'I was abused by nuns for a decade'

Theresa Tolmie-McGrane says she was abused from the age of six at a Catholic-run orphanage in Lanark in the 1960s and 1970s.
She describes more than a decade of physical, sexual and mental abuse at Smyllum Park Orphanage. A BBC investigation has uncovered new evidence that more than 400 children who died at Smyllum are now thought to be buried in a mass grave in a nearby cemetery.

http://www.bbc.com/news/av/magazine-41229124/i-was-abused-by-nuns-for-a-decade 

Outrage at primary school's Stolen Generation play showing 'nuns abusing Aboriginal students'

A primary school in Sydney’s Northern Beaches is in hot water over a play that featured Year 6 students dressing up as nuns and abusing Aboriginal children.
Parents of students at Forestville Public School, including former Socceroos star Robbie Slater, were left horrified by the “Australia You’re Standing In It” production. While the school was full of praise for their play that depicted the “truth about our treatment of the Stolen Generation”, audience members said it was “bloody disgraceful” to push a political agenda on children.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/nsw/a/36741981/outrage-over-sydney-primary-schools-stolen-generation-play/?cmp=st 

Scottish child abuse inquiry hears apologies over 'deplorable' attacks

The first hearing in the Scottish child abuse inquiry has heard apologies from organisations which ran children's homes around the country.

More than 60 institutions, including several top private schools and church bodies, are being investigated. The inquiry, which is being chaired by Lady Smith, is looking in detail at historical abuse of children in residential care.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-40093270 

Bodies of 'hundreds' of children buried in mass grave at Scottish orphanage

p to 400 children died at a Scottish orphanage run by nuns and were buried in a single unmarked grave, new research has revealed.
The Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul, which ran the Smyllum Park orphanage in Lanarkshire, has previously acknowledged that 158 children were buried in compartments at a nearby cemetery. But there have long been suspicions that the real figure was far higher.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/09/10/bodies-hundreds-children-buried-mass-grave/amp/ 

'I was hooded, held down and raped

IT WAS hot inside the hood. It covered eight-year-old Helen Holland’s face loosely down to her neck and she could feel the warmth of her own breath, hear the way it was fast and shallow with fear. Her heart was thumping. Sister Kevin was shouting that the devil was inside her. Holland was wicked and evil and brazen. 

And then, recalls Holland, Sister Kevin gripped her while a priest raped her. Holland is now 44 and has never before spoken publicly about the true nature of the sexual abuse she says she was subjected to in Nazareth House children’s home in Kilmarnock.

https://historicalabuseinachildrenshome.blogspot.co.nz/2017/08/i-was-hooded-held-down-and-raped.html

Regret' over Nazareth House abuse compensation

The former Scottish First Minister Lord McConnell has told of his regret that almost ten years on since he made a landmark apology to historic child abuse victims in Scotland, they have yet to see redress.
In an interview with BBC Scotland, Lord McConnell said there had been "absolutely no progress" on compensation for victims, and called on the government to "do the right thing".

https://historicalabuseinachildrenshome.blogspot.co.nz/2017/08/regret-over-nazareth-house-abuse.html 

Looking For Survivors Of Nazereth House Cardonald Glasgow

Hello i am Andy of Fresh Start Foundation See Below my wife is seeking people in Nazereth House Cardonald Glasgow From 1978 to 1982 and other years.
Tel 07484124473.
In Particular did any one meet Sister Gerrard a nun or Kay Adams employed as a civilian believed to be employed by Glasgow City Council  and was deputy Head of one of the Cottages These Stories and more see below our email are more than welcomed
My wife is now joanne peacher she was joanne thomson from the east end of glasgow aged now 48/49 in december.

https://historicalabuseinachildrenshome.blogspot.co.nz/2017/08/hello-i-am-andy-of-fresh-start.html 

Sisters discover their birth mother died after life in Magdalene Laundry and other institutions on RTE's Liveline

The daughter of a Magdalene Laundry victim, who first learned that her mother had died while listening to Joe Duffy's Liveline, has spoken of the heartbreak surrounding her mother's death.

Samantha Long and her twin sister Etta were adopted when they were infants, and began searching for their mother,Margaret Bullen, in 1993 when they were twenty one

http://www.independent.ie/life/family/family-features/sisters-discover-their-birth-mother-died-after-life-in-magdalene-laundry-and-other-institutions-on-rtes-liveline-35854148.html 

Nuns forced care children to eat their own vomit, abuse inquiry told

At dinner time when I could not eat the food, the nuns used to push my head back, hold my nose then force the food down my throat. I would bring it all up again over the table so they then would put it on my plate and start the same thing over and over again. While they did the same to the girl beside me and when she vomited her food up, they would scrape her food up with mine then put it all onto my plate, and force her food down my throat as well.

I would vomit it up and still they would keep pushing my head back and holding my nose and spooning the horrid food into my mouth. They would grab my hair and pull my head back and keep pulling my hair. At tea time the food that I left would be still on my plate in my place for me to eat for tea. The same thing would happen again and again, they forced me to eat my own vomit. The nuns knew that while they were holding my nose and forcing the food down my throat, that I could not breathe, I would be coughing, choking and bringing up the food while they were still forcing more food down me. It still makes me shake and quiver still now, thinking of the horror of those mealtimes.
The reason we couldn't eat the food, or vomited it up, was because it had maggots in with the meat, the sago and semolina had weevils, the cabbage had butterfly eggs, and the bread and dripping had a half an inch of cold fat all around it. They dipped the bread in the hot fat the night before. That's what we had every morning. We would choke on it as it was going down, and it would make us vomit.
In My New Book... By Ann Thompson

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SOME children at residential homes run by Catholic nuns were made to eat their own vomit, a lawyer said.

Those who wet their beds were forced to put soiled sheets on their heads by members of a harsh regime which was devoid of love, a public inquiry into child abuse at residential homes was told.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/nuns-forced-care-children-to-eat-their-own-vomit-abuse-inquiry-told-29954872.html

New Magdalene research presents complex picture

Recent research in Dublin, Caen, Angers and Rome, has put into the public domain new information on the Magdalene laundries of St Mary’s High Park and Sean MacDermott Street in Dublin, both run by the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity.

Some of the findings expand on facts already well-known from the McAleese inquiry into the role of the state vis à vis these institutions, such as the presence of former industrial school girls in Magdalene laundries. But others might give the reader pause for thought, and beyond these case studies alone.

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/new-magdalene-research-presents-complex-picture-1.3172682#.WYAs14Gqaag.facebook 

Calls For Further Redress For Survivors Of Institutional Abuse

Following a review of Ireland’s compliance with the UN Convention on Torture and Other Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Ireland is complimented for its progress on ending the incarceration of children in adult prisons, and the Citizens Assembly, but it’s sharply critical of other issues.
The UN Committee against Torture or UNCAT says Ireland should undertake a thorough impartial investigation into Magdalene Laundries that has the power to compel witnesses and ensure punishment of those responsible.

http://www.clare.fm/news/calls-redress-survivors-institutional-abuse/ 

It's distortion of history' - locals call for statue dedicated to Sisters of Mercy to be removed

A statue erected in Ennis in 2011 has now sparked heavy debate among locals. The statue is dedicated to the Sisters of Mercy and is located near the site of a former industrial school.

However, in the wake of the Ryan Report many locals think the statue should be removed. Local Brian McMahon told RTÉ’s Liveline the statue which depicts a nun, mother and baby is a "distortion of history".

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/its-distortion-of-history-locals-call-for-statue-dedicated-to-sisters-of-mercy-to-be-removed-36039387.html