Woman 'was sexually assaulted by hooded figure called The Devil helped by cult of satanic nuns then buried alive overnight' at orphanage.

A woman yesterday told how she was subjected to a Satanic sex ritual by nuns at a notorious orphanage. She described the sisters who ran it as a sadistic ‘cult’ which presided over bizarre rituals. In extraordinary evidence at the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (SCAI), she told how she was sexually assaulted in a candlelit chapel in the grounds of the Smyllum Park home run by the nuns. The man she said was responsible was wearing a hood – and the sisters told her he was ‘the Devil’. Afterwards, she said she was buried alive overnight at the orphanage in Lanark, then forced to bathe in what she was told was blood.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5155155/Woman-sexually-assaulted-hooded-figure-called-Devil.html

Never again: can the royal commission help make our children safe?

In the Parramatta Girls Home, a state-controlled institution for neglected girls in New South Wales, children were stripped of their identity and silenced. Their heads were shorn, they were assigned derogatory names, and personal items including sanitary napkins were confiscated. Little girls were deprived of food, forced into harsh labour, and were physically abused, sexually assaulted and raped.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/dec/09/never-again-can-the-royal-commission-help-make-our-children-safe

CULTURE OF EVIL' Boy was left so hungry at Smyllum Park orphanage he was ‘forced to eat GRASS’

Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry witness - who was at the orphanage in the 1960s - has told the probe that there was a 'culture of evil among religious orders' at that time. A YOUNG boy was left so hungry at a orphanage run by Catholic nuns that he was forced to eat GRASS, it is claimed. The man revealed to Scotland’s Child Abuse Inquiry that he was “never happy” during his time at Smyllum and was frightened of almost all the nuns in charge.

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/1947130/boy-hungry-eat-grass-smyllum-park-orphanage/

Family of last child to die at notorious Smyllum Park orphanage demand answers as inquiry hears of horrific abuse

THE family of the last child to die while in care at Smyllum Park orphanage have broken their silence to demand answers about her death. Patricia Meenan was hit by a car after running away from the children’s home in 1969. Her family had been told this was the first time Patricia had tried to flee – but it has now emerged the 12-year-old had attempted to run away a number of times. The Scottish Child Abuse inquiry has, in recent weeks, heard horrendous evidence accusing nuns, visiting priests and staff of inflicting physical, mental and sexual abuse at the orphanage, near Lanark.

https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/the-nuns-told-us-patricia-had-never-run-away-before-but-that-was-a-lie-given-what-we-know-now-about-the-terrible-things-going-on-in-that-place-we-dread-to-think-what-she-was-so-terrified-of-dread/

Notice of Credible Allegation of Abuse Dating to 1950s

he diocese recently received an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor by Father Sylvester Hoppe dating to 1953 to 1956. The priest, who died in 2002, was chaplain to St. Mary’s Orphanage in St. Joseph at the time. Consistent with diocesan policy, the allegation was reported to the civil authorities and investigated. It was found credible by the independent ombudsman, Independent Review Board and Bishop Johnston.

http://catholickey.org/2017/12/11/notice-of-credible-allegation-of-abuse-dating-to-1950s/

Catholic orphanage in Lanark 'force fed' children

The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry has been told by a former resident that he was force-fed at a Catholic orphanage. The witness said that, even as an adult, he has to leave the room when his family eat certain meals. As a boy of about eight years old, he moved to Smyllum Park in Lanark in 1974. The inquiry in Edinburgh heard from the witness that punishments in the orphanage included being beaten with "Jesus slippers".

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-42311288

Grappling with Rome: David Marr's lessons from the royal commission

When I grew up on the sheltered Protestant north shore of Sydney one of the givens about the Catholic church was that when push came to shove it would obey Rome rather than the law. This was a time when the election of a Catholic president of the United States was widely considered impossible or at the least dangerous. Where would JFK’s loyalties lie in a crisis, to Washington or Rome?

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/dec/13/grappling-with-rome-david-marrs-lessons-from-the-royal-commission

Sammy Carr ‘was not killed by beating from nuns’ at Smyllum Park orphanage

A young boy at a Catholic orphanage did not die because of an attack by a nun, a forensic pathologist has told an inquiry. Sammy Carr succumbed to a brain haemorrhage, aged six, after an E.coli infection, which he could have caught by playing with a dead rat, Anthony Busuttil said. The haemorrhage “was not traumatic in origin”, he added

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sammy-carr-was-not-killed-by-beating-from-nuns-at-smyllum-park-orphanage-p3zcb3fnf

Legal battles continue for St. Anne’s residential school survivors

Nishnawbe Aski Nation Deputy Grand Chief Anna Betty Achneepineskum is appalled by the Government of Canada’s legal tactics that are revictimizing survivors of the notorious St. Anne’s Indian Residential School and denying them justice. “The federal government’s position against St. Anne’s Survivors is a shameful injustice that is at odds with the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and this government’s commitment to reconciliation,” said Achneepineskum, who is attending Wednesday’s hearing in the Ontario Superior Court.

https://www.tbnewswatch.com/local-news/legal-battles-continue-for-st-annes-residential-school-survivors-790090

Australia 'I was forced to hold on to an electric fence'

Daryl was put into a children’s home when he was four years old. He would later be abused by a priest. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse delivers its final report on 15 December. More than 8,000 survivors took part in private sessions over the past five years. SBS News speaks to some of them. WARNING: Some readers may find this content distressing.

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/i-was-forced-to-hold-on-to-an-electric-fence

Child Abuse Inquiry: Child died from E.coli rather than nun attack

A child who died after spending time at a notorious orphanage succumbed to the effects of an E.coli infection not injuries inflicted by a nun, an inquiry has heard. Sammy Carr was six years old when he died of a brain haemorrhage in 1964 after being taken to hospital from Smyllum Park in Lanark. The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry heard from Professor Anthony Busuttil, a regius professor of forensic medicine at Edinburgh University, who said there was “no doubt” the haemorrhage had not been caused by a head trauma.

https://www.scotsman.com/regions/glasgow-strathclyde/child-abuse-inquiry-child-died-from-e-coli-rather-than-nun-attack-1-4637255

Nuns hit girl for asking her sister if she could leave orphanage, inquiry told

A former resident of a Catholic orphanage has told an inquiry how she was beaten by nuns for asking her sister to take her out of the home. June Smith, who waived her right to anonymity, moved in to Smyllum Park in Lanark, South Lanarkshire, in 1969 when she was about three or four. She told the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry in Edinburgh that residents would be hit with a belt or brush by nuns and staff would discuss who they were going to "pick on" each day.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/15714947.Child_abuse_inquiry_hears_how_nuns_hit_girl_for_asking_her_sister_if_she_could_leave_orphanage/

Mother and child homes inquiry to take another year

The Irish government has extended the deadline for the Commission of Investigation into 14 Mother and Baby Homes by a year, to February 2019. In its third interim report the commission said that it is faced with a huge task in collating and analysing a vast range of material. It said it is also speaking to former residents of the homes to hear their personal experiences and this is hugely time consuming. The commission said it has met 346 former residents across the country and here in the UK. A further 200 people have applied to meet with the committee.

http://www.theirishworld.com/mother-child-homes-inquiry-take-another-year/

Special award for women and children kept in religious-run, state-funded institutions

The National Women's Council of Ireland will today present a special award to honour women and children who were kept in religious-run, state-funded institutions.
It is one of two awards being announced at the council's AGM in Dublin.
NWCI director Orla O'Connor said women from all walks of life will come together to discuss what needs to happen to make the Ireland of the future a more equal society.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/special-award-for-women-and-children-kept-in-religious-run-state-funded-institutions-792764.html

Inquiry told girl 'abused by priest' at Smyllum Park had arm broken by nun

read it and weep... my heart goes out for the other men and women... who were put though hell like us innocent children worldwide... the same things happened to us all... what was it all about??... and there is one thing that I do know now... what they hated about us girls and boys... just take a look at our innocence... that is what they could not stand... you see the nuns and priest were the devil incarnated...and they used him on us as much as they could... while they thrashed us within an inch of our lives... while calling us the devil's daughters and sons... they used him well...
See this... just like they did to us... when does it STOP??... Ann

These included beatings, humiliations, freezing showers and children being force-fed inedible food, being told to eat their vomit and having their mouths rinsed out with soap.

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

An eight-year-old girl had her arm broken by a nun after she discovered the child was being sexually abused by a priest, an inquiry has heard.

Theresa Tolmie-McGrane told the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry she hoped the nun would protect her after walking in on the assault at Smyllum Park orphanage in 1970. But she said she was instead verbally abused and thrown at a wall. She said she then beaten and threatened with having her other arm broken

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-42240995 

Boy beaten after catching nuns in an embrace, Scottish child abuse inquiry told

A young boy was beaten "black and blue", as though he had been in a boxing match, after catching two nuns in an embrace, an inquiry has heard.
A man said he was six or seven when one of the nuns went "mental" and "ballistic" as she lashed out at him in a boiler-room at a care institution in the 1960s. He told Scotland’s child abuse inquiry that the "vicious" assault left him with bruises for weeks and with blood coming out of his ear and nose.

http://www.eveningecho.ie/oneaday/Boy-beaten-after-catching-nuns-in-an-embrace-Scottish-child-abuse-inquiry-told-92824272-bb4d-4372-bb7c-0931b2a0da4a-ds 

Kristine Ward, 'moral advocate for survivors' of abuse, remembered

A memorial Mass Dec. 9 in Dayton, Ohio, will remember Kristine Ward, a lay Catholic compelled by the Boston Globe's 2002 clergy sex abuse investigations to become a prominent advocate for survivors.
Ward died Nov. 9 after a years-long battle with cancer. The Mass will take place at Queen of Martyrs Church, in Dayton, followed by a celebration of life reception.

https://www.ncronline.org/news/accountability/kristine-ward-moral-advocate-survivors-abuse-remembered 

'She called me a whore, she took my left arm and yanked me out of his lap and flung me across to the wall,

A nun broke a young girl's arm as she reacted to discovering the child was being sexually abused by a priest, an inquiry has heard.

Theresa Tolmie-McGrane told how she had hoped she would be protected when the nun walked in on the assault in 1970, when she was eight, but was instead called a "whore", grabbed and thrown towards a wall.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/girl-catholic-priest-sexual-abuse-scottish-smyllum-park-orphanage-nun-break-arm-1970s-theresa-tolmie-a8095241.html 

Girl aged eight 'was sexually abused by priest then had her arm broken by nun who walked in on her as was happening'

A girl of eight was sexually abused by a priest – then had her arm broken by a nun who found out about it, an inquiry heard yesterday.

Dr Theresa Tolmie-McGrane, now 55, said she was later forced to take Communion from the priest who abused her – who told her she was ‘a soldier of God’.

When she alerted other priests to the abuse, she was told to pray for those responsible. A nun said: ‘What goes on here, stays here.’

She was a resident of the Smyllum Park orphanage in Lanark, which is now under scrutiny by the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5150665/Scottish-girl-aged-eight-sexually-abused-priest.html

Smyllum Park nuns gave child 'electric shock treatment'

A woman who lived in a Lanark orphanage from the age of four has told an inquiry she was given electric shock treatment.
The woman, who was giving evidence anonymously, said she was sent to Smyllum Park in 1965.
She told the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry she was abused by nuns there.

http://www.briefreport.co.uk/news/smyllum-park-nuns-gave-child-electric-shock-treatment-5426882.html 

NUNS forced a girl to take part in a ‘satanic’ sex ritual at an orphanage, the child abuse inquiry heard yesterday

The traumatised former orphanage resident known only as ‘Janie’ told a child abuse inquiry a man referred to as the 'devil' assaulted her while she lay on a slab surrounded by candles.
She said before the alleged attack, she and other girls were taken from their dorms at night to a nearby field where Catholic sisters from the “cult-like” home danced in a circle around a tree. The inquiry heard they were later taken to the back of a candlelit chapel and went downstairs.

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/1938839/girl-forced-into-satanic-sex-ritual-where-devil-buried-her-alive-at-smyllum/

Orphanage nuns 'broke 8-year-old's arm and told her to lie about priest's sexual assault'

Nuns broke the arm of an eight-year-old girl and threatened to break the other one after they found the child being sexually abused by a priest, an inquiry has heard.
The incident was one of a number that occurred in 1970 at Smyllum Park orphanage in Lanark, South Lanarkshire. The orphanage, which closed in the 1980s, was run by the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul.

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/orphanage-nuns-broke-8-year-olds-arm-told-her-lie-about-priests-sexual-assault-1650357 

Perceptions of Institutional Abuse Survey

This study will examine your perceptions of institutional abuse and the impact of this abuse on adult survivors.
This survey forms part of a research project awarded by the European Commission as part of the Joint Justice & Daphne call for actions grants supporting national or transnational projects to enhance the rights of victims of crime/victims of violence (SACSA - Support to Adult Survivors of Child Abuse in institutional settings - JUST/2015/SPOB/AG/VICT).

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf5Mk3YYEzybMV1pT1QIJyEcOFQj3eQ9KShCAaoQTOcEjujCg/viewform 

The 15,000 Scots children shipped to Canada

A search is underway for the families of up to 15,000 vulnerable children from Scotland’s children’s homes who were shipped to Canada in a programme of forced emigration and cheap labour that lasted almost 100 years.
Researchers in Canada are supporting families to secure the records of those transported by charities, including Quarriers and Barnardo’s, as part of the British Home Children programme that lasted from 1863 until the 1970s.

https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/the-15-000-scots-children-shipped-to-canada-1-4616584 

Payouts considered for child sex abuse victims in care.

Families of dead child abuse victims may be able to apply for compensation under a redress scheme being considered by the Scottish Government. A consultation has begun on the scheme which, if introduced, would provide financial redress to those who 
suffered abuse while in care.
Respondents are being asked whether the families of deceased victims should be able to apply for money and whether so-called interim payments should be made to those in old age.

https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/payouts-considered-for-child-sex-abuse-victims-in-care-1-4550892

Child Abuse Inquiry: Boy, 6, died ten days after a nun beat him

A six-year-old boy died 10 days after he was beaten by a nun at an orphanage, a child abuse inquiry has heard.   A witness, who cannot be named, told the inquiry his friend was kicked on the body and head by the Catholic sister. He was giving evidence at the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry which began the second phase of its hearings in Edinburgh on Tuesday. It is hearing evidence about institutions run by the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul.

https://www.scotsman.com/news/child-abuse-inquiry-boy-6-died-ten-days-after-a-nun-beat-him-1-4625447 

One story: Magdalene Laundries

Ombudsman Peter Tyndall has criticised the Department of Justice for what he described as its flawed administration of the scheme designed to compensate women who were admitted to or worked in institutions and Magdalene laundries.
The differences between the department and the Ombudsman centre on why some women were excluded from a compensation scheme. RTÉ's Cian McCormack spoke to one woman whose case was examined by the Ombudsman.

https://www.rte.ie/news/newslens/2017/1123/922214-magdalene-laundries-one-story/ 

Opportunity Lost An investigation by the Ombudsman into the administration of the Magdalen Restorative Justice Scheme

The incarceration of women in the Magdalen laundries and the forced labour to which they were subjected is one of the sorriest episodes in our history. It was exacerbated by the failure of Irish society to act over many years to highlight and tackle the injustice suffered by these women. The heartfelt apology of former Taoiseach Enda Kenny and the creation of a restorative justice scheme were intended to reflect the shame of the nation and offer some acknowledgement and recompense to the women.
This report looks at the administration of that restorative justice scheme. When I first began my investigation, my focus was primarily on the way in which the eligibility criteria for the Scheme were interpreted. As a result of the Department’s narrow interpretation some women who lived in the convents and worked in the laundries were excluded from admission to the Scheme. I should stress that I am not seeking to add new institutions to the Scheme. However, I have seen a significant amount of evidence which shows that some of the Magdalen laundries were inextricably linked with other units attached to the laundries or located on the same grounds and should be considered to be one and the same institution.

http://www.ombudsman.ie/en/Publications/Investigation-Reports/government-departments-other-public-bodies/Magdalen-Report/Magdalen-Scheme.pdf 

Ombudsman investigation finds that women wrongly excluded from Magdalen scheme

An investigation by Ombudsman Peter Tyndall has found that some women who worked in the Magdalen laundries have been wrongly refused access to the Magdalen Restorative Justice scheme. In his report ‘Opportunity Lost’, issued today, the Ombudsman also criticises other aspects of the Department of Justice and Equality’s administration of the scheme.

The investigation follows a number of complaints to the Ombudsman from women who had lived in convents and worked in the laundries. The Department of Justice & Equality refused their applications as, it said, the women were not in one of the 12 institutions covered by the scheme

http://www.ombudsman.ie/en/News/Media-Releases/2017-Media-Releases/Ombudsman-finds-women-wrongly-excluded-Magdalen-scheme-.html 

Objections by Department of Justice to Magdalen redress investigation 'disingenuous' - Ombudsman

THE STATE OMBUDSMAN has dismissed objections made by the Department of Justice to an investigation into 27 complaints made by women who worked in Magdalen Laundries regarding the Magdalene Restorative Justice scheme.
Many of those women had their applications for redress denied by the Department as they were not officially recorded as having been resident in the 12 institutions covered by the scheme.

http://www.thejournal.ie/ombudsman-magdalene-laundries-3712032-Nov2017/ 

Child rape victims were in Bessborough maternity registers show

Children as young as 12, pregnant as a result of rape, were in Bessborough Mother and Baby Home into the 1980s.  Details from maternity registers, released under freedom of information, reveal between 1954 and 1987, young girls were pregnant in the institution.
The youngest child in the registers dates from 1968. The girl is listed as being just 12 and had been transferred from Bessborough to St Finbarr’s Hospital in Cork, where her child had been stillborn in January 1968, as a result of “ante-partum haemorrhage”.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/child-rape-victims-were-in-bessborough-maternity-registers-show-369151.html 

Spain: The Stolen Children | European Journal

Tens of thousands of children are believed to have been taken away from their mothers during Franco's regime and placed with adoptive parents. Now they're demanding investigations.In some cases, children with ear infections admitted to hospital allegedly died there. But did they? A growing movement in Spain claims that thousands of babies were trafficked during General Franco's dictatorship with the help of crooked doctors and lawyers - but producing evidence is far from straightforward. Hundreds of criminal complaints have now been registered in the courts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dy7SOwMeUw&feature=share 

After waiting years to be heard, the children of Smyllum tell their heartbreaking stories

But in this nondescript office block, as commuters rushed by outside, they would speak at last.
And, finally, after all those years, these adults, who were once children in Scotland’s care homes, would tell their stories. Stories of neglect, of cruelty, of abuse and of murder.
The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry started its second phase in Edinburgh last week as judge Lady Smith, pictured, turned her attention to Smyllum Park children’s home in Lanarkshire, the orphanage where, as we revealed in September, up to 400 children are buried in an unmarked grave.

https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/we-heard-him-being-beaten-by-the-nuns-but-when-he-didnt-show-up-the-next-day-we-all-cheered-we-thought-he-had-a-new-family/ 

'Four-year-old boy died after being beaten by nun at orphanage' as witness recalls hearing "slap slap slap"

A four-year-old boy died after he was beaten by a nun at an orphanage, a child abuse inquiry was told yesterday, as a witness described hearing "slap, slap, slap".
A witness said they assumed the child had been taken by a family at first, but later found out the tragic news that he had died.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/four-year-old-boy-died-11612432 

Council calls for mother and baby home probe

Members of Derry City and Strabane District Council have called for a human rights-compliant public inquiry into alleged abuses at former mother and baby homes in the North and the rest of the country. Sinn Féin Councillor Patricia Logue raised the issue by tabling a motion calling for the a probe into allegations of "forced labour, arbitrary detention, ill treatment and the illegal adoption of babies" at homes in the North.

https://www.derryjournal.com/news/derry-city-and-strabane-district-council-calls-for-mother-and-baby-home-probe-1-8261007 

Scientists find potential neurobiological marker to help recognize PTSD patients

Scientists at the Universities of Birmingham and Amsterdam hope to have found a new neurobiological marker to help recognize patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Using an electroencephalogram (EEG) - a test that detects electrical activity in a person's brain via electrodes attached to their scalp - researchers studied the brain activity of a group of thirteen patients with PTSD.  The group was then compared to a group who had suffered a similar trauma but had not gone on to develop PDST.

https://www.news-medical.net/news/20171130/Scientists-find-potential-neurobiological-marker-to-help-recognize-PTSD-patients.aspx 

Young boy sexually abused in bathroom of Lanark orphanage, inquiry hears

A former resident of a Catholic-run orphanage has told an inquiry how he was sexually abused in a bathroom.
The witness, who cannot be named, was under 10 years old when the incident was said to have happened at Smyllum Park orphanage in Lanark, South Lanarkshire.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/News/15694111.Young_boy_sexually_abused_in_bathroom_of_Lanark_orphanage__inquiry_hears/ 

INQUIRY Ex-altar boy breaks down in tears as he tells Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry of experiences at Smyllum Park

AN ex-altar boy broke down in tears as he told the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry of his experiences at Smyllum Park in Lanark. William Connelly waived his anonymity to tell of beatings and sexual abuse.
The 69-year-old, who stayed at the children’s home from 1958, spoke of almost daily beatings by nuns and others. He also claimed a priest would perform a sex act on himself when hearing confession.

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/1910763/smyllum-park-altar-boy-scottish-child-abuse-inquiry/ 

Abuse inquiry: Orphanage boy 'molested in toilet cubicle'

A former resident of a Catholic orphanage has told how he was dragged into a toilet cubicle and sexually abused. The boy was under the age of 10 when the male staff member subjected him to the ordeal.
The man, now in his 60s, has told the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry that life at Smyllum Park Orphanage in Lanark was "like a concentration camp". The witness lived at Smyllum Park in the 1950s.

 http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-42183894#

'Boy died after being beaten by nun' at orphanage linked to mass grave

A four-year-old boy died after he was beaten by a nun at an orphanage, a child abuse inquiry was told yesterday.
A witness, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said he heard the boy being punished – and then never saw him again. He only recently found out in a newspaper report that the boy had died “or was killed”.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/crime/boy-died-after-being-beaten-11609442 

Nun 'killed' young boy and another was seen 'stabbing' baby in face, child abuse inquiry hears

A nun "killed" a young boy at an orphanage, a child abuse inquiry in Scotland has heard. A witness, who cannot be named, said he heard the boy being beaten and then never saw him again.
He recently found out in a newspaper report the boy, who was aged under 10, had died. The witness also said he was physically and sexually abused while in care and believed he had killed his mother after being told so by a nun, not finding out this was untrue until his mid-20s.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/world/nun-killed-young-boy-and-another-was-seen-stabbing-baby-in-face-child-abuse-inquiry-hears-816337.html

Boy, 6, died after nun kicked him in head in care home, inquiry hears

A former Catholic care home resident has alleged a six-year-old boy died after a nun kicked him repeatedly in the head during years of sexual and physical abuse at the home.
David, a pseudonym for the former resident, told an official inquiry into historical sexual abuse in Scotland that nuns and staff oversaw a regime of terror at Smyllum House, a children’s home in Lanark run by the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/nov/28/boy-6-died-after-nun-kicked-him-in-head-care-home-inquiry-hears 

Historic child abuse review could lead to new charges

Prosecutors are reviewing decades-old child abuse cases in a move that could lead to new charges being brought. The Crown Office said a team had been set up to re-examine decisions made in the past about cases involving the abuse of children in care. The details emerged as Scotland’s abuse inquiry heard allegations children died from injuries sustained during time spent at a notorious orphanage.

https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/historic-child-abuse-review-could-lead-to-new-charges-1-4625742 

Child abuse inquiry hears two boys were beaten to death at Smyllum Park orphanage in Lanark

TWO boys were beaten to death at an orphanage, one at the hands of a nun and the other by a caretaker wielding a golf club, Scotland’s child abuse inquiry has heard.
The allegations were made as the inquiry heard from four witnesses about their experiences while living in Smyllum Park orphanage in Lanark, which was run by the Catholic Order the Sisters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/15689428.Inquiry_hears_boys_were_beaten_to_death_at_orphanage/ 

Catholic nuns 'sexually abused boy and beat friend, 6, to death for playing with match'

A six-year-old boy died 10 days after he was beaten by a nun at an orphanage, a child abuse inquiry has heard. A witness, who cannot be named, told the inquiry his friend was kicked on the body and head by the Catholic sister.
He was giving evidence at the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry which began a new phase of hearings in Edinburgh on Tuesday.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/catholic-nuns-sexually-abused-boy-11605224 

Life in a Magdalene laundry: Haunting images show children raised in cruel orphanages around the world 'as punishment for their mothers' sins'

Oh God do you know what came rushing through my head as soon as I laid eyes on this picture??... us little children oh my god the shoes and everything are the same... just like we use to wear each Sunday... sitting outside the front door waiting to be looked over like cattle in a sale yard... to be pointed out for adoption every Sunday... in Christchurch New Zealand... oh god this is so hard.. Ann

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

Eerie photos from Magdalene Laundries around the world show children eating dinner as nuns watch over them and young women working on heavy equipment.

The images give an insight into life inside the laundries, which were places for women branded 'undesirable' by the church and orphaned children, where untold horrors are said to have taken place.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4352372/Haunting-images-everyday-life-Magdalene-Laundries.html

Children of sin: Quebec and Irish orphans share stories of abuse under care of Catholic Church

We were stolen from our mother's arms by the catholic church St. Vincent De' Paul... who took us to a catholic church orphanages... and there we were put up for adoption to the highest bidders... or we were put out to work on their farms from the age of 5years old...  working in their laundry's...  and their kitchens... I was one of the babies stolen from my mother at 2 and a half months old... I was told that my mother was dead... My mother was raped at 15years old... Ann

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

In a tucked-away office at Montreal's Concordia University, a video conference connects two groups of survivors separated by an ocean but linked by their so-called "illegitimate" births — Quebec's Duplessis Orphans and the survivors of Ireland's Mother and Baby Homes.
One by one, they introduce themselves, starting with their names and where they were born: Mount Providence orphanage in Montreal, Saint Patrick's Home in Dublin, Baie-Saint-Paul orphanage in Quebec. Communication is slow and halting; the Quebecers speak French, the Irish, English. Some never learned to read or write.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/duplessis-orphans-meet-irish-mother-baby-homes-1.4142930 

Child abuse inquiry to probe Lanarkshire childrens homes run by nuns

THE second phase of the Scottish child abuse inquiry will further investigate controversial children’s homes run by a Catholic Order of nuns. It is examining historical allegations of the abuse of children in care and has been taking statements from witnesses since last spring.
Officials said the first part of the second phase starting in autumn will focus on homes run by the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul, such as Smyllum Park in Lanark and Bellevue House in Rutherglen. The head of the religious order which ran the controversial children’s homes has already described allegations of abuse as a “mystery”.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/15463546.Child_abuse_inquiry_to_probe_Lanarkshire_childrens_homes_run_by_nuns/ 

Royal commission into child sexual abuse: 1,880 alleged perpetrators identified in Catholic Church

More than 20 per cent of the members of some Catholic religious orders — including Marist Brothers and Christian Brothers — were allegedly involved in child sexual abuse, a royal commission hearing in Sydney has been told.

Nearly 2,000 Catholic Church figures, including priests, religious brothers and sisters, and employees, were identified as alleged perpetrators in a report released by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-06/royal-commission-into-child-sexual-abuse-begins-in-sydney/8242600 

Convicted soul: A priest-perpetrator of child sexual abuse shares his story

West St. Paul, Minn. — Gilbert Gustafson was ordained a priest in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in 1977, served as an associate priest at St. Mary of the Lake Parish in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, until 1982, pleaded guilty to the sexual abuse of a minor in 1983, and served four and a half months in jail and 10 years' probation. Gustafson has admitted to abusing four boys between 1978 and 1982. He was not criminally charged in the other cases.

https://www.ncronline.org/news/accountability/convicted-soul-priest-perpetrator-child-sexual-abuse-shares-his-story 

New case of sexual abuse at convent school accepted by Catholic Church

In a "very rare" ruling, the Catholic Church has found a nun guilty of sexually abusing a child in her care, it has emerged.
Following an inquiry, the Catholic Church has ruled Mother Lucia guilty of historic sexual and physical abuse against a Christchurch schoolboy "on the balance of probabilities". The prioress died in 1997, aged 90. In November 2015, a West Coast man, who did not want to be named, brought complaints against the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions under the church's Path to Healing protocol.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/94073054/new-case-of-sexual-abuse-at-convent-school-accepted-by-catholic-church 

Sinead O'Connor's 'The Lion and the Cobra' Introduced Us to Her Fearless Voice 30 Years Ago

For as heartbreaking as it was to watch Sinead O'Connor's confessional Facebook video last August, its rawness and honesty nevertheless served as a reminder of the reasons people fell in love with her when her debut album, The Lion and the Cobra, dropped 30 years ago (Nov. 4, 1987).
At the time, O'Connor was a 20-year-old woman whose only proper credit was "Heroine," a song she co-wrote with U2 guitarist The Edge for his soundtrack to the 1986 Anglo-French film Captive. Yet she burst onto the college radio and alternative music scene with a fiercely vibrant vocal range that split the difference between Kate Bush and Perry Farrell.

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/rock/8031076/sinead-oconnor-the-lion-and-the-cobra-debut-album 

British writer says UK has a lot to learn from Australian child abuse royal commission

IT’S taken more than three years for a British inquiry into child sexual abuse to hear shocking evidence about spy agency M15’s knowledge of a high-level cover-up of allegations involving a senior Liberal politician who was knighted by Margaret Thatcher.
For British writer and broadcaster Bea Campbell, the revelations about Sir Cyril Smith in early October show why an inquiry was needed. It also shows why she and others will continue to push for a royal commission after three years of controversies, including lengthy delays and the resignation of three chairwomen and senior lawyers.

http://www.theherald.com.au/story/5034822/child-abuse-one-of-the-great-issues-of-our-time/?cs=305 

Tuam dead babies scandal is only the tip of the iceberg

Dan Barry’s “The Lost Children of Tuam” published in the New York Times last week draws a searing portrait of Irish society; the society in which the Tuam Baby Home operated (1925-1961) and the society in which Catherine Corless fights to dignify infant remains interred on the grounds of the former institution (2012-2017).
Ireland seems no closer to the truth of what happened to these and other children born to the nation’s institutional care system. “The Lost Children of Tuam” foregrounds the need for a truth telling mechanism to cultivate understanding and thereby help survivors come to terms with the system’s legacy of pain and suffering.

https://www.irishcentral.com/opinion/tuam-dead-babies-scandal-tip-iceberg

In Ireland, Recalling ‘a Very Dark Time’

I grew up in the long shadow of one of Ireland’s most notorious institutions for boys, St. Conleth’s industrial school in County Offaly. The school’s reputation for harsh treatment was such that we were often threatened with being sent to St. Conleth’s if we didn’t behave.

The Irish writer John McGahern, himself a victim of the tyrannical Irish version of the Catholic Church, once said: “The true history of the thirties, forties and fifties in this country has yet to be written. When it does, I believe it will be shown to have been a very dark time indeed, in which an insular church colluded with an insecure state to bring about a society that was often bigoted, intolerant, cowardly, philistine and spiritually crippled.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/05/opinion/ireland-child-abuse-neglect.html?emc=edit_tnt_20171105&nlid=63876270&tntemail0=y 

How Did Sinead O’Connor Rise to Fame?

Sometimes you hear a name and your mind immediately free-associates an image or sound, as these impressions are irrevocably bound in your cognition to your very concept of this person. Surely, Sinead O’Connor is forever tied to a close-buzz haircut and the international run-away hit of ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’, as well as her bravery in expressing her views, no matter who or what stood in her way. However, there is so much more to her story and so much more to her music and her life though many would ignore that, relying instead on 30 year-old memories. Sinead’s career has endured twists and turns but she’s still kicking and still willing to speak her mind. Let’s peel back the years and take a look at her path to fame.

http://gazettereview.com/2017/11/sinead-oconnor-net-worth/ 

Half of Magdalene laundry women in 1950s and 1960s never left again’

If Sister Peter were not at St. Joseph Boys Home in Christchurch New Zealand... I would of being one of these ladies who never left the catholic church orphanages... do you know what it is like not having a soul to talk to?... not having a friend you could trust... what it is like to run and hide from the nuns and the older girls?... what it is like to be so scared and frightened to even talk?... to look behind you more than in-front of you... to be locked in a little room with no lights or window?... in the dark just curled up in the corner of that room for hours on end... and not be able to see where the rats where...
FEAR... fear of everyone and everything around you... so the only way you survive is to be by yourself at all times... or go out of yourself...I always did this when I was thrashed every day and night...
When Brian started to come up to see me... he was turned away by the nun at the front door... he never once gave up... he would sleep under the hedge along the driveway... then come up the next day... he did this every weekend for four months... the nuns must of had a talk about it... because Sister Peter asked me if I knew a man named Brian... I told her yes... that I had meet him at a dance which all us girls went to... I was 23years old and it was the 1st time that I had ever gone out... I was allowed to see him and at first we were not allowed to leave the boys home... you know what... I never knew anything different... he would walk 25miles there and 25miles back each weekend...
I could tell you more but you must be fed-up with me by now... Sorry for going on... but I can not help with what is on my mind all the time... about all kinds of abuse which never leaves you... and you never forget it.. Ann.

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

Half of the women at one Magdalene laundry in the 1950s and 1960s never left the institution again but died years later behind the convent walls, according to research which strongly contradicts the Martin McAleese report.
“JFM research has found that 50% of the women who were resident at the Donnybrook laundry between 1954 and 1964 remained there until their death, never seeing freedom,” said Ms McGettrick. “Similar research at Hyde Park laundry has revealed that 30% of the women resident at the laundry between 1954 and 1964 also remained under the care of the nuns until they died.”

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/half-of-magdalene-laundry-women-in-1950s-and-1960s-never-left-again-276674.html

Lord James of Blackheath: I Helped Smuggle Children Used For Slavery And Sex

In a debate which took place in the House of Lords yesterday on the Modern Slavery Bill, Lord Blackheath makes a startling revelation. He tells his fellow peers that whilst working for the Australian Civil Service in London, he was tasked with herding, as he puts it, small children on to boats at Tilbury, for transportation to Australia. Blackheath says:

“They did not have names; they did not know who their parents were, or where they came from, and they were completely terrified.” 

https://researchingreform.net/2015/02/24/lord-james-of-blackheath-i-helped-smuggle-children-used-for-slavery-and-sexual-exploitation/

10 Dirty Secrets Of The Catholic Church

I put this on here again because i never want the world to forget... what us innocent children went through... bu the catholic church nuns and priest... the worst one was the stolen babies... dragging us out of our mother's arms... the as we were growing us... telling us that we were orphans... it still hurts... Ann

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

Throughout its long history, the Catholic Church has been rocked by scandals ranging from the dissolution of the Knights Templar to Galileo’s trial to Mother Theresa’s questionable donors. Over the course of the 20th century, many more scandals have come to light—no matter how much the Church would like to keep them secret.

http://churchandstate.org.uk/2015/04/10-dirty-secrets-of-the-catholic-church/ 

House plan ignites 'fire of hell' inside Neerkol survivor

A STRIPPED little girl, standing before the convent screaming for nuns to help her still lives within one of Neerkol's victims.
This memory is one of many to haunt the now-adult woman, and is as raw today as in the years of ongoing sexual and physical abuse between 1961-9 at the horror orphanage. The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, first stepped foot in Neerkol a 10-year-old girl alongside her six siblings, aged between three weeks old and 11.

https://www.themorningbulletin.com.au/news/house-plan-ignites-fire-of-hell-inside-neerkol-sur/3254495/ 

Calls for states to join redress child abuse scheme

Tens of thousands of people sexually abused as children will miss out on compensation under the federal government’s redress scheme unless all states join in, the Catholic Church warns.
Social Services Minister Christian Porter has called for the states, territories, churches and charities to “stump up” and opt into the Commonwealth scheme.

https://www.echo.net.au/2017/10/calls-states-join-redress-child-abuse-scheme/ 

Sexually Abused 400 Children Found Buried Under Catholic Church

The children were all residents of an orphanage run by Catholic nuns and were found buried in an unmarked mass grave in a section of St Mary’s Cemetery.
The orphanage looked after 11,600 children between 1864 and 1981. In 2003, former residents Frank Docherty and Jim Kane discovered a burial plot containing the bodies of a number of children who they say were sexually abused before being killed.

http://www.theaware.net/sexually-abused-400-children-found-buried-under-catholic-church/ 

Ministry for Vulnerable Children is changing its name, again

Children's Commissioner Andrew Becroft says removing the word "vulnerable" from Ministry for Vulnerable Children Oranga Tamariki is a "good sign" from the new Government.
Minister for Children Tracey Martin announced the new name in a tweet, saying: "I have just been sworn in as the Minister for Children. Not Vulnerable but all children."

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/98349920/ministry-for-vulnerable-children-is-changing-its-name-again 

Canada seeks to compensate indigenous taken from families

TORONTO –  Colleen Cardinal often wondered why her parents turned bright red in the sun but she grew dark along with her sisters. The puzzle was solved when she was a young teen, and the woman she had thought of as her mother disclosed that she had been picked out of a catalog of native children available for adoption.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/10/30/canada-seeks-to-compensate-indigenous-taken-from-families.html 

Abused and told by the nuns that their culture was “evil”

In Canada, First Nations tribes were forced into a boarding school system run by Christian churches, in which abuse was rife. Here, three indigenous storytellers discuss how they are remaking their society.

Sometimes the story that you set out to tell is not the one that wants to be told. On a Friday morning in a house in Dublin, I sit down to speak with three indigenous storytellers from Canada. They are here for a conference called The Untold Stories of the Past 150 Years/Canada 150 at UCD, about Canadian history and identity.

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/abused-and-told-by-the-nuns-that-their-culture-was-evil-1.3083477 

The care system is broken. Here’s what I suggest

Adopted at birth and raised by nuns, the artist-activist Louise Wallwein has spent a lifetime trying to find out who she is. Now, though, she has made a play, radio play and book about that process – and how she has let go of trying to find her own “origins story”.
Wallwein, 47, spent her childhood moving from care homes to foster parents; at nine she went back into the care of nuns after her adoptive family broke down; she was moved between 13 different children’s homes; then at almost 18 she came out as gay, left care, and became involved in activism and theatre, which, she says, have kept her grounded ever since.

https://inews.co.uk/essentials/lifestyle/people/i-foster-child-care-system-needs-change/ 

Indian Boarding Schools: One Woman's Tragic, Triumphant Story

Many of his descendants, including Lynn and her children, also attended boarding schools. This is Lynn’s story, in her own words:
We didn’t have a home. I was born in Rosebud, if you want to call that my home. My mother abandoned us at the Saint Francis Mission School in Mission, South Dakota, in the early 1960s. I was about 6. My sister Janice was about 14 months younger than me.

https://www.voanews.com/a/indian-boarding-schools-a-family-affair/4078971.html 

Nightmare at Neerkol: House plans for horror orphanage

LIVING in the infamous Neerkol Orphanage abandoned in Stanwell is not everyone's dream home. But one developer has been granted approval to convert two of the 132-year-old buildings into a private residence.
Rockhampton Regional Council today moved a motion of approval for the developer, TLE Coombs, to fit out the historical buildings with plumbing and electricity for the new resident to preserve the land.

https://www.themorningbulletin.com.au/news/nightmare-at-neerkol-house-plans-for-horror-orphan/3253353/ 

Time to acknowledge the other baby scoop

Many Canadians are unaware that in the immediate postwar decades, federal and provincial governments forced hundreds of thousands of “unwed mothers” to give up their babies by means of forced or coerced adoption.

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2017/10/30/time-to-acknowledge-the-other-baby-scoop.html 

'Stain on my brain': David Owen to tell Royal Commission of life of abuse

David Owen was born after his 12-year-old mother was raped, was offered for adoption in a newspaper advertisement, and was physically, sexually and emotionally assaulted for years at an isolated orphanage run by the Catholic Sisters of Mercy.

http://www.smh.com.au/national/stain-on-my-brain-david-owen-to-tell-royal-commission-of-life-of-abuse-20150413-1mkg25.html 

Lies You Were Taught as a Child

That is just what the catholic church nuns told us... and you know what... there have been ghost fires... in all of the catholic church homes and orphanages worldwide... Not a thing but five lines of who took me there... and it was not my mother as the nuns use to tell us as children... it was St. Vincent De' Paul... who worked for the catholic church... 😿🙀
Yes and again in 2003 by the Good Shepherd order nuns... what happened was that the man who was standing in for the government... came in with over 15 big boxes for papers... and here we all were standing around as little children... waiting for our names to be called out... I was so excited to see so many boxes... thinking that we all would have a box each... and that the sisters shared their box... as I heard the named called out... when another box was pulled away from the pile of boxes... my eyes and ears stayed on that box... but no not for me again... two boxes left and so many ladies still waiting for their named to be called out... NO our names were never uttered... not even a whispered of a Ann did I hear... Five girls got five boxes each... we were sure that this guy had made a mistake... but no he had not... these five girls had being from one home to another and each place that they went to where in their boxes...they were from the state homes.

24years of my childhood is lost... only the abuse... pain and torment are in-bedded in me... us men and women of the catholic church orphanages have nothing about our Childhood...  Ann

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The following is for adults who have suffered trauma as a child particularly abuse by the responsible adults in their lives. Abuse includes physical, emotional and sexual. However, what this audio addresses is the emotional abuse which is present whenever physical and sexual abuse occurs as well as occurring by itself. Although the act of abuse is horrible, the worst part often is the long-term consequences suffered by those who have been abused. Those long-term consequences occur because of what you were taught to believe about yourself. The abuse taught you lies about yourself and because of those lies you continue to suffer in adulthood. 

https://www.excelatlife.com/downloads/cognitive_self-talk/lies.htm

Sexually Abused 400 Children Found Buried Under Catholic Church

The children were all residents of an orphanage run by Catholic nuns and were found buried in an unmarked mass grave in a section of St Mary’s Cemetery.
The orphanage looked after 11,600 children between 1864 and 1981. In 2003, former residents Frank Docherty and Jim Kane discovered a burial plot containing the bodies of a number of children who they say were sexually abused before being killed.

http://www.theaware.net/sexually-abused-400-children-found-buried-under-catholic-church/ 

15 Stories About Orphanages From Around The World

 And Christchurch New Zealand... as this photo is from and it is one of my photos... this order of nuns were the cruelest witches that ever lived... they enslaved innocent children... who they ripped from their mother's arms... as tiny little babies... I was one of those stolen babies... Ann

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

The Nazareth House orphanages were run by the Sisters of Nazareth beginning in the middle of the 19th century. The first institution began in London, but they expanded to include houses in Britain, Australia, South Africa, the United States and Ireland. The sisters ran a tight ship, enforcing their own brand of discipline which often crossed the line into the worst kind of abuse. Over 500 former residents from different countries have come forward to recount their tales of horror and trauma.

http://www.babygaga.com/15-stories-about-orphanages-from-around-the-world/2/?view=lista 

Ireland Wanted to Forget. But the Dead Don’t Always Stay Buried.

A slight girl all of 6, she leaves the modest family farm, where the father minds the livestock and the mother keeps a painful secret, and walks out to the main road. Off she goes to primary school, off to the Sisters of Mercy.
Her auburn hair in ringlets, this child named Catherine is bound for Tuam, the ancient County Galway town whose name derives from a Latin term for “burial mound.” It is the seat of a Roman Catholic archdiocese, a proud distinction announced by the skyscraping cathedral that for generations has loomed over factory and field.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/10/28/world/europe/tuam-ireland-babies-children.html 

Noelle Brown | The Late Late Show

Noelle Brown was born in Bessborough Mother and Baby Home in the 1960s and adopted when she was eight weeks old. She talks to Ryan about her quest to find out more about her birth-mother.

https://www.rte.ie/player/nz/show/the-late-late-show-extras-30003017/10795354/ 

To Find the Story of the Lost Children of Tuam, I Needed a Guide

What is the compact between the living and the dead? Do we owe the dead a small plot of earth? A gravestone or an urn? A whispered prayer, a spray of flowers, or some other means by which we signal to the great silence that we remember?

These are among the many questions raised by a continuing scandal in Ireland that is the focus of a New York Times special report called “The Lost Children of Tuam.” Though well-known in that country, the disturbing case, involving the historic mistreatment of unwed Irish mothers and their children, is less familiar beyond Irish shores.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/28/insider/a-guide-to-find-the-story-of-the-lost-children-of-tuam.html?emc=edit_tnt_20171028&nlid=63876270&tntemail0=y 

Collateral damage: the family upheaval that results from abuse

A case of sex abuse has repercussions beyond the obvious as the families of ­perpetrators are also drawn into the trauma.  Betrayal. It's the first word that Dr Marie Keenan thinks of when she considers the overriding emotion experienced when a family member is revealed to be a sex offender.

"That sense of betrayal is enormous," she says. "This is someone they loved, whom they thought they knew intimately, and now they are having to confront the most horrific news."

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/collateral-damage-the-family-upheaval-that-results-from-abuse-36265245.html

Elizabeth and Margaret 1911 Ireland

This is what happened to catholic women and girls... who found they were with child... when you read this story... Please take in mind also... about what us babies went through because of our birth... we were the devil's daughters and sons... it was a life worst that the concentrations camps during the wars... for us innocent children... in the catholic church orphanages worldwide... Ann

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

When the 1911 Census was being collated, Elizabeth (Eliza) Nolan was just 6 years old. The daughter of a farmer, she had eight siblings. The closest in age to her, with just 3 years separating them, was my paternal Grandfather, Patrick. The Nolans grew up in a rural area called Gurteen (also known as Gorteen), just outside the village of Killeigh near Tullamore, Co.Offaly in Ireland.
Discovering her pregnancy. When Elizabeth was just 21 years old, she discovered she was pregnant. She was in a relationship with a local man at the time but they weren’t married. Facing rejection and shame. In 1926 Ireland, falling pregnant out of wedlock was a massive scandal. As people of that time saw it, news of Elizabeth’s pregnancy brought great shame on the Nolan family. She was sent to Dublin to have her baby and she never saw her parents again.

https://paulanolanphotography.ie/blog/2015/11/20/elizabeth-and-margaret/

Bodies of 'hundreds' of children buried in mass grave

Another time... another country... Stolen babies and sold to the highest bidders... by nuns and priest and the government...   we MUST be the VOICE of the lost innocent babies and children... Ann

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

The bodies of hundreds of children are believed to be buried in a mass grave in Lanarkshire, southern Scotland, according to an investigation by BBC News.

The children were all residents of a care home run by Catholic nuns. At least 400 children are thought to be buried in a section of St Mary's Cemetery in Lanark.

Spanish 'stolen' baby case goes to European court

Another time... another country... Stolen babies and sold to the highest bidders... by nuns and priest and the government...  Ann

 ===============================

A woman who believes her baby was abducted at birth by staff at a Spanish hospital is to have her case heard by the European Court of Human Rights.

Ruth Appleby, from North Yorkshire, was told her daughter had died hours after being born apparently healthy in 1992. She later learned that thousands of Spanish babies were taken and given up for adoption.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-40494049# 

I'm anxious that every bit of evidence gets out there, just in case it's a carbon copy of Tuam'

“THE DEATH RATES in all those places were very, very high. I would doubt that St Anne’s was an exception.”
Catherine Corless, the historian whose research led to the discovery of the human remains in sewage chambers at the Tuam site, is calling for a full investigation into a former Sisters of Mercy orphanage as a number of survivors have disclosed recollections of baby deaths on the land to her.

http://www.thejournal.ie/lenaboy-castle-galway-investigation-3654327-Oct2017/?utm_source=shortlink 

Ireland's 'house of tears': Why Tuam's survivors want justice for lost and abused children

When you look into the nuns who abused and raped innocent children... and stole babies in Ireland... you must also know that this abuse from nuns... as with the priest abused children worldwide... the same goes for the Nuns abusing children... and stealing babies around the world as well... I am one of the babies the cathgolic church ripped from my mother's arms... when I was 2 and a half months old in Wellington New Zealand... then took me down to the Christchurch to their orphanage... from the on I was called an orphan... there were no true orphans in their orphanages in New Zealand... they called us orphans because they got more money from the government for each child... they also got money from our mothers and some from the fathers... they is was the nuns are so rich today... they made their money from the blood of the innocent children... who were their nuns slaves... Ann

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

A harrowing discovery in Ireland casts light on the Catholic Church's history of abusing unwed mothers and their babies – and emboldened survivors to demand accountability.
In a small meeting room on the second floor of the Corralea Court Hotel, Patrick McDonagh tells his story in a rushed confession. "It was the way everything was covered up; the way they got rid of me. I was born there. I was there until 6 1/2," says the 63-year-old. He leans forward as he speaks in a hushed voice. On either side of him, others listen, their faces expressionless. They, too, will have their turn to reveal what few of them have spoken about before.

https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/tuam-ireland-house-of-tears/article36431106/ 

Bishop wants Little Nellie exhumed

The Bishop of Cork and Ross has called for the exhumation of the remains of Little Nellie — the “unofficial patron saint” of Cork — from a cemetery on lands controlled by receivers to allow people to pray at her grave.
John Buckley also suggested that in the interim, approaches be made to the bank which appointed the receivers to manage the now derelict Good Shepherd Convent on Sunday’s Well with a view to facilitating public access to her grave.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/bishop-wants-little-nellie-exhumed-348764.html 

Magdalene site findings require investigation

Over the last few months, a team of archaeologists has been examining the former Good Shepherd convent site, under licences from the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, in conjunction with the National Museum.
The examination is part of a request for further information in relation to a planning application for the proposed redevelopment of the site.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/magdalene-site-findings-require-investigation-460903.html 

Call to open Church records to abuse survivors

The Government must push the Catholic Church and religious orders to open their records to abuse survivors and academics.  Catriona Crowe, former head of special projects at the National Archives of Ireland, said that it “should not be a matter of grace and favour” that survivors are granted full access to records, but a matter of right.
She said Ireland had seen unprecedented disclosures relating to treatment of vulnerable women and children across a unique archipelago of institutions — mother and baby homes, Magdalene laundries, industrial schools, and reformatories. She said the only way to achieve a complete picture of what happened is to have full access to their archives.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/call-to-open-church-records-to-abuse-survivors-461139.html 

Tuam historian Catherine Corless to receive human rights award

The Bar of Ireland has announced that Tuam amateur historian Catherine Corless will receive its Human Rights Award for 2017. The association of barristers says the award is "in recognition of her tireless work in relation to the Tuam Mother and Baby Home".
In 2014, Catherine published research revealing that hundreds of babies & toddlers had been buried in unmarked graves at the Tuam Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home.  The home operated between 1925 and 1961 in the Co Galway town.

http://www.newstalk.com/Tuam-historian-Catherine-Corless-to-receive-human-rights-award

They Promised Heaven But Led Me To Hell

My name is Ann Thompson. I am an author and a poet, I have written about my experience in two Catholic Church Orphanages. I am hoping to raise funds to publish a second book about my experience in the Orphanages. I want to raise awareness and help New Zealanders who have suffered a similar experience.
This book is written through the eyes of a child, telling her story, who’s memories are as vivid today, as though they were yesterday. I was not educated, but the child in me does not go a day without the pain, shame and torment of the abuse, which she was put through, by the very people who should have looked after her. I thought all my life that I was a bad child and that the punishment was done to me for being bad and a bold girl. A child who could not do anything unless she was punished beforehand.
I have written this book because I believe those of us who have been abused by the nuns and priests need to tell our stories so the abuse of children will never happen again.
This crime and our shame will never go away until we stand together as one and say to the Catholic Church. 'No more abuse; No more lies; Tell the world the truth.' Ann Free Spirit = Ann Thompson


https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/annfreespirit

Unspeakable cruelty and vicious abuse'

A REPORT INTO institutional abuse at children’s homes in Northern Ireland has found that there was ‘widespread abuse’ at such facilities between 1922 and 1995.
The Historical Institutional Abuse inquiry had looked into allegations of abuse at 22 such children’s homes across Northern Ireland. The largest number of complaints stemmed from four different Catholic-run institutions.

http://www.thejournal.ie/northern-ireland-childrens-homes-abuse-3196344-Jan2017/ 

Suffer the Little Children: Church Cruelty in Ireland

Last year, during the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising that led to Irish independence, the writer Colm Toibin pointed to the fatal mistake the British made when putting down the rebellion. It was not just the swift execution of the movement’s leaders, which historians often point to as a defining moment, but the burial of their bodies in quicklime without coffins.

“Anyone Irish will understand that whatever you do, don’t do that,” he said, adding that it “mattered in Ireland in a way that it might not have mattered in some other country.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/30/opinion/suffer-the-little-children-church-cruelty-in-ireland.html 

Nuns performed acts of sadism on children, Australian inquiry finds

Sadistic nuns at a notorious Australian orphanage in Queensland dished out abuse in a toxic environment that festered due in part to inadequate government scrutiny, supervision and training, a royal commission has found.
The child sex abuse royal commission last year examined cruel treatment of 13 former residents of St Joseph's Orphanage, which was operated by the Sisters of Mercy between 1940 and 1975. The men and women – now aged from their 50s to 80s – recalled abuse at Neerkol, ranging from public floggings and being walked on in high heels to being made to drape urine-soaked sheets over their heads.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/79205204/nuns-performed-acts-of-sadism-on-children-australian-inquiry-finds 

Mothers who lose children to care ‘often care leavers themselves’

A significant percentage of mothers who repeatedly lose children to the care system for adoption are care leavers themselves, new research suggests.
In a study which has now been published under the title Vulnerable Mother and Recurrent Care Proceedings, a team of researchers from Lancaster University examined the life histories of 354 young mothers living in 52 legal authority regions. Between them the mothers had appeared in a 851 care cases. This information was boosted with general population data and personal interviews with 72 women.

http://www.marilynstowe.co.uk/2017/10/07/mothers-lose-children-care-leavers/ 

Erasing History on the Pretense of Preserving Privacy: Why the Supreme Court of Canada is Allowing the Destruction of Records of Residential School Abuse

One of the ways to persecute is to rob people of their history. This was done by male historians seeking to undervalue the contributions of women. It was done by white historians seeking to confirm racist ideologies.
Now a group of all white judges has entrenched the power of a body created by a white majority government to rob the victims of residential schools of their history. On October 6, 2017 the Supreme Court of Canada made it legal for the authorities in charge of compensating the victims of the residential school system to destroy the records of the abuse after a given delay.

http://www.forgetthebox.net/erasing-history-pretense-preserving-privacy-supreme-court-canada-allowing-destruction-records-residential-school-abuse-201710121/ 

National body to investigate abuse claims at Aberdeen’s Nazareth House

Oh Please... Please do something about these Nazareth House nuns. they were so evil... cruel women... deliberately causing us pain and suffering without mercy... we had these so and so order of nuns in New Zealand as well... they were the devil himself...
We never saw a Bible at the two catholic orphanages in Christchurch New Zealand... and I was there up to 25years old... just being the nuns slaves like most of us girls... working without FREEDOM and never being paid... they were paid by the government for our keep and work... but we never saw a penny... the nuns were paid blood money... as they whipped us until we bleed... and until we could not get up... while working on our hands and knees... and if we dare to look up at the nuns... while she passed us... out would come her whip behind her back... then she would walk away while we were out cold... because we knew what she was going to do to us... and we just had to look to see which way we could move to... to get away from that whip... it was just endless beatings both day and night... we could not get away from it... NO ONE helped us... and they all knew... they could hear us screaming for help... NO ONE came...   Ann

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A former Aberdeen children’s home run by nuns is to be investigated as part of a national abuse probe next year.  The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry has announced it will look into claims of abuse at establishments run by the Sisters of Nazareth in the spring.
Nazareth House in the city’s Claremont Street was once home to more than 300 children and has faced allegations of historical abuse for more than 20 years.

https://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/fp/news/local/national-body-to-investigate-abuse-claims-at-nazareth-house/?utm_source=facebook

Scottish nuns promise memorial to 400 children in mass grave.

Nuns who ran the orphanage where up to 400 children were secretly buried in a mass grave have finally promised a memorial to mark their lives. The Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul pledged to build a memorial naming all the lost children of Smyllum.

At least 402 babies, toddlers and older children died while being looked after by the nuns at Smyllum Park in Lanarkshire and were believed to be buried at a nearby cemetery. That was nearly three times the number of children the religious order had claimed were buried in an unmarked mass grave.

http://www.scotsman.com/news/scottish-nuns-promise-memorial-to-400-children-in-mass-grave-1-4568836 

Ten-year-old children should not be locked up, leading criminologist says

The minimum age of criminal responsibility for children should be lifted from 10 to 14, given mounting evidence of the lifelong harm the justice system does to children, and the huge risk of children becoming "entrenched" in the jail system if locked up young, one of Australia's leading criminologists says. Children as young as 10 can currently be prosecuted for crimes in all jurisdictions in Australia.

 https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/tenyearold-children-should-not-be-locked-up-leading-criminologist-says-20170922-gymvt4.html

A Catholic Nun is arrested for ‘helping five priests rape deaf children’

A Roman Catholic nun stands accused of helping five priests sexually abuse deaf children.
Kosaka Kumiko, 42, allegedly helped the priests cover up anal and vaginal rapes, fondling and oral sex at the institution for deaf students in Argentina.
The abuse allegedly took place in the bathrooms, dorms, garden and a basement at the school in Lujan de Cuyo, a city about 620 miles northwest of Buenos Aires.

http://www.worldwide876media.com/nun-arrested-priests-rape-children/ 

Smyllum orphans will be nameless no more.

Children who have lain in unmarked graves in Lanark’s St Mary’s Cemetery for up to 150 years are soon to be nameless no more. Although the order of nuns that ran Lanark’s Smyllum Orphanage from the 1860s to the 1980s, the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent De Paul, bowed to pressure several years ago to erect a memorial stone to children who died in their care in the vicinity of their unmarked final resting places, that stone carried no individual names.

http://www.carlukegazette.co.uk/news/smyllum-orphans-will-be-nameless-no-more-1-4580343 

Abuse at Goulburn's orphanages must be acknowledged | Editorial

Those who haven’t walked in the shoes of children abused in institutional care struggle to understand the enduring hurt and pain.  Many people urge these victims to get on with life, put their experience behind them and do the best they can. But anyone with understanding of the lingering effects knows this is only possible to a certain extent.
Feelings of neglected childhoods were evident amid the camaraderie and happiness at the recent reunion of Gill Memorial Boys Home residents. These men love catching up each year but it’s always with a tinge of sadness. Instances of proven and alleged sexual abuse by Salvation Army officers have been aired at a Senate inquiry and more recently, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

http://www.goulburnpost.com.au/story/4928833/time-to-acknowledge-our-orphanage-truth/

Magdalene Laundries: The First Prisons for Women in the United States*

The Indiana Women’s Prison, originally known as the Indiana Reformatory Institution for Women and Girls, is considered the first separate prison for women in the United States. We believe that distinction belongs instead to Catholic institutions commonly referred to as “Magdalene Laundries” that were established throughout the nation beginning in the 1840s and that served as private prisons for women whose sexuality offended mainstream society.
We first discovered the existence of a Magdalene Laundry in Indianapolis as part of research on the early history of our prison. In digitizing records for the original inmates, we found that none were in for sex-related offenses. We discovered a Catholic prison that had opened in Indianapolis five months
before the Indiana Reformatory Institution for Women and Girls. We have since found 15 Catholic women’s prisons that existed before the one in Indianapolis opened, beginning with Louisville, Kentucky, in 1843, and another 23 before 1900.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0WaPggKV2mkWXZXY0JEUS1HQWc/view

Former burial site of Bon Secours nuns won't be touched in hospital transformation, says HSE

PLANS to transform the old Grove hospital once owned by the Bon Secours nuns in Tuam won't include any work at a former nuns' burial site, according to the HSE.
While excavation works will be carried out as part of the redevelopment of the old Grove hospital which is being turned into a Community Mental Health facility, the plot to the rear of the site, where it's thought babies were also buried at the foot of nuns' graves, won't be touched.

http://www.tuamherald.ie/news/roundup/articles/2017/09/06/4145433-former-burial-site-of-bon-secours-nuns-wont-be-touched-in-hospital-transformation-says-hse/