Magdalene laundries report ‘not accurate or respectful’ to women who suffered

The McAleese report is “neither accurate nor respectful” in the suffering women endured in Magdalene laundries, it has been claimed.  The comments were made by Claire McGettrick of Justice for Magdalenes Research, accepting a Dublin Lord Mayor Award on behalf of the Magdalene women.
She said survivors felt vindicated by an apology from Taoiseach Enda Kenny, but repeated the group’s claim the McAleese report did not disclose the full story with regard to the Magdalene laundries. “On the surface, the women have been vindicated since Enda Kenny’s emotional apology in 2013.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/magdalene-laundries-report-not-accurate-or-respectful-to-women-who-suffered-397597.html 

Orphans scared to report abuse at Neerkol Orphanage:

 Children housed in a notorious central Queensland orphanage were subjected to repeated physical and sexual abuse and allegedly punished if they spoke out, a national inquiry has heard.
Thirteen former residents of the Neerkol Orphanage near Rockhampton are set to describe their traumatic experiences at a public hearing of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/orphans-scared-to-report-abuse-at-neerkol-orphanage-inquiry-20150414-1mkoo3.html

Catholic Church shamed by Irish abuse report Nine-year probe says child beatings, molestation, rape were endemic.

DUBLIN — Eleven-year-old Tom Sweeney kept skipping school. Eight-year-old Mannix Flynn got caught stealing a box of chocolates. And Christine Buckley, barely a month old, was found guilty of being the child of an unwed mother.

In the morally rigid Roman Catholic Ireland of old, such sins were sufficient to land all three children — and more than 30,000 others throughout the 20th century — in Dickensian workhouses for girls and boys run with an iron fist by Catholic religious orders.

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/30838320/ns/world_news-europe/t/catholic-church-shamed-irish-abuse-report/#.VyvkNEc1eUl 

Judge dismisses sex abuse lawsuit filed by 2 elders against N.J. Catholic orphanage

Frank Fioretti (age 82) and Henry Coffey(age 81) who are testifying in Superior Court in Essex County about the sexual and physical abuse they received from nuns at the old Sacred Heart Orphanage in Kearny. A judge in Newark today dismissed a lawsuit filed by two men, saying the statute of limitations had run out on their claim they were sexually abused more than 65 years ago at a Catholic orphanage in Kearny.
Henry Coffey, 81, of Colonia, and Frank Fioretti, 82, of Florida, said they waited until 2004 to file their lawsuit because one had repressed the claimed sexual abuse for decades and the other hadn’t fully comprehended its impact

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/09/judge_dismisses_sex_abuse_laws.html

Betty’s story Abuse at Goodwood Orphanage, Adelaide, South Australia 1950s

My time at the Goodwood orphanage has left emotional scars for life, and anger at being forced to endure and witness many beatings on myself and others. A childhood devoid of any love, kindness and understanding by these carers; fear being the only emotion that was readily displayed by the children.
Anger at the Catholic order for allowing nuns with obvious psychological problems, no self discipline, ignorance, inexperience, lack of ability and a callous indifference in looking after children and their needs. Being allowed to treat children in the way in which they did has had a devastating effect on my life, and that of many of the other children who passed through their hands.

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

St. Ignatius woman tells of abuse at orphanage

In the dark, spartan room lit only by an oil lamp, the priest gave the little girl a piece of candy and told her to keep her mouth shut.

"He told me it was our secret," that little girl said recently. "He told me to be quiet or I'd be in serious trouble."  She was 7 and she'd just been raped.

http://missoulian.com/news/local/st-ignatius-woman-tells-of-abuse-at-orphanage/article_037bd902-b8ac-11df-b495-001cc4c002e0.html 

Nuns set to face trial over alleged abuse at approved school in 1970s

TWO nuns accused of abusing girls in their care at an approved school are to stand trial. The Court of Appeal has overturned a sheriff’s ruling that the case had taken too long to come to court and should not proceed.

Nuns Anne Kenny, 77, and Agnes Reville, 75, claimed a trial would breach their human rights because documents had been lost and witnesses had died. The pair, who now both live in the north of England, are charged with a string of offences at Dalbeth Approved School in Bishopton, Renfrewshire, in the 1970s.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/nuns-set-to-face-trial-over-877827#WAkY74xWHtsMtjlp.97

Religion Sex Abuse by Nuns Alleged at Md. Protest

Four women and a man who say they are victims of child sexual abuse by Roman Catholic nuns held a news conference yesterday outside the Silver Spring headquarters of an organization of nuns to spotlight what they contend is an unrecognized problem.
"I'm here today because I'm concerned that in the midst of the sex abuse scandal about priests . . . people are not paying attention to the fact that people were sexually abused by nuns and sisters," said Mary Guentner, 46, a social worker from near Milwaukee who said she was sexually abused by a nun for four years, beginning in her senior year of high school.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47415-2004Jul13.html 

Suffer The Little Children: The True Story Of An Abused Convent Upbringing

The heartbreaking yet inspiring account of a young girl who suffered at the hands of nuns in the Nazareth House Convent in Northern Ireland.
Frances Reilly and her sisters were abandoned by their mother outside Nazareth House Convent - a Belfast orphanage run by nuns. Little did they know the unimaginable cruelty they'd endure within its walls.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Suffer-Little-Children-Convent-Upbringing/dp/0752880802 

Carmelites comment

I would like to thank The Press for calling the Catholic Church to account for the ills that have impacted worldwide. We are all grateful when other unjust and dysfunctional issues are brought to light and individuals helped.
I'm sure I speak on behalf of the vast majority of Catholics -- almost one billion of us -- (minus the paedophiles!) who stand stunned and shamed by all that has happened. I cannot help but liken it to the twin-towers calamity. It feels as if something like this has hit the Church, with a particular focus on the priesthood and celibacy. 

http://www.peterellis.org.nz/church/2002/2002-0810_ThePress_Carmelites.htm 

When child cruelty reigned

Nazareth House was a great grim building, its brick walls rising from the Brisbane suburb of Wynnum North, softened only by a sparse cluster of palms. Inside, its pious austerity moved one Queensland child-care officer to report:

 "The design of the building itself is along the lines of a monastery, with cloisters, crucifixes, statues etc in great abundance.  "First impressions of it are that it is a very cold, imposing place, and it must be extremely frightening for a child, especially one of tender years, to be placed there."

http://www.peterellis.org.nz/church/2002/2002-0831_NZHerald_WhenChildCruelty.htm 

Top nun speaks out in denial

One of the Catholic Church's most experienced nuns is publicly denying claims of abuse from women in New Zealand and Australia.
At least five New Zealand women are threatening court action against the Sisters of Nazareth order over claims of abuse at a Christchurch orphanage.  Sister Mary Bernard, 69, has spoken publicly for the first time to deny that she and other nuns abused children in their care in the 1950s and 60s. 

http://www.peterellis.org.nz/church/2002/2002-0914_OneNews_TopNun.htm