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It is time the Pope came clean about the Magdalene Laundries
Wednesday, 24 February 2010
Well, guess what? I saw it all a few days ago when the Irish bishops were lining up in grand robes to kiss the hand of Pope Benedict. Yes, the Vatican surely leaves the House of Windsor in the halfpenny place when it comes to elitism, pomp and ceremony. I could have wept with frustration - except I never expected a full and frank apology from Pope Benedict. I wasn't expecting an admission of guilt either, because such a statement might open the floodgates of litigation. And I'm sure the Vatican doesn't want to lose any more money to the abuse survivors than it already has.
I'm sure the Vatican is hoping the unmarked graves of the Magdalene slaves will soon be covered over once more. I'm sure the Vatican is hoping the innocent young children they turned into bitter alcoholics and suicidal depressives will just hurry up and die and not collect any compensation.
No doubt when the leaders of the Catholic Church pray these days, they pray for the tidal wave of abuse scandals to dry up and be forgotten. After all, the orphanages, industrial schools and laundries have all closed down now. So they cannot send along the 'cruelty man' to scoop poor children off the streets like the child-catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. They cannot force cheeky boys to dig potatoes in the rain and they cannot force pretty girls to hand wash bloody sheets from the hospitals any more. And it's a criminal offence these days to beat a dyslexic girl with a leather belt or to punch a stubborn boy until he is unconscious. So, as I said, the potential for fresh scandal is greatly diminished.
The nationalists of my youth used to say 'God Bless Ireland' and, 'God Save Ireland' - they were referring to 700 years of British colonialism, the Famine, Mass Rocks, discrimination against Catholics in jobs and housing and the blood-and-thunder marching bands of the Orange Order.
What a great pity they didn't think to question the tyranny of the Catholic Church while they were about it. The church that forbade birth control, yet despised big families of starving, barefoot children. The church that encouraged education yet hated free-thinkers. The church that revered Mary the Mother of God, yet treated all mortal women as sinners and whores. The church that raved about poverty and humility, yet lined the walls of the Vatican with priceless works of art.
The church that took the pocket money off children during Lent, yet covered up the brutal rape and buggery of little boys and girls for more than 50 years.
And I wondered, looking at those grovelling bishops kissing Pope Benedict's hand, do they really understand, even now, why there is a crisis in the church? Have they any idea of how the survivors of abuse must feel?
Have they no empathy whatsoever for the unnamed Magdalene slaves who died of exhaustion or malnutrition or a broken heart and were quietly buried behind those high stone walls? I'm beginning to think only snobs, sociopaths and narcissists are drawn to religious life in the first place, for I have yet to see a flicker of shame, regret or sadness from any bishops. If Jesus were here today he would rage against the Vatican for what it has done to the people of Ireland.
He would roar and weep and pull down the wall of silence that has been built around the crimes of the Catholic Church in Ireland. Jesus would smash the headstones condemning the Magdalenes as 'penitents' even in death. He would throw open the doors of the Vatican and tell survivors of abuse to carry away any art and gold they can lay their hands on. He would demolish the grand cathedrals and say Masses in the open air. He would beg forgiveness on bended knees from the men, women, children and ghosts of Ireland. But I can't see Pope Benedict doing any of that. Can you?
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Comments
91 Comments
i was a magdalena laundry worker and was unmarried boy am i still paying for it today , my family disowned me in the 60,sso ive been on my own but still i often yearn for my lost sister,s and brothers. i will never forgive or forget the catholic church or her daughters of satan[nuns] i hate the very word catholic instead i use the word papist .
Posted by francesca | 22.04.10, 18:59 GMT
Dear Hector,
I have also known very kind priests and nuns in my time. I feel their work has also been betrayed by the cover-ups. Perhaps the church should focus on prayer and the sacraments in future and leave the sexual issues to the doctors, nurses and counsellors? It must be hard for the celibate men and women of the church to understand the complexities of human relationships.
Thank-you for your comments.
Posted by Sharon Owens | 05.03.10, 16:09 GMT
Ryan
You might state that Washington DC is the Federal capitol city and administrative centre of the United States. If I respond "it's a lie" - does that mean I am right ?
Like you I am by no means blind to the massive corruption etc in the Church, but UNLIKE you I am NOT blind to the good in it.
Check your "facts" before you make outrageous UNTRUE claims.
Posted by Patrick 2 | 05.03.10, 02:10 GMT
It is utter nonsense that the Catholic Church in America is involved with Welfare in any way. Just a lie. The church in the USA has been done fo for years. We already had our proof of priestly pedophilia.
Posted by ryan | 03.03.10, 23:04 GMT
As a child a sister from the Poor Clairs convent in Fatima sent me Rosary Beads and little prayers and other stuff. I have never been religious in any way and stopped going to church at about thirteen. The nun was a proper Christian and poor, but a good person. I went to the Vatican and it was beautiful. But it was built from the sweat of dirt poor people like her. The world is a one big pyramid scheme, from politics to religion it’s all designed to keep us in our place and too busy to think.
Posted by Hector | 02.03.10, 18:29 GMT
Thank you, Sharon for your prophetic words. Unfortunately, those same popes, bishops, priests and religious had us think and believe that we were to keep silent because (they)"our religious leaders" were the spokes persons for the church and we bought into it. Times up fellows. DrNick
Posted by DrNick Mazza | 02.03.10, 00:17 GMT
Great article! Of course you have every right to your opinion, all of us do, whether Catholic or not. All religions and organizations are prone to corruption, but that does not mean that this article still isn't correct. There are lots of very defensive comments here. For the record, I don't see a place for women in any modern organized religion, and if you cannot see why, really go and examine how the role of woman is interpreted and carried out, not what the
"original intent" was because that is rarely understood by the average person. You don't have to belong to a group to believe in God or Jesus.
Posted by rue | 01.03.10, 17:22 GMT
John O'Brien.
You seem to have responded to every comment made. Are you Christ's representative on earth. Who empowered you to have all the answers? Maybe you are just ridden with guilt?
Posted by Jomarco | 01.03.10, 14:41 GMT
Keep it up Sharon ! The crimes against these poor women must not be forgotten. Some of the survivors are still seeking some form of compensation from the State....It would be a great service to the memory of all people who suffered at the hands of those who ran the institutions in the North as well if you and your colleagues pressed for further revelations....You are doing wonderful work for justice and humanity.
Posted by john g. | 28.02.10, 11:26 GMT
@Malachy McAnespie: I am absolutely gobsmacked by your naive view of the laundry done for you by the girls and women at Newry. To say they were 'employed' implies they were paid for their labour. They were not. They were doing commercial laundry for no wage, no pension. But I suppose as long as you had your nicely-darned socks whilst sitting in your comfy dorm at boarding school, it didn't matter.
Posted by culchiewoman | 27.02.10, 00:21 GMT
Sharon, personally I believe you hit the nail on the head with that article. Jesus himself would be ashamed to have many churches associate themselves with the Lord and The Holy Bible.
In the 60's and 70's what the church said, went. People respected their Priest, Minister, whatever. But through years of undercover scandals coming to light, religion has been disgraced.
But they like all of us will one day be called to judgement.
I thought you piece was inspiring and very well written.
Thank you.
Posted by Simone Forgrave | 26.02.10, 18:31 GMT
Helen McGonigle
"Those who are going to mass on Sunday and praying for the Pope and Bishop are worshipping all things that God did not intend."
How do you know what God intended? Have you a direct line to the Almighty?
Posted by John O'Brien | 26.02.10, 17:50 GMT
WH
I resent your comment "The church is EVERYTHING to them, humanity comes a very distant second"
Your "holier (?) than thou" implications are not alone presumptive and arrogant but totally wrong for most everyone - including most clergy.
Fact : Without the Catholic Church involvement in the social welfare system for down and outs etc in the USA the system would collapse OVERNIGHT. Many are highly trained professionals working tirelessly for buttons. And that is by no means unique to the USA.
While acknowledging the wrongs of the Church, trying to get some BALANCE in this discussion is a far cry indeed from your narrow minded insulting comments.
But for some, blind ignorance and hatred does indeed come first.
Peace to you and yours.
Posted by Patrick 2 | 26.02.10, 01:58 GMT
Sanctus Eire, most RCs are not baptized by their choice or free will. Most RCs do not know the chuch teachings and the ones they know , they do not 100% agree with. Most RCs do not know the RCC history. Most RCs never ask questions of their RC religion if they can find a priest or better to ask. The RCC Vatican state thought moveable type was bad but there is no hideing behind the computer. The RCC needs to be turn around big time. Sharon, may you have a happy life from now on as well as all the other RCs that received these total unjust damages of your lifes. Dominus vobiscum.
Posted by phl | 26.02.10, 00:18 GMT
I am so pleased that Sharon Owens had the courage to say what needs to be said. Those who are going to mass on Sunday and praying for the Pope and Bishop are worshipping all things that God did not intend. Those who go to the gilded edifices of the Basicilia's, Cathedrals and churches throughout the world are worshipping monuments of materialisim of a monarchy in the form of the Vatican state. Is this what God intended? Those who feel they must only hear the voice of God read to them by a priest are lost in the woods and have lost their direct connection with spritual worship of our Creator, the Holy Spirit and our ancestors. Come out of these monuments and cut out the middleman. My ancestors built many churches in County Kerry and if people built them then the people own them. There many more honest bystanders and victims of clergy abuse than there are clerics. Take back your church. Helen McGonigle (one of many victims of Fr. Brendan Smyth in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, USA
Posted by Helen McGonigle | 25.02.10, 19:53 GMT
If Jesus were here today? He IS here today! WE are the Body of Christ! So it is on US to do what Jesus would do!
Posted by steve | 25.02.10, 19:27 GMT
Sharon Owens
"If the art of the Vatican belongs to the Catholics of the world, then a global vote should be held to decide if the art should be sold to compensate the abused."
You are not a Catholic so what is done with the property of the RC Church is none of your business.
Posted by John O'Brien | 25.02.10, 16:10 GMT
Jomarco
"I never heard any priest ever condemn the IRA from the pulpit,as I grew up a catholic in N.I."
Perhaps, you did not want to hear.
"Where do we express our faith?"
That is your problem.
"The best thing the catholic church can do is sell their artwork, and share thier riches with the poor for forgiveness. Blessed are the poor in heart, not the richest."
Get off the soap box. Who gave you the right to poniticate as to what the RC chuch should or should not do?
Posted by John O'Brien | 25.02.10, 16:05 GMT
What a great commentary,abuse is abuse,and all need to answer for it that are responsible for it
Posted by Gene | 25.02.10, 15:56 GMT
Absolute power corrupts, absolutely! One of my friends was in a Magdelene Laundry and from a very early age, she wasn't forced to wash just bloody sheets from hospitals but men's poopy pants, as well. She was physically beaten by nuns and raped by priests. Years before I heard her story, a different one emerged in American. I was introduced to a Cherokee Indian woman from Oklahoma who was forcibly removed from her home, along with her two brothers, and placed in a Catholic Orphanage by a goody-two-shoes social worker. There, the children were beaten with belts, if they didn't pick their weight in cotton every day. Her grandfather, an indian shaman found his grandchildren and took them down to the local newspaper where their little legs and backsides were photographed for the story. I found it had to believe her, until I saw this newspaper clipping. In both cases and in similar cases all over the world, these children were simply Free, Slave Labor for the Church!
Posted by Jeannie Coleson | 25.02.10, 15:25 GMT
91 Comments