiry urgently needed
18 May 2013

From the court appearances of accused TV stars to historic scandals involving priests, music teachers and care workers, to the killing of young girls, Britain’s news pages, websites and TV bulletins are awash with cases of the sexual abuse of children. This week the shocking details of the depravity of a group of men in Oxford were revealed during a court case which saw a gang of eight convicted of the rape and torture of six girls over more than a decade. The conclusion to be drawn is that in Britain sexual exploitation and predation is endemic; that it goes back decades and continues into the present. Many perpetrators have been allowed to continue their crimes unchallenged.
The Catholic Church was one of the first institutions in this country to stand accused of negligence in its dealing with the child victims of abuse and the handling of their abusers. Some critics of the Church blamed its tradition of a celibate priesthood, claiming that sexual frustration was the primary cause. But the scandals now coming to light show that celibacy is not a common denominator. Paedophilia is about power, about people in positions of authority, or who are famous, or are even ordinary but have gained power through long-term grooming of children, who target the vulnerable and defenceless.
There are other common factors. Paedophiles continue targeting young people because institutions allow them to do so. Sometimes those institutions were the ones to which the criminals belonged – the Catholic Church, the Church of England, the BBC – and which failed to act because those in charge were more concerned with the institutions’ reputations and the impact of scandal than with the pain of a child.
On other occasions, as has happened in Oxford, as well as Rochdale and other northern towns, the abusers got away with it because the police, social services and others in positions of responsibility failed to intervene, or did not do enough to protect the children from the perpetrators. There has also been speculation that some agencies failed to act in the case of the Oxford and Rochdale scandals because of racial and religious sensitivities: the victims were white; their attackers were Asian, often Pakistani Muslims. While some experts now accept that white girls have been preyed on by such men who are linked to organised crime, others point out that group grooming is a small part of the picture and that white males, operating as individuals and often through the internet, are a far bigger problem.
What is evident is that the causes of paedophilia, the incidents of it, safeguarding procedures and best practice, all merit further study. In Australia, the response has been to set up a royal commission into child sexual abuse, with a particular focus on institutional cases. A similar inquiry in Britain would enable victims to have their stories heard; it would be an opportunity to consider to what extent changes in culture are needed or whether individual culpability is what matters most. And it should also consider whether the law needs to be changed, making it a legal obligation to report suspected abuse to the police. For many victims, the worst aspects of abuse are being ignored and denied justice. A public inquiry would offer the chance to right these wrongs.