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

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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

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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.

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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

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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