The Mirfield 12 are a group who claim they were abused at a West Yorkshire junior seminary. Their effective use of technology and social media led to 1,000 allegations of abuse, sent to the archbishops of Britain and Ireland. But is this empowerment or trial by blog? In 2011 the first posts appeared on a blog entitled “Comboni Missionaries:  Childhood in their hands at Mirfield”. It started with old boys exchanging innocent memories of football, disasters in the chemistry lab and singing in the choir. Then hints began to appear of priests who had showed a particular interest in students; there was an account of one boy’s homesickness and a priest’s response to it. Before long, stories of sunlit childhood had turned into allegations of priests abusing boys.Mir