Former residents of the Catholic Nazareth order's homes say they suffered appalling, systematic cruelty. Special investigation by Barry Wood

FOR MORE than 100 years, the Poor Sisters of Nazareth cared for children in the order's dozens of homes across Britain. Orphans, abandoned babies and children deemed uncontrollable or accused of petty crimes were all put in the hands of the nuns who, to the outside world, epitomised kindness and compassion.
But today, many of those who were in the sisters' care have come forward to claim that, behind the locked doors of Nazareth House (all the homes had this name), the nuns maintained a ruthless regime. Beatings and acts of extreme cruelty were commonplace, they say, and together with the spartan existence in the home, gave them lives of utter misery.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/nuns-abused-hundreds-of-children-1171988.html 

Toxic beliefs hijack the minds of children From Chronic Childhood Trauma to TraumaTheory Chapter 9

John was born to Albert and Kathleen Brown of The Parade Yea 3717 on 27th December, 1948. The 5th child in a family of 11 children.
John was born the same year his mother's father was killed in a road accident. Kath had had a very strong relationship with her father and had often travelled with him to various venues where he had spoken with enthusiasm on a wide range of topics that included The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Which was signed only a few weeks prior to John's birth), discussion on evolution and her father's championing of many of Wallace's views. John recalls his mother laughing at some aspect that often prompted her father to make a statement along the lines of 'Charlie D may well be right but Wallace is correct when he says ...'. His discussions with his mother on these topics remain today some of his most treasured memories of the uniqueness of his experience of his mother and those of her family who came before her.
John tells his own story from here onwards

http://www.traumainreligion.com/about0.php 

New study aims to provide answers for 500,000 ‘forgotten Australians’

A landmark study has found almost every child raised in out of home care has suffered some kind of maltreatment. 500,000 children were raised by governments and churches - many stolen from their families. The report recommends sweeping changes to help children in care today. Bryan Seymour reports.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/new-study-aims-to-provide-answers-for-500000-forgotten-australians/news-story/522be1849ce24fd31b3da20c6ad8dd5a 

Gregory Smith's survival instinct

Gregory is an academic in the School of Arts and Social Sciences at Southern Cross University, and has just completed a PhD.

For much of his adulthood he was homeless; and by his own admission, a 'do not approach' figure. For ten years he lived as a hermit in a forest in northern NSW, catching his own food.

http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2016/07/21/4504645.htm 

Abuse victims worry about 'being locked in cupboards', 'not being loved' if returned to care

and it is the same for all of us... the fear of being treated... and locked in the broom cupboard... is always on my mind... and things like that do happen... my friend Frances was sent into a home... she full out of bed... and was left there until morning... all that they did for her... was put a blanket over her... she was unconscious and they did nothing about that as well... there was no nurses in the home... and if that is the way they treat older folk... I will never go into one...  Ann

 ==============================

The thought of swapping a modest life in a caravan park for a nursing home fills Ellen Bucello with dread. "I couldn't cope with it," she said.
The 65-year-old who lives on the New South Wales Central Coast feels supported by her neighbours, many of them ageing too, and she enjoys her independence. But spinal problems and worsening arthritis mean she could soon have to leave her mobile home.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-12/ageing-care-leavers-fear-return-to-institutionalisation/8106608 

£300m... what it could cost to compensate ex-residents of Northern Ireland residential homes

Compensating everybody who spent time in a residential home in Northern Ireland run by or on behalf of the state could cost £300m, a lawyer who specialises in abuse cases has suggested.
Sir Anthony Hart is drawing up his report for ministers following two-and-a-half years of Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) inquiry hearings involving abuse victims and institutions.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/300m-what-it-could-cost-to-compensate-exresidents-of-northern-ireland-residential-homes-35177494.html 

Monaghan for women who have experienced a forced adoption, or spent time in a mother and baby home

New network being set up in Monaghan for women who have experienced a forced adoption, or spent time in a mother and baby home

It's the first group of its kind in this region. Sharon McGuigan from Monaghan gave birth to a little girl in Dunboyne Mother and Baby home. She says a network to support women who have had the same experiences as her - is vitally important.

http://media.northernsound.ie/mediamanager/embed/player/podcasts/30/item/65924

Real life Philomena and Martin Sixsmith on film portrayal

The woman who inspired the film Philomena has spoken of her hope that it will help other women facing similar issues. As a young unmarried woman in Ireland, Philomena Lee was forced by nuns to sign away her rights to her son. The film follows her struggle to find him, decades later.
Judy Dench stars as Philomena with Steve Coogan as Martin Sixsmith, the journalist who helped her in her search. Lee and Sixsmith spoke to arts editor Will Gompertz about their story.

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-24551732 

Demanding justice for women and children abused by Irish nuns

People who were forced to work at Ireland's Magdalene laundries are calling for the religious orders who ran the convents to be held…

https://nz.pinterest.com/pin/301319031303533179/ 

Atheist Film: The Magdalene Sisters

The Magdalene Asylums were Catholic institutions for “fallen women” (women deemed immoral by their parents), who were confined there indefinitely to work as slaves for nuns and be beaten, degraded, mentally and sexually abused.
In the Middle Ages, right? No. The last Magdalene Asylum closed in 1996, in Ireland. (A 2,600-page report on the abuses of Magdalene Asylums was released in May, 2009.)

http://commonsenseatheism.com/?p=2509 

I got an early tip about a priest’s sexual abuse. And I sat on it.

A former reporter is haunted by the story he didn't pursue four decades ago.

I always knew that watching “Spotlight” was going to be difficult for me, so I kept putting it off. Finally, with my wife out of town last week, I sprawled on the family-room floor with my two big dogs and steeled myself to view the Oscar-winning film about the investigation of sexual abuse in Boston’s Catholic Church. I was glad Patricia was away. I didn’t want her to see my tears.
As the next two hours crawled by, I was consumed by three emotions: admiration for the Boston Globe’s investigative team, pride in the journalism profession I have labored in for more than four decades — and guilt.

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/04/08/i-got-an-early-tip-about-a-priests-sexual-abuse-and-i-sat-on-it/

Mount Magdala & Nazareth House 1941 to 1965

24 years in these catholic church orphanages. The Good Shepherd and then the Nazareth House nuns took the place of my family. They told me my mother was dead. In the two orphanages life needed to meet the nun's requirements. In part this meant that, because my mother was sinful, if I was not beaten to change me, I would be too. So they said when they beat me.
I find it hard to think about it because to remember it to re-live the fear and confusion - the unhappiness of being a child able only to hope that if! earned the nun's favour, I would become one of the children who the nuns cared about; who had a life which was sure to end in Heaven. Instead of being the child the nuns' found me to be - who needed to be beaten for her mother's sin and because, although there was little hope for it, that might help me to be worthy of love - eventually God's love.

http://annfreespiritnunsabusedchildren.blogspot.co.nz/p/blog-page_20.html

Nudgee Orphanage Queensland,

I would like to know, how come there are no Orginsations, Members of Parliament or any one in authority including yourself, or your superiors, that has exposed any of the barabric torture of the Forgotten Australian children that were dumped by the government, for various reasons of their own , into adult mental asylums for “adolesecent rebellion”. supposedly , and were under the care of Doctors and Psychiatrists who also abused them..
Why is it not classified as abuse and torture equal and as ‘destructive’ abuse as those who were sexually abused?

http://nma.gov.au/blogs/inside/2010/03/17/nudgee/juanita-5/ 

Abuse inquiry told nun forced young girl to perform sex act

The Historical Institutional Abuse inquiry has heard claims that a child was forced to perform oral sex on a nun.

A witness, who was a resident at Nazareth House in Derry’s Bishop Street during the 1960s, said she was between the ages of four and five when she was made to lie on her back on the floor by a nun who straddled her, lifting her habit and forcing the child to perform a sex act on her. She said she was terrified.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/abuse-inquiry-told-nun-forced-young-girl-to-perform-sex-act-1.1687648 

Salesian nuns help enslaved girls in Tamil Nadu

In Chennai, the St. Joseph's Special Care Home feeds, clothes and educates orphaned, abandoned and abused girls, from 4 to 18 in age. Rashmi is one of them. Sold at the age of six, she was beaten and abused by her employer. The home offers sports, games and singing to complete the girls' education and give them the "best possible future."
Chennai (AsiaNews) - A group of nuns from the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (also known as the Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco) are providing a home, food, clothing, care, education as well as leisure and sport to a group of girls and young women who survived abuse, child labour or the loss of their parents. They are preparing them to fight the future exploitation of Indian women. 

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Salesian-nuns-help-enslaved-girls-in-Tamil-Nadu-26933.html

Judge: Lawsuit alleging abuse at St. Ignatius Catholic school can proceed

HELENA – A federal judge ruled that 95 people can pursue sex abuse claims in state court against an order of nuns during bankruptcy proceedings involving the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena.

The Ursuline Sisters of the Western Province aren’t covered by an automatic stay in civil proceedings that was granted to the diocese when it filed for Chapter 11 protection, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Terry Myers said in a Friday order.

http://missoulian.com/news/local/judge-lawsuit-alleging-abuse-at-st-ignatius-catholic-school-can/article_eeead160-b92d-11e3-a6b5-0019bb2963f4.html 

Irish Catholic church child abuse: 'A cruel and wicked system'

Artane industrial school former pupil says he is unconvinced report will reveal full truth about abuse in Catholic-run institutions.
In their distinctive Thunderbirds-style light-blue uniforms with red trim the Artane Boys Band are icons of Irish music. For decades, the band marched around the pitch at Croke Park, Dublin, and played across Ireland, Britain and the US.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/may/20/irish-catholic-church-child-abuse1 

Clann: Ireland’s Unmarried Mothers and their Children: Gathering the Data

In June of this year, Justice for Magdalenes Research (JFMR) and Adoption Rights Alliance (ARA) launched Clann: Ireland’s Unmarried Mothers and their Children: Gathering the Data (Clann), which is a joint initiative with global law firm, Hogan Lovells. We would be very grateful if you could pass the following information on to anyone who you believe may benefit from Clann’s assistance.

The purpose of Clann is to help establish the truth of what happened to unmarried mothers and their children in 20th century Ireland and thus to help ensure that investigation and reparation measures are as comprehensive and effective as possible. Clann is assisting individuals affected by or involved with the treatment of unmarried mothers and their children to provide evidence to the ongoing Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes and Certain Related Matters.

http://clannproject.org/clann-information-pack/ 

Vaccine trials: Unravelling the drug trials scandal

THE current commission of investigation into mother-and-baby homes is the second State inquiry that will attempt to examine the issue of vaccine trials carried out on children in the homes.
Further revelations in the Irish Examiner this week showed that the files of vaccine trial victims in Bessborough mother-and-baby home were altered in 2002 — just weeks after the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse sought discovery of records from the order running the home. The revelation will no doubt be examined as part of the latest inquiry.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/viewpoints/analysis/vaccine-trials-unravelling-the-drug-trials-scandal-430889.html 

Vaccine trial victim to lodge complaints over altered file

One of the victims of the Bessborough vaccine trial is to make a formal Garda complaint after it emerged files were altered in 2002.  On Tuesday, the Irish Examiner revealed the files of mothers and children used in the 1960/61 4-in-1 vaccine trial were altered in 2002 — just weeks after the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse sought discovery of records from the religious order running the home.
Mari Steed was born in Bessborough in 1960 and subsequently adopted in the US. Her natural mother’s file is one of those listed as having been changed. She plans to make a formal complaint to the gardaí and Data Protection Commissioner.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/vaccine-trial-victim-to-lodge-complaints-over-altered-file-430966.html?utm_source=news&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=newsbriefing 

The purpose of Clann is to help establish the truth of what happened to unmarried mothers and their children in 20th century Ireland.

The purpose of Clann is to help establish the truth of what happened to unmarried mothers and their children in 20th century Ireland.
Clann: Ireland’s Unmarried Mothers and their Children: Gathering the Data (‘Clann’) is a joint initiative by Adoption Rights Alliance (ARA) and JFM Research (JFMR). The project is being delivered in association with global law firm, Hogan Lovells.
Clann will assist those who wish to give evidence to Ireland’s Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes and Certain Related Matters by arranging free legal assistance for individuals to make full written statements.

Adopted siblings travel to Ireland to sadly discover their mothers have passed away

An adopted brother and sister who were born in Ireland to different parents but grew up together in the United States have made some shocking discoveries about their pasts.

Patrick and Roxanne Farrington grew up together in a happy home in Billings, MT, but they always knew they were adopted. During a special episode of TV3’s "Adoption Stories," the pair travel to Ireland to find out more about their family histories.

http://www.irishcentral.com/roots/genealogy/adopted-siblings-travel-to-ireland-to-sadly-discover-their-mothers-have-passed-away 

Bessborough: We have right to know the truth

Adoption campaigners have called for an audit of all records in the hands of the State but there has been no willingness at official level to comply, says Conall Ó Fátharta.
A DOCUMENT showing that the religious order that operated Bessborough Mother and Baby Home altered records is just one of thousands of records the Commission of Investigation will have to examine in order to get to the bottom of how these institutions operated. Rumours that records were altered in mother and baby homes have been rife in adoption circles for years. These latest revelations raise more questions about the vast number of records now in State hands.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/viewpoints/analysis/bessborough-we-have-right-to-know-the-truth-430564.html 

Mother and baby home group backs call for forced adoptions inquiry

A call for a commission of inquiry into forced adoptions has been strongly supported by the Coalition of Mother And Baby Home Survivors (CMABS).

The call was made in a letter to Taoiseach Enda Kenny by former assistant national director of child and family services with the Health Service Executive, Phil Garland. He was also director of child protection in the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin from 2003 to 2009.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/mother-and-baby-home-group-backs-call-for-forced-adoptions-inquiry-1.2867730 

Emotional damage from trauma of childhood sexual abuse can last a lifetime

Miykhaela reaches back in her memory to the summer day when it all began. Her older brother had taken her into the bush on their northern Ontario reserve to join a few of their cousins, young teenaged boys like her sibling who had all been attending residential school together for several years. They gang-raped her. She was five or six years old.
As a mother years later, Miykhaela had to confront the ugly reality of familial sex abuse once again -- but this time it was her daughter, who one day confessed that her teenaged half-brother had raped her a couple of years earlier. She was 10 or 11 years old.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/emotional-damage-from-trauma-of-childhood-sexual-abuse-can-last-a-lifetime-1.3159307 

Kenny warned of Garda complaint if he delays adoption inquiry

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has been warned that unless he establishes a commission of inquiry into forced adoptions by the end of this month, the matter will be reported to the Garda.

In a letter to the Taoiseach last week, the former assistant national director of child and family services with the Health Service Executive, Phil Garland, said that in October 2012 he notified statutory authorities and the then inquiry into Magdalene laundries about “the high rate of infant death in mother-and-baby homes and the possibility of forced adoption of children from within the State”.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/kenny-warned-of-garda-complaint-if-he-delays-adoption-inquiry-1.2866508 

NY--Victims blast nuns in abuse case

A group of nuns is refusing to admit that it ran a New York orphanage where a man says he was both sexually and physically abused as a child. We call on these nuns to stop ducking and dodging and start helping this victim. If they continue to stonewall, we call on Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput and New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan to insist that they step up, “come clean” and help this struggling survivor.

http://www.snapnetwork.org/ny_victims_blast_nuns_in_abuse_case 

Over enthusiastic NCPA and police charge nun sheltering orphans and the destitute

The recent incident where the “Prem Nivasa” at Rawathawatta, Moratuwa was raided by the National Child Protection Authority(NCPA) and Police has shocked many.
This home administered and looked after by the Catholic Church, with the assistance of the Sisters of the Missionaries of Charity founded by Mother Theresa has been a haven of hope and refuge to many. The nun in charge of the Reverend Sister Mary Eliza was taken into custody and subsequently released on bail.

http://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/archives/3145

1940s Daughters of Charity Orphanage, Children's Home, Nuns, UK

From the Kinolibrary archive film collections. To order the clip clean and high res visit http://www.kinolibrary.com. Clip ref KLR343.
Colour home movie footage from the 1940s showing the Daughters of Charity Orphanage, based in the UK, in operation with its sisters, staff and children.

Pope Francis offers “day of prayer” for victims sexually abused by his priests and nuns.

The Catholic Church has confirmed it plans to hold a worldwide day of prayer for victims of sexual abuse, as it continues to make efforts to protect vulnerable children
 Pope Francis announced the proposal following a meeting of the panel he set up to tackle child abuse within the Church and help survivors of past attacks. The Church will also establish an educational website with information and

https://occupythevatican.com/2016/09/20/pope-francis-offers-day-of-prayer-for-victims-sexually-abused-by-his-priests-and-nuns/ 

Will Mother and Baby Homes Commission advertise to the hidden Irish diaspora?

Stolen babies... 2,200 Irish infants were adopted by American families between late 1940s and early 1970s... Ann

===============================

Earlier this year, I wrote for The Irish Times about the passing of a Magdalene survivor who lived here in the United States. She suffered ill health in her final years. Friends had lobbied on her behalf for health care entitlements offered through the State’s Magdalene restorative justice scheme. Unfortunately, those benefits never materialised.

But, in her last months she appreciated the help received from a social worker affiliated with an Irish immigration centre in the mid-west. I had reached out to Boston’s Consul General, who in turn contacted her colleague in Chicago, who in turn reached out to that city’s Irish Immigrant Support group, who made the social worker available, despite the fact that the she lived out of state. 

http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/abroad/will-mother-and-baby-homes-commission-advertise-to-the-hidden-irish-diaspora-1.2859793 

Journalists Tout Dissident Nuns and Rehash Decades-Old Scandals To Bash Catholic Church Again

Since when have journalists been so concerned about internal doctrinal matters in the Catholic Church? Why are journalists suddenly fretting about the status of nuns in America?
It has been no secret that many Catholic women religious (nuns) in recent years have been in open dissent of a number of gender-related components of Church teaching, such those regarding the all-male priesthood, celibacy requirements, and, in some cases, abortion.

http://www.themediareport.com/2012/04/24/journalists-use-dissident-nuns-and-abuse/ 

The Horror of Native American Boarding Schools

This article is dedicated to Kavika who has taught me so much about Native American culture. I hope I do the subject justice.
 In the 1870's, The United States was still at war with the Native Americans who occupied the land before Europeans ever touched shore. In an attempt to solve the 'Indian problem', the United States government helped fund religious organizations who then opened religious boarding schools. These schools would heap horror upon the Native American children sent there right up till the 1980's.

http://grisham.newsvine.com/_news/2012/03/05/10582624-the-horror-of-native-american-boarding-schools 

Abuse survivor Gordon Hill calls for Catholic Church to properly compensate victims, not offer apologies

A witness who gave harrowing evidence at the child sex abuse royal commission has called for the Government to enforce a redress scheme that would ensure the Catholic Church pay compensation to victims of past crimes.

Despite the mounting evidence of the horrific legacy of clergy abuse across western Victoria, many survivors have yet to receive any compensation for the harm they endured as children and its lifelong effects.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-10/abuse-survivor-calls-for-financial-compensation-from-church/7019284 

Former Ballarat orphans call for elderly abuse victims to be prioritised in redress

A former Ballarat orphan has called for elderly victims of childhood abuse to be prioritised in the roll-out of the federal government’s national redress scheme.
Ex-resident of Nazareth House Girls' Home Gabrielle Short said the physical, sexual and psychological abuse which had occurred in the orphanage had destroyed lives with many now dead, homeless or living in poverty.

http://www.thecourier.com.au/story/4284328/fight-for-justice-goes-on/?cs=62 

Record of abuse (female witnesses)

This chapter summarises the nature and extent of abuse reported to the Committee by 378 female witnesses in relation to Schools in Ireland that admitted girls. The 378 witnesses made 389 reports regarding four types of abuse specified by the Acts. They are physical and sexual abuse, neglect and emotional abuse. Not all Schools were reported for each of the four types of abuse.

The report of abuse by a witness may either refer to a single episode or multiple experiences of being abused in a School. In most instances reports of abuse refer to more than one episode of abuse and more than one type of abuse. One hundred and twenty three (123) witness reports (32%) were of all four types of abuse. Eleven (11) witnesses reported abuse in more than one School.

http://www.childabusecommission.ie/rpt/pdfs/CICA-VOL3-09.pdf 

A Priest, a Nun and Their Children

Bill and Mary Manseau's marriage has brought them into a decades-long confrontation with the church they love.  From a young age, both were devout Roman Catholics.

As a kid, Bill Manseau said he "used to play Mass … as many Catholic kids do." He would recruit his younger siblings to be altar servers and use Necco wafers for communion. At age 19, he entered the seminary.

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=2853855 

allegations of child sexual and physical abuse by one priest, seven nuns, and five laymen, between the 1930s and 1970s.

St. Thomas-St. Vincent Orphanage was an orphanage located in Anchorage, Kentucky, best known for allegations of child sexual and physical abuse by one priest, seven nuns, and five laymen, between the 1930s and 1970s. It opened with the merger of St. Thomas Orphanage and St. Vincent Orphanage in 1955 and closed in 1983 as a result of rising costs and increased government services for orphans.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Thomas-St._Vincent_Orphanage 

Brenda’s Story Abuse at Goodwood Orphanage, Adelaide, South Australia 1950s

[The name of the Complainant has been changed in order to comply with the provisions of the Evidence Act SA] January 1949 to March 1951
I was shipped from England on the S S Ormonde with a group of 28 British ‘orphan’ girls, arriving on January 19 1949, at Goodwood Orphanage. I was 15yrs old. We were told that we would have a better life and we would be cared for in a loving and understanding way with regard to our well-being in a strange country. Nothing could have been further from the truth.
On the day we arrived we were lined up and the considerable amount of money collected by the crew of the S S Ormonde and given to us was taken from us. We never saw that money again.

http://netk.net.au/AbuseCases/GoodwoodBrenda.asp

Hollow Water

This documentary profiles the tiny Ojibway community of Hollow Water on the shores of Lake Winnipeg as they deal with an epidemic of sexual abuse in their midst. The offenders have left a legacy of denial and pain, addiction and suicide. The Manitoba justice system was unsuccessful in ending the cycle of abuse, so the community of Hollow Water took matters into their own hands. The offenders were brought home to face justice in a community healing and sentencing circle. Based on traditional practices, this unique model of justice reunites families and heals both victims and offenders. The film is a powerful tribute to one community's ability to heal and create change.

https://www.nfb.ca/film/hollow_water/ 

Report: Sex abuse at Island Catholic orphanage 70 years ago; pain endures

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- "Don" says he was abused 70 years ago by an employee at St. Michael's Home for Children, a Catholic orphanage that was in Greenridge, the Daily News reported.
St. Michael's Home for Children closed in 1978.
Don, who asked that his last name not be used, said that he began getting sexually abused his last two years at the orphanage by a layman, not a member of the clergy.

http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2016/11/staten_islander_sexually_abuse.html 

IPC offers its help in Magdalene Laundries restitution processes

The Irish Pastoral Centre, located at St. Brendan Parish in Dorchester, is offering its services in connection with the Irish government’s reconciliation process in the matter of the Magdalene Laundries scandal.
The laundries - often described as “prisons” by the women who worked in them - were established in the 18th century for Ireland’s “fallen” women and remained in operation until 1996, when the last laundry closed. An estimated 30,000 women and girls are thought to have been institutionalized for a myriad of reasons, from “being bold” to having a child out of wedlock. They were forced to work long hours in poor conditions for no pay.

http://www.bostonirish.com/around-town/ipc-offers-its-help-magdalene-laundries-restitution-processes-0 

Girl, 12, was hidden in a tunnel when inspectors called

Maureen Sullivan is the youngest known survivor admitted to one of the Magdalene Laundries.  She was 12 when taken from her school in Co Carlow and put in the Good Shepherd Magdalene Laundry in New Ross, Co Wexford, because her father died and mother remarried.
Ms Sullivan said she was told the place would further her education, but she never saw her schoolbooks again.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/girl-12-was-hidden-in-a-tunnel-when-inspectors-called-221783.html 

Midwife’s memoir reveals the horror of Bessborough

Women who gave birth at the notorious Bessborough mother-and-baby home in Cork were not allowed pain relief during labour or stitches after birth, and when they developed abscesses from breast-feeding they were denied penicillin.
One nun who ran the labour ward in 1951 also forbid any “moaning or screaming” during childbirth. Girls in poverty, who could not afford to make donations to the Sacred Heart order, had to spend another three years after their babies were born cleaning and working on the lands around the Cork city home to ‘make amends’ for their pregnancy. 

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/midwifes-memoir-reveals-the-horror-of-bessborough-271158.html

Orphans recall vicious, sadistic abuse

Commission hears how children’s reports of cruelty by priests and nuns were covered up for decades.

Another city, another institution and more harrowing tales of ruined lives. And, as the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse held a hearing in Queensland this week, another scandalous story of cruelty, cover-up and neglect.

A dozen former residents of St Joseph's Neerkol Orphanage, in Rockhampton, told of the "vicious and sadistic" abuse meted out by priests and nuns at the Catholic Church home between 1940 and 1975.

 

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11434614 

Women abuse, too

I was in an airport last week and struck up a conversation with the woman sitting next to me. After we discussed what we each did for a living, she pursed her lips and looked at me seriously. Then, she said, “What really disgusts me is that now women are becoming sex abusers.”
She was probably referring to stories like this, and this, and this.

http://theworthyadversary.com/2449-women-abuse-too 

Child sex abuse inquiry: Indigenous children treated badly at Neerkol Orphanage

An Indigenous woman, Diane Carpenter, has told the royal commission into child sexual abuse she was sexually abused by Father Michael Hayes while she lived at St Joseph's Orphanage Neerkol in the 1950s and 60s. Mrs Carpenter gave evidence all the children were treated badly by the nuns who ran the orphanage but the Aboriginal children had a particularly hard time.
BRENDAN TREMBATH: A warning: the following story contains disturbing details. An Indigenous woman has told the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse that she was regularly assaulted at St Joseph's orphanage Neerkol near Rockhampton in the 1950s and 60s. Diane Carpenter says she was sexually abused by a priest, and the nuns in charge of the orphanage

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-15/child-sex-abuse-inquiry-indigenous-children/6394850

Nun warns against ‘hidden’ sexual abuse

MANILA, Nov. 29, 2014 — Many sexual abuse victims choose to suffer in silence and keep their experiences secret because sometimes, it involves an immediate family member.
According to Sr. Adel Abamo (SDS), Salvatorian Pastoral Care for Children (SPCC) executive director, many abused women and children are forced to keep silent because they lack support from family members, in some cases, mothers of the victims themselves.

http://www.cbcpnews.com/cbcpnews/?p=46565 

Child abuse inquiry: former MP 'sensationalised' abuse allegations at Neerkol orphanage near Rockhampton, Sister Berneice Loch says

A senior nun has criticised a former Queensland MP for "sensationalising" allegations of abuse at the Neerkol orphanage near Rockhampton in State Parliament during the 1990s.

Sister Berneice Loch has testified today at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in the central Queensland city.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-21/former-mp-'sensationalised'-orphanage-abuse-allegations-nun-says/6409586 

FILM; An Abuse Scandal With Nuns As Villains

WHEN the Scottish actor and director Peter Mullan was growing up in a working-class Roman Catholic family, goodness was embodied in the clergy. It was the clergy of his pious mother, who contended with eight children and an alcoholic husband. It was the clergy of the Hollywood films the Mullan children watched on television: ''Boys Town'' with Spencer Tracy, ''Angels With Dirty Faces'' with Pat O'Brien, ''Going My Way'' with Bing Crosby.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/27/movies/film-an-abuse-scandal-with-nuns-as-villains.html 

Tuam vigil to remember residents of mother and baby home

Galway Bay fm newsroom – Hundreds are expected to turn out for a special vigil in Tuam this evening to remember the residents of the Tuam mother and baby home.
The event is led by Corrandulla artist Sadie Cramer whose exhibition of memorabillia from the home will also open at Tuam Town Hall.  The vigil begins at the children’s graveyard at 7pm.

http://galwaybayfm.ie/tuam-vigil-to-remember-residents-of-mother-and-baby-home/ 

Catholic church apologises for role in 'forced adoptions' over 30-year period

I don't know why... all of the countries don't pull together... and get it all over and done with... don't they know that each time... bringing the stolen babies up... triggers off what happen to us stolen babies worldwide...
my god it hunts to read abuse this... every so often when it comes up... it makes me cry... as I see my mother holding me... and not letting me go... until I was taken away from her arms... the catholic church has a lot to answer to... for stealing us babies from our mothers arms...  Ann

=====================================

Head of church in England and Wales apologises in documentary about women who were pressured into handing over their babies in the 50s, 60s and 70s.  The head of the Catholic church in England and Wales has apologised for its part in the” hurt” caused to young unmarried women who say they were felt pressured into handing over their babies for adoption in the 1950s, 60s and 70s.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols acknowledged the “the grief and pain caused by the giving up of a child through adoption”, adding: “Sadly for unmarried mothers, adoption was considered to be in the best interests of the mother and child because of the associated stigma and the lack of support for lone parents.”

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/nov/03/catholic-church-apologises-for-role-in-forced-adoptions-over-30-year-period 

Catholic church apologises for role in 'forced adoptions' over 30-year period

The head of the Catholic church in England and Wales has apologised for its part in the” hurt” caused to young unmarried women who say they were felt pressured into handing over their babies for adoption in the 1950s, 60s and 70s.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols acknowledged the “the grief and pain caused by the giving up of a child through adoption”, adding: “Sadly for unmarried mothers, adoption was considered to be in the best interests of the mother and child because of the associated stigma and the lack of support for lone parents.”

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/nov/03/catholic-church-apologises-for-role-in-forced-adoptions-over-30-year-period

Vigil held in Tuam for residents of mother and baby home

Test excavation on possible burial site at Bon Secours institution enters final stage.  When PJ Haverty joined a candle-lit walk into Tuam, Co Galway on Wednesday night, he could only think of the distressed steps taken on the very same route by his late mother, Eileen.

“For 5½ years she was in and out of the town on foot to the mother and babies home, begging for me to be returned to her,” Mr Haverty said.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/vigil-held-in-tuam-for-residents-of-mother-and-baby-home-1.2852517 

Good Shepherd Convent purchased

A Dundalk firm whose directors are linked to major Northern Ireland and UK developers McAleer & Rushe has emerged as the buyer of the Good Shepherd Convent in Sunday’s Well, above Cork city. Moneda Development was set up earlier this year, and directors include Eamonn Laverty and James Higgins of McAleer & Rushe, who specialise in design and build, asset management, construction and multi-use projects.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/property/good-shepherd-convent-purchased-424446.html 

Nun charged with abuse She is accused of molesting two male students 40 years ago

A 78-year-old nun who was principal of a grade school at a south side Milwaukee parish in the 1960s was charged Tuesday with having repeated sexual contact with two boys who attended the school.
Norma Giannini can be prosecuted for the allegations 40 years later because she didn't remain in Wisconsin long enough for the six-year statute of limitations then in place to elapse, according to a criminal complaint filed in Milwaukee County Circuit Court. Giannini moved to Illinois in 1970, the complaint states.

http://archive.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/29182054.html 

Canadian churches still overcoming guilt about residential schools

Downtown Vancouver’s churches are coming together for a rare joint service and other special observances on Sunday to show their commitment to reconciling with Canada’s Aboriginal Peoples.
Clergy from the United, Anglican, Catholic, Baptist and Presbyterian churches are co-operating in the daylong event, which includes a combined service at St. Andrew’s Wesley United Church, a sacred fire, a street fair in the Sheraton Wall Centre courtyard, ecumenical prayers at First Baptist Church and other public rituals.

http://vancouversun.com/news/staff-blogs/canadian-churches-still-overcoming-guilt-about-residential-schools 

Residential School Blues

The Canadian government is launching a five-year-long Truth and Reconciliation Commission to deal with the pain and dysfunction caused by the country’s federally funded, church-run aboriginal residential schools.

Virtually all the residential schools closed more than 35 years ago. The government has apologized many times and is right now in the midst of handing out billions of dollars in compensation to aboriginal survivors, especially those abused, at the boarding schools. 

http://vancouversun.com/news/staff-blogs/residential-school-blues 

Mass grave ‘filled to the brim with tiny bones and skulls’ shows how we cherish children

“CHERISH ALL THE children equally” is a defining Irish shibboleth, enshrined in the Proclamation of Independence. It is one of our highest aspirations and, like most of the things we Irish hold dearest, it is build on a solid foundation of utter hypocrisy.
Cherish all the children? By all available evidence, we Irish don’t even like children.

http://www.thejournal.ie/readme/mass-grave-galway-tuam-1494001-May2014/

SNAP Survivors' Network > Sexual or Physical or Emotional Abuse by NUNS > nuns

Hello: I just found this site and wanted to make a comment.I am a survivor of parochial school south of Boston,Mass. The abuse by the Sisters of St.Joseph were emotional and humiliating. Not sexual. Only one of all the 9 years I suffered in these parochial school was a decent person and a nun.This has haunted me all my lifetime of how the children were treated in their early school years. Every day was FEAR when we went to school. I just want to mention one particular incident (one of many but this stands out).

http://snapsurvivorsnetwork.yuku.com/topic/3174/nuns?page=3#.WBGIwDU1eUk 

Nun freed despite years of cruelty to children

A nun who was found guilty of repeated acts of cruelty against children in her care walked free from court yesterday after being admonished for her crimes. Several victims of Marie Docherty, also known as Sister Alphonso, reacted with disbelief and anger at the scale of the punishment.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/nun-freed-despite-years-of-cruelty-to-children-698797.html 

Why do Catholics call non Catholics heathens when their Nuns abused children?

I am not a Nun and I haven't abused children. Apparently it got worse under Independence, so surly you were better off in the British empire where the English could keep a close eye on your religious perverts

 

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20130207113130AA9UQxt 

Tuam Home vigil

A candlelight vigil in memory of residents of the former Tuam Mother and Baby Home will take place next Wednesday, 2 November, All Souls Day.
The vigil will begin at 7pm at the site of the unofficial burial grounds on the Dublin Road in Tuam and proceed to the Town Square. The vigil, organisers say, follows in the footsteps of the “home children”.
Research by Tuam historian Catherine Corless indicates that the remains of 796 children, most of them infants, may be buried at the site. A preliminary site excavation by a team of specialist archaeologists, requested by the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, is ongoing and expected to be complete by mid-November.

http://www.galwayindependent.com/news/topics/articles/2016/10/26/4129043-tuam-home-vigil/ 

They Promised Heaven, But Led Me To Hell

I was conceived out of wedlock, because of my mother being raped I was just two and a half months old when I was taken from my mother’s arms, by the catholic church then placed in the care of one of their Catholic orphanage. From the beginning, I was taught that my mother was sinful and that I would be too unless the devil was beaten from my soul. I was sexual abused in the nursery from a tiny young girl of eighteen months old by three lady workers for four years.

My childhood abuse in the orphanage, is New Zealand’s shameful, dirty secret of physical, mental, verbal and sexual abuse of innocent children by nuns, lay staff, the older girls and the priest and bullying at two orphanages in Christchurch. From the age of five years old I was made to work on their farm and later on in their kitchen and laundries, both at Mount Magdala – St. Joseph Girls Orphanage and Nazareth House.

http://annfreespiritnunsabusedchildren.blogspot.co.nz/p/they-promised-heaven-but-led-me-to-hell.html

Adoption needs overhaul or abandoning say people adopted as children

Adults who were adopted as children say, even if their parents were wonderful and loving, they have lifelong scars from being separated from their mothers, which has led some to say adoption needs to be completely overhauled or abandoned altogether.

 Transcript LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: The benefits of inter-country adoption seem obvious when a child from the developing world is given a chance at a better life.
It's had widespread celebrity endorsement of course, with people like Angelina Jolie and Cate Blanchett adopting overseas, and even the Prime Minister has promised to fast-track the inter-country adoption process.

http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2015/s4249194.htm

Housemaster abused boys at orphanage run by 'nuns and priests from Hell'

In New Zealand catholic church orphanages... the nuns use to call out the girls... who were told to go and see the priest... many a time they would come back crying... and telling the other girls that they had... just being raped by a priest... I know of a man who 's mother was raped by a priest... when she was 15years old... his name was Peter... and I meet him in 1997...

=====================

 A housemaster has been found to have abused children decades ago at a Catholic orphanage, run by the "nuns and priests from Hell".

James McCann, 80, who worked at the St Francis Boys' Home, Shefford, Bedfordshire, in the 1960s, was found unfit to plea due to ill health.  But a trial of the facts found 42 of 50 charges of physical and sexual assaults on 25 boys to be proven.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-37552277 

Head of Catholic Church in Ireland insults and belittles abuse survivors during reconciliation meeting.

Child abuse survivors have said they felt so “belittled” during a meeting with the leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland, they almost walked out. They told a Stormont committee that Archbishop Eamon Martin had given the impression that he felt the church was now the victim.

Jon McCourt and Margaret McGuckian also claimed the Executive Office had let victims down by failing to establish a compensation scheme following the end of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (HIA).

https://occupythevatican.com/2016/10/11/head-of-catholic-church-in-ireland-insults-and-belittles-abuse-survivors-during-reconciliation-meeting/ 

Magdalene Laundries Contacts

What Can I Do? Contacts for Government, Church and Media Government/Departmental Contacts Home Who We Are What We Do Public Disclosure News Press Releases Gallery Media Links What Can I Do? Magdalene Name Project Magdalene Oral History Project Newsletters Online Resources Justice for Magdalenes What Can I Do? Contacts for Government, Church and Media Government/Departmental Contacts The commission was prompted back in July by the ABC's Four Corners program, which detailed years of abuse in youth detention centres.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-11/youth-justice-royal-commission-nt-live-blog/7917668 

Sisters of Nazareth accused of impeding historic sex abuse investigation

There is no end to the evilness of these nuns...

We are the truth;
We have our voice;
We will not go away;
We will fight to the end;
We stand as one of many;
We will be silent no more;
We have broken our silence;
We have God as our witness;
We live and stand by the truth;
We have the right to protection;

Copyrights@AnnThompson

 ===========================

 A religious order in Melbourne has been accused of impeding an investigation into historic sex abuse at a former children's home.

Barry Potocic, 54, has spent thirty years trying to identify the nun who he says used him as a sex toy at the age of eight, at Nazareth House in Camberwell.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-23/sisters-of-nazareth-accused-of-impeding-sex-abuse-investigation/7050832 

Ex-NH nun, accused of molesting, is “outed” in CT

Two years ago, the NH Attorney General publicly disclosed a credible child sex abuse allegation against a Catholic nun, Patricia Long. Since then, Long has moved twice, changed her name, her denomination, and her job title, and been hired by another church and has access to more unsuspecting families. Now, Long has been exposed in Connecticut, where she worked for at least four years recently as a Protestant minister.
New Hampshire Catholic Bishop John McCormack has had at least two years to warn his flock about Long and reach out to others who may have seen, suspected or suffered her crimes. But as best we can tell, he’s done nothing. Let’s hope he will now finally stop talking about protecting kids and actually do something to protect kids. We suggest he start by taking two simple, proven, helpful steps:

http://www.snapnetwork.org/snap_statements/2011_statements/032911_ex_nh_nun_accused_of_molesting_is_outed_in_ct.htm 

Former nun speaks out on church abuse claims

EDITOR'S NOTE: There is an issue with the video for this story that will be rectified on Monday 10 December, apologies for any inconvenience.
CHRIS UHLMANN, PRESENTER: Among the litany of accusations that led to the recent announcement of a Royal commission into the institutional child sex abuse, none have been more shocking than those surrounding the Catholic order St John of God. For 40 years boys placed in the order's care were molested, raped and physically assaulted. The story has hit the headlines this week with the arrest in New Zealand of a former brother accused of molesting 35 children in a home for intellectually disabled boys. Tonight a former nun who worked for the order speaks out about what she says is a culture of collusion within its ranks. In a moment I'll be joined by the head of the order, Brother Timothy Graham, but first this report by Lisa Whitehead.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-12-10/former-nun-speaks-out-on-church-abuse-claims/4419208

Royal commission: Child abuse victims share their stories in private hearings

In informal hearing rooms set up by the child sex abuse royal commission, victims are telling their stories of abuse in private. Around 1,500 people nationwide have so far spoken about what happened to them. More than 1,000 others are on a ballooning waiting list, which grows by an extra 40 people each week.

Some are in their 80s and 90s, and many have carried their secrets for a lifetime. Their stories are not treated as legal evidence, their claims are not tested - as in a court of law. But they are believed and their trauma acknowledged.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-09/child-abuse-victims-share-their-stories-in-private-hearings/5438966 

Home»Property Good Shepherd Convent purchased

A Dundalk firm whose directors are linked to major Northern Ireland and UK developers McAleer & Rushe has emerged as the buyer of the Good Shepherd Convent in Sunday’s Well, above Cork city. Moneda Development was set up earlier this year, and directors include Eamonn Laverty and James Higgins of McAleer & Rushe, who specialise in design and build, asset management, construction and multi-use projects.
The high-profile convent site went to market earlier this year as part of a break up of the €503m Project Clear/Ulster Bank portfolio sell off, which had been acquired by Cairn Homes and Lone Star. Also included in the c €30m Cork sell-on of Project Clear assets was lands at Castletreasure, Douglas, guiding up to €27m, and a site at Dennehys Cross near UCC. All three had been owned/previously acquired by the Frinailla Group.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/property/good-shepherd-convent-purchased-424446.html

Disband the Artane Band, Dublin

Historical child abuse in State sponsored religious run residential institutions.
The Artane Band is the last remaining link to the horrors that took place in Artane Industrial School, Dublin - run by the Christian Brothers. The band's continuous existence is a reactivation and trigger for those of us who suffered horrendous ordeals at the hands of the Christian Brother paedophiles who ran many of the Industrial schools.
The present band continues to airbrush out its past and to deny its origins within the industrial school system, even though, its uniform and insignia are directly connected and originated in the Artane Industrial School for boys.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/521/081/722/disband-the-artane-band-dublin/?taf_id=29505365&cid=fb_na 

How two Irish sisters beat a Kafkaesque system

When she was 12, Ena Ronayne made a call from a public telephone box to the Cork maternity hospital where she thought she had been born. It was the wrong place.
About an hour's drive away, in the town of Clonmel, her younger sister, Edel, was peppering her adopted mother with questions about her biological family. Neither knew the other existed. It would be 35 years before they met.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-ireland-adoption-system-idUSBREA1Q1HY20140227 

Adopted children fight Irish state secrecy to find parents

Catherine Droogan turns 40 this year. That's one of the few personal details she can be sure of.
Adopted at four weeks from a convent in eastern Ireland, Droogan doesn't know who her parents were or where she was born. She is not even certain who actually named her Catherine.Lying on her kitchen table in the Northern Ireland town of Omagh is a one-page document that the state has given her about her parents, containing what's known as "non-identifying information". It took her a year to get from Ireland's health service and tells her that her father was a blue-eyed factory worker in his early 20s, and her mother was a catering assistant who liked to read and dance. There are no names or addresses.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-ireland-adoption-insight-idUSBREA1Q1H920140227 

'I'm at my wit's end...I feel so alone. I can find nobody belonging to me,' says woman seeking birth cert

An emotional interview with a woman who grew up in a Longford convent and cannot track down her own birth certificate has touched people around the country.
Ann, speaking to Joe Duffy's Liveline today, told of her unsuccessful efforts to secure a birth certificate and how it means she cannot access some basic services.

An emotional interview with a woman who grew up in a Longford convent and cannot track down her own birth certificate has touched people around the country. Ann, speaking to Joe Duffy's Liveline today, told of her unsuccessful efforts to secure a birth certificate and how it means she cannot access some basic services. 

Shortfall in contribution to compensation scheme damages Catholic Church’s authority

Religious congregations and the State must resolve payment issue. What is to be done? The 18 religious congregations which managed residential institutions where children were abused into the 1970s refuse to pay a half of costs in resulting compensation. Successive Governments have held such costs should be shared 50:50, with support across the Dáil. 

The final bill is expected to be around €1.5 billion, involving €1.25 billion compensation paid by the Redress Board to more than 15,000 survivors. Contributions offered by the congregations to date, under the 2002 Indemnity Agreement and subsequent to the 2009 Ryan Report, amount to €480 million. The shortfall on the 50 per cent target is €245 million. 

http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/editorial/shortfall-in-contribution-to-compensation-scheme-damages-catholic-church-s-authority-1.2813775 

‘No specific plans’ for excavations on the grounds of Mother and Baby Homes

There are “no specific plans” to carry out excavations on the grounds of other Mother and Baby Homes yet, as a preliminary excavation was approved for a site where almost 800 children from the Tuam Mother and Baby Home are reportedly buried.
The Mother and Baby Homes Commission said work will begin on the site from today and continue for approximately five weeks. It will be led by a team of specialist archaeologists under a forensic archaeologist, with the full co-operation of gardaí.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/no-specific-plans-for-excavations-on-the-grounds-of-mother-and-baby-homes-423705.html 

Former nun grapples with history of abuse Eileen Rhoads prays for forgiveness for molesting students for years. Her victims say they can't forget.

Eileen Rhoads, a former nun turned convicted sex offender, can't erase the pain she left behind. All she can do is pray. "If I could bring every one of those kids here now," said Rhoads, 66, weeping as she sat beneath a small wooden cross in her Drexel Hill home, "I would get on my knees and beg their forgiveness."
Her victims say they can't forget or forgive. Not her - and not the church that they say failed to stop her. Warned that Rhoads was "very disturbed," church leaders released her from her nun's vows in the early 1970s - but hired her as a teacher at a Catholic school, where she found more victims.

http://articles.philly.com/2005-09-14/news/25428138_1_nun-catholic-schools-forgiveness 

Sex Abuse in the Church: Girls Also Victimized

We thought we knew the script in the Catholic-priest sex-abuse scandal. Both the victims and the perpetrators were male. But a recent story in The New York Timesseemed to suggest that this scenario ignored a whole segment of victims: young girls. The Times reported on a Catholic priest who was permitted to move to India instead of facing accusations of molesting two Minnesota girls. Meanwhile, Slate's June Thomas asked, "Is anyone else wondering if young women have been left out of this story, and if there's some agenda that's driving that absence?" a question that Andrew Sullivan’s readers have also been discussing. (Slate and NEWSWEEK are both owned by The Washington Post Company.)

http://www.newsweek.com/sex-abuse-church-girls-also-victimized-70741 

A letter from a victim of nun abuse

I received the following e-mail letter from Mary Dunford of Eagan, Minn.
"Dear Mr. Abbott,  "You published one of my letters June 14, 2004. In it I explained that I was the victim of sexual abuse by an Ursuline [nun] at a boarding school in southern Minnesota run by the Ursulines. It is now an ecumenical retreat center run by the same order.

"I told you that the bishops, notably Archbishop Flynn, refuse to take any responsibility for the other church leaders besides priests who have sexually abused children, teens, and vulnerable adults. Those others are Catholic nuns, youth leaders, lay ministers, paid lay employees, volunteers. Understanding that nuns are autonomous, answerable only to themselves and the Pope, isn't it time we demand that all victims of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse by Catholic Church leaders be given a voice?

http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/abbott/041209

Religion and Child Abuse

I was very distressed at seeing this topic censored in GD, because I believe child abuse in every form is a very serious problem, and that many methods that are used to indoctrinate children into religion are blatant acts of cruelty. I was born LGBT, and was aware of my orientation at a very early age. I was also a very curious child, and not prone to unquestionably believing everything adults told me. I was sent to a Catholic School when I was 4 years old, and was immediately subjected to intense brainwashing efforts by nuns and priests, reinforced by repeated sporadic physical abuse, for the purpose of indoctrinating me into the realm of existence commanded me by Catholic dogma.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/121877147

In Donnybrook, Future of Crumbling Magdalene Laundry Is Uncertain

When she arrived at the Donnybrook laundry, Sara was given a number and told to remember it. The number 100. This was her new identity.
In her survivor testimony for Justice for Magdalenes’ (JFM’s) submission to the Inter-Departmental Committee set up to investigate state involvement in the Magdalene laundries, Sara W described the conditions in the Donnybrook laundry between 1954 and 1956, before she was moved to another Magdalene laundry, in Cork.

http://www.dublininquirer.com/2016/03/09/in-donnybrook-future-of-crumbling-magdalene-laundry-is-uncertain/

My 3 Years As a Child Slave in a Magdalene Laundry Run by Sadistic Nuns

I read this story and it stands out as a mirror of... what most of us innocent children of the catholic church orphanages... and homes were put through... by nuns and priest... boys and girls alike... Ann

=============================

FORCED into hard labour at the tender age of 14, Kathleen Legg’s only crime was being born out of wedlock.

The Magdalene Laundries seemed the perfect solution to hide her “shameful secret”.
Kathleen, now 77, was sent to St Mary’s Training School, Stanhope Street, Dublin, where she lived and worked in horrific conditions.  Although it happened more than 60 years ago, she still can’t erase her memories of life in the laundry.

http://churchandstate.org.uk/2016/09/my-3-years-as-a-child-slave-in-a-magdalene-laundry-run-by-sadistic-nuns/ 

Excavation to take place at site of alleged mass grave at Tuam

AN EXCAVATION WILL be carried out on the site of a former mother and baby home in Tuam, Co Galway.
The excavation will take place following allegations about the deaths of 800 babies and the manner in which they were buried at the home, which came to light two years ago. The excavation was ordered by the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, which was set up following the allegations in July 2016.

http://www.thejournal.ie/mother-and-baby-excavation-3004183-Sep2016/?utm_source=shortlink 

In Donnybrook, Future of Crumbling Magdalene Laundry Is Uncertain

When she arrived at the Donnybrook laundry, Sara was given a number and told to remember it. The number 100. This was her new identity.
In her survivor testimony for Justice for Magdalenes’ (JFM’s) submission to the Inter-Departmental Committee set up to investigate state involvement in the Magdalene laundries, Sara W described the conditions in the Donnybrook laundry between 1954 and 1956, before she was moved to another Magdalene laundry, in Cork.

http://www.dublininquirer.com/2016/03/09/in-donnybrook-future-of-crumbling-magdalene-laundry-is-uncertain/

SPECIAL INVESTIGATION: Concern over possible falsification of Bessborough death records raised in 2012

Concerns that death records were falsified in Bessborough Mother and Baby Home so children could “be brokered in clandestine adoption arrangements” at home and abroad were raised in an internal HSE report in 2012.
The unpublished report highlighted the “wholly epidemic” infant deaths rates at the Cork home and said: “The question whether indeed all of these children actually died while in Bessboro or whether they were brokered into clandestine adoption arrangements, both foreign and domestic, has dire implications for the Church and State and not least for the children and families themselves.”

https://conallofatharta.wordpress.com/2016/05/05/special-investigation-concern-about-falsification-of-bessborough-death-records-raised-in-2012/ 

Order reported 80 more infant deaths to State than were on death register

The religious order that ran the Bessborough Mother and Baby Home reported significantly higher numbers of infant deaths to state inspectors than it recorded privately.
An Irish Examiner investigation can reveal that between March 31, 1939, and December 5, 1944, Department of Local Government and Public Health (DLGPH) inspector Alice Litster was informed that 353 infant deaths occurred at the institution. The figures are contained in a inspection report from 1944 obtained by this newspaper. However, the Bessborough Death Register, released under Freedom of Information, reveals the nuns recorded just 273 infant deaths in this period — a discrepancy of 80.

https://conallofatharta.wordpress.com/2016/05/05/order-reported-80-more-infant-deaths-to-state-than-were-on-death-register/ 

Grave situation: Deaths at Bessborough don’t add up

Religious order reported to the State that 353 babies died in Bessborough, but its own register showed 80 fewer deaths. A report found a system of ‘human trafficking’ in which ‘women and babies were considered little more than a commodity for trade’. Conall Ó Fatharta reports
THE revelation that the order which operated the Bessborough Mother and Baby home was reporting higher numbers of infant deaths to the State than it recorded in its own death register raises some serious questions So far, the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary have declined to offer any answers. The order says it will only deal with the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes. It can only be hoped that Judge Yvonne Murphy can get some answers. It is imperative she does.

https://conallofatharta.wordpress.com/2016/05/05/grave-situation-deaths-at-bessborough-dont-add-up/ 

Column: We must stop claiming that ‘we never knew’ about child abuse at Catholic institutions

This article was originally published 26 October 2012
OVER THE PAST two decades the issue of child abuse has dominated the Irish political agenda. Harrowing as the various reports have been Irish society has yet to deal with one of the most challenging and complex aspects of the abuse; how much did wider society in Ireland know?
A frequent response to this question has been that the vast majority of people never knew about child abuse until the 1990s. This does not hold up to scrutiny. Historians such as Diarmaid Ferriter have have pointed out that evidence in newspapers, court reports and government files indicate many people on all levels of society had varying degrees of knowledge of the abuse of children.

http://www.thejournal.ie/readme/column-we-must-stop-claiming-that-we-never-knew-about-child-abuse-649607-Jun2014/

Residential School Survior Stories

The following is a selection of Survivor stories drawn from the Our Stories…Our Strength video collection. We are grateful to the men and women who have shared their personal and often painful accounts of their experiences of residential school and its legacy. It is by sharing these truths that we can all continue to work toward understanding and healing.
Please contact us info@legacyofhope.ca if you are a Survivor who participated in the Our Stories…Our Strength project and would like to have your video posted on this site. If your story appears here and you would like it removed from the site or the collection, please do not hesitate to contact us at info@legacyofhope.ca

http://wherearethechildren.ca/en/stories/

Protest focuses on nuns in abuse

Members of an advocacy group for victims of clergy abuse told their stories Sunday in Chicago about being sexually molested by nuns.
Landa Mauriello-Vernon, the Connecticut director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), said the group, which passed out leaflets about the issue outside a Catholic church on the South Side and held a private meeting with representatives of women's religious orders, wants the public to know that some nuns have sexually abused children.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2004-10-04/news/0410040129_1_nuns-abuse-sexually 

Woman sues order of nuns for alleged '60s sex abuse

Women who say Roman Catholic sisters molested them as children asked Cardinal Francis George Tuesday to address their plight, saying the attention paid to abusive priests has overshadowed problems involving nuns.
The request stems from a lawsuit filed Tuesday against a religious order, alleging that one of its sisters repeatedly molested the plaintiff, Christine Bertrand, between 1962 and 1967 when she was a student at St. Juliana School in Chicago.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2005-06-01/news/0506010339_1_religious-orders-nuns-abuse 

New nun child sex abuse case in Belgium

it is still coming out... about nuns raping children... it is just never ending... yes NUNS and WOMEN rape children boys and girls... Ann

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Belgian prosecutors on Tuesday said they had opened a judicial inquiry after a fresh claim of sexual abuse in an institution for children run by nuns.
The latest probe follows a claim by a 63-year Belgian man to have been the target of sexual abuse in the 1950s in the Sint-Vincentius de Halen orphanage in the northeast region of Limbourg.

http://bhcourier.com/new-nun-child-sex-abuse-case-in-belgium/ 

Magdalene Laundries: 20 years since the last laundry closed in Ireland, five survivors tell their heartbreaking stories

THIS weekend marks the 20th anniversary of the closure of the last Magdalene Laundry in Ireland. On September 25 1996, Ireland’s final laundry, which was located on Sean MacDermott Street in Dublin and run by the Sisters of Our Lady, closed its doors for good.
While it’s not known for definite, it’s estimated that 10,000 women were institutionalised in laundries since the foundation of the Irish state in 1922.  The Irish Post reported in 2013 that the majority of laundry survivors escaped to Britain, for fear they’d be caught and incarcerated again.

http://irishpost.co.uk/magdalene-laundries-20-years-since-last-laundry-closed-ireland-five-survivors-tell-stories/ 

Urban Trinity: The Story of Catholic Philadelphia – a first of its kind urban history documentary

History Making Productions, the Philadelphia-based EMMY award winning documentary film production company behind Philadelphia: The Great Experiment, has produced a new documentary film, Urban Trinity: The Story of Catholic Philadelphia. The film is presented in three 26-minute chapters.

Urban Trinity: The Story of Catholic Philadelphia will broadcast exclusively on 6abc/WPVI-TV. Parts one and two aired back to back last night, September 22. Part three will air on Sunday, September 27th at Midnight, after Pope Francis’ departure from Philadelphia.

http://ucreview.com/urban-trinity-the-story-of-catholic-philadelphia-a-first-of-its-kind-urb-p5945-1.htm#.VgNDYmdeqLg.facebook 

Nun placed on leave after abuse allegation

A Dominican nun who has served in five parishes in Greater Boston for the past 34 years has been placed on leave after being accused of sexual misconduct with a fifth-grade girl in an Indiana classroom 40 years ago.
Sister Ann Daylor, 67, director of religious education at St. Mary's Church in Georgetown in northeastern Massachusetts, appears to be the first nun to be removed for such an allegation this year. About 300 priests nationwide have been removed this year because of sexual abuse allegations.

http://archive.boston.com/globe/spotlight/abuse/stories3/111402_nun.htm 

Years later, some charge sexual abuse by nuns

A half-century after his Catholic school boyhood, John Kerrigan says he is still haunted by the memories: a figure draped in the mantle of the church, finding sexual gratification through his fearful 12-year-old body.
Though his story echoes countless others in the ever-widening church molestation scandal, it differs in that the alleged abuser was not a priest. Rather, it was a nun.

http://www.robinwashington.com/articles/articles_nuns.html 

Torture, Assassinations, Vaccine Trial, Child TraffickingConducted By Nuns Around The World

If you research nuns and their various religious orders, you will find the hypocrite values theyclaim to uphold. There is the Sisters of Mercy who claim to stand for love.The torture, assassinations, human experiments, child trafficking and organ trafficking they havemanaged to cover up for decades is now coming to light

https://www.scribd.com/doc/53545205/Torture-Assassinations-Vaccine-Trials-Child-Trafficking-Conducted-By-Nuns-Around-The-World 

Father Delaney Collection: Magdalene Laundry

One of the most notable of Father Delaney’s films was made on the grounds of The Sisters of Our Lady of Charity Convent  – a convent which housed a Magdalene Laundry – which closed its doors in 1999.
In the film we see the nuns and residents playing games in the garden, as well as performing in a play and dancing. Though the film is short but is the most extensive footage that is known to have been filmed inside a Magdalene Institution. The film is invaluable for the information it provides on the residents. some of whom were classed as “fallen“ women,  held here against their will as punishment for some perceived misdemeanour such as sexual  promiscuity or extra-marital pregnancy.  The images show what the women wore, how they played, how they relate to each other, the nuns and to the filmmaker, a priest.

http://ifiplayer.ie/father-delaney-collection-magdalene-laundry/ 

What’s Religious about the Sexual Abuse of Children by Priests and Nuns?

Scholars analyze Catholic Church Abuse and Tools to promote Accountability

​ HARTFORD, CT, March 20, 2012 – Sexual abuse of children, while not exclusive to the Catholic Church, may be more widely prevalent due to the doctrine and practices of Catholicism, according to Robert Orsi ’75, Professor of Religion and the Grace Craddock Nagle Chair in Catholic Studies at Northwestern University, and Terry McKiernan, founder and president of BishopAccountability.com. 

http://www.trincoll.edu/NewsEvents/NewsArticles/pages/Abuse-of-Children-by-Priests-and-Nuns.aspx

The stolen children: Abuse scandals, thefts of newborns contribute to increased distrust in Chilean church

Santiago, Chile  Officials in Santiago, Chile, are investigating a series of cases in which newborn babies were purportedly stolen from the poor and given to the rich over many years' time, mostly in the 1970s through the '90s. At least half a dozen Catholic sisters and one of the country's most popular priests have been implicated in these long-hidden crimes. The following is the final article in a three-part series that looks at how this appropriation of children happened and how it stayed secret for so long. Read part one and part two.

https://www.ncronline.org/news/accountability/stolen-children-abuse-scandals-thefts-newborns-contribute-increased-distrust