Zero tolerance? The facts don't support the pope's claims on child abuse

On his return flight from Lima to Rome in January, Pope Francis claimed, as he has so often before, that he has zero tolerance for clergy who sexually abuse children: “I continue with the policy of zero tolerance initiated by Benedict XVI, and in five years I have not signed a single request for leniency.
If the appeal court confirms the decision of the lower court, the only other avenue is to ask the pope for leniency. In my time as pope, I have received some 25 requests, and have signed none of them.”

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jan/31/zero-tolerance-the-facts-dont-support-the-popes-claims-on-child-abuse 

'UNCONVINCING' Charity who ran Smyllum Park Orphanage and allegedly abused children blasted by survivors’ group for ‘unconvincing’ apology

In Care Abuse Survivors said the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul were more interested in its previously 'good name' despite over 50 people coming forward to report mistreatment during Scotland's Child Abuse Inquiry A SURVIVORS’ group has hit out at “unconvincing” apologies from a religious order that ran Smyllum Park Orphanage where kids were allegedly abused.
John Scott QC, representing In Care Abuse Survivors (Incas), said the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul had shown a “sceptical attitude” amid shocking claims of historical abuse at the home in Lanark.

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/2164147/smyllum-park-orphanage-lanark-child-abuse-nuns-apology-daughters-charity-st-vincent-de-paul/

Inquiry hears of victims' harrowing accounts of historic abuse at Ruthgerglen care home

Children were beaten with brushes, sexually abused and forced to fight each other at a Rutherglen home, the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry was told. Two witnesses have so far told of the abuse they suffered at the hands of the Daughters of Charity at Bellevue House during the second phase of the historical inquiry.
One alleged victim, who went on to become a nun herself, said she was frequently beaten and routinely shamed for being “clever”.

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/local-news/inquiry-hears-victims-harrowing-accounts-11901155 

Nuns ‘failed to engage’ with abuse allegations

A religious order failed to act on allegations of child abuse 20 years ago when legal action came to nothing, an inquiry has heard. Sister Ellen Flynn, head of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul in the UK, told the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry the congregation had “failed to engage” with the complaints about Smyllum Park orphanage in Lanarkshire when they first emerged in 1998.

https://www.pressreader.com/uk/the-scotsman/20180125/281745564813298

Royal commission report makes preventing institutional sexual abuse a national responsibility

The study and discussion of child sex offending is replete with stereotypes of predators and molesters who prey on children. These stereotypes are often used to characterise child sexual abuse as the problem of a deviant minority, and so the only available response is to identify and incarcerate those responsible. In contrast, in its final report, released today, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse presented a socially and historically contextualised understanding of child sexual abuse. While accepting that some institutional abusers are “fixated, persistent” paedophiles, the commission found the majority are not.

https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/newscentre/news_centre/more_news_stories/royal_commission_report_makes_preventing_institutional_sexual_abuse_a_national_responsibility

Royal commission: Celibacy and confessional overhaul proposed in child sex abuse findings

Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne Denis Hart has said he does not fully support some of the 189 new recommendations delivered by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Key findings: The sanctity of the religious confessional would be tossed aside and celibacy would become voluntary under the new recommendations, many of which are aimed at making children safer. In what would be a shake-up of centuries of tradition, the recommendations called for an overhaul of confessional, with religious ministers forced to report any child sexual abuse revealed to them.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-15/royal-commission-into-child-abuse-makes-almost-200-new-findings/9261286

Report sets out five options of what could happen at Tuam

MINISTER FOR CHILDREN Katherine Zappone has published the report by the Expert Technical Group on the site of the former Tuam mother and baby home in Co Galway. The report was commissioned to compile a list of options about what could be done with the Tuam site and how best to recover the remains of those buried there. However, it notes that it will not be possible to identify many of the remains, pointing out “the impossibility of achieving positive DNA identification of infants and young juveniles without samples from living relatives”.

http://www.thejournal.ie/mother-and-baby-home-media-leak-3745160-Dec2017/

State may be forced to ‘fully investigate’ baby home deaths

The Government may be obliged to “fully investigate” the deaths of thousands of children who died in Ireland’s mother and baby homes under human rights law. It comes as the Mother and Baby Homes Commission has already said it will be “difficult to establish the facts” surrounding the burials of children who died in all of the homes it is investigating. On Tuesday, the expert technical group advising the Government about managing the Tuam site outlined five options which the Government could pursue when managing the location. These range from doing no further investigative work to a full forensic excavation and analysis of all human remains.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/state-may-be-forced-to-fully-investigate-baby-home-deaths-464384.html

796 Irish Children Vanished. Why?

796 Irish Children Vanished. Why? Video Below"...

https://www.nytimes.com/video/world/europe/100000005168975/tuam-ireland-babies.html?action=click&contentCollection=Europe&module=RelatedCoverage&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article

The Irish babies adopted to the US, now adults in a legal limbo

At least 200 people adopted from Ireland to the US in the 1940s-1960s fear for their future. Immigrants and their status in the US continues to be an ongoing issue. Some of this focus has been about a cohort of people known as Dreamers; mainly Spanish American immigrants who arrived undocumented as children with their parents into the US before the age of 16 and whose status is now in question under Donald Trump’s presidency. But the Dreamers are not the only people now worried about their status in a country that has been their home for almost all their lives. A significant number of Irish-born people are in a different kind of citizenship limbo.

https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/abroad/the-irish-babies-adopted-to-the-us-now-adults-in-a-legal-limbo-1.3360195

Cobh Woman Seeks Forensic Examination of Magdalene Mass Grave

The grandniece of a woman who spent most of her life in a mother and baby home, has called for a forensic examination of two mass graves linked to the Good Shepherd convent in Sunday’s Well in Cork City. Rose Brien Harrington has also called for the establishment of a heritage centre on the site to assist those who wish to trace their relatives. The Cobh woman made her comments after as some continue to oppose plans to develop the seven acre site of prime city centre land.

http://www.eastcorkjournal.ie/cobh-woman-seeks-forensic-examination-of-magdalene-mass-grave/

Child sex abuse inquiry to query whether Gove asked about investigation

The child sex abuse inquiry is to write to Michael Gove to ask whether he attempted to find out about the release of an investigation into a priest suspected of abuse at a prominent Catholic boarding school. The alleged interest of the former secretary of state for education in a police and local authority inquiry into the priest surfaced during evidence given to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) last month.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jan/21/child-sex-abuse-inquiry-to-query-whether-michael-gove-asked-about-investigation

Agonizing Question for Irish: What to Do With Children’s Remains?

An investigation confirmed a local historian’s suspicions that hundreds of children, many of them infants, were interred between 1925 and 1961 at the site of a mother-baby home in Tuam, Ireland. Credit Paulo Nunes dos Santos for The New York Times A few years ago, an amateur historian shook Ireland to its core with a ghastly allegation: Hundreds of bodies of young children appeared to have been buried in an abandoned septic system by Catholic nuns who for decades had managed a home for unwed mothers and their offspring in the County Galway town of Tuam. Then, early last year, investigators confirmed that many commingled human remains have been found in just a single corner of the seven-acre site, where a subsidized housing project had long since replaced the old mother-and-baby home.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/13/world/europe/tuam-ireland-lost-children.html

Nun in tears over ‘horrifying’ abuse at Catholic orphanage

Sister Ellen Flynn, a nun in charge of a Catholic order, broke down in tears today when she was testifying at an inquiry into child abuse at at Smyllum Park orphanage in Scotland. According to the BBC Sister Ellen Flynn said “horrifying” accounts of abuse at the Lanark care home were “totally against” everything the order stood for. She was giving evidence at the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry in Edinburgh.

http://www.secularnews.org/2018/01/nun-in-tears-over-horrifying-abuse-at-catholic-orphanage/

Nun weeps in court as she apologises to alleged victims of horror abuse at Smyllum Park

A NUN in charge of a Catholic order sobbed yesterday as she apologised to alleged care home abuse victims. Sister Ellen Flynn said the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul had been “torn apart” by the “horrifying” claims.
And she vowed to work with ex-residents of Smyllum Park orphanage who say they were abused “to put right any wrongs”. Describing her shock at the allegations, Sister Ellen told an inquiry: “All this is totally alien to us. It’s against everything that we stand for.

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2139090/smyllum-park-inquiry-nun-weeps-court-apologises-to-alleged-victims/ 

Why Do Institutions Protect Themselves Instead Of Us?

Before the horrendous saga of the USA Gymnastics doctor who molested dozens of women and girls begins to fade from the public eye, let’s take a moment to consider an important lesson the sordid case of Larry Nassar teaches us – we need our institutions to protect us and to prioritize that protection over all other considerations. In the Nassar case, multiple victims have charged that officials with Michigan State University, USA Gymnastics, and the U.S. Olympic Committee, which all had authority over Nassar, brushed off the victims and their families when they complained about this sexual predator.

https://www.blogger.com/boston.cbslocal.com/2018/01/25/larry-nassar-usa-gymnastics-michigan-state-university-sex-abuse/

Stormont stalemate means abuse victims dying without justice - diocese

The largest Catholic diocese in Northern Ireland has described it as “deeply regrettable” that stalemate at Stormont has prevented implementation of recommendations by the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry (HIAI). Following an investigation into the sexual, physical and emotional abuse, neglect and unacceptable practices imposed on children in 22 Catholic, Protestant and state run homes and institutions in Northern Ireland between 1922 and 1995, a 2,300-page 12-volume report was published a year ago this month.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/religion-and-beliefs/stormont-stalemate-means-abuse-victims-dying-without-justice-diocese-1.3368344

Weeping nun apologises for years of abuse at orphanage

A nun in charge of a Catholic order has offered its "deepest and most sincere apologies" to anyone who may have been abused in its care at a controversial care home. Sister Ellen Flynn said "horrifying" allegations of historical abuses said to have taken place at Smyllum Park orphanage in Lanark are "totally against" everything that the order stands for.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/15894438.Weeping_nun_apologises_for_years_of_abuse_at_orphanage/

Pope in Peru: Francis speaks out on violence against women

Pope Francis, who is on a visit to Peru, has spoken out about violence against women in Latin America. Speaking at a Mass in the northern city of Trujillo, the Pope called the violence "a plague" that needed to be combated across the region. According to the UN, half of the 25 countries with the largest number of murders of women are in Latin America. The Argentine Pope, 81, is on the second and final leg of a week-long regional tour. "There are so many cases of violence that stay silenced behind so many walls," the Pope said on Saturday.

https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2018/01/21/pope-in-peru-francis-speaks-out-on-violence-against-women_c1701196

Nun accused of child abuse ‘destroyed’ diaries.

An elderly nun accused of abusing children at an orphanage more than 50 years ago has said she destroyed her own written records of that time. Giving evidence under the pseudonym “Sister Josephine”, the 85-year-old nun said she had kept diaries when she worked at Smyllum Park in Lanarkshire between 1967 and 1981, but didn’t keep them. The nun, who gave evidence to the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry from behind a screen to protect her anonymity, denied ever hitting a child and rebutted allegations boys were humiliated for bed-wetting and made to line up to have their underpants inspected for signs of being soiled.

https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/nun-accused-of-child-abuse-destroyed-diaries-1-4665699

Former Smyllum Park Nun denies battering kids and insists orphanage was 'really happy place'

An elderly nun has denied that children were beaten, force-fed and humiliated at a controversial care institution. The 92-year-old told Scotland’s Child Abuse Inquiry that Smyllum Park orphanage was a “happy place” and the young residents “had everything”. Giving evidence from behind a screen, the nun said she had not witnessed any cruelty or struck any children at Smyllum Park. She told the inquiry she was based there from 1957 to 1964.

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/former-smyllum-park-nun-denies-11862956

Ngilu criticises Catholic Church's anti-condom stance

Kitui Governor Charity Ngilu has lashed out at the Catholic Church's anti-condom stance terming it as outdated. Ngilu said the use of condom was the only option for safe sex in the wake of increased cases of HIV/Aids infection. "Young people cannot abstain from sex as the church advocates. The safest way of ensuring safe sex is for the church to reconsider its stance on condom use," she said. The governor also took issue with Tatu Kamau who has filed a petition in a Machakos court seeking legalisation of female circumcision.

https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2018/01/23/ngilu-criticises-catholic-churchs-anti-condom-stance_c1702502

Inspired by the Patron of Children: St. Nicholas Project Helps Kids in Need

Why confine St. Nicholas to only one month of the year? As the patron of children, he’s on the job all 365 days. The St. Nicholas Project in Vermont knows this well, as the effort cares for a group of youngsters throughout the year to emulate the saint’s specialty. “The St. Nicholas Project is a Catholic movement to mobilize Catholics to perform works of charity year-round for the children at the Kurn Hattin Homes for Children in Vermont,” explained Father Lance Harlow, the project’s founder. He is rector of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and St. Joseph Co-Cathedral in the Diocese of Burlington, Vermont. “It is a collaboration between the Catholic community and the homes for the promotion of child welfare for children at risk.”

http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/inspired-by-the-patron-of-children-st.-nicholas-project-helps-kids-in-need

End child abuse in New Zealand - join calls for full Royal Commission now.

End child abuse in New Zealand - join calls for full Royal Commission now What's happening? Pressure is growing on the new Labour government to go beyond an inquiry into "historic" abuse of children under state care in New Zealand. Abuse survivors, advocates, activists and academics are joining long-standing calls for a fully independent, Royal Commission of Inquiry into all child abuse. Not just historic abuse. And physical, not just sexual. With government facing a 100-day deadline for making good on its abuse inquiry promise, survivors say now is the time for New Zealanders to take action and demand an end to all child abuse. Why is this important? Government estimates family violence costs the country some $5.8 billion a year, with studies showing abuse suffered in childhood is a leading cause. Should people sign? When even the Catholic church criticises the government for not holding a full inquiry, petitioners are on the right side of history. What can you do? Sign petition: Stop NZ child abuse, hold full Royal Commission of Inquiry Follow on Twitter: Coming soon: full listing of groups and agencies campaigning against child abuse Ann Thompson

https://www.change.org/p/nz-stop-child-abuse-hold-full-roya%E2%80%A6

Nun tells abuse inquiry she would 'administer a slap' on children at orphanage

A nun has told an inquiry she "slapped" children in her care at an orphanage but said she is "not aware" of beating a boy unconscious. The 73-year-old was giving evidence to the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry of her time at Smyllum Park orphanage in Lanark, South Lanarkshire, between 1969 and 1976. The nun, who wishes to remain anonymous, was questioned over evidence of a resident at that time who said he was given a "proper hiding" after seeing her and another nun in an embrace in the boiler room.

https://www.careappointments.co.uk/care-news/scotland/item/43148-nun-tells-abuse-inquiry-she-would-administer-a-slap-on-children-at-orphanage

Smyllum Park nuns ‘lied about the death of my brother’

A retired police officer has called for the Catholic church to be held responsible for the sexual and physical abuse he suffered at a Lanarkshire orphanage during the 1950s. Leon Carberry said that he was regularly beaten and humiliated by a nun at the Smyllum Park home in Lanark. He also claimed that a man who worked there made him perform a sex act.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/smyllum-park-nuns-lied-about-the-death-of-my-brother-pq3mgd2q5

Smyllum resident wants church held responsible for abuse

A retired police officer has called for the Catholic Church to be held responsible for the sexual and physical abuse he suffered at a Lanarkshire orphanage during the 1950s. Leon Carberry said he was regularly beaten and humiliated by a nun at the Smyllum Park home in Lanark. He also claimed that a man who worked there made him perform a sex act.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-42788787

Smyllum care home abuse survivor tells how predatory Jimmy Savile molested him on Highlands holiday

A VICTIM of abuse at Smyllum orphanage has revealed how Jimmy Savile later tried to rape him in the back of his Rolls Royce. Adam Taggart, 58, was on a camping trip in the Highlands when the DJ stopped his car and lured him and another boy into the back with offers of alcohol and cigars. Adam, then aged 12, revealed how the paedophile ordered his driver to take the other boy for sweets and ice cream at a shop so Savile could attack him. He said: “I was only alone with Savile for a few minutes, and in the time it took for his driver to take my pal to the shop for ice scream and sweets, Savile sexually abused me.

Nun tells abuse inquiry she would 'administer a slap' on children at orphanage

A nun has told an inquiry she "slapped" children in her care at an orphanage but said she is "not aware" of beating a boy unconscious. The 73-year-old was giving evidence to the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry of her time at Smyllum Park orphanage in Lanark, South Lanarkshire, between 1969 and 1976. The nun, who wishes to remain anonymous, was questioned over evidence of a resident at that time who said he was given a "proper hiding" after seeing her and another nun in an embrace in the boiler room.

https://www.careappointments.co.uk/care-news/scotland/item/43148-nun-tells-abuse-inquiry-she-would-administer-a-slap-on-children-at-orphanage

Calls to include faith institutions in abuse investigation

Faith-based institutions need to be included when the government investigates the abuse of children in state care, says a psychologist involved with Australia's inquiry into abuse. The Labour-led government has promised to set up an inquiry and groups of survivors want its scope broadened. They are being backed by psychologist Michelle Mulvihill, who was a consultant to Australia's royal commission on institutional sex abuse. Dr Mulvihill spent nine years consulting around child sex abuse cases at the St John of God Brothers, which included a New Zealand case in Canterbury where there were 76 victims at the hands of two priests.

https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/347947/calls-to-include-faith-institutions-in-abuse-investigation

PM on abuse inquiry: 'We need to be open about our mistakes'

Despite calls to broaden the government's inquiry into abuse of children in state care, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the focus should stay on the role that the state played. The Labour-led government has promised to set up an inquiry, but groups of survivors want its scope broadened to cover places like religious institutions and sports clubs. The wide-ranging inquiry into child abuse held in Australia recently did cover these aspects and found the majority of children sexually assaulted were abused in faith-based institutions.

https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/348179/pm-on-abuse-inquiry-we-need-to-be-open-about-our-mistakes

NZ abuse inquiry won’t include faith-based organisations

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said the primary role of an inquiry would be to focus on the state's responsibility. The Labour-led government promised to set up an inquiry, but groups of survivors want its scope broadened to cover places like religious institutions and sports clubs. Faith-based institutions include churches, religious schools, communes, charities, and umbrella organisations.

http://cathnews.com/cathnews/31098-nz-abuse-inquiry-won-t-include-faith-based-organisations

Nun rejects claims children were abused at orphanage

The Smyllum Park inquiry heard evidence from a former staff member for the first time. The Smyllum Park inquiry heard evidence from a former staff member for the first timem The witness said it came as a "shock" to her to hear allegations emerge about the home and said she "wouldn't dream" of abusing children in her care. "If I did, I would have it on my conscience to the end of my days," she told the hearing. The public inquiry, sitting in Edinburgh, is continuing to hear evidence about life at Smyllum Park, which closed in the 1980s.

https://stv.tv/news/west-central/1406320-nun-rejects-claims-children-were-abused-at-care-home/

Girl's arm 'broken by nun who discovered abuse by priest'

Theresa Tolmie-McGrane described a catalogue of abuse at an orphanage in Lanark. A young girl had her arm broken by a nun who had discovered 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. She said she was then given a "real hiding" by another nun and threatened with having her other arm broken if she told anybody what had happened.

https://stv.tv/news/west-central/1406320-nun-rejects-claims-children-were-abused-at-care-home/

Former Smyllum Park Nun denies battering kids and insists orphanage was 'really happy place'... More Lies from nuns...

An elderly nun has denied that children were beaten, force-fed and humiliated at a controversial care institution. The 92-year-old told Scotland’s Child Abuse Inquiry that Smyllum Park orphanage was a “happy place” and the young residents “had everything”. Giving evidence from behind a screen, the nun said she had not witnessed any cruelty or struck any children at Smyllum Park.

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/former-smyllum-park-nun-denies-11862956

Woman 'sold' to US family as baby from home for unmarried mothers reveals her heartbreaking upbringing

An Irish woman who was 'sold' to an American family as an infant from a mother and baby home has spoken of her harrowing upbringing. Kathleen Sullivan, 63, was 'bought' by her adoptive family for £10,000 from one of Ireland's largest homes for unmarried mothers, St Patrick's in Dublin. Now she fears that she will never find her original Irish family . In 1955, when she was just 15 months old, she was sent to the US, but she had already suffered severe physical and emotional problems at the home and those same issues still plague her to this day.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/woman-sold-family-baby-home-11884222

Ireland’s last Magdalene laundry: ‘They should knock it to the ground’

A few minutes’ walk across central Dublin from the GPO, shrine to Irish freedom, stands a monument to a very different side of our history – although maybe not for long. The old Gloucester Street laundry, the last of the infamous Magdalene laundries to shut its doors, will soon, if the city council has its way, be demolished and replaced by a budget hotel and a student residence. Founded in the 19th century, the Gloucester Street laundry was one of about a dozen such businesses run by Catholic nuns and staffed by unpaid inmates – mostly orphan girls or young women who had become pregnant outside marriage or whose families could not or would not support them – who were given to the nuns to hide them away.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/ireland-s-last-magdalene-laundry-they-should-knock-it-to-the-ground-1.3358058

Elderly nun, 92, denies beating and force-feeding children at orphanage

An elderly nun has denied that children were beaten, force-fed and humiliated at a controversial orphanage. The 92-year-old woman told Scotland’s Child Abuse Inquiry that she hadn’t witnessed any cruelty or struck any youngsters herself while she was at Smyllum Park care facility in Lanark. She told the inquiry she was based there from 1957 until 1964, and insisted that it was a ‘happy place’ – not one where children were physically and emotionally abused. The retired sister, who cannot be identified, said it was a ‘shock’ to hear allegations emerge about the home, and said she ‘wouldn’t dream’ of abusing children in her care.

http://metro.co.uk/2018/01/16/elderly-nun-92-denies-beating-force-feeding-children-orphanage-7234599/

Nun denies children were abused at Catholic orphanage

AN ELDERLY nun has denied children were beaten, force-fed and humiliated at a controversial care institution. The 92-year-old woman told Scotland's Child Abuse Inquiry she had not witnessed any cruelty or struck any youngsters herself during her time at Smyllum Park orphanage in Lanark. She told the inquiry she was based there from 1957 to 1964 and insisted it was a "happy place", not one where physical and emotional abuse took place. The witness said it came as a "shock" to her to hear allegations emerge about the home and said she "wouldn't dream" of abusing children in her care.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/15845171.Nun_denies_children_were_abused_at_Catholic_orphanage/

Irish Premier’s Apology Fails to Appease Workhouse Survivors

An article on Wednesday about the refusal by Ireland’s prime minister, Enda Kenny, to officially apologize to survivors of a Roman Catholic workhouse system that kept generations of young Irish women and girls in virtual slavery referred incorrectly to Mary Magdalene. When the system, originally known as the Magdalene Laundries, was founded in the mid-1800s, Mary Magdalene was indeed generally thought to have been a prostitute redeemed by the teachings of Christ. But biblical scholars challenged the prostitute interpretation and the Vatican abandoned it in 1969. A version of this article appears in print on February 6, 2013, on Page A8 of the New York edition with the headline: Irish Premier’s Apology Fails to Appease Workhouse Survivors.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/06/world/europe/ireland-magdalene-institutions-report.html?action=click&contentCollection=Europe&module=RelatedCoverage&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article&mtrref=undefined&mtrref=www.nytimes.com

Seeking Redress for a Mother’s Life in a Workhouse

Samantha Long and her twin sister, Etta Thornton-Verma, were born in 1972 and adopted at 9 months. They never knew their birth mother and decided to try to track her down in the mid-1990s. “Nothing prepared us for what we found,” Ms. Thornton-Verma, who lives in New York, recalled in a telephone interview last week. “We were prepared for the ordinary possibilities, like a teenage girl who got pregnant and wasn’t in a circumstance to keep us,” she said. “But we were not thinking that she might be incarcerated by nuns.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/07/world/europe/seeking-redress-in-ireland-over-magdalene-laundry.html?action=click&contentCollection=Europe&module=RelatedCoverage&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article&mtrref=undefined&gwh=1F2D5B9753960534D6E1D0E52F49ECCB&gwt=pay

A Blot on Ireland’s Past, Facing Demolition

The General Post Office in Dublin, center of the 1916 rebellion against British rule, is today a shrine to Irish freedom. Three blocks to the east, on a quiet, run-down side street, stands a monument to a very different side of Irish history — though maybe not for long. The old Gloucester Street laundry, the last of Ireland’s infamous Magdalene Laundries to shut its doors, will soon be demolished and replaced by a budget hotel and a student residence — if the City Council has its way.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/15/world/europe/magdalene-laundries-ireland.html

Province settles $750K claim of man sexually abused as a teen by social worker

A man who was lured from the notorious Mount Cashel orphanage at age 15, plied with alcohol and sexually abused by a social worker has reached a $750,000 settlement with Newfoundland and Labrador. The government admitted liability and agreed to pay one of the highest settlements of its kind ever offered by the province. "They're horrific," Justice Minister Andrew Parsons said of the case facts. "It's very disturbing and certainly tough to read," he said Thursday in an interview. "This person had their life irreparably damaged."

https://www.sudbury.com/national/province-settles-750k-claim-of-man-sexually-abused-as-a-teen-by-social-worker-810445

Orphanage death child 'buried without headstone in broken promise'

The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry heard Samuel Carr's family was told the staff would foot the bill after he died from a brain haemorrhage. The sister of a boy who died at an orphanage told an inquiry he was buried without a headstone - despite staff promising to pay for one. Anne Marie Carr, who has waived her right to anonymity, lived at Smyllum Park in Lanark between 1960 and 1964 along with her brother Samuel. In December, the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry heard the boy died of a brain haemorrhage aged six following an E.coli infection. Anne Marie said the family were told the Catholic -run home would foot the bill for Samuel’s headstone “as a worker was fond of him” but that never happened.

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/crime/orphanage-death-child-buried-without-11837668

Abuse victim tells nun: Best of luck when you face God

A FORMER resident of Smyllum Park orphanage yesterday wished the nun who allegedly abused him the ‘best of luck when you face God’. Billy Whicher, 69, said he had a tooth broken when he was attacked by a nun who meted out violent beatings to him during the late 1950s and early 1960s. He was left partially deaf at the age of 11 after a member of staff allegedly hit his head – wrongly believing he had knocked over a bag of potatoes. Yesterday, Mr Whicher was told by Colin MacAulay, QC, for the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (SCAI), that the nun he claims abused him denied the allegations, telling the probe she would ‘never do anything to the boys’.

https://www.pressreader.com/uk/scottish-daily-mail/20180112/282016147727120

Abusive nuns from notorious Lanarkshire orphanage must ‘answer to God’

A former resident of a notorious orphanage has said the nuns who abused him will have to “answer to God” for what they did. William Whicher told the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry his hearing was left permanently impaired by a beating he received from a caretaker during his time at Smyllum Park in Lanark in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The 69-year-old, who went to Smyllum after the death of his parents, said he was routinely beaten by a “cruel” nun, on one occasion losing part of a tooth.

https://www.scotsman.com/news/abusive-nuns-from-notorious-lanarkshire-orphanage-must-answer-to-god-1-4658977

Smyllum Park orphanage abuse was a 'crime against humanity'

DENYING that “orchestrated” abuse took place in child care homes across Scotland should be a crime in the same way Holocaust denial is a crime in Germany, an inquiry has been told. A former resident of Smyllum Park orphanage in Lanark, who lived in the Catholic-run home between 1961-65, said his head was left “spinning” after he read an article suggesting abuse claims about such places were exaggerated.

http://www.thenational.scot/news/15820163.Care_home_abuse_was____a_crime_against_humanity___/

Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse the toughest test for the Catholic Church

A FORMER trainee Catholic priest whose evidence to the child abuse royal commission exposed the secret 20th century Vatican decisions behind a global child sex scandal said the church can heal if Pope Francis is up to the challenge. While royal commission final report recommendations in December on celibacy and the secrecy of the confessional attracted the headlines, less publicised recommendations presented more significant and fundamental challenges that the church had to grapple with, lawyer, author and former trainee priest Kieran Tapsell said.

http://www.theherald.com.au/story/5161337/former-trainee-priest-exposes-vatican-secrets-and-pope-francis-challenge/

Church in Scotland criticized for failure to meet with clergy abuse victim groups

The Catholic Church in Scotland has drawn criticism for its failure to meet with victims and survivors of clergy sexual abuse more than two years after the head of the Scottish bishops' conference offered a public apology over the issue. The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland's former moderator, Rev. Andrew McLellan, said he was "disappointed" by how long it was taking the bishops to meet with sex abuse victims and survivors. He said although the Archbishop of Glasgow, Philip Tartaglia, issued a very good apology, the intervention that came after that was not enough, Crux relayed.

http://www.christiandaily.com/article/church-in-scotland-criticized-for-failure-to-meet-with-clergy-abuse-victim-groups/61783.htm

Child care home abuse denial ‘should be made a crime’

Denying the “orchestrated” abuse which took place in child care homes across Scotland should be a crime, an inquiry has heard. A former resident of Smyllum Park in Lanark made the claim before the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry in Edinburgh on Tuesday. He described his time at the orphanage as a “Holocaust of developmental trauma” and said Scotland has to “face up” to its past.

https://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/news/scotland/child-care-home-abuse-denial-should-be-made-a-crime/ 

Nuns beat Jewish orphan and made him eat his own vomit in horrific child abuse case

Nuns at an orphanage used anti-Semitic threats while beating and abusing a Jewish child in their care, an inquiry has heard. The nuns at Smyllum Park in Lanark, Scotland, abused the child so badly when he was orphaned during the 1940s and 1950s that he is still ‘haunted’ by memories of his time there.

ttp://metro.co.uk/2018/01/10/nuns-beat-jewish-orphan-made-eat-vomit-horrific-child-abuse-case-7217813/ 

Catastrophic institutional failure' can be fixed

The Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse spent five years interviewing over 8,000 survivors, their abusers and personnel from institutions that had covered up the abuse. The Commission found that 61.8 percent of all survivors within religious institutions had been under the care of the Catholic Church. The Commission's 17 volume Final Report, released on Dec. 15, 2017, made hundreds of recommendations for change in structures, practices and internal laws of institutions. Many of the recommendations addressed to the church involved changes to canon law.

https://www.ncronline.org/news/accountability/catastrophic-institutional-failure-cataloged-australian-abuse-commission-can-be

Catholic ex-priest refuses to speak at sexual abuse trial in Germany

It's the second court session in which the 53-year-old declined to speak. He faces sexual abuse and other charges. He was expelled from the priesthood in 2008 but continued to pose as a cleric. A 53-year-old former priest is currently on trial in a district court in the Bavarian city of Deggendorf. Thomas Maria B., who was born in Wuppertal, is accused of having sexually abused five German boys under the age of 14 a total of 110 times between 1997 and 2016. The man is also accused of the attempted rape of an 18-year-old in Austria. The attorney defending the former Catholic priest has said that the man "feels incapable" of testifying before the court. He also refused to address the court in December.

http://www.dw.com/en/catholic-ex-priest-refuses-to-speak-at-sexual-abuse-trial-in-germany/a-42078560

Abuse survivor says conviction rate 'a joke'

A Dunedin survivor of historic abuse in state care says the number of prosecutions resulting from a national listening service is ''a joke''. Figures released to the Otago Daily Times, following an Official Information Act request, showed just two offenders had been successfully prosecuted as a result of referrals to police by the Confidential Listening and Assistance Service (CLAS).

ttps://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/abuse-survivor-says-conviction-rate-joke

'I'm not going to cry': Leonie Sheedy reveals personal pain in fight for sexual abuse survivors

For the past five years Leonie Sheedy travelled around Australia urging survivors of childhood sexual abuse in orphanages and foster care to tell their stories to the child abuse royal commission. She was the vocal and visible presence outside the commission’s public hearings, confronting politicians and holding placards. She stood in the glaring sun and pouring rain protesting against the leaders and institutions who failed children, demanding stories of abuse be recognised. But despite imploring survivors of abuse not to take their stories to their grave, it took the 63-year-old until the commission had almost finished its work in December to tell her own harrowing story of being abused while in care at the Sisters of Mercy St Catherine’s Children’s home in Geelong.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/jan/03/im-not-going-to-cry-leonie-sheedy-reveals-personal-pain-in-fight-for-sexual-abuse-survivors

Derry archbishop pledges help for abuse sufferers

The Primate of All Ireland, Archbishop Eamon Martin, has pledged that the Catholic Church will play its part in raising awareness about domestic violence and abuse and in supporting anyone affected to access information confidentially. In a special New Year homily to be delivered today to mark the World Day of Peace, Dr Martin, the former principal of St Columb's College, also re-iterated Pope Francis's call to show compassion to refugees.

https://www.derrynow.com/news/derry-archbishop-pledges-help-abuse-sufferers/201511

I Now Feel Free and Can Live My Life.’ Australian Commission Gives Voice to Child Sexual Abuse Survivors

Australia's Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was always certain to stir controversy, particularly with regard to the Catholic Church, and it did just that when it delivered its final report on 15 December 2017. The Royal Commission came about because of, as the report explains, “the sexual and other abuse of children in institutional settings, and the reluctance of those institutions involved to address this problem.” Its five years of hearings had already revealed widespread criminality, cover-ups and systemic failures across a wide range of both religious and other organisations.

https://globalvoices.org/2018/01/02/i-now-feel-free-and-can-live-my-life-australian-commission-gives-voice-to-child-sexual-abuse-survivors/

Report affirms Dutch church handling of abuse cases

Receiving the report Cardinal Archbishop Willem Eijk of Utrecht (centre) said the Church 'wanted to openly face up to a black page in its history' A special independent foundation overseeing the Dutch Church's response to past clerical sexual abuse has concluded that its programmes have provided victims with "recognition, satisfaction and help" including 28.6 million euros in compensation. Presenting its final report, it said the programmes set up after a shocking 2011 inquiry into scandals from 1945 to the present had dealt with 3,712 reports of abuse. Of these, 2,062 led to formal complaints that a special panel examined.

http://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/8322/report-affirms-dutch-church-handling-of-abuse-cases

Student priests believe it's time for the Catholic Church to evolve

More scrutiny than ever is upon the powerful leadership in Australia's Catholic Church, following damning findings in the Child Abuse Royal Commission. The commission made recommendations for the church to break with centuries of tradition and remove the sanctity of confessional and make celibacy for priests voluntary. Senior Australian church leaders have already made it clear they don't support those changes, but a new generation of priests is promising to do things differently.

http://www.abc.net.au/radio/sydney/programs/am/young-priests-say-its-time-for-the-catholic-church-to-evolve/9296132

Some Questions about “The Keepers”

“The Keepers” is a riveting documentary about two unsolved murders and sexual abuse at a Catholic high school for girls in the City of Baltimore called Bishop Keough. On a scale of 1 to 10, it’s a 10 —so all Netflix subscribers are encouraged to see this one. Spoiler Alert: This post will be examining various aspects of the documentary—so for those who have not yet seen the whole thing, you may wish to stop right here and return later on. Even though I highly recommend this documentary, I was perplexed by a few things. At the end of the series, we meet Charles Franz, the dentist. He is portrayed as a key figure because his mother lodged a complaint with the Catholic Church in Baltimore that Maskell had been abusing her son. The Church didn’t deny the allegations, but moved Maskell elsewhere—actually to Bishop Keough High School. This is important because the Church would later claim that it had no knowledge of Maskell’s criminal conduct until Jean came forward in 1992.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/some-questions-about-the-keepers_us_5a4835dde4b0df0de8b06adc

List of Sex Abuse By Nuns

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Indigenous culture has a part to play in protecting the next generation of children

For many people, and especially Aboriginal people, talking about sexual abuse is considered shameful. Since colonisation, Aboriginal children and girls have been vulnerable to rape and sexual abuse. According to UN Women, one in every three Indigenous women and girls is estimated to have been a victim of rape in her life. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse took evidence from Aboriginal people across Australia about their experiences of institutional child sexual assault.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-21/forced-removal-aboriginal-children-at-all-time-high/9277170

Opinion: Inquiry into abuse of children in state care long overdue

If Australia can do it so can we. It's not a job for the faint hearted and it'll take a few years if we want to do it justice - undertake a review of the care of children in state institutions. Australia's review took five years. The former prime minister Julia Guillard thought a review was warranted and long overdue. Her Government set up the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. The upshot: It is not a case of a few "rotten apples". Society's major institutions have seriously failed, the report stated.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/rotorua-daily-post/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503435&objectid=11963892

Abusive nuns from notorious Lanarkshire orphanage must ‘answer to God’

A former resident of a notorious orphanage has said the nuns who abused him will have to “answer to God” for what they did. William Whicher told the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry his hearing was left permanently impaired by a beating he received from a caretaker during his time at Smyllum Park in Lanark in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The 69-year-old, who went to Smyllum after the death of his parents, said he was routinely beaten by a “cruel” nun, on one occasion losing part of a tooth.

https://www.scotsman.com/news/abusive-nuns-from-notorious-lanarkshire-orphanage-must-answer-to-god-1-4658977

Calls to include faith institutions in abuse investigation

Faith-based institutions need to be included when the government investigates the abuse of children in state care, says a psychologist involved with Australia's inquiry into abuse.' The Labour-led government has promised to set up an inquiry and groups of survivors want its scope broadened. They are being backed by psychologist Michelle Mulvihill, who was a consultant to Australia's royal commission on institutional sex abuse.

https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/347947/calls-to-include-faith-institutions-in-abuse-investigation

Boston opened 'Pandora's box' of clergy sex abuse worldwide

Cardinal Bernard Law became a symbol of the Roman Catholic Church's widespread failure to protect children as he presided over a cover-up of sexual abuse by priests in Boston's archdiocese. A global reckoning in the church is still happening today, 15 years after he resigned as archbishop. As abuse victim Robert Costello put it on Wednesday, the day Law died, Boston was just the beginning.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11963800

Why are Catholic Nuns so mean?

Iam writting a family book about our family from as far back as I can go. One of the questions I have is for the Catholics of the forums. Why are Nuns so mean? My grandmother, aunts, uncles, great aunts and uncles cousins ect ect, were mostly raised in the Cotholic Missions on different Indian Reservations. The one thing that I have found from talking to them and from past stories they have told me before they died was the Nuns of the Caotholic Missions were always mean and abusive to the children. My Grandmother has told me many stories of the evil nuns. One that stands out is the story of a boy who had become very ill. I don't think my grandma knew exactly what he was sick with but she told me that the Nuns had NO empathy for a sick child. The mission had boys dorm and girls dorm and behind the dorms outside was a small creek that ran behind the buildings and through the woods. The Nuns had been punishing this boy for not doing his chores and on that fateful night he was murdered by the Nuns. The Mother Teressa took him to the creek behind the dorms and drug him through the cold water until he died. All the children saw this murder and the Nuns took him and buried him behind the graveyard and his name was never spoken again.

https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum/topic/199186-why-are-catholic-nuns-so-mean/