Dr Myles Bradbury has just been given 22 years in jail for abusing his young patients. They had put their trust in him and he had abused them. This sounds similar to what Father Domenico Valmaggia of the Comboni MIssionaries got up to.
It seems that Myles Bradbury used to give the young patients genital inspections, no matter what they had. This reminds one of Father Valmaggia who gave one boy a genital inspection when he had flu.
It seems that he abused 18 children who were in his care. Like Bradbury, Valmaggia’s victims were legion and carried out on the same basis – that he was carrying out a medical inspection. Father Valmaggia was in charge of the Comboni Missionaries Infirmary at St Peter Claver College seminary in Mirfield.
Grotesque Breach of Trust
The judge told Bradbury that his offences were a “gross and grotesque breach of trust”. Father Valmaggia’s offences were the same breach of trust perpetrate d on 11-14 year-ol boys to whom he had a duty of care – like Bradbury.
Bradbury has admitted 41 offences of voyeurism and sexual assault. In many ways his offences don’t seem even as bad as the monster Valmaggia’s. The judge said that Bradbury had casued psychological harm to his victims – just like Valmaggia.
Said one boy of Bradbury:-
“Instead of checking just my joints, he’d want to check my whole body. He’d make me strip down. He focused on my private parts.” This was exactly like Valmaggia. In fact Valmaggia went even further than this vile doctor.
Bradbury admitted 6 counts of sexual assault and 13 counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child. He also admitted 3 counts of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and one count of voyeurism and two counts of making indecent images of a child.
Comboni Missionaries Man
With Valmaggia forcibly masterbating unwilling seminarians between 11 and 14 and washing their genitals one might conclude that Valmaggia was worse.
So, why was this monster Father Valmaggia, “That evil man” as Fr Robert Hicks called him, never reported to the UK police? He was indulging in the same activities that has just got a British Doctor 22 years in jail?
Why did the Comboni Missionaries, and those who ran the order, decide that the appropriate punishment was to send him to work as Provincial Bursar in Sunnigdale, one of London’s leafier suburbs and part of the stockbroker belt.
That showed him, didn’t it?
Living Out His Life
And why was the allowed to live the rest of his life in a parish in the diocese of Como in Italy till he died, aged 94 in 2011? Why did the Comboni Missionaries protect this monster? Why did they also protect Father John Pinkman, another monster and serial absuer of boys as young as 11? They were told about him several times. Why was he given a Mass of Celebration at the Mirfield seminary when he died, in the chapel just yards from where he abused many boys and ruined their lives?
And why is Father Enrique Sanchez the Superior General of the Comboni Missionaries refusing to allow the West Yorkshire Police permission to question that other monster, Father Roman Nardo, who serially abused Mark Murray and other boys over a period of many months?
It’s about time that the Comboni MIssionaries got back to what they were set up to do and that was to save souls – and not saving monsters who abused, and permanently damaged little boys in their care as young as 11, from the UK police.
Don Enrique Sanchez, do the right thing. Let the UK police interview Father Romano Nardo.
Many of the priest who were at Mirfield during the abuse scandals of the Sixties and early Seventies were not child abusers. However, some of them were actively involved in the cover-up. Others, still, were not child sexual abusers and were not involved in the cover-up but knew what was happening and failed to report it to the police.
Others, still, simply didn’t know about it at all.
Most of the boys abused didn’t tell anyone about it at the time – even their best friends. There are incidents, now, of best friends only learning that they were abused around the same time at Mirfield by the same Comboni Missionary priests.
However, some boys did report the sexual abuse to various members of the Comboni Missionaries.
So, why would individual Comboni Missionaries cover-up the sexual abuse of boys as young as 11 by predatory priests? Self-preservation of the Order and of their fellow priests would be good answers to this question.
Vow of Obedience
The Vow they took of Obedience is the Ordination Vow most strictly adhered to by Comboni Missionaries and other Orders. It is absolute.
It has been drilled into them from an early age, as it was with we seminarians, that the Laws of God outranked the Laws of Man, that God ia a higher authority and that, therefore, his laws should be obeyed before the Laws of Man.
Somehow, that has got twisted into following the Laws and Dictates of the Order above the Laws of Man. As far as I know they haven’t yet made the Superior General of the Comboni Missionaries, and other orders, infalible.
However, they may as well be as Comboni Missionaries and other Orders follow their dictats ‘religiously’ (sic).
Let’s not call it abuse. Let’s call it statutory rape of a minor – as that is what it is in many cases. Many Comboni Missionaries have connived to cover-up multiple statutory rapes of young boys as young as 11 by serial rapists.
When the Abuse was Reported and to Whom
Mick Palmer and Ben Berrell
In 1965 or 1966, Ben Berrell, one the Junior Boys, told a friend that Fr Pinkman had abused him. Somehow, and Ben doesn’t remember how, the information came to the attention of Mick Palmer, who was in the Seniors then.
Mick came to talk to Ben and said that they should report it. As luck would have it, the head of the Comboni Missionaries in the UK, Father Bresciani, the Father Provincial, was due to pay a visit to St Peter Claver College seminary in Mifield. They bided their time.
When Father Bresciani came there, Mick Palmer went to see him to tell him of the abuse by Father John Pinkman. When he came back he told Ben Berrell to go and see him now.
Ben went – but it was a complete waste of time. According to Ben, Father Bresciani said nothing at all. He just sat there and stared and said nothing. So Ben, got up and went. “That was a waste of time, wasn’t it” said Mick to Ben when he went back to him. “Yes it was ” said Ben. They were shocked that their stories of abuse were so coldly rejected. It made them very cynical about the church and the Comboni Missionaries afterwards.
It is not known what Fr Besciani did with this information. It is not known if he spoke to the Fr Rector at the time or to his superior, the Superior General in Italy. Whomsoever, he told (if he did) it didn’t matter. No action was taken – and the sexual abuse (let’s call it statutory rape) of young boys as young as 11 continued.
According to Frank “I reported Pinkman abuse to both Hicks & Wade during confession in school year 65-66 ( I can’t narrow it down further than that). I repeated the same to Fulvi in early 66. I informed Fraser as he expelled me on last day of term in July 67 about abuse by both Pinkman & Valmaggia.
“It was in confession I told Fulvi. He was sympathetic where the other two were cold. Hicks delivered a spiel about my mind not being up to seminarian standard for suggesting anything untoward was afoot with Pinkman.
“Wade just squirmed and simply gave me a few Hail-Marys. He didn’t want to know.
“Fulvi promised nothing but encouraged me to continue my (already started) defiance of Pinkman’s instructions to visit his room. I had a bit of faith in him that he would intervene & that remained so until my departure in 67.
“Fraser did his nut, called me a liar and kicked me out of his office”.
Note:-
Father John Fraser recently told Jim Kirby in a phone call that he didn’t know about Father John Pinkman till many years later.
Whilst Father Hicks, Father Fulvi and Father Wade were told about the abuse in confession and the secrecy of the Convession Box meant that they could not repeat, or take action, on what they had heard in the Confession Box, for something as serious as this they could have asked Frank if he would like to come and see them outside of the Confession Box to repeat what he had told them there.
Their failure to do this in the 1965/66 school year meant that Father John Pinkman could safely continue his abuse till he went in 1967/68 and Father Valmaggia could continue to abuse young boys as young as 11 till the abuse was reported to Father Robert Hicks in 1969.
Their failure to ask Frank to come and see them and repeat what he said in the Confessional Box meant that many, many young lads’ lives were ruined.
Anthony Smith
Anthony Smith went to see Father Rector, Father Giacomo Ambrogio, in around November 1966, with another boy whose name he forgets, to tell him of his abuse by Father John Pinkman.
Said Anthony, “Basically I told him Pinkman had been getting me alone and touching me up and rubbing himself sexually against me and kissing me. The Rector didn’t say anything at all and certainly didn’t act on it. I knew nothing would happen and I didn’t go to see him again”.
Pinkman continued to abuse boys at St Peter Claver College seminary until late 1967.
Father Enrico Fulvi – by Jim Kirby and Anthony Summers
In early 1967 some of the Senior Boys (mainly those in 4th year), got together and decided that they didn’t want what happened to them at Father John Pinkman’s hands, in the Juniors, to happen to the current set of Junior boys. Pinkman was a monster who was a serial preyer on young boys as young as 11 (see Abuse Stories). His victims were legion.
It may have been triggered by knowledge of an incident affecting a current junior Boy.
They decided that they would put a stop to it and report it to their current Spiritual Director, Fr Luciano Fulvi, the go-to guy for the boys in matters of the soul. This was a very brave thing to do. Rather than all go (which might have been better as it happens). They decided that two of the senior boys would go to Father Fulvi to report Fr Pinkman. They drew straws and the two guys who drew the shortest straws were Jim Kirby and Anthony Summers.
They went to see Fr Fulvi and told him all about the abuse that happened at the hands of Father Pinkman. They thought that he would take action. They were astonished at what he said to them.
He told them that they must never tell anyone what they had just told him. Indeed they were told never even to speak toeach other about it. He told them that they didn’t know if Father Pinkman had used the sacrament of Confession to absolve himself of his sins.
One doesn’t know if Fr Fulvi ever passed that information on to his superiors, i.e. Fr Rector, Father John Fraser, or told the rest of the priests there.
All we know was that Anthony Summers, one of the boys who reported it, was summarily called into Fr Fraser’s Office at the end of term prior to the Easter holidays and expelled from St Peter Claver College. After being there for 4 years, his vocation was suddenly over.
Father Fulvi was tragically hacked to death many years later in the Missions in Africa, by a group of five boys, incuding his own 18-year-old cook and houseboy. They are now serving long sentences for murder.
Meanwhile serial abuser, Fr John Pinkman, remained on at the seminary at Mirfield in his position of Head of the Junior Boys. The fox remained in charge of the chicken coop.
“In 1969, a friend of mine, Eamon Crowe, ran up to me and said that Fr Robert Hicks (or Bob Hicks as he was called) wanted to see me in his room. I went to see him in his room which was just above the main entrance. Father Hicks asked me to tell him what had happened about Father Valmaggia. I told him that Fr Domenico Valmaggia had touched my balls and asked me to cough, when I had flu, in the dormitory.
“I saw the vein in Fr Hicks’ forehead pulsing away in fury and he said something along the lines of “that man interfering with my boys”. I tried to make light of the situation saying “It was a long time ago and it was nothing”. That only seemed to make Fr Hicks even more angry. He talked about “That evil man” like an Old Testament Prophet. The matter of Father Valmaggia interfering with boys at the seminary meant more to him than it did to me because he wanted to take action and called other witnesses.
“Father Hicks ended our meeting saying that he wouldn’t stand for this, telling me that everything was fine and I could go.
“I believe Father Valmaggia was slung out of the seminary that very night, although as we at the seminary know, the Comboni Missionaries look after their own. It was known the next morning that Father Valmaggia was gone. I think the boys who cleaned the Fathers’ rooms had seen Father Valmaggia’s room empty and the prefects in charge of cleaning had probably been told by Father Hicks that Father Valmaggia had gone.
“However, we all knew that Father Valmaggia had gone without any notice and he simply disappeared and nothing was ever said about him again and I never heard anything further of him.
Jim Kirby
Said Jim, “I also, on my own, told Wade about Valmaggia. I didn’t go into description with Wade as he really didn’t want the embarrassment of it hearing it but he understood. He told me to avoid going to Valmaggia. That was almost impossible”.
Jim continued to be abused by Father Domenico Valmaggia.
Brian Hennessy
Brian reported the abuse to Father Troy and a Cardinal.
Joe Colby reported the abuse to Father Enrico Fulvi, Father Anthony Wade and Father Eric Grace.
Further details are awaited
Mick Palmer
As well as reporting it to the Father Provincial, Father Bresicani, Mick Palmer also reported the abuse to Father John Fraser. Further details are awaited.
Martin Millar
As well as reporting the abuse to Father Robert Hicks, Martin Millar also reported it to Father John Fraser. Further details are awaited.
Eamon Crowe
Eamon Crowe reported the abuse to Father Robert Hicks in 1969.
Abuse Reporting to Comboni Missionaries
The full Reportage List as to who reported the abuse and to whom is as follows:-
Father John Pinkman
Father Domenico Valmaggia
Father Romano Nardo
Those Comboni Missionaries Told About the Abuse
• Father Anthony Wade (Tosh)
• Father Enrico Fulvi
• Father Eric Grace
• Father Renato Bresciani, the Provincial Superior
• Father Giacomo Ambrogio, the Rector
• Father John Fraser, the Rector
• Father Robert Hicks, the Vice-Rector
Comboni Missionaries – THE INDOCTRINATION
Predators of children can be opportunistic – but casual opportunities are rare – and without some groundwork, a casual opportunity may lead to discovery. To minimise the possibility of them being discovered, therefore, a Predator’s search for a victim requires a strategy – a series of calculated steps. Standard practice is to identify a group, seek out the vulnerable, befriend them and gain their trust, reward them and make them dependent – and then provide for their need of physical consolation. At that moment, the Predator will strike the victim he has lured into his trap – often without the victim either suspecting or understanding the true nature of the cruel and degrading crime that has been commited against him.
A Predator Priest has a head start on many because he has within his grasp a flock of young people who have been hard-wired with vulnerability. I illustrate that with my own story which starts with the visit of a Passionist priest to my school during Lent when I was about 12years old. In an assembly he berated me and my classmates with the dreadful repercussions of the Sixth Commandment – “Thou shall’t not commit Adultery”. Frankly, none of us really knew what adultery was, but as the priest had talked about the evils of impurity in the same breath, we had a rough idea what he was getting at. So, we all decided that at Friday school Benediction, we would all go to confession. Being the youngest, I drew the short straw and was first into the confessional box. I mumbled “Bless me Father for I have sinned. I have commited adultery!”. Hardly had I finished pronouncing the last consonant of those words, when there was a rush of wind – and a sound of increasing vocal thunder as the priest lunged towards the grill that separated us – and a gruff Irish voice roared, “Boy, you must be mad! You will perish in Hell!” I leapt out of the confessional in fright at this unexpected onslaught and was greeted by the startled staring eyes of a Cathedral full of turned heads looking in my direction. None of my school mates followed me into the confessional that Friday afternoon.
A year or so later in the dormitory at Mirfield, I went to sleep each night with my arms outstretched above my bedcovers as I steadfastly tried never to commit “adultery” again. In those days, God and Heaven, mortal sin, the Devil and the ever-lasting torments of Hell-fire were as real to me as were my shirt, my britches and my shoes. Whilst my friends in the dormitory giggled openly at my nightly cruciform pose in the dormitory bed, I recited a litany of prayers to ensure that if a thunderbolt struck me in the middle of the night, angels would gather me up to the gates of Paradise. I was, needless to say, a rediculous, but innocent and unwitting by-product of the pitiless, cruel and callous indoctrination of the Catholic Church – and putty in the hands of anyone in a black cassock.
THE GROOMING
The vulnerability of young seminarians at the Comboni Missionaries seminary at Mirfield in Yorkshire cannot be underestimated. In their eyes a priest could do no wrong. He was a Godly man with a special place in their lives and they aspired to be just like him. Thus, any Predator Priest intent on expoloiting them had a head start. He did not even have to identify his Victims – because all the seminarians were potential Victims – with unlimited gullability and vulnerability. The only thing the Predator Priest had to do was to seek out the one that attracted him the most or the one for whom he could fulfill a need and befriend, to whom he could express care and concern, provide help and comfort. Thus with friendly, light-hearted casual conversations and probing questions the Predator Priest would become a friend, consoler, comforter and an essential part of the victims life. When the Victim’s natural guards had been totally dropped, all that was left for the Predator Priest to do was to initiate the opportunity of the Victim’s exploitation. The grooming process was complete.
THE PREDATORS’ CRIMES OF CARNAL GRATIFICATION
In a recent legal action against the Comboni Missionaries (formerly known as the Verona Fathers) in the United Kingdom, eleven ex-seminarians settled out of court in respect to crimes of sexual abuse against them when they were minors. The Predator Priests named in the statements of the Victims and the corroberating witnesses’ statements were Father John Pinkman MCCJ, Father Domenico Valmaggia MCCJ and Father Romano Nardo MCCJ. Only the latter is still alive and still a practicing priest at the Comboni Missionaries Mother House in Verona. Victims reported the abuse in the case of each of the three priests to the United Kingdom’s West Yorkshire Police Force who were responsible for the area in which the Mirfield seminary stood – and in each case the Police determined that crimes had been committed.
Predator John Pinkman was overtly of a predatory nature. He sought out the most vulnerable – the loners, the homesick – and he made them feel special. They were his pets and the fact was not hidden – and the Victims were aware of their special place and could have recourse to him at any moment. So when Predator Pinkman initiated a private chat about the “facts of life” with each of them, they were at ease with his feigned concern for them – and they submitted to his handling of their naked genitals with trust and without apprehension. Had it stopped there, his true desires might have remained hidden, but he was unable to contain himself and some Victims had to contend with being smothered with kisses in dark corners whilst he rubbed his erections against them. His appetites became insatiable – and he became both careless and reckless and was ultimately exposed by a group of boys. No punitive action was taken against him. He was first sent to the Westminster Diocese, then to Palestine briefly and finally to South Africa. Such disposal of Predator Priests to the Missions was common. In the History of the UK Province, written by Father Robert Hicks, there is a report of a discussion between the then Provincial, Father Bresciani and the Superior General, Father Briani, that appears to allude to the practice: “Remember dear Father”, says Briani, “…Should we be responsible for creating the idea that only the maladjusted are sent to the Missions”. Sexual Predators do not suddenly change. Their appetites need constant monitoring by others and all access to minors needs to be firmly and permanently halted. But was it?
Predator Romano Nardo adopted a different strategy. With his charm and vivacious character, he created the “God Squad” – a group of his small selection of favoured seminnarians that were gathered together in his room for counselling and prayers. The boys adored and trusted him. So, when at night he wandered into the dormitory of sleeping boys and awoke one with the Biblical words “Follow me” – then the selected Victim did so. He would wash the feet of his Victim as Jesus had done. This would be extended to the purification of the Victim’s genitals and then to total nakedness and the Victim would then purify the naked body of the Predator Priest. The ultimate finale of this sinister and diabolical ritual was for the Victim to lie upon the Predator’s naked body in his bed and to breathe the breath of the Spirit into each other’s open mouths. For one Victim this became a nightly ritual with the Victim not leaving the Predator’s bed until dawn. That is the story of just one boy. There were others – and they have all given witness statements.
Predator Valmaggia did not need to seek out his Victims. They would visit him – not suspecting that, as the door of his room closed behind them, they had walked into his trap. He was the Infirmarian and he had one remedy that cured all ills. If you had a sore throat – “Take your clothes off and lie on the bed.”. If you had a sporting injury – “Take your clothes off and lie on the bed”. If you had not had a medical inspection for a while – well yes – “Take your clothes of and lie on the bed”! He got his cheap thrills by fondling testacles, but Predator Valmaggia was capable of more than simple opportunism. He had a more calculated strategy for some unsuspecting Victims – confinement to the Infirmary dormitory within a few yards of the door of his room. It was a game of hideous charades. One boy who had a renal irritation was subjected to twice daily masturbation for two weeks to ensure that everything “was working properly” – despite protestations after a week that all was well. Another was confined to the infirmary for a similar period of time because of a minor groin injury and was subjected to twice daily massages of his testacles. Yet another Victim awoke in the early morning to discover Predator Valmaggia fondling the Victim’s involuntary morning erection. So many ex-seminarians have related incidents of abuse by Predator Valmaggia that the incidents must run into scores.
From the testaments of Witnesses and Victims, the sexual abuse of seminarians had started before the opening of the seminary at Mirfield. Predator Valmaggia had also been active at Stillington before that. The original group of seminarians, known as the “Mirfield 12” (those that instigated legal action against the Comboni Missionaries and made an “out of court” settlement), have knowledge also of other Predator Priests who were active after the closure of Mirfield – and of some who had even ingratiated themselves into the homes of their Victims. Moreover, whilst only eleven seminarians have taken action to date – more are doing so. Some others have provided witness statements or accounts, but have not yet made a decision as to whether to take action or not. A total of twenty Victims have so far been identified by the group.
THE DENIAL
A Comboni Missionaries’ spokeperson has stated publicly that as the allegations by the “Mirfield 12” were related to events that happened a long time ago, it is unlikely that the truth will ever be known! What they are implying by this statement is that they do not believe the signed Statements of the Victims and Witnesses. This accusation is arrogance. The Comboni Missionaries do not have a monopoly of “Truth” because they wear a white collar around their necks.
THE OBFUSCATION
A Comboni Missionaries spokesperson has stated that there is no evidence of a culture of abuse at the Mirfield seminary. This statement is either deliberate obfuscation or they have not closely studied the record of abuse made available to their solicitors. Here are some facts: of the 20 Victims now known to us – and the 5 Predators:
• 7 Victims were abused by only one Predator on one occasion.
• 4 Victims were abused by 1 Predator on multiple occasions.
• 4 Victims were each abused by 2 Predators on one occasion by each Predator
• 1 Victim was abused on multiple occasions by each of 2 Predators
3 Victims of 1 Predator were abused on occasions – one on multiple occasions.
3 Victims were abused by one predator on several occasions.
• The total number of incidents is not precisely known, but, by extrapolation and deduction from Victim and Witnesses’ statements, the minimum number of incidents of sexual abuse – each incident a crime in its own right – is 87. However, the final number of incidents will certainly be around the 100 mark – if not more! Can the Comboni Missionaries’ spokesperson please indicate how many instances of abuse represent a “culture of abuse”?
THE ENDLESS PREVARICATION
A Comboni Missionaries’ spokesperson has publicly stated that there are priests alive today that were priests at Mirfield at the time of the alleged abuse, but have no knowledge of the abuse. This is sleight of hand. It may be true if the statement had been that there are priests alive today who were “seminarians” at Mirfield at the time of the abuse, but have no knowledge of the abuse. The records made available to the Comboni Missionaries clearly demonstrate (in the Timeline, associated Charts and Statements) that the following priests were informed of the abuse at the time of the abuse, but that until the level of the abuse became unsustainable and widespread, nothing was done to prevent more abuse. No reports of the crimes were made to the Police or to Child Welfare authorities – and because of this indolence and lack of care for those for whom they were responsible, more and more seminarians became the Victims of the Predators.
• Father Anthony Wade was informed on 3 occasions.
• Father Enrico Fulvi was in formed on 3 occasions.
• Father Eric Grace, the Head Teacher, was informed on 1 occasion.
• Father Renato Bresciani, the Provincial Superior, was informed on 5 occasions.
• Father Giacomo Ambrogio, the Rector was informed on 1 occasion
• Father John Fraser, the Rector, was informed on 5 occasions.
• Father Robert Hicks, the Vice-Rector was informed on 5 occasions.
Of the above, Fathers Fraser and Hicks are still alive. I repeat ; the “Truth” is not the monopoly of Comboni Missionaries because they wear a white collar.
THE PAY-OFF
A Comboni Missionaries’ spokesperson has stated publicly that the “out of court” settlement of the cases brought aginst them was not compensation for acts of alleged abuse but commercial transactions. This is, in effect, a further public statement made with the implication that the the Victims are not believed.
THE AFTERMATH
Predator John Pinkman died many years ago and cannot be brought to account.
Predator Domenico Valmaggia died in 2011. However, one Victim wrote to both the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster and to Father Troy, the Provincial Superior of the Comboni Missionaries in 2006 and stated that he had been abused by Predator Valmaggia and wanted to know his whereabouts. Father Troy did not reply to the letter, albeit the Cardinal did – and so the Victim contacted Father Troy at Sunningdale by telephone The Victim was told that Predator Valmaggia was not in the list of the living in the Annuario. The Victim said, “Check the Dead” – and was told that he was not in the list of the dead either. The Rules of the Comboni Missionaries Curia Administration state that records of a member of the Comboni Missionaries are to be maintained at both Provincial level and at Curia level in perpetuity. Witness to the remarkable fact that the system operates most efficiently is that the Comboni Missionaries were able to provide the Victim with all the correspondence and records relating to his attendance at the Mirfield Seminary and also of his attendance at the Sunningdale Novitiate. Predator Valmaggia was a member of the UK Province and he was a Comboni Missionary for more than 40 years. Yet they were unable to state where he was in 2006 – or were disinclined to reveal where he was – or, at the very minimum, were not interested to find out. The Victim was thus denied the opportunity to seek an acknowledgement of the abuse from Predator Valmaggia – and an understanding of the man that had abused him – and was denied the opportunity also to forgive him. This led to an inability of the Victim to find closure to the recurring torments he had suffered.
Predator Roman Nardo is still alive and has a ministry caring for the sick in the Comboni Missionaries’ Mother House at Verona. In 1996, when charges of sexual abuse were made against him, he was withdrawn from the Missions in Uganda. The Victim was informed that Predator Nardo would not be allowed to work with children again. In a recent “out of court” settlement, the Victim received thirty thousand pounds sterling.
The UK West Yorkshire Police want Predator Nardo extradited to answer allegations of crimes of sexual abuse. However for more than a decade his attendance in the United Kingdom to answer the allegations has been denied by the Superior General of the Order. The Victim states that the reasons given change from time to time. In a recesnt letter from Don Enrique Sanchez new reasons for an inability of the Predator to travel to England have been given :- that he now suffers from dreams of atrocities, witnessed in Uganda 35 years ago. Under European Law, fitness to answer questions related to crimes and attendance at a Court proceeding is a matter of intellectual capacity to understand. Througout Europe and the United States the additions to unfitness due to incapacity to understand are serious physical impediments such as deafness and speech defects. Being suicidal, ashamed of you crimes or sick with worry about an attendance at Court do not constitute unfitness to answer allegations or attend a Court Hearing. The Comboni Missionaries have not indicated what Independent Doctor who is knowledgable of the Legal Code has pronounced Predator Nardo as unfit – nor have they provided an opportunity for the Victim and his representatives to nominbate their own Doctor. The only conclusion that can be made is that Predator Nardo is being protected from facing charges of child sexual abuse by the Superior General of the Order, Don Enrique Sanchez.
The United Nations Committee for the Convention Against Torture has recently informed the Vatican that, clerical abuse, on account of its cruel, degrading and punitive nature, has now been formally included in the Convention Against Torture as a form of torture. By UN definition, Romano Nardo is now a Child Torturer. Those who shield him from extradition to face charges of Child Torture are also complicit with Child Torture. The Comboni Missionaries are in danger of finding themselves on the wrong side of the law.
THE GESTURE OF POPE FRANCIS.
On 7th July 2014, Pope Francis gave a homily at Santa Marta at early morning Mass. The subject was the Clerical Abuse of Minors. He set out they way in which he is determined that the Church will care for the Victims of clerical abuse and the manner in which those clerics who abuse minors will be treated. I read the translation of his homily on the subject in a Comboni Missionaries’website. There is no excuse for any Comboni Missionary anywhere in the world not to have read it. If they have not already, then they should immediately do so. I can only conclude from the statements of the Comboni Missionaries and their spokespersons in the United Kingdom Province that they have not read it. I suggest that they do so. I suggest also that Don Enrique Sanches reads it. I know he does not speak English – but I am sure he will find a translation in his own mother tongue. At this point in time, we, the “Mirfield 12” have to assume that it has not been read. Otherwise the only alternative conclusion would be that the Comboni Missionary Order from top to bottom have rejected the moral authority and leadership of the Pope.
An example of the betrayal of Victims of sexual abuse by the Comboni Missionaries is that when the Victim of Predator Nardo recently tried to establish dialogue with members of the order and – in his words – to extend the hand of friendship he met with the following responses.
• Father Robert Hicks told the Victim that he was not allowed to talk to him and that, anyway, his dinner was on the table and was going cold.
• Father David Kinnear Glenday, who works at the Vatican, said I have been told that I vannot talk to you; I can listen, but I cannot answer.
• Father Martin Devinish, the UK Provincial said that if the Victim rang him again, he would report him to the Police for harrassment.
THE FORWARD AGENDA
The “Mirfield 12” will strive to obtain redress for the crimes commited against them. This includes an acknowledgement of the crimes against them, an apology, reparation, restitution, rehabilitation and satisfaction. Further discussions are in hand with the United Kingdom West Yorkshire Police at revised attempts to extradite Predator Nardo to the United Kingdom. A number of the Victims have raised the failures of the Comboni Missionaries to respond in accordance with due diligence to the Victims with their Members of Parliament. The British Government Minister, the Home Secretary, Theresa May, is aware of the treatment dealt to the Victims by the Comboni Missionaries and has instructed that members of the “Mirfield 12” be invited to the Home Office in London to give their views on the qualities of the individual to be selected by the Home Sevretary as the Chairman of the new Government Inquiry established to review the manner in which institutions, such as the Comboni Missionaries, have met their obligations to the Victims of Child Abuse. The “Mirfield 12” are ‘seriously serious” about extracting proper redress from the Comboni Missionaries – and why not – for it seems that the Pope, the British Government and the UN agree with us!
Recently 10 men who had been at the Comboni Missionaries seminary in Mirfield, Yorkshire in the Sixties and early Seventies, received a payment of £90,000 between them for the abuse. The Comboni Missionaries (known as Missionari Comboniani) in Italy, through their lawyers, are saying that this is just a bean count and the cheapest way of solving the problem. They do not admit that it happened and make no apology.
The awards in the UK are small. In Ireland, I’m reliably told, payouts would start at £40,000 per person for the most minor sexual abuse. In the USA, recently, a payment for abused seminarians numbering 14 ran into the millions of dollars. Those who are abused by priests in the UK are then abused by the system. The sums, mostly around £7,000 and £8,000 do not nearly compensate for the abuse that took place, and, in many cases, the ruined lives afterwards.
Don Enrique Sanchez
We hear from the Comboni Missionaries in the UK, and Missionari Comboniani in Italy, that they believe our motive is money.
I remember telling my lawyers “I would have been much better putting the time I have spent on this Comboni Missionaries abuse case into my business. Indeed my business is suffering because of it”. One of them replied “You’d have been bettter off working in McDonalds”.
Many, many emails were exchanged between the 10 of us and I can honestly say that money was never mentioned until it came to the time to settle the case. Some of the 10 wanted to go to court with the resultant publicity. We were advised by our lawyers to settle (as 90% of all cases are) and we decided to take their advice.
Tacit Admision of Guilt
To us, it was not an actual admission of guilt but we would leave it to people to decide. We felt that if the Comboni Missionaries strongly felt that no abuse had taken place then they would have fought the case to preserve their reputations and that of their priests.
We reckoned that the general public would come to that conclusion too. If we fought the case and lost (and it was many years ago and both priests are dead) then the Comboni Missionaries would have got away scot free for all the abuse that occurred over the years and for all the cover-ups that took place and are still going on. A partial victory is better than a potential defeat.
Missionari Comboniani and our Motives
So, if the Comboni Missionaries, and Missionari Comboniani, were right as to our motives, and that we were doing it just for the money then as soon as we got the payment, we would stop and take up our personal lives again.
Instead we have stepped upour campaign. Pope Francis has recently made an apology to all those who were abused by the Catholic Church. he said that things must change. That has not percolated through to the Comboni Missionaries or to the Missionari Comboniani in Rome. They still refuse to apologise or to even admit that it happened – even after so many lives were ruined.
Therefore, as they won’t admit any abuse or to apologise, we must continue our campaign to make people aware of the abuse that has taken place so that it can’t happen in the future. This is for all the other 11, 12, 13 and 14 year-old boys that the Comboni Missionaries and Missionari Comboniani come into contact with. After all, if they don’t even admit that abuse took place then it would be much more difficult to stop it taking place again. How can you fix something that you don’t even know is broken?
When Will Missionari Comboniani Admit and Apologise?
Perhaps, one day in the future, they may follow Pope Francis (and the Franciscans) and make a full apology to those abused by members of their order. Recently, the Franciscans in America made a full apology to 14 boys abused by their order. Until those days, when Don Enrique Sanchez and Missionari Comboniani in Rome will follow the example of the current Pope and the Franciscans, then we must continue to make people aware of what they got up to. We would be failing all those young lads out there who come into contact with them, if we didn’t.
It’s funny!
All those years ago we thought of them as our moral guardians, as holy men. Now we think of them as abusers, coverers-up of abuse and hiders of serial sexual abusers of young boys. We feel it is our moral duty to stop these abusers. Pope Francis appears to agree. It is they who are out of step and not us.
We knew them as the Verona Fathers when we were seminarians. However, they changed the ‘brand name’ at some point and are now known in English speaking countries as the Comboni Missionaries. Here is what they are known in some other languages:-
The Comboni Missionaries are in many countries in 5 continents throughout the world. They were started by Daniel Comboni and were a breakaway from the Jesuits.
West Yorkshire Police have investigated accusations of abuse by several ex-seminarians who were at the Comboni Missionaries seminary in Mirfield, Yorkshire. After their investigations, the West Yorkshire Police have come to the conclusion that ‘crimes were committed’ and would have moved to arrest Father John Pinkman and Father Enrico Valmaggia if they had been still alive.
Father Roman Nardo
They have come to the same conclusion with Father Romano Nardo and would like him to come to the UK to answer questions related to the abuse. This was declined by Missionari Comboniani on the grounds that he was not mentally fit to answer questions from UK police. However, he was fit enough to say Mass in 2008, photos of which appear on the internet.
After accusations of child abuse fired at him by Mark Murray, Missionari Comboniani ordered him home from Uganda, in 1997 and sent him to the Mother House in Verona with no possible access to children they said. A recent letter from Don Enrique Sanchez, Superior General of Missionari Comboniani (capo de tutti capi of Missionari Comboniani), said that Roman Nardo had been so badly traumatised by the trouble he saw in Uganda that he wasn’t mentally fit to travel to the UK and answer questions from UK police.
Don Enrique Sanchez
However, the troubles in Uganda were decades prior to Nardo Roman’s departure which was triggered by Mark’s accusations, If Dom Enrique Sanchez and Missionari Comboniani left a priest out in Uganda, in a position of authority, who was severly traumatised, they only brought him home after he was accused of child abuse. Surely that says that they failed in their ‘duty of care’ to him and those with whom he came into contact.
They can’t have it both ways. They could, at least, allow UK police to go to Italy to ask Fr Romano Nardo some questions. If they don’t, then some people will start to question why a man who was supposedly severly traumatised by what he saw in Uganda was left out there. Others may wonder if Don Enrique Sanchez and Missionari Comboniani are simply aiding and abetting an alleged criminal.
Missionari Comboniani Moral Authority
Jesus once said “suffer little children to come unto me”. I wonder how he would have viewed Missionari Comboniani obstructing an investigation into one of their priests for child abuse.
How can they go out to parshes and the missions and speak authorititvely on Christian morals? How can they lecture Catholics on morals when they are ‘hiding out’ a man accused of multiple child abuse? One would think that most of those that they lecture have never committed a ‘sin’ as bad as that one.
Recently, the Comboni Missionaries, formerlly also known as the Verona Fathers, settled out of court with 11 men who claimed that they were abused as boys of 11-14, at a Comboni Missionaries Seminary in Mirfield, Yorkshire in the 1960s and early seventies. They paid out a total of £120,000 to the 11 men.
However, there was no admission of guilt and no apology has been given by the Comboni Missionaries. So, the ex-seminarians have decided to fight on until they get an admission and an apology. Recently Pope Francis set a new tone in the Catholic Church when he apologised to all victims of abuse by the church.
Said one of those who settled, Gerry McLaughlin who was 11 years of age when he joined the Comboni Missionaries Seminary in Mirfield, “This new attitude has not percolated down to all levels of the church and some distinctly entrenched attitudes remain”.
The ex-seminarians claim that they were abused by three separate priests. Father John Pinkman, who was in charge of the Junior Boys, used to bring the boys, as young as 11 to his bedroom, to explain the Facts of Life to them and ask them to remove their clothes so that he could explain further. He went on to abuse many of them.
Another priest, Father Domenico Valmaggia, who was in charge of the Infirmary at the Comboni Missionaries seminary, was the person to go to if the boys felt ill. Every so often, he said that he had to weigh the boys who came to see him and he asked them to remove their clothes so that he could do so. He then went on to abuse many of them.
Father Romano Nardo was perhaps the worst abuser of the lot of them. He used to show boys a cross that he had cut into his chest. He said he wanted to show them Jesus’s love. With one boy he scratched the cross with his fingernails and went on to abuse him for months and months till he was caught and sent to the Missions.
On a lighter note from our time at Comboni Missionaries in Mirfield. For whatever reason, they allowed us to have a senior football match between a combined Scotland/Ireland select & England. It was held on St Georges Day (whoever he is) in 1967. We hammered England 6-5. It was a massacre. I hit the English crossbar from the halfway line (I swear I did). I was wondering if any English guys remember those events as I do ? 🙂 Frank McGinnis.
After a couple of days a large number of seminarians, myself included, had become besotted by the dog and were more than happy to have it around, feed it and play with it.
Father Robert Hicks instructed some of the senior boys to kill the dog. The dead dog could then be used in his biology lesson (Father Robert Hicks was, at that time, the biology teacher as well as the Father Rector – the priest in charge of the seminary.
A group of about four or five – I was one of them – took the dog down to the nearby woods . The plan was to carry the dog up a tree, tie it to a rope and then hang it from a branch. I could not stay and watch what they were doing to the dog. I was physically sick and crying. I left them to it.
The head of the dog was severed, and on the instructions of Father Robert Hicks, it was boiled in the Nun’s kitchen in order for all the flesh to come off the head. The skull could then be used in a biology lesson. The torso of the dog was skinned, and also used in the same lesson.
The order to kill the dog came from a priest. Not just any priest, but the Father Rector of the seminary. It exemplifies the power that priest had over our lives during our period at the Comboni Missionary seminary. The hanging was done because we were told to do it. We did not think about what we were doing to the dog. We did what we were told to do – we followed orders.
The same for the Comboni Sisters when they were asked to boil the dog’s head in the kitchen; they too, probably did not think. Did not want to question the request of a priest. Clearaclism. Do not question the request of a priest. The priest knows best. The priest is God’s representative on earth.
I have spoken to others recently who took part in the hanging of the stray defenceless dog.
Some are so ashamed and disgusted about their actions, that they have never been able to speak to another person about it.
There are some similarities with the present:
“Just doing what i have been instructed to do by my superiors.” “I am sorry, but i will pray for you.” “I cannot speak with you.”
When we killed the dog we were children, and we responded to adults, especially adults who were Catholic Priests, in the way that children do. What was right, and what was wrong, did not enter our mind.
Sins of the fathers: sexual abuse at a Catholic order
Eleven men who trained for the priesthood at a Yorkshire seminary have recently settled their claims of sexual abuse with the Catholic order that ran it. In the latest in our series on boarding-school abuse, Catherine Deveney hears of their decades-long struggle for justice and the damage done
The face looming towards the rent boy in the London station was familiar. A face from his past: Father John Pinkman. No punter would have guessed that the rent boy had once wanted to be a priest, too. He had spent several years at Mirfield Junior Seminary in Yorkshire which was run by the Verona Fathers, an Italian missionary order. Pinkman had abused him there, was part of the degradation that led to this place, this life. The priest disappeared into the crowd, then reappeared, highlighted by light glinting off his spectacles. The rent boy caught his eye. Pinkman looked hesitant, embarrassed, then boarded a train without speaking. The last, silent goodbye.
The “boy”, who only spent a short time in prostitution, is now in his 60s. He has never had a relationship that’s lasted longer than a few months. Never achieved in life. Never felt good about himself. “I fail because I deserve to fail,” he says. His confusion now is not that different from his 17-year-old self: a boy who had sex with men, then vomited with disgust. “Guilt and fear become part of you, something you can’t shake off. I can’t tell you what a mess I was. I was terrified of growing up, terrified of men. I was all over the place. I was like an empty shell, not knowing what direction to go in.”
He wasn’t the only one to claim abuse at Mirfield. He has never taken a case against the Verona Fathers, but in the past few months, 11 British men have settled out of court with the Order, also known as the Comboni Missionaries. At least two more cases are pending and many corroborating statements have been given to lawyers by victims who want to expose what happened, but cannot face the stress of court proceedings. Confirming the 11 settlements, the Order’s spokeswoman, a solicitor with the Catholic Church Insurance Association, stressed, “the claims were made purely on a commercial basis with no admission of liability.”
The group of 11 is powerful: unified, disciplined and determined to speak the truth. “It would be nice to change the system for the good,” says one. The weight of testimony given to the Observer – witness statements, psychologists’ reports, timelines, contemporaneous diary extracts, spoken accounts – is stark and overwhelming. The witnesses were once would-be priests – the church’s own. Little wonder that one Verona Father told an ex-pupil: “If the abuse that happened at Mirfield is ever revealed, it will destroy the Verona Fathers in the United Kingdom.”
Mark Murray. Ben Morgan. Brian Hennessy. Frank Warner. Sean Dooley. Gerry McLaughlin. John Spencer. Victor West. Tony Smith. Jim Kirby. Kevin Scullin… A roll call of young boys. A roll call of shattered dreams. They are scattered around the world now – Scotland, England, Ireland, Wales, Australia, the Philippines, but all 11 attended Mirfield in the 1960s and 70s. Mark loved animals and was mesmerised when Father Fulvi, one of the Order’s missionaries, recruited him to his school using pictures of African wildlife. Ben “knew how much respect priests were afforded and wanted to be part of that lifestyle”. Brian was attracted by what he thought was goodness. “I was motivated spiritually. I felt an all-embracing desire in my bones in the same way that one is emotionally gripped and succumbs to a ‘first love’.” None became priests, though one became a brother before leaving the order. Most don’t attend church or even consider themselves Catholics any more. “I’m totally anti-religion,” says John.
At least five abusers are named in documents, but the majority of the group were abused by Father John Pinkman, Mirfield’s junior housemaster, who died of a heart attack in South Africa in 1984, aged 48; or by Father Domenico Valmaggia, the seminary’s infirmarian, who died in Italy in 2011. Had the group not settled out of court, their cases risked being time-barred. They accepted meagre compensation – some as little as £7,000 – because this was about principle and not pennies. “The guys weren’t after money,” says Matthew Blake, a lawyer for 10 of the claimants. “They wanted recognition that it happened. They wanted people to know it had been denied and that when they reported what was happening, it was turned into a matter of ‘prayer and forgiveness’.”
Mark Murray, the youngest of the group, says he had a different abuser: Father Romano Nardo. Two other witnesses have given corroborating statements against Nardo, who is still alive and living in the Order’s Mother House in Verona. Murray reported his abuse to West Yorkshire Police in 1999 and again in 2012. The Verona Fathers say they would have “strongly encouraged” Nardo to co-operate “had medical professionals not deemed him unfit to undergo questioning or travel to the UK”. For many survivors – whether abused in care homes, boarding schools or church institutions – it sometimes feels as though different parts of the establishment collude to block justice. Abuse? Get over it. Move on…
“We have conducted a thorough investigation,” says Detective Inspector Michael Brown of West Yorkshire Police, who is dealing with the case. “All legal avenues have been pursued to enforce [Nardo’s] return to the UK, but his ill health means we are unable to go through the formal procedures to extradite him.” The case, he insists, remains open and he would be keen to speak to anyone who can provide further evidence.
Mark says he was 14 when he first encountered Nardo. He realised instantly that Mirfield was not a route to exotic wildlife, but to intense loneliness. The men describe it as a cold, unloving environment, devoid of the nurturing that would have been appropriate for their ages. Mark sought refuge in Nardo, a young, eccentric, charismatic priest who was visiting Mirfield before going to the missions. Lonely, vulnerable boys flocked round Nardo. He told them about Jesus, about the demon of sexuality, about flagellation. His entourage was called “the God Squad”. “He did the usual grooming things,” explains Mark, “making you feel special…”
Nardo encouraged Mark to sleep in his bed, even putting a towel over the keyhole so nobody could see. Mark idealised Nardo who showed him a cross on his chest that he had carved with a sharp instrument. The wound was red, angry and crusted. “It was a sado-masochistic thing. He said pain brought you closer to God. He scratched out the cross on my chest with his finger nail. I wanted mine to be as red and as sore as his.”
Nardo’s advances become increasingly sexual. He began kissing Mark and told him about “the breath of life”. Mark was told to lie on top of him, putting his mouth over Nardo’s so that they breathed into each other. Nardo also washed him, starting with his feet in the way Jesus washed the feet of the disciples, but then encouraging him to remove his clothes so he could “purify” his entire body. Before long, it progressed to Mark washing Nardo. “He would make me stand at a mirror in front of a sink. I would be washing him and he would tell me to close my eyes – and that’s when he would be ejaculating into the sink.”
Perhaps the cruellest thing about abuse is that it takes a child’s limited conscience and programmes it with future turmoil when their understanding matures. By the time the man looks back on the boy, a whole network of guilt has been formed. Mark, who is married with two children, has battled post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and suicidal ideation. “I have had years to deal with this and the hardest part is that in a childish way, I thought I was in love with him. I was so infatuated and vulnerable that I would have done anything for him.”
When a priest spotted Mark leaving Nardo’s bedroom, Nardo was moved immediately to the missions. Initially, Mark was devastated. A couple of years later, finally understanding what had really happened, he was racked with fear. “I was terrified I, too, would become an abuser. I would wake each morning and think, is this the day that I will harm a child?” The best thing to do, he decided, was join the Order. If his worst nightmare came true, he would be protected – just as Nardo had been.
He spent two years as a Verona Fathers Brother in Uganda, but couldn’t stay. “I was attracted to women. I wanted a relationship.” He left in 1981, married, and began studying counselling. In the early years, his wife had several miscarriages. “I was devastated and yet there was a strange tinge of relief that was hard to understand. I thought, thank God I won’t start abusing.” It was only when he listened to a lecturer specialising in clerical sex abuse that he had the courage to ask a question. Was it true the abused inevitably became abusers? No, said the specialist.
“Something thumped me in the chest very hard. In the heart. I was gasping for breath. It was a big turning point and I realised I had to tell someone.” Despite the relief, the legacy of abuse remained. He loved his wife, but sex was tainted by disturbing flashbacks of Nardo that left him feeling ashamed. He sometimes withdrew emotionally and physically, disappearing without explanation, and he was twice admitted to psychiatric units.
He first contacted the Verona Fathers in 1997. They withdrew Nardo from the missions, promising he would never again be allowed near children – but he remained a priest. Most importantly to Mark, they never apologised, which eventually made him turn to the courts. In 2012, when he spotted an online picture of Nardo saying Mass publicly, and even delivering a sermon, he felt this showed the extent of the Order’s contempt and cover up. It triggered a breakdown and his prolonged absence from work resulted in him losing his job as a project worker with Barnardo’s.
“I just broke down. I went away to kill myself and my wife didn’t know where I was. I had a bottle of whisky and a load of pills. But I didn’t do it. I have children. I couldn’t.” What he did was set up a blog, veronafathersmirfield.com, to encourage other testimonies. Gradually, a group formed.
Last month, Mark received a settlement of £30,000. It hasn’t helped. “It makes it worse, the 30 pieces of silver. You feel empty. It’s ‘Now, go away and shut up.’ They are not interested in truth and justice. People want the truth to come out and money doesn’t bring the truth. It doesn’t change anything. It doesn’t make up for anything.” People say he won’t get an apology, but he’s determined. “I will get one, even if it means going to Italy to talk to the Order.”
And what of the others on the roll call? Brian, abused by Valmaggia, married but suffered confusion over his sexual orientation. He is now living with a male partner. Compensation: £10,000. John, abused by Pinkman, retired early with stress. “It caused me a lot of psychological damage. I suppressed all my feelings and found it very difficult to trust or have relationships.” Compensation: £7,000. Sean, abused by Pinkman, married three times. “It affected me deeply and I have never really spoken about it to anyone until recently.” And Frank, abused by Pinkman but also Valmaggia when he went to the infirmary with a cut knee and was ordered to remove his clothes, says simply: “It ruined my life.”
Then there’s Jim, a successful, gregarious businessman who dreamed constantly about his abuse by both men and became an alcoholic, now recovering. And Tony, who turned to drugs after Pinkman abused him and has difficulty controlling his anger. Then Kevin, abused by Valmaggia, who describes Mirfield as a “devil’s playground”. And Gerry, who told his lawyer that the £8,000 for his abuse by Pinkman was so small that he would have been better concentrating on his business. “You’d have been better working in McDonald’s,” retorted his lawyer.
What price a life? Very little. The amounts paid are “disgustingly small,” says Kathleen Hallisey of AO Advocates who act for Mark. “Despite the publicity surrounding Pope Francis’s commission on abuse, our experience is that they are denying in every case and people need to know that. People think it’s great that the Vatican is finally recognising this issue, but that’s not trickling down to litigation. They are still fighting every case.”
Betrayal is more acute when wrapped in pious rhetoric. Pinkman used to lurk round the showers, pulling back the curtains to stare at the boys’ bodies. He called them to his room for “facts of life” chats that involved fondling their genitals. Valmaggia used the infirmary for his prey, keeping them for days on end and subjecting them to twice daily genital “examinations”. But their priestly garb confused the boys.
When Pinkman told his victims to take off their trousers, most obeyed. “As I would have obeyed any of the other instructions I was given daily,” says one. “I had no idea what he was doing, but had been taught for so long that due to his priesthood, it couldn’t have been bad or wrong.” Pinkman insisted that he “clean” his victim’s genitals and the priest still haunts his victim. “Even from his grave he exerts some power over me. I think I would be sick if I saw him and would want to punch his lights out. I am still afraid of him.”
For Brian, it is Valmaggia’s intense blue eyes he remembers. “He would kneel on the floor in front of me and masturbate me while having a broken form of conversation with me,” he told me by email. The breach of trust has haunted his life. “Had I not served Father Valmaggia as an altar boy? Had I not watched in wonderment as he raised the Host above his head whilst he chanted, ‘Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus’! Had I not longed to participate in that great priesthood?”
Frank believes the two men knew of each other’s activities. He once fled Valmaggia’s advances, leaving his shoes behind. Soon after, he was getting changed after football when Pinkman said: “And don’t leave your shoes this time.” “I knew then that they communicated.”
The effects of abuse last a lifetime. There are many handicaps, but perhaps one of the most disabling is the inability to form meaningful relationships. Most of the group have experienced serious emotional and sexual difficulties. “I have never felt comfortable with the sexual act,” says one. “It’s associated with guilt.” “I feel as though I have let my wife down,” says another. “ I know she was sad and sensed quite early my lack of sexual desire.”
Had the Verona Fathers acted on disclosures throughout the 1960s, many cases could have been prevented. In 1964, Joe approached Father Fulvi to tell him of his abuse by Pinkman. “There was no care about the individuals abused, only loyalty to the organisation and vows of silence.” In 1965, Frank raised his concerns with three Verona Fathers. “I was informed each time that it was unbecoming and sinful to question the intention or action of any Verona Father.” In 1966, Tony says he informed the seminary’s rector. In 1967, Jim told Father Fulvi who said he would deal with it, but he must remember that Father Pinkman may have been to confession… in which case it was forgiveness, no questions asked.
In 1967, Ben discovered that Father Bresciani, head of the Order in the UK, was to visit Mirfield. He and another boy went individually to tell their stories of abuse. Both received the same treatment. “I went into the room and introduced myself to the Provincial who was sitting behind a big desk, just staring at me,” recalls Ben. “He said nothing, not a word. I told him what had happened, in the most accurate language I could muster, and still he sat in silence. I was confused, but also very nervous. When I finished my speech, I said goodbye and thank you.” Nothing was done. Individuals who complained were often expelled shortly after.
Both Valmaggia and Pinkman were removed in the late-60s when boys united to give testimony. Francis Barnes, then school captain, organised a group to confront the rector, Father Fraser, about Pinkman in 1968. “I became aware of how wide his web had spread,” says Francis. Fraser broke down in tears. “I think he realised he had to do something.”
Francis never entered the priesthood. “The abuse was widespread, the whole culture. I knew celibacy wasn’t right, that it was producing people who would veer in that direction. Even at that time, I knew something was rotten in the state of Denmark.” He only discovered the Mirfield website recently and was deeply affected. “Back then, I thought, thank Christ it’s over with. It won’t happen again. To find out those bastards allowed it to continue.”
Abuse doesn’t end when the abuser stops. The former rent boy only discovered Pinkman was dead recently. It was obvious, yet shocking. He is articulate, sensitive. It was the verbal abuse that crushed his spirit, he says. At least Pinkman was sometimes kind; it was part of the grooming process . He has seen many psychiatrists, but has never discussed Mirfield. “I wouldn’t cope with going there.”
In a statement to the Observer, the Order, using its latest figures, said: “Considering the numbers of boys who were educated at St Peter’s, the Verona Fathers absolutely do not accept that claims from 12 individuals demonstrate a culture of abuse at the seminary. There are priests who are currently members of the Verona Fathers who were at St Peter’s in the 1960s and 1970s and who never witnessed or heard of any abuse.”
The statement concludes with the current head of the Order in the UK, Father Martin Devenish, saying: “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 and our thoughts and prayers are with them.”
For the rent boy, prayers are too late. He’s had a lifetime of self-loathing. “I have never moved on,” he says. “You just get stuck there emotionally.” His voice breaks and he weeps quietly. “I just want to go back and make it ok.
Even though I did not catch any fish today, I have had a good day fly fishing.
As much as I try to forget about the abuse that happened to me at Mirfield, the consequences of the abuse are never far from my mind.
Such thoughts were with me today.
Why is it difficult for Father Sanchez to admit and apologise for the abuse that happened to many children at Mirfield.
They, the Comboni Order, must realise – or perhaps they are so far removed from reality that they do not – the pain and suffering they are causing to many, and not only to those who were abused at Mirfield – to others as well.
Sexual abuse of chidren has a way of spreading its poisonous tentacles far and wide. When the abused are adults the people around them also suffer, even if they do not know or understand the reasons for the persons unhappiness or depression.
Answer the questions Father Sanchez. Your answer, even if I, or others, do not agree with the answer, it would be an answer – that is one answer more than you have given so far.
Your silence in the matter of abuse speaks volumes. Your comment: “I am sorry but there is nothing else I can do, ” is not an honest and truthful response. That is not an answer. That is an insult.
How do you think the abuse that I, and many others, experienced at Mirfield has affected not only the abused, but also the family of those who were abused.
Father Sanchez, why is it so difficult for you to talk with us.
Sanchez, I do not know how you and some of your confreres sleep at night.
Comboni Missionaries 