WRITING Galway Historian Reveals Truth Behind 800 Orphans in Mass Grave - IrishCentral.com

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Galway historian reveals truth behind 800orphans in mass graveCahir O'Doherty (http://www.irishcentral.com/author/cahir-odoherty.html) @randomirish

(http://www.twitter.com/randomirish) June 01,2014 04:10 AM

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Galway historian reveals truth behind 800 orphans in mass grave - Ir... http://www.irishcentral.com/opinion/cahirodoherty/Galway-historian...

1 of 16 6/5/14 11:23 AM

There is a growing international scandal around the history of The Home (http://www.irishcentral.com/opinion/cahirodoherty/Mass-grave-of-up-to-800-dead-babies-exposed-in-County-Galway-.html), agrim 1840s workhouse in Tuam in Galway built on seven acres that was taken over in 1925 by the BonSecours sisters, who turned it into a Mother and Baby home for fallen women(http://www.irishcentral.com/topic/abuse.html).

The long abandoned (http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Memorial-campaign-underway-for-forgotten-grave-of-800-babies-in-Galway.html) site made headlines around the world this week when it wasrevealed that a nearby septic tank contained the bodies of up to eight hundred infants and children,secretly buried without coffins or headstones on unconsecrated ground between 1925 and 1961.

Now a local historian has stepped forward to outline the terrible circumstances around so many lostlittle lives.

Catherine Corless, the local historian and genealogist, remembers the Home Babies well. They werealways segregated to the side of regular classrooms, Corless tells IrishCentral. By doing this the nuns(http://www.irishcentral.com/opinion/cahirodoherty/Nuns-join-Irish-bankers-in-avoiding-justice-over-Magdalene-payments.html) telegraphed the message that they were different and that we shouldkeep away from them.

They didnt suggest we be nice to them. In fact if you acted up in class some nuns would threaten to seatyou next to the Home Babies. That was the message we got in our young years, Corless recalls.

Now a dedicated historian of the site, as a schoolgirl Corless recalls watching an older friend wrap a tinystone inside a bright candy wrapper and present it as a gift to one of them.

When the child opened it she saw shed been fooled, Corless says. Of course I copied her later and Itried to play the joke on another little Home girl. I thought it was funny at the time.

But later years later Corless realized that the children she taunted had nobody. Years after I askedmyself what did I do to that poor little girl that never saw a sweet? That has stuck with me all my life. Apart of me wants to make up to them.

Surrounded by an eight-foot high wall, Tuam, County Galway locals say that they saw little to nothing ofthe daily life of The Home or of the pregnant young mothers who arrived and left it without a word overthe decades.

A septic tank near a long abandoned workhouse in Galway was found to contain the bodies of up to eight hundred infants and children.

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2 of 16 6/5/14 11:23 AM

In the few surviving black and white photographs taken at the site no child is smiling. Instead they simplyfrown at the camera, their blank stares suggesting the terrible conditions.

A local health board inspection report from April 1944 recorded 271 children and 61 single mothers inresidence, a total of 333 in a building that had a capacity for 243.

The report described the children as emaciated, pot-bellied, fragile with flesh hanging loosely onlimbs. The report noted that 31 children in the sun room and balcony were poor, emaciated and notthriving. The effects of long term neglect and malnutrition were observed repeatedly.

Children died (http://www.irishcentral.com/opinion/cahirodoherty/Mass-grave-of-up-to-800-dead-babies-exposed-in-County-Galway-.html)at The Home at the rate of one a fortnight for almost 40years, one report claims. Another appears to claim that 300 children died between 1943 and 1946,which would mean two deaths a week in the isolated institution.

In The Homes 36 years of operation between 1926 and 1961 some locals told the press this week ofunforgettable interactions with its emaciated children, who because of their sinful origins wereconsidered socially radioactive and treated as such.

One local said: I remember some of them in class in the Mercy Convent in Tuam they were treatedmarginally better than the traveler children. They were known locally as the Home Babies. For themost part the children were usually gone by school age either adopted or dead.

Because of Corless efforts we now know the names and fates of up to 796 forgotten infants andchildren who died there, thanks to her discovery of their death records when researching The Homeshistory.

First I contacted the Bon Secours sisters at their headquarters in Cork and they replied they no longerhad files or information about The Home because they had left Tuam in 1961 and had handed all theirrecords over to the Western Health Board.

Undaunted, Corless turned to The Western Health Board, who told her there was no generalinformation on the daily running of the place.

Eventually I had the idea to contact the registry office in Galway. I remembered a law was enacted in1932 to register every death in the country. My contact said give me a few weeks and Ill let you know.

A week later she got back to me and said do you really want all of these deaths? I said I do. She told me Iwould be charged for each record. Then she asked me did I realize the enormity of the numbers ofdeaths there?

The registrar came back with a list of 796 children. I could not believe it. I was dumbfounded and deeplyupset, says Corless. There and then I said this isnt right. Theres nothing on the ground there to mark

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3 of 16 6/5/14 11:23 AM

the grave (http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Memorial-campaign-underway-for-forgotten-grave-of-800-babies-in-Galway.html), theres nothing to say its a massive childrens graveyard. Its laidabandoned like that since it was closed in 1961.

The certificates Corless received record each childs age, name, date and in some cases cause ofdeath. I have the full list and its going up on a plaque for the site, which were fundraising for at themoment. We want it to be bronze so that it weathers better. We want to do it in honor of the childrenwho were left there forgotten for all those years. Its a scandal.

Corless believes that nothing was said or done to expose the truth because people believed illegitimatechildren didnt matter. Thats what really hurts and moved me to do something, she explains.

During its years of operation the children of The Home were referred to as inmates in the press. It wasbelieved by the clergy that the harsh conditions there were in themselves a form of corrective penance.The state, the church and their families all failed these women, Corless contends.

But even now the unexpected difficulty that the local committee Corless has joined to fundraise for aplaque to remember the dead children suggests that not everyone wants to confront the truth about thebuilding's tragic past.

I do blame the Catholic Church (http://www.irishcentral.com/topic/catholic.html), says Corless. Iblame the families as well but people were afraid of the parish priest. I think they were brainwashed. Isuppose the lesson is not to be hiding things. To face up to reality.

My fear is that if things arent faced now its very easy to slide back into this kind of cover-up again. Iwant the truth out there. If you give people too much power its dangerous.

Living and dying in a culture of shame and silence for decades, the Home Babies' very existence wasconsidered an affront to Ireland and God.

It was a different time, some defenders argued this week, omitting to mention that the stigmatizingsilence that surrounded The Home was fostered by clerics. Indeed the religious orders were sosuccessful at silencing their critics that for decades even to speak of The Home was to risk contagion.

And now that terrifying era of shame and silence is finally lifting, we are left to ask what all theirlonesome suffering was in aid of, and what did it actually achieve?

To donate to the memorial for the mothers and babies of The Home, contact Catherine Corless [email protected].

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4 of 16 6/5/14 11:23 AM

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barb 3 hours ago

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The Catholic church can well afford to pay for the excavation, reburial, and marking of each grave. Churchhierarchy live lavish lifestyles that are absolutely shameful. Investigate the Vatican's financial status. Thereis plenty of money to pay for this and to feed the poor world wide.

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6 of 16 6/5/14 11:23 AM

Christopher Sjostedt 5 hours ago

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Michael Cosgrove 7 hours ago

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Brian Nolan 7 hours ago

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Catherine 13 hours ago

As I foreinger I am apalled by this. This happend took place Ireland in modern times? As late as 1961?

The bodys should be excavated and given a proper and well kept marked grave. This should not be anindividual's financial responsibility. The goverment of Ireland should step in. This is a national scandal. Whathas happend can not be undone but the victims deserve the full truth to be told to us and our children.

There must also be an offcial investigation if there are more places like this in Ireland.

There could also be brothers, sisters or twins of the deceased children still alive. They have the right to knowwhat happend. They most likely have the right to compensation.

My great grandfather left Ireland for New Zealand in the 1880's. When I was young in the '50's & '60's ourfamily had a lingering attachment to Irish culture mainly through the Catholic Church, priests & schools. Nowas the years go by and various scandals such as this come to light I'm afraid the old connections have longsince been frayed.

Disappointingly, my brother called me yesterday from Chicago, asking me what this was all about. I saidwhere had he heard it? 'On NPR, National Public Radio in Indianapolis, yesterday morning, the entirecountry is talking about it', he said, 'and that's not good for Ireland or Ireland's image'. I tried to explain thatthe 'Home' in Tuam had been open for some 40 years and that they had anything up to 400 children there atany given time from the 1920's on, and that 700 babies over that number of years was only around one ortwo deaths a month, so it would not be really unusual, or nefarious, high infant mortality was a fact of lifeback then, and not just in hospitals and homes...and then I said that the babies bodies were not dumped inseptic tank, but buried in a plot, a space that unfortunately became part of a leech-field for a septic tank later,because the grave was un-marked, as most 'Cillins' in Ireland were, back then, and up until recently noCillins were marked, they were burial places of the unbaptised, the misfortunates, with no names....and thenI stopped, remembering marking the graves of pets at home, even the budgies and the gold-fish had littlemarkers, but not our babies, and then I stopped making excuses, because I have no right to defend theindefensible, but I do defend Tuam, they should not be scape-goats for our failed institutions, especially thegovernment ones, who managed the religious ones, who managed our shame.

Today's modern state foster care system is also killing children. http://murderdeathandabuseinfostercare.b-logspot.ca/2013/02/state-could-be-sued-over-foster-care.html

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7 of 16 6/5/14 11:23 AM

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Joan Sue 14 hours ago

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Ron occo 4 hours ago

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Pat Kennedy 15 hours ago

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Adrian Mannion 16 hours ago

DHS/CPA have a similar record of deaths, or worse, in foster homes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2ZCg7Gi578

What cultural beliefs about people, religion, family, etc allowed this to happen under the "noses" of goodpeople? What systems were so powerful that many agreed with this treatment of moms and babies and didnothing about it? If moms and babies were not valued, what was valued? In one way, this situation seemssimilar to any situation in which massive systematic wrongs are being done to the most vulnerable people,and the strong do not rise and speak up, insisting on change and doing the right thing. If behavior followsvalues then what was valued back in 1924? Until we can understand the influence and power of thosecultural values and beliefs, something similar could occur again.

Unfortunately, "good people" in Ireland and elsewhere have for too long been influenced by thepoison of the catholic church. With politicians working with them covering up such appalling scandalssuch as this, child abuse, etc. As someone who grew up in Ireland in 60's, and came from a "goodfamily" back-round, I suffered as well as most of my fellow students, physical abuse in religiousschools and nobody blinked an eyelid. Is it not time for time for the Irish now, to stop supporting thisdangerous organisation?

What happened in the past was wrong, the public, the church everyone agrees. The campaign in my mindshould seek two things a) Demand that respect be paid for the wrongs of the pastb) The institutes that were involved should make a solemn commitment to ensure that they will undertake astudy to really understand the circumstances which led to these atrocities. After that, they must commit tolook at their operations across the world today and see do these same circumstances exist. If the samecircumstances/conditions exist, a version of this maybe still going on in a country which had the same socialconditions as Ireland had back in 1960's. Its too easy to say that's a problem of the past, we don't know thatfor sure. A true apology can only hold if the offenders seek to categorically ensure they have stoppedoffending.

If you believe in God or not to me its not relevant really, but the whole ethos of the Church is to love one andanother and do unto others as you would have done to yourselves, which clearly isn't what has happenedhere and something is badly again amiss with both the Catholic church and the authorities which govern us.

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8 of 16 6/5/14 11:23 AM

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Billie Ellis 17 hours ago

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Maggie DeMay 19 hours ago

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Tom Hull 20 hours ago

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Tom Cz 15 hours ago

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Calon Lan 4 hours ago

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Carole Hahn 20 hours ago

Just because you are born out of wedlock or a 'fallen' woman doesn't make you a less worthy person in factif any makes you a more worthy person, the compassion which should have been shown is sadly againlacking. The purpose in my opinion of the RC church in Ireland and other countries is to control the massesto give them a sense of hope or despair depending on how you see it.... if life is what it probably is just life iewe live and then die ( no after life etc) which is to most logical thinking then what would be the point infollowing a code ? Code = Catholicism Judaism Islamist Etc there is nothing wrong in following the ethics ofa religion such as treating people fairly but we do not need to a religion to tell us this just simple moralitysurely ? I speak as a nephew and cousin of headteachers who taught in schools in Belclare Tuam duringthis time I hope they didn't practice segregation in their classes and were brave enough to stand up towickedness at the hands of clergy and nuns but I can't say whether they were or not others can I'm sure

My heart has 796 little cracks in it. This is religion. This is why I do not claim in religious affiliation. God didnot do this. Men did this. A human being sit and watched babies and young children die. This is not God'sway, and for them to have claimed it like that is why they will go to hell.

look up the history of the 'poor house', 'poor farm', and 'work house. we've come a long way in taking care ofthose who cannot take care of themselves, thank the goddess.... you can also look up the practice of 'babyfarming'. All of these institutions were designed for one thing, to punish the poor for being poor and ensurethat they stayed poor...

How was this different from the Nazi concentration camps? At least the Nazis didn't commit their atrocities inthe name of religion!

"Gott Mit Uns."

Do you really want me to start telling you what went on in Nazi concentration camps you dope? I forone can well do without reading disgraceful numbskull comments like yours that do a gravedisservice to the memory of those who were killed and tortured BECAUSE of their religion in NaziGermany. You self-seeking, crock of ignorance!

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9 of 16 6/5/14 11:23 AM


Elizabeth H Davenport 16 hours ago


celtic balm 14 hours ago

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Gaelstorm 21 hours ago



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Mary Ryan 21 hours ago

There are many things I don't understand about the Church, but it seems simple to me. An obvious wronghas been committed, and committed under the auspices of the Church. There should be no question - theCatholic Church should fund proper burials, and memorium plaques for these children, who's names shouldbe stated, for all to remember and learn from.

http://tuamarchdiocese.org/2014/06/statement-of-archbishop-neary-in-support-of-home-inquiry/

Tuam needs mega reform! Mega!

Today's modernstate foster care system is also killing children.http://murderdeathandabuseinfostercare.blogspot.ca/2013/02/state-could-be-sued-over-foster-care.html

The same kind of Evil that did this to our Celtic Children adopted the same methods for First NationsChildren in North America. Segregate, Indoctrinate, Exterminate. Wash, Rinse Repeat. "The Home", "TheUnited Church",.. same thing. Who knows what their up to nowadays? Building lovely little Churches inPalestine perhaps? This Evil has become soo predictable in it's killings, I don't see why the State won't evergrow a pair and put a stop to it. They should have the power to freeze assets of mass murderers,. Even if themoney trails back to Rome's little Vatican State.

Today's modernstate foster care system is also killing children.http://murderdeathandabuseinfostercare.blogspot.ca/2013/02/state-could-be-sued-over-foster-care.html

The people of my country should hang their heads in shame, not for just knowing what went but allowing it.Tell me where was god for these children . You Ireland hiding behind you'r faith. What a great example youhave left your children.I hope when their time comes to meet their maker, they will die in agony and for sometime. Ireland you make me sick.

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10 of 16 6/5/14 11:23 AM


Elizabeth H Davenport 16 hours ago

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Amanda Stanford 1 day ago

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Ursula Leubner 1 day ago



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Calon Lan 1 day ago

Where were you when it was happening, Mary? And, where have you been meanwhile? As youdescribe yourself as Irish it'd be good if you gave some of your time to help get to the bottom of it andfight for the rights of those children. Just a thought . . .

Here is a website for raising funding. http://www.gofundme.com/ I'm sure if you tell your story, peoplearound the world will help you raise the funds for a memorial plaque to remember these children.

Is anything being done to identify the survivors of this place, and compensate them?

If the home only closed in the 1960s, it is likely that there are people living now who suffered in theirchildhood from the atrocious conditions, but survived. And they're probably still suffering, bothpsychologically from the neglect and hate directed at them as children, and physically from the long-termeffects of childhood malnutrition and abuse.

Commemorating the dead is only a start. Justice for the living is a more difficult task, and equallynecessary.

Just walk inside Knock Shrine (Tuam Archdiocese) and you will encounter the grief of personsvictimized by the oppressive Talibanesque cult of pseudo Catholicism. Tears with nowhere to flow,no shoulders to lean on, no tea and sympathy on offer. As a child going from England to Ireland thecontrast in attitudes and climate of fear was striking. To me the difference between the Italian Churchand the Irish Church was the Italian attitude: "migliore uno de piu invece undo di meno" - imperfecttranslation of 'better one more than one less.' Better birth than death. In Italy the priest would askthe pie donne (pious women) to bring food, or otherwise help a mother with a large family and a newbaby - or bring a loaf of bread himself. While there are profoundly spiritual and genuine clergy in Ireland they had to suffer the abuses of'economic vocations' and political liaisons, and seldom attained positions of authority. The graveyard is a heartbreaker. The suffering of the children is a heartbreaker. The currentsituation is a heartbreaker. Fundamental reform and criminal charges are essential. Even if thoseconcerned are not incarcerated because of age, they should endure prosecution and be forced toconfront their cruelty and be held accountable. Let us pray for the future as today's abusers in chiefhand Ireland over to islam, hook, line and sinker.

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11 of 16 6/5/14 11:23 AM

Interesting points from the Galway County Archives:"InMay 1926 the Committee submitted a recommendation to the Board of Health thatit arrange for the establishment of a Maternity ward in the County Home forunmarried mothers, as the admission of this class of patients to the MaternityDepartment of the Central Hospital tends to prevent respectable patients fromseeking admission thereto" (GC6/5, 12 May 1926, p2). And later:

"In 1927 the Committee passed the following resolution,That considering the prevalence of sexual immorality, as evidenced by thenumber of illegitimate births at the Maternity Hospital in Galway, thisCommittee deplore the departure from the old Gaelic traditions of purity,caused, in our opinion by the lessening of parental control, and the lack ofproper supervision on the occasion of dances and other entertainments of asimilar nature, and we therefore most respectfully suggest to the Hierarchy ofthis County, to appeal to the people, through the Clergy, for a return to theold Gaelic customs, under which such scandals were practically unknown"(GC6/6, 15 June 1927, pp5-6).

Up until the mid-1930s the Matron usually reported on thenumber of unmarried mothers admitted each month, followed by details relatingto attempts to recoup the costs from the putative fathers. "In 1937 theBoard passed a resolution ordering that Unmarried mothers are not, in future,to be admitted" (GC6/16, 20 March 1937, p20).

And interestingly further on in the archive this interestingsnippet:

"PROPOSED ESTABLISHMENT OF HOSPITAL IN TUAM It wasdecided to ask the Bon Secour Sisters in Tuam to re-consider their viewsregarding the establishment of a Hospital in Tuam for unmarried mothers"(11 May, p10).

I wonder what concerns the sisters may have had?Were they capable of looking after unmarried mothers? Did they have the staff? So old Gaelic Customs, the Board of Health using Church to save their blushes, Nuns raising concernsabout taking on a maternity hospital in the first place. From the archives it can be seen that therewere several of instances of severe contagious diseases spreading through the district i.e. influenza,diphtheria, what effect did thia have on the home? Severe overcrowding affected the main district hospitalhow many deaths are related at both places to this which we know went on for many years? I'm all for properinvestigation but it has to be far more thorough than creating a few sensationalist headlines.

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12 of 16 6/5/14 11:23 AM

Like Reply Share 1 reply 2celtic balm 14 hours ago

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Peter Reilly 1 day ago

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Pati Beardsley 1 day ago




Kevin Russell 2 hours ago

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Amanda Stanford 2 days ago

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Maria van Heemstra 2 days ago

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Nita Lazar 2 days ago

Gaelic traditions of purity. Well I'm all for that, as children suffer the consequences of promiscuity,but, the ancient Celts were a wild lot!

The took the time to actually file death certificates! It always amazes me how evil is so meticulous inreporting its crimes. Disgusting. Whatever happened to those children who left??

OhMan.. We Irish sure are a messed upbunch...At the school I attended in first grade, at age 4, there was anorphanage associated with and attached to the school. We were alwaysthreatened with the same treatment as those kids got.. although theywere never seen.... we didn't have them as a part of our classrooms.. Ialways wondered why.. and I held them in my thoughts..with love. (I was a student at St Dominicks, inPhiladelphia.. I am now an atheist practicing Buddhism: enough catholic torture for one lifetime).

I hope you'll give some thought to not throwing out the Baby Jesus with the 'Irish Taliban's' dirtybathwater. That conduct is not Catholic. It's not even Christian, God save us.

And yet your god stands idly by while it happens. How do you live with yourself?

Catherine, have you tried crowdfunding to raise money?

Not surprising of the Church and State considering this http://hiddennolonger.com/

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13 of 16 6/5/14 11:23 AM


Nita Lazar 2 days ago


Mary Reinhardt 2 days ago


Nita Lazar 17 hours ago

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Kevin Russell 2 hours ago

Ah, the good old "pro life" Catholics... And yet there are still apologists for this kind of behavior -- the NYPost film critic lauded these homes just recently in his review of "Philomena", claiming women should havebeen grateful to places like this and the Magdalen laundries. Patheos and National Catholic Register writer,Simcha Fisher, recently wrote a piece sneering at those who held accountable the nuns who ran thesefacilities, basically implying things like this never happened. It's shameful. Sickening, shameful and, by theirown standards, hideously, deeply sinful. May those who were involved rot in hell for eternity, and may thosewho deny or excuse the existence of places like this rot right alongside them.

NY Post film critic Kyle Smith, that is. He slammed the movie claiming that stories like this were purenonsense and that the girls incarcerated in these "homes" should stop whining be grateful for theirincarceration and abuse. I guess now they should be grateful for the fact these nuns murdered theirchildren in cold blood.

How were you involved with the Magdalen Laundries, Nita Lazar? Your posts are more angrythan others, so it looks like you have a personal stake in the Laundries, somehow. Asmentioned to another poster, if the editors of this online content source do not contact you toget your story, I am interested to know it.

Just trust you with personal information,eh, after your pathetic attempts to defend theindefensible? I don't think so.

Do you have to be personally involved to be utterly outraged? As a Catholic, itangers me that this was presented as 'Charity!' I was instrumental in reuniting aMagdalene mom and son - the grunt work was done by a single mother of four, who,if in the USA, would be running her own detective agency. All the social agencies toldeach party they knew nothing of the other, while both mother and son were going tothe same agency looking for one another. That other single mother of four reunitedthem within a week. No fee, no charge. Of course, I wish she had a husband andfather for her children, but she's doing just fine without the danged MagdaleneLaundries.

It would be nice if hell was a real place. Alas these monsters simply get away with their crimes.

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..those poor darlings...deliberatly deprived of love and adequate sustenance during their short little lives - butadded to that, the other 'normal' children were made to believe that they themselves were superior to theHome Babies....thus doomed to realise in later years, when this devastating discovery of he bodies in aseptic tank is known, that they were unknowingly cruel to those poor unwanted darlings.....I honestlyconsider this to be another form of 'whipping' meted out by the authorities but using the innocence of the'normal' children to perpetuate the misery of the Home Babes. The guilt and sadness carried by the'normal'children is also the fault of the Authorities...

Sadly I am not surprised. An institution that is run by so called celibates, who ban contraception andabortion to this day, yet shuns human charity to young mothers and with unplanned children!? andindoctrinated people STILL defend it???

Today's modern state foster care system is also killing children.http://murderdeathandabuseinfostercare.blogspot.ca/2013/02/state-could-be-sued-over-foster-care.html

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