Tag Archives: father romano nardo

The Forgotten Victims of Comboni Missionaries Sexual Abuse

Posted on by gerambo

Comboni Missionaries Sexual Abuse

We have documented here the sexual abuse that took place in Mirfield in the Sixties and Seventies at the hands of Father John Pinkman, Father Domenico Valmaggia and Father Romano Nardo as well as by lay teacher Michael Riddle.

Many of the ‘Boys’ who had been abused assumed that the other Boys would be sympathetic when hearing about the abuse they suffered at the hands of those priests and lay teacher when they were in their early teens.

However, this has not been the case as regards all of the Boys who were not abused.

Michael Riddle

This came to a head this week with the post about Michael Riddle, the lay teacher who abused several boys whom he taught at Mirfield.

This brought to a head this ‘disbelief’, if I can call it that, with an article from Andrew Routledge saying that he spent many an hour smoking a pipe in Riddle’s room without being molested or abused.

Another ex-Boy was angered by the article too and sent me an email saying that he didn’t want to receive any more emails with links to articles as he was “sick of listening to such crap”.

He then had an angry email exchange with Tony Smith.

Abused and Angry

The reaction from Andrew and this guy angered those who have been abused.

Their motivations have been questioned in the past by the Comboni Missionaries who have said that it’s all about the money.

However, I found Andrew’s article quite considered and natural. It was a natural reaction.

When a child in a family reports abuse by a parent or a relative, say an elder cousin or uncle, the standard reaction of others in the family is to protect the parent or relative who has been accused.

There is a disbelief that it happened. In fact the abused child is often vilified.

This is a knee-jerk reaction and often , but not always, opinion gradually turns around and blames the perpetrator and not the victim.

However, the victim feels abused twice, firstly by the perpetrator and then by those in the family who don’t believe them and sometimes go further than that and accuse them of lying and making it up.

Mirfield Family

At Mirfield, the priest and teacher there were more than just teachers. The priests, like the other boys there, were family. We had left our own families behind to become priests and this was our new family.

The ‘Fathers’ were our substiture fathers – especially those closest to us like Pinkman who was in charge of the junor school.

So, it is not surprising that some of the Boys who were not abused react in this way. Many of the Boys see their period as a happy, idyllic part of their lives.

They looked forward to the reunions where they would meet up with other Boys from that idyllic period.

Paedophile Monsters

Imagine their shock to be told by some of the other boys that the place was not so idyllic as they thought and that some of the priests and lay teachers that they idolised were actually paedophile monsters who preyed on multiple boys often as young as 11 years of age.

Others that they idolised, who were not paedophiles, were involved in covering it up and hiding their crimes from the police.

That must have been a terrible shock to the system to those coming to what they expected to be happy reunions.

Abuse Questions

A typical reaction would be “If he was a paedophile then why did he not abuse me?”

Of course, there are several potential reasons for that. Paedophiles tend to prey on those of a certain profile, i.e. those they see as most vulnerable. Indeed the abuse of several of the boys comenced after boys going to priests’ rooms, like Pinkie and Nardo, in tears from feeling homesick.

Those who were not abused can consider themselves very lucky. So many lives have been ruined by sexual absue by priests at Mirfield. It could have happened to them too.

Who can say why it was that the priests did not choose them to abuse. I don’t suppose that they could have abused everybody. There were 31 boys in first year alone when I was there. They could afford to pick their victims carefully.

Nothing said at the Time

“How come nothing was said at the time, if there boys abused when I was there?” is another standard reaction. Again this is natural and par for the course.

So many boys suffered in silence thinking tht they were the only ones. Indeed it was a surprise to them to find out at reunions (or by finding this blog) that it was happening to others – and by the same priests who abused them and who were telling them that they were special.

It’s also not entirely correct as several abuse victims reported their abuse at the time but were most ignored – although boys reporting their abuse did lead to Valmaggia and Pinkman beng moved on elsewhere immediately.

Loss of Their Innocent Childhood Memories

Although they were not abused themselves, some of these others are suffering a loss too – mabe not of their innocent childhood – but of their innocent childhood memories of an idyllic period and an idyllic place in their early lives.

Many don’t want to believe it, certainly at first.

They may even be angry at those who are destroying ther memories of this idyllic childhood at Mirfield and the ‘wonderful’ priests and lay teacher there.

Even if they believe it, they question the mortivations of those who say they were abused.

They also seek to protect the memory of the abuser, if they are dead.

They seek to protect those involved in making sure that the abusers were never prosecuted for their crimes and ensuring that the abusers were simply shifted elsewhere – possibly to abuse again.

Unsympathetic

Those abused are very angry at this.

How could they think like this after everything that happened to their ‘fellow boys’? Why have they no sympathy?

I would say to the abused that it is perfectly natural for these Boys to think this way.

It happens in every single family where abuse takes place.

I would say to The Abused “Let’s not villify them. Let’s explain. It is a shock to their systems. Their childhood memories have been dashed on the rocks and they don’t like it”.

Real Villains

I think that most of them (but not all) will come to see who the real villains are.

It was not the abuse victims who have ruined their idyllic memories of Mirfield.

It was the actions of the abusers that did this – and the actions of those who covered it up and who are currently still covering it up and hiding a sexual abuser of young children in Verona in Italy.

The abuse victims are only the messengers.

We say to those doubting them “Don’t shoot the messengers. Blame those whose actions blighted Mirfield – not those who told you about it”.

Thanks for your article Andrew.

If you wish to comment on ths article please do so below. We welcome comments from all people and whatever their views. We know that there are two sides to ths story.

After all, we are a family!

Comboni Missionaries Snub Pope Francis

Posted on by gerambo

No Place for Those Who Abuse Minors

Pope Francis sent out a letter on February 5th which stated that, in the Catholic Church, there is “no place for those who abuse minors”.

This letter appeared on the Comboni Missionaries own website http://www.Combonianum.org.

Yet the Comboni MIssionaries have always had plenty of places for those of their Order who abuse minors.

For Mirfield Infirmarian, Father Domenico Valmaggia, who abused many, many boys at the seminary in Mirfield, there was his home parish in the diocese of Como in Italy. That was one place that the Comboni missionaries found for those who abuse minors.

He was sent there after several boys told Father Robert Hicks that they had been abused by him. Needless to say the UK and Italian police were not told of his crimes and the Comboni Missionaries’ and Catholic Church’s procedures were not followed.

Father Pinkman

Then there was Father Pinkman, who was sent away after being reported by several of the boys at Mirfield. He abused, and ruined, the lives of many of the boys at Mirfield.

Once again the police were not told about his crimes and he was found places at other Comboni Missionary places such as in South Africa and also in the Westminster Diocese. It seems he worked for the Jumbulance.

According to Mark Murray “He was based at 39 Eccleston Square. I remember being told by a Comboni that he worked for the Catholic Bishop’s Conference”.

According to Brian Hennessy “After Westminster he went to Palestine. This was a deal between the Superior General and the then Archbishop of Boston which was arranged at a personal meeting between the two when the Superior General did a tour of the North American Province. From there he went to South Africa. There’s no indication that his Paedophilia was ever discussed with the Boston Archbishop of course”.

When he died, a Mass of Celebration was said, in, of all places, the chapel at the Seminary at Mirfield, just yards from the bedroom where he had perpetrated so many acts of sexual abuse aganst boys as young as 11 years of age. We are told that the homily for this monster was given by Father Robert Hicks.

Catholic Reformation

So, have the Comboni Missionaries reformed? Is this abuse and its cover-up a legacy of the past?

No, it is not!

Despite Pope Francis saying that there was ‘no place for those who abuse minors” as recently as February, the Comboni Missionaries still have at least one place for them as recently as May 2015.

That is in the Comboni Missionaries mother house in Verona in Italy where multi-abuser Father Romano Nardo is hidden out by the Comboni Missionaries.

Romano Nardo

Above is Father Romano Nardo concelebrating Mass with other priests in 2008 – long after he had been diagnosed as mentally unfit to answer police questions.

Sexual Abuse at Mirfield

For many years at Mirfield he sexually abused many boys, including Mark Murray.

When, many years later, in 1997, Mark reported this to the Comboni Missionaries, they immediately brought Father Nardo home from Uganda and told Mark that he would never have access to children again. It seems that he admitted his abuse.

However, once again, the Comboni Missionaries did not report this crime to the police – even though they appeared to act, on it themselves, as though they believed it and Father Nardo appears to have admitted it.

Father Romano Nardo saying Mass in 2008

Father Romano Nardo saying Mass in 2008 in his home town of Pordenone

West Yorkshire Police

Mark reported all this to West Yorkshire Police who have said that they believe that a ‘crime had been committed’. They put in place extradition procedures so that they could bring Father Nardo back to the UK for questioning.

They were refused permission, with the Comboni Missionaries saying his time in Uganda had made him incapable, mentally, of being interviewed.

This is despite the Comboni Missionaries leaving Father Nardo in a position of authority in Uganda for 20 years till 1977 until Mark Murray’s complaint. Surely if he had been affected badly by what had happened in Uganda many years before, they had failed in their duty of care to him by not bringing him home before Mark’s complaint.

Mother House in Verona

Indeed they brought him back to work at the hospital that the mother house in Verona has now become, where he has been till Mark’s recent trip to Verona.. That’s surely not a job for someone who is mentally incapable of answering questions.

Despite Mark’s recent visit to Verona to meet up with Father Nardo, the Comboni Missionaries still snub Pope Francis by providing a place for an abuser of young boys.

Said Pope Francis, in a letter this year which the Comboni Missionaries published, there is “no place for those who abuse minors”.

It appears that the Comboni Missionaries don’t ascribe to that view and continue to snub the Pope’s stated wishes.

Supreme Head of the Catholic Church Snubbed

Are they a schism?

Do the Comboni Missionaries not follow the Supreme Head of the Catholic Church?

If not, then whom do they follow – or are they a law unto themselves, both as regards the laws of the lands where they operate, and, as regards the laws and procedures of the Catholic Church and the stated wishes of its Supreme Head?

To see the letter from the Pope on the Comboni Missionaries own website click on http://combonianum.org/2015/02/05/no-place-for-those-who-abuse-minors/

Comboni Missionaries Abuse | Mark Murray Interview on Channel 4

Posted on by gerambo

Father Romano Nardo

After his sensational visit to Italy to confront his abuser, Father Romano Nardo. Mark Murray was interviewed for 5 minutes for Channel 4 News.

If you want to read and hear the interview click on Channel 4 Interviews Mark Murray

Channel 4 report that Mark secretly recorded an interview with Father Roman Nardo in the Comboni Missionaries House in Verona Italy. He had been given the camera watch by la Repubblica newspaper.

Comboni Missionaries Sexual Abuse

Mark had been abused by Nardo 45 years before repeatedly and had been asking for a meeting with Nardo for 45 years.

He had been repeatedly turned down.

So, he took matters into his own hands and flew to Verona to meet Nardo. He took them off guard. They hadn’t expected that.

Channel 4 News asked him all sorts of questions about the meeting, which you can read in the article and watch the video of the interview.

Forgive Me Says Nardo

In a crucial part of the video, published on La Repubblica’s website, Nardo comes close to admitting his abuse.

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

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

West Yorkshire Police

Mark believes that Nardo should be arrested, put on trial and imprisoned. However, Nardo is being protected by the Comboni Missionaries and they won’t hand him over to West Yorkshire Police who belive a crime has been committed and want to interview him.

Mark, however, says that he forgives Nardo.

Those who he cannot forgive, he says, are the Comboni Missionaries, and especially those who have frustrated his efforts to get justice and to get to meet with his abuser, Father Romano Nardo, over many, many years.

Even though there is a new Pope who is very much against clerical abuse, the Comboni Missionaries remain in the past.

Comboni Missionaries in Denial

Despite the mounting evdience, the Comboni Missionaries will not apologize, will not hand over a suspect for questioning to police and will not even admit that any abuse happened at Mirfield.

That is despite there being almost 1,000 documented instances of abuse on 18 boys at Mirfield by multiple priests and a lay teacher over two decades in the Sixties and Seventies.

Till the Comboni Missionaries admit the abuse happened and apologize to those who were abused then the campaign by the Mirfield 12 will continue.

Mark Murray Meets his Comboni Missionaries Abuser at Last

Posted on by gerambo

Mark Murray’s Abuser

Many, many years ago, in a seminary in Mirfield, Yorkshire, run by the Comboni Missionaries, Mark Murray was repeatedly abused by a priest of that Order whilst he was just 14 years of age.

The priest’s name was Father Romano Nardo. There was an element of masochism, too, as Nardo scratched a cross on his own chest and that of Mark Murray as well.

Nardo was there from Italy till the summer of that year to learn English before being transferred to the English-speaking Missions in Uganda.

Missions in Uganda

Mark was regularly in Nardo’s room being abused for four months. He was spotted by another priest coming out of Nardo’s room at 6am. Shortly afterwards, Nardo was transferred to the Missions in Uganda a couple of months early.

The abuse has severely affected Mark’s life and that of his family. In the late Nineties, Mark reported Nardo to the order and they promptly brought him back from the Missions in Uganda after 20 years service there.

They told Mark that Nardo would never be allowed access to children again. They moved him to one of their buildings in Verona, Italy.

West Yorkshire Police

Mark also reported his abuse to West Yorkshire police. In the late Nineties they tried to get Nardo extradited to be interviewed and to face charges. However, this request was turned down by the Comboni Missionaries saying that Nardo wasn’t mentally able to be interviewed over it.

Despite this, Mark has pictures of Nardo concelebrating mass many years after that.

Mark has asked to meet Nardo many times. He has also asked for an apology from the order. He has been in touch with the No. 1 Comboni Missionary in England, Father Martin Devenish, who told him he would get the police onto him.

Comboni Missionaries

He contacted Father Enrique Sanchez, who is head of the Comboni Missionaries worldwide, but was rebuffed by him too. He also contacted Father David Glenday, the ex-head of the Comboni Missionaries, who now has a senior position at the Vatican. He asked Mark to write a letter to Father Sanchez. This got him no further.

It was at an impasse. The Comboni Missionaries not only refused to apologise but would not even admit that any abuse had taken place.

This is despite there being over 1,000 documented instances of abuse of 18 boys in the Sixties and Seventies at the seminary in Mirfield by several different priests and a lay preacher.

Verona Fathers Trip

So, Mark decided to take the matter into his own hands.

A few weeks ago, Mark decided to fly to Verona to try to meet his abuser in person. After all, he knew where he was.

Instead of just doing that he was advised to contact the local press there – otherwise he could end up in an Italian police cell. A bunch of local priests would be more likely to be believed than he would be.

It’s just as well that he did as the Comboni Missionaries were not only unsympathetic but they accused him of being drunk and called the police.

La Repubblica Newspaper

Luckily, though, Mark had contacted La Repubblica, a major newspaper in Italy.

They gave him a camera disguised as a wrist watch – and so he had evidence of what took place – and that he wasn’t drunk.

When Mark arrived, he asked reception if he could go into the chapel there. After a while, he plucked his courage and asked reception if he could speak to Father Romano Nardo. She went to fetch him.

When Nardo came out, he knew who Mark was within seconds.

You can find the La Repubblica article and the videos of the meeting between Mark and Nardo by clicking on Comboni Missionaries Abuser Meeting

There is a not very good Google Translate into English version here

Channel 4 News

Mark was later interviewd by Channel 4 Television in the UK.

After all of this, the Comboni Missionaries have still not apologized, still do not admit any abuse took place and have moved Nardo to another location in case he is harmed by Mark Murray.

Indeed, they are threatening to sue Mark.

When will they ever learn!

When will they ever learn!

If you want any further information on Mark’s case or any of the other abuse cases at Mirfiled, ust contact us.

 

 

Comboni Missionaries | Were You Abused by Them?

Posted on by gerambo

Comboni Missionaries

For the past few years we have been compiling a list of those that were abused by the Comboni MIssionaries at their seminaries in the UK and especially at St Peter Claver’s College, Roe Head Mirfield from the early Sixties to the mid- Eighties.

Some of us have sued the Comboni Missionaries and they have settled with us outside court rather than go to court. However, two things that they have refused to do – admit that abuse took place and apologise.

So, the fight continues.

Publicity

We have had some success in publicising what happend all those years ago and the extent of the cover up then and now.

There have been articles in the Sunday Observer, Daily Mail Online, Liverpool Echo, Greenock Telegraph (front page), Mifield Reporter and on BBC Yorkshire amongst others.

West Yorkshire Police have investigated and are confident that ‘a crime has been committed’ and that if Father Pinkman and Father Valmaggia were alive then ‘arrests would be made’.

Comboni Missionaries Cover Up

They also want to interview Father Nardo Romano who is accused of abusing Mark Murray and other boys on multiple occasions. However, the very top of the Order has refused that request saying that he the paedophile priest is not mentally fit to answer questions. That is very convenient.

This is despite the Order telling Mark Murray, when he made the accusations, that Father Romano was being brought back from teh missions in Uganda immediately and would never be allowed to be near children again. If they did that, they must have had at least a slight suspicon that it was true. He is now ‘holed up’ at their house in Verona.

The Comboni Missionaries never reported any of the this to the police as they are required to do.  In the UK, the Government is plannning to make it a crime with up to five years in prison for not reporting suspicions of child abuse to the police.

Home Office Panel on Child Sexual Abuse

In the UK they have set up a Home Office Panel to investigate Institutional Child Sexual Abuse. The Comboni Missionaries actions come under that remit, the Home Office panel has decided. Comboni Missiories will be asked to attend and be legally bound to comply.

We are putting together evidence to put to the Panel.

Already, we have uncovered, and documented, hundreds of incidents of child abuse at Mirfield by Comboni Missionary priests.

However, we think that this is still the tip of the iceberg.

It is most important that we get all the evidence that we can. This is a one-off and there will never be another opportunity.

Your Evidence Needed

If you were abused at Mirfield, or elsewhere, by the Comboni Missionaries, this would be the time to let us know. If you know of anyone that was abused by them please let us know. If you have any knowledge or suspicons of any sexual abuse incidents please let us know.

Your evidence will be kept in whatever confidence that you want.

Anyone who was abused is entitled to anonymity in any investigation and newspapers are not legally allowed to use their names.

Don’t let the Comboni Missionaris get away with it.

We need your help – and we need your help now!

Abuse Woven Into British Fabric of Society says Theresa May

Posted on by gerambo

British Child Abuse

The Home Secretary, Theresa May, has warned that Child Sex Abuse is ‘woven, covertly, into the fabric of British society’.

That’s both an astonishing, and very worrying, claim.

She has just announced that a new Home Office judge-led enquiry will look into child sex abuse BEFORE the 1970s.

Previously it had been only going to look at institutional child sex abuse from 1970 onwards.

Comboni Missionaries Abuse

This means that all child sex abuse perpetrated by the Comboni Missionaries in the UK  now comes under the remit of the enquiry.

That comes as very good news for those who were victims of abuse in the 1950s and 1960s in the UK at Comboni Missionaries seminaries.

It’s bad news for the Comboni Missionaries abusers and those that were, and are, involved in covering it up.

Tip of the Iceberg

Indeed, Theresa May stated that the public are not aware, yet, of the full extent of the scandal. She said that we have only seen just the tip of the iceberg yet.

The tone of what Theresa May says is important. This does not sound like a woman who wants to brush things under the carpet. This is a women who understands the full extent of the scandal – and wants something done about it.

This is very bad news for the Comboni Missionaries and their apologists and those who have helped, and are helping, them to cover up their sexual abuse of young boys as young as 11.

Most Appalling Abuse

 She said ‘We already know the trail will lead into our schools and hospitals, our churches, our youth clubs and many other institutions that should have been places of safety but instead became the setting for the most appalling abuse.

‘However, what the country doesn’t yet appreciate is the true scale of that abuse.

‘In my discussions with older victims and survivors and their representatives, I began to realise how abuse is woven, covertly, into the fabric of British society.

Blackpool Rock

‘During one of my first meeting with survivors, one lady said to me: “Get this inquiry right and it will be like a stick of Blackpool rock. You will see abuse going through every level of society.”

‘I fear she is right. I have said before and I shall say again, that what we have seen so far is only the tip of the iceberg.’

Theresa May said that the new terms of reference and the appointment of panel members for the Parliamentary enquiry into child sex abuse marked a new beginning for the probe.

Right Side of History

We will see now, as regards the Comboni Missionaries, who are on the right side of history.

I would say that those Comboni Missionaries who carried out abuse and who covered up abuse and those boys who helped them to and are helping them to, will be seen to be on the wrong side of history.

There are those who stand with those who were abused and those who stand with the coverers-up of abuse.

All will be laid bare soon.

I know which side I will be on.

It’s the same side as Home Secretary, Theresa May.

Comboni Missionaries to be Compelled to Appear at Abuse Inquiry

Posted on by gerambo

Comboni Missionaries Abuse Enquiry

Religious Orders, where clerical sexual abuse took place, are to be included in the remit of the Independent Inquiry Into Child Sexual Abuse. This is to include the Comboni Missionaries, formerly known as the Verona Fathers. They will be compelled to appear.

There was a worry that, because they don’t report to the Bishop, the Comboni Missionaries could not be forced to appear in front of the committee.

However, that has now been shown to be unfounded. There will be statutory powers to compel all those living in England and Wales to appear before the Independent Inquiry Into Child Sexual Abuse.

International Cooperation Used

This would exclude those living in Scotland and other countries. However, other powers to compel based on European or international cooperation could be used when individuals were outside the inquiry’s jurisdiction.

This would mean that that those that live in England like Father Martin Devenish and Father Robert Hicks could be compelled to appear befor the Inquiry.

I’m sure that Scotland has good enough relations with England to allow Father john Fraser to be compelled to appear.

Independent Inquiry Into Child Sexual Abuse

As a fellow EU member, I’m sure Italy would have no objections for the Inquiry to compel Father Enrique Sanchex, Father David Glenday and Father Romano Nardo to appear.

The Comboni Missionaries, in the form of Padre Enrique Sanchez, have said that Father Nardo is not mentally fit enough to come to the UK to answer questions from the UK police, who accuse him of abuse.

However, it would be much more difficult for the the Comboni Missionaries to turn down a request for Fr Nardo to appear before the panel. Better proof of his mental state would be needed.

It looks as if the wheel will finally be coming full circle and the Comboni Missionaries are going to be confornted about the sexual abuse of boys as young as eleven by their priests and for the cover up, going to the very highest levels of the order.

Father Valmaggia-like Paedophile Doctor gets 22 years

Posted on by gerambo

Comboni Missionaries

(Missionari Comboniani)

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.

Comboni Missionaries Settle Abuse Claim

Posted on by gerambo

Comboni Missionaries Abuse Settlement

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.

In Nardo’s Bedroom

Posted on by markmurray1

Occasionally the ‘God Squad’ would say our evening prayers in Nardo’s bedroom. This did not happen that often at first – the chapel was still Nardo’s preferred place to pray with “his group.”  I remember he had an electric organ and our evening sessions of singing, saying prayers and generally spending time in Nardo’s room became more frequent.

I remember, in particular, the folk hymn ‘Kum Ba Yah – this was one of our favourites – and we would sing it with gusto and enthusiasm.

It was around this time that some of us – myself included – would go and see him alone in his room.  I and, I suspect others, became quite jealous if we knew that other members of the group – “The God Squad Group” – had been in his room or were with him.

For my part, Nardo began asking me to come to his room at specific times during free time in the evenings and weekends.