Sunday 10 September 2017

400 CHILDREN DIED IN SCOTTISH CONVENT AND BURIED IN A MASS GRAVE




THE TELEGRAPH 10 SEPTEMBER 2017

Up to 400 children died at a Scottish orphanage run by nuns and were buried in a single unmarked grave, new research has revealed.


Image result for sisters of charity of saint vincent de paul
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.
Now research carried out by BBC Radio 4's File on Four programme and the Sunday Post newspaper, including a trawl of more than 15,000 official records, has revealed hundreds of children died at Smyllum - far more than the charity that ran it has admitted.
The investigation into Smyllum Park orphanage reveals 402 babies, toddlers and children died there between 1864 and when it closed its doors in 1981.
Most of the children sent to live at the orphanage who died were buried in an unmarked mass grave at St Mary's Cemetery.

Children at the infants' school at Smyllum orphanage, which was opened in 1864
Headstones mark the graves of the nuns and staff members buried nearby but no stone or memorial has ever recorded the names of the lost children.
The revelation that up to 400 youngsters - and some adults - are buried there has provoked calls for Scotland's ongoing Child Abuse Inquiry to investigate.
Former First Minister, Jack McConnell, who, on behalf of the Scottish Government, apologized to victims of care home abuse in 2004, said it was shameful they were still waiting for truth and justice. He said: "It is heartbreaking to discover so many children may have been buried in these unmarked graves. After so many years of silence, we must now know the truth of what happened here."



Former residents have accused the nuns and staff who ran the home of beating and neglecting some of the children in their care.
 Smyllum Park orphanage in Lanarkshire which operated between 1864 and 1981
Their allegations formed part of the campaign that inspired the ongoing Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry. The charity that ran Smyllum has already given evidence to the abuse inquiry, claiming earlier this year that abuse allegations were a "mystery" with "no evidence" of mistreatment.
The care given at Smyllum will be scrutinized during the second phase of the inquiry starting in November.
The latest revelations have provoked calls for those sessions to include an attempt to detail the children who died at Smyllum and discover exactly how many are buried in the graveyard at St Mary's.
Relatives of children who died at Smyllum are also calling for an immediate ground investigation at the cemetery using ground-penetrating radar to establish how many bodies are buried there.
The new probe involved scrutiny of thousands of death certificates. 
In 2003, burial records given to campaigners by Smyllum bosses suggested 120 children had been buried at St Mary's but relatives believed the figure was too low. The latest figures come after 402 death certificates listing Smyllum as the place of death or normal residence was found in archives.
No details are recorded of the children's lives, apart from their names, date of birth and when they died. Causes of death include accidents and diseases such as tuberculosis, flu and scarlet fever. Some died of malnutrition. The research was carried out by Janet Bishop, of the Association of Scottish Genealogists And Researchers In Archives. She trawled through more than 15,000 official records. Most of the deaths occurred between 1870 and 1930. 
It is believed most of the children, without parents or families able to pay for funerals, are buried at St Mary's.
Checks with surrounding cemeteries and local authorities found only two of the 402 laid to rest elsewhere.
11,601 children passed through Smyllum Park between 1864 and 1981, according to evidence given at the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry.
The Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul declined several requests for the interview.
But, in a statement, it said: "We are Core Participants in the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry and are co-operating fully with that inquiry.
"We remain of the view that this inquiry is the most appropriate forum for such investigations.
"Given the ongoing work of the inquiry we do not wish to provide any interviews.
"We wish to again make clear that, as Daughters of Charity, our values are totally against any form of abuse and thus, we offer our most sincere and heartfelt apology to anyone who suffered any form of abuse whilst in our care."
The Scottish Government said, as Smyllum is part of the inquiry, it would be inappropriate to comment.



Six-year-old boy 'killed by nun at orphanage in 1960s'
Police said they found no evidence of foul play in Sammy Carr's death.
A boy was killed by a nun at a Scottish orphanage, a former resident has claimed.

Sammy Carr died in 1964 while under the care of the Smyllum Park in Lanark, South Lanarkshire.

Police Scotland investigated the claims made by a former resident and said they found no evidence of criminality.

But the sisters of six-year-old Sammy are now convinced he was attacked before he died.

Symllum Park has long been the subject of allegations that some of its young residents suffered physical and psychological abuse. The orphanage was run by the Poor Sisters of Charity, now known as the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent De Paul.

The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry is investigating the facility and four other residential care establishments run by the same order.

When Sammy died, his sisters said they were told he had fallen ill after playing with a dead rat.

The youngster was buried in St Mary's Cemetery in Lanark, where more than 150 children from Smyllum lie in unmarked graves. They died from disease or accidents between 1864 and the 1960s.

Now a 63-year-old great grandmother, Sammy's sister Ann Marie Carr said: "The nuns told us he'd died from a tumour in his brain. Something to do with the rat poison through his

They accepted that explanation until 2015, when another former resident told the authorities he witnessed Sammy being assaulted by a nun at the institution shortly before his death.

The 59-year-old now lives in England and has asked for his surname not to be publicised. David agreed to talk to STV News about his claims after Sammy's family gave him their consent.

He told how he and Sammy were playing with matches at the orphanage when they were caught by one of the nuns.

"Sammy was on the floor curled up in a ball and she was just kicking into him, kicking into his back, into his head," said David, who was the same age as Sammy at the time.

"It was proper kicks. I went over and laid on top of Sammy's upper half of his body....I just said, 'Sister, please don't hurt Sammy'."

David said Sammy fell ill after the attack: "It would have to be within days, if not a day. There's no doubt in my heart, she killed him. She didn't kill him there and then but he died days later, or a week later. She definitely killed him."

Sammy's death certificate records him as having died from a brain haemorrhage. David's allegations were investigated by the police. A detective phoned to tell him the results of their inquiry.

"She says we've put Sammy's autopsy report in front of a panel of four people. They've no reasons to suspect foul play. Sammy died of malnutrition and bleeding to the back of the head. I couldn't say anything. My head just emptied....bleeding to the back of the head. Kicking the life out of him. You don't have to be a detective to work that out."

Police Scotland told STV News they had carried out "a robust and thorough investigation and found no evidence of criminality."

Both David and Ms Carr said the police told them the nun involved had died in 2014.

David said: "All I can hope is someone sees this, because there were other kids there, and they remember it, and they come forward and back me up. They're not backing me up, they're backing Sammy up. You're doing what's right."

Asked if she believed her brother had been assaulted, Ms Carr said she was beaten at the orphanage by the same woman: "I got some doings, I got some doings so I do believe it. I got punched, kicked.

"I can't understand why a person at that age, carrying it all this time, would come to the family and say that. They would have just left it and let us believe what we were told."

Of the regime at Smyllum, she stated: "If it wasn't me, it would be somebody else, and you could hear the screams coming out of them, and there wasn't a thing any of us could do about it cause if we tried to do something we got punished as well. "

In a statement, the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul said they were "shocked to learn of the accusations made in relation to the tragic death of Samuel Carr, and have always co-operated fully with any requests for information from the relevant authorities, and will continue to do so.
"In particular, full co-operation was given to the police and following their investigation they found no evidence of criminality.


"The order is also co-operating fully with the ongoing Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry. It would be inappropriate to make any further comment."

PAT SAYS:

Another horror story of the Catholic Church's abuse of innocent little children.

400 children buried in an unmarked grave and one child murdered by a nun and all of them buried with less dignity than a family pet!

This reminds us that these are NOT one off cases but rather a sign of abuse and cruelty that was ENDEMIC and SYSTEMATIC in Catholicism.

Not many years ago I went to say Mass at the grave of a young boy who had been murdered by a Christian Brother in Tralee in Kerry.

The local Catholic doctor provided the Christian Brothers at the time with a death certificate saying the 14-year-old died of "DEMENTIA"!

You can talk about "all the good" done by some people in the Catholic Church until the cows come home.

But there is no getting away from the fact that this is an EVIL INSTITUTION that has perpetrated serious crimes against humanity.

Jesus himself said that a good tree cannot produce bad fruit.

Quite simply we are dealing with the same forest that produced trees like Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin - the forest of EVIL!



79 comments:

  1. The survivors of the Protestant Bethany Home in Dublin report the same: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/group-finds-more-babies-who-died-at-protestant-bethany-home-1.3001476?mode=amp

    Are you on the drink tonight, Pat? Coming to the conclusion that you and Magna Carta are in cahoots - given the intemperate nature of your rants and your all consuming hatred of the Church.

    Rant all you like, the Church is not an "evil tree", for the good always outweighs the evil. Sin abounds; but grace does more abound.

    I wonder what YOU would have done, had you been some hapless nun trying to deal with infant mortality, back then, which was rife? The nuns didn't murder those children.

    You are very self-righteous and holier than thou, Pat. I wonder would YOU - or I - have done any better with so little resources?

    I think people back then did the best they could given the lights they had at the time. And it is all very well the likes of us pronouncing our judgement upon them from very different times.

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    1. You are excusing the torture of 400 children and the murder of 1?

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  2. For Fucks sake Buckley is that the best you can do! Pat says! Who gives a toss what Pat says. Pat is a warped reject of the catholic church bent on revenge. every negative story is grist to his mill. Your comment on the story jumps to all kinds of preposterous conclusions. Scottish authorities have no allegiance to the catholic church and if they found no case to answer that says it all. So spare us the mock indignation and outrage, its just another pathetic attempt by a church reject for revenge.

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    1. So 400+ dead children don't matter.

      You are such a good Catholic.

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    2. I don't think the poster at any point said or implied that 400 dead children didn't matter! You have been told time and time again that twisting things and allowing distorted unbalanced comment achieves nothing. Why does it still happen?!!

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    3. I agree with you Bishop Buckley

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  3. There are dozens of people and more in the Church over the decades who engaged in child abuse such as that which occurred in Lanarkshire. They were evil and couldn't be condemned strongly enough in my opinion. They did those innocent children a great, great injustice. (They did the other Church members an injustice too)
    There are also in the Church literally millions of people who never abused anyone, wouldn't dream of abusing anyone and while not perfect, lead good and often exemplary lives.
    They too deserve to be remembered. They too deserve to be acknowledged but are frequently overlooked in unbalanced opinions of the "Institution"
    Will the same mistake be made today?
    (And before you rush into print, please re-read my FIRST sentences carefully..)

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  4. I cannot, truly and explicitly, say what I think of most Roman Catholic priests and religious, but I believe most of you here know what I should wish to say about them.

    My loyalty is to Christ, not to oily pretenders in long, ridiculously effete and inappropriate white and silly frocks in Rome.

    Suffice to say that I should not allow a child (especially a boy) to be alone with a Catholic priest for even an instant; these Christ-betrayers are not to be trusted with little children.

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    1. The number of neo-Pharisees posting here today is almost alarming.

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    2. Stop describing people as 'neo - Pharisees "please. (We recognise your trademark phrase but it's not acceptable)

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    3. 01:45, your mention of 'lust and selfishness' in the context I referred to (love) shows, perhaps, your own preoccupation with these vices. Yes?

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  5. The Victorians were very cruel to children and, sadly, this hangover lasted well into the fifties and sixties. Even ordinary state primary and secondary schools were dreadful places for many children. It was only in the seventies when things began to change.

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    1. Cruel?

      Did many Victorians kill children or bury them in unmarked graves?

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    2. The infant mortality rate in all households was very high indeed in Victorian times but this was particularly true of infants being brought up in workhouses and in overcrowded hovels where was was great poverty.

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  6. Pat, your readiness to make conclusive judgments is flawed, motivated as usual by anti church rhetoric. You are full of vengance out of your broken experience with the Catholic Church. Abuse of any child or young person is morally reprehensible. I abhor any abuse or harm done to little ones, even when I see it in families. There is no eccusing abuse of any kind. To tar all religious and the church with a broad sweep of being evil is wrong. There are hundreds of good relugious and priests in the church who have been betrayed by the behaviour of some. But let's not draw unfair conclusions till the commissions and report have finalised their research and court procedures have made judgments. It's typical of you Pat to claim such self righteous indignatiin on all issues re: church. Abuse is abuse and is always wrong. But din't forget the hundreds of good relugious too. As for Magna - his script could be written by any of us -
    tiresomely predictable with the usual mix of hatred and poison towards priests. Magna, I most certainky woukdn't allow you near my children or animals. You come across as a mad, lunatic fool, depressed, nasty, devoid of any aesthetic beauty within and without. There is an ugliness that flows thriugh your words, so I woukdn't want my child near you in any way or near Pat either. Too toxic & negative and very partisan with information.We only get what Pat wants....

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  7. You belittle the suffering of many thousands of victims!

    Such belittling Stage Two abuse!

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    1. No Pat, I din't belittle any one who has been abused in any way. I know people who are still working through their experience of abuse. I stand firmly with them. But you draw definitive judgments about religious and the church simply to suit your agenda. It is clear to all who read your blog. You have a nasty, partisan way of disseminating information to blacken the entire church. Your concept of truth and justice has an undercurrent of hatred against the church. Simple as that Pat. All abuse is morally reprehensible - even the abuse you give on this blog....

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    2. Well said at 07:52 & 09:07. You are, of course, only wasting your time on the Pat Buckley and Magna Carta Show.

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    3. I would not allow MC anywhere near my kids either - nasty, vicious, bitter and waspish. Cruella Deville wouldn't be in it! He probably has toasted puppies for breakfast!

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    4. Absolutely NO poster on here today has belittled abuse.
      All have condemned it and rightly so.
      So those good people, themselves, should not be abused and berated here as if they had done so.
      So please refrain from doing it.

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    5. I wondered what was causing me heartburn.

      Thanks, 11:00.

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    6. 16:38, Another biblical literalist. (Sigh)

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  8. The cops said there was no criminality. Mass graves were commonplace in that period, for example the paupers' graveyard in Enniskillen. And believe it or not I worked in Hackney dole office in London in the 1990s and was responsible for funeral grants and there were people still being buried in mass unmarked graves in the cemetery in Ilford. If a person died and had no relatives or anyone else willing to take on the funeral costs the body became the responsibility of the local council on public health grounds. In such cases they got the cheapest possible funeral and were placed in a mass, unmarked grave.

    I'm making the point that it wasn't just the church doing this but the state as well. I agree the church should have done better, but the nuns would have had very little money. The Catholic community then was mostly Irish immigrants, discriminated against and living in slums. Any money they gave to the church would have gone into collection plates at Mass, not to the nuns.

    Some awkward questions arise:

    1. What responsibility did the parents and relatives have for not caring for the children?

    2. Why did the state not care for them? The Poor Law had been round since Elizabethan times.

    3. Is it suggested that the state workhouses, which existed into the 20th century were wonderful places where the dead inmates, including children, received individual marked graves?

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    1. There was a paupers' unmarked graveyard in the grounds or vicinity of every Victorian poorhouse.

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    2. Indeed and in prisons too. I'm not saying this was good or that children are in any way equivalent to prisoners, just observing that it was the way things were done. The nuns may/probably deserve opprobrium but they were not the only sinners though the narrative nowadays wishes to make it out they were.

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  9. Replies
    1. Should we not expect more of the "Brides of Christ?

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    2. No, trying to provide explanations and a bit of balance. All Victorian institutions should be investigated. I'm sure that if a similar exercise was undertaken with regards to a state orphanage it would find a similar pattern and proportion of deaths from the diseases and malnutrition rampant until the foundation of the NHS.

      Oliver Twist is not set in a convent.

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    3. If it was it would be Oliver Twist RIP :-)

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    4. We should indeed, but also expect more of the state and of the parents and families who placed their children into these dreadful Victorian institutions, whether run by the state or the various denominations. I'm not downplaying the horrible nature of some/many/all of these places. All who caused pain, trauma and willful death will face the judgement of He who warned that "suffer the little children who come unto me. Anyone who causes even one of these little ones to be lost, it would better if he had never been born".

      I sincerely believe that all these poor children will have been received into heaven. They shouldn't have suffered.

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    5. Nuns are a mixed bunch. Just the same as every other group. My brother was caned at just 4 for fidgeting during the rosary. That was wrong but it was 1954. When I went to grammar school in the 1960s, the nuns would not have lowered themselves to behave so basely. Some nuns were ignorant and bonkers. Some were highly civilised and educated at Oxford. You cannot tar them all with the same brush. There are a number of nuns that I really admire. There are some that I would avoid like the plague.

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    6. In my schools the lay teachers didn't do corporal punishment but the lay teachers did. This was in the 1980s. Corporal punishment was universal, not just in church schools.

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    7. I was slapped on the hand on my very first day in primary school, a few hours after I'd cried after been separated from my mother. It was State school.

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    8. Corporal punishment became illegal in schools from a date around 1983--1985. (Sorry I haven't my paperwork here to pinpoint the date exactly but some other teacher will probably do so..) I remember it well and the Staff meetings wherein teachers discussed other discipline issues and classroom sanctions to be employed if bad behaviour happened and corporal punishment was no longer a quick option. I welcomed heartily the fact that the cane was relegated to the dustbin of history as I was never comfortable with it. But ironically and surprisingly, there was a more mixed reception to the news from some of the older mischievous kids than you would have expected!!
      (Perhaps a quick slap from a reasonable teacher when caught red-handed meant you could swear under your breath and then rush off and dive on to enjoy your game of football! You knew it was already forgotten and there would be no letter home to your parents calling them up to special meeting in the Principal's office and no card being issued to notify you of the "sanctions" being applied eg staying behind after school with extra written work and isolation maybe at breaktime for serious breaches of behaviour. The new methods of discipline were very time-consuming and still are. But no teacher that I know would wish to revert to old practices best finished with..)

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    9. 14:02 - thank you, very wise and and interesting insight. I don't advocate a return to corporal punishment but equally I oppose replacing it with sarcasm, belittling and other psychological abuse. As I hope we all do I remember with great affection most of my teachers and I'm sure most adults have memories of their teachers. My son has excellent teachers and I marvel at his progress and love seeing him learning to read and right.

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    10. I can vouch for everything that you say @14.02
      Corporal punishment in Northern Ireland became illegal in 1986. Private schools didn't have the matter settled until 2002 though.

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    11. In the south, it became illegal in March 1982.

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  10. Failure to realise the Catholic ethos is unacceptable when there is no transparency. If there was honesty and if the reasons for failure were openly shared in humility only then would there be acceptable excuses for the Church.

    In their absence all we have is an institution covering up abuse.

    CR

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  11. F off Buckley! What does this type of statement say about the attitude of some of our allegedly christian or genuinely caring readers. The Scottish story shows that this sad undercurrent of abuse is not just an Irish thing. It is important we get to the bottom of it in social terms to ensure it never happens again. Yes people do need to stand up and take responsibility and where possible make amends.

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    1. Sean, Aren't you another renegade ex-priest?

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    2. Thank you, Sean. I, for one, can well understand your frustration..

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    3. 11.31 I am sacramentally still a priest. Renegade depends on your point of view I suppose. I am now at peace with myself far from perfect and following the Christian path as best I can

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  12. Pat, respect the intelligent comment being made by people on this blog.You are not a profesdional historian, so please research the historical perspective, the social conditions, poverty, medical advice...There are so many factors that have to be considered. Standing on your Larne table pontificating will not bring truth. Hyoocrite.

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  13. I am not alone in my belief that Magna Carta and Bishop Buckley are one and the same person.
    Further hints of this are available in his Lordship's venomous (similar to MC's) replies today and in the fact that he continues to support, publicise and prioritise MC on every available opportunity.
    Would the good Bishop swear on oath that he is not MC?

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  14. It will be interesting to see if any institutions and/or orders will be held responsible financially after the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry, or wriggle out it like ROI.

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    1. You call paying €120,000,000 + to redress wriggling out?

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  15. Pat, you should purchase Dr. Jacinta Prunty's recently published book. Find it. Study it. Take note if its content. We must absolutely condemn all abuse, whatever era, but we must also analyse society's unkindness and harshness, governments, psychiatry and medical records too. The mindset of blaming is often counter productive.. Justice for abuse victims is paramount but the full truth must not be sacrificed.

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  16. It might be useful to point out that the headline/crossbar saying killed by nun in 1960s was put in quotation marks. As Bishop Pat will well know from his days as a newspaper columnist, newspapers put claims in quotation marks if they are unproven claims but they are helpful in generating a headline or livening up a story. It's like the old advice when preaching, if your point is weak, shout louder.

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  17. Pat, your comments at the end of today's posting give a tremendous insight into the very troubled person that you are. You experience of rejection has coloured everything that you say about the church.
    Scotland is by no means a Catholic Country and if the church had a case to answer it would long since have been dragged through the courts. The fact than the so called murder case was thrown out by the authorities says it all. It really is tiresome Pat to have these cases presented as dramatic breaking news. The Scottish Police found no evidence of criminality, yet your blinkered vision refuses to see the facts.
    Grow up Pat, and stop the hate mongering, for God's sake.

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  18. Pat I have no time at all with the Whig view of history when it comes to Catholic theology or with a lot of philosophy and some social policy. But it's definitely the case that in medicine, social care and education things are better.

    That's why it's wrong to judge some aspects of the nuns behaviour by modern standards. Assuredly the maxims to do onto others etc applied and the nuns will be judged on that.

    At the same time they may have been following the prevailing norms of their day about discipline, care and the conduct of childrens homes. The past is another country, they do things differently there, as the memorable quotation goes.

    I dare say that future generations will be appalled by what we think normal. This includes the millions of abortions, which so many want to happen in Ireland, the very same people who are up in arms about the as yet unproven Tuam case.

    My point is not to defend appalling misbehavior, especially by those who were religious. But it's wrong to imply it's just the Catholic church. Think of Kincora in Belfast and the Australian Royal Conmission has already found disproportionately more cases in Protestant denominations.

    And the inconvenient truth is that clerical abuses peaked worldwide in the 1970s after the glorious Second Vatican Council. That's when bishops decided to be soft and pastoral with sinning priests, and as the Murphy Report found the proper application of canon law collapsed.

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    1. No one is judging the behaviour of these nuns by 'modern standards', but by the Gospel (since they, like the Church of the time, would have claimed to live by it).

      The Church in any age is meant to be a sign of contradiction to the world, not an affirmation of its evil.

      These nuns did not live by the moral and social values of the Gospel they proclaimed.

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    2. Once again you pontificate on something you know nothing about. Do us all a favor and drop dead!

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    3. By the way 12:19, it is infantile to blame an ecumenical and authoratative council for the moral and legal failings of bishops in dealing with sexual abuse of children by clergy. Such abuse was always universal and endemic in the Church, and documents from as early as the fifth century attest this.

      Your anti-Vatican II agenda is as transparent as your lack of logical thinking.

      Stop jumping on the backs of abused children to further your disobedient, anti-Church cause!

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    4. Sr Magna Carta: 12:19 stated "Assuredly the maxims to do onto others etc applied and the nuns will be judged on that". Stay off the sauce.

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    5. Oh dear - - may I please say hello.... on behalf of the hundreds of lovely, contented and well-balanced spinsters who are not too happy at the resurrection of that hoary old stereotype.. Honestly - please!!

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    6. My God Magna, you condemn the nuns of the 19th/20th century who were given huge responsibilities, probably with little resources and not trained psychologically or medically to respond adequately. No excuse for abuse of any kind but to judge these women by today's expertise and knowledge is unfair and unjust. With all your "learning" Magna, there isn't much evidence of charity, compassion or humanity in your heart! Wonder how selflessly do you put yourself out for the well being of others?

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  19. Magna, I wonder how you would have coped or would cope today, if you had 200 plus in your care? Not well at all I conclude because if the rantings, venom and poison you express here is an indication of your mindset, human frailties and sinfulness and your seriously worrying mood swings, I woukdn't let you mind a cat, let alone a child! Of course all religious, priests and Christians should emulate the life of Christ, but even you, Mags, fail abysmally in doing so. I think you doth "express" too much, too frequently!!!!

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    1. 14:29 - the children would be told on a day and daily basis by aul alkie MC that they were moronic, illogical, Pharisaical fools, who needed to show love. LOL

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  20. Edmund Rice the founder of the Christian Brothers did not allow corporal punishment. He would be horrified to see what happened later in the order.

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    1. I suffered at the hands of christian brothers, I was regularly beaten and told I was stupid and would never amount to anything. My healing happened at the tomb of Edmund Rice in Waterford. I sat there for three hours and experienced a catharsis. All the hatred, butt and bitterness evaporated. I believe it was the Edmund Rice who healed me. The two brothers who beat and belittled me are now dead and I prayed for them both.

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    2. 20.16 You are a brave and better person. This does not excuse the abuse you were subject to.

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    3. Sean you are right, nothing excuses what I was subjected to. But to hold on to resentment and bitterness harmed me more than my tormentors. They were both farmers sons who joined age 12, they were denied a normal adolesence; I and others lik e me were the way they vented their frustrations.in a way they were victims too. Forgiveness sets everyone free.

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    4. It is horrible how these people can damage and terrify children. My Uncle Sean died in the early hours of this morning. My sister and I saw him for an hour on Saturday. He was 83. We were surprised that he spent some time talking about how sadistic the Jesuits who taught him were. They didn't beat you at the time. You were given a piece of paper to be beaten several days away. Not just physical but also psychological abuse. He ended up being a headmaster but until he died he never forgot the terror he felt at school.

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    5. Condolences on your loss Jane. I feel sure your uncles recollection of these events in your presence was healing for him. May he rest in peace and you be comforted.

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  21. 14:29, so what does it matter if I 'lose the rag' with one of those 200 children? If I hit one of them a little too hard? Or perhaps 'put the boot in' now and then? Sure wasn't I under a great strain? I shouldn't 'beat myself up' over this. And wouldn't Jesus himself understand and excuse my lashing out? Sure he knows I'm only human.

    And if I malnourish these children and treat them coldly, while stuffing my own belly with good food in warm company, sure its only natural in my strained position; I must have some creature comforts, something to make worthwhile my heroic sacrifice as a 'bride of Christ'.

    And wouldn't dear Jesus sympathise with me? He knows I'm only human.

    And if one day I go too far and beat a little child to death for 'getting on my nerves', well, there's always confession, isn't there? And Father is so obliging. (He loves coming to the convent, since we always treat him so well and where he can stuff his already distended belly with the good and plentiful food, and the good port, we sister's need as sustenance for our charititable work here.)

    Jesus understands doesn't he? Of course he does! Haven't we sisters sacrificed everything to serve him by looking after these wretched children.

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  22. Any person of intelligence will read the story of Scotland's babies in its historical context. Infant mortality was at an all time high during most of that period and these were the children of the poorest in society. Young girls gave birth while badly nourished and undated for. The sisters did what they could for the children but sadly this wasn't enough in so many cases. Unmarked graves were the norm at that time for paupers as the poor were known. So Bishop Pat please stop using this story as a stick to beat the church. Those religious women have the one life they had to the service of others they deserve better.

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    1. Pat doesn't do "intelligent analysis" as we know only too well. He prefers to sjew and twist information for his anti Catholic bigotry and hatred. Pat, there is an alternative. As St Paul says - "speak the truth with charity". Then we might have rational, honest, obhective and intelligent debate. But not as long as you throw out "zoundbytes" of your own designs, usually to promote your arrogant self righteousness.

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  23. I had a lot of nuns in my life.
    I had them in my first school.def hands on there.
    I had them in my second school
    I had them from 18 to 21
    I had them again for another year after I married.
    I have no good memories.....most were frustrated women, def not brides of Christ.

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  24. Of course I accept your word that tha Bishop is nor MC nor MC the Bishop.
    However, you should lighten up.

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  25. The story is misleading. They weren't buried in a mass grave. That term has a very specific meaning in UN human rights lexicon. It's a single grave for a large group of people who died or were killed at the same time and were buried together. That was not the case in Scotland or Tuam. It's a highly pejorative term. These children died over many years and were buried without tombstones, as was the common practice for children until recently.

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    1. That's correct. Communal grave is more accurate but mass grave is better as click bait.

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  26. First time I have commented on this blog, and I am coming from a UK perspective. You are doing great work, Pat, against a culture of cognitive dissonance in the Church - saying one thing while living a different reality. Just one thing more you might open up: what happens to the assets of communities and religious orders when they effectively shut down? We must be talking about vast wealth here and to whose benefit. Courage, press on.

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  27. Guess Anon 13.56 yesterdsy would like a slice of the assets! Tough luck. They will be ploughed into their schools, nursing homes, social work, hospitals, their missionary work of providing hospitals, clinics, schools etc...in the poorest parts of the world. No gain for the religious.....

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