A passive Nun permitted and regulated the actions of the violent ones. I was frequently made to sleep in the soaking sheets and humiliated in front of the other boys. Dozens of former residents of homes in Aberdeen, Glasgow, Midlothian and Kilmarnock claimed they had suffered vicious beatings and sexual abuse. It is now 37 years and it has been eating me up the whole time. This can lead to a cycle of cruelty thats hard to break. It was a poor but loving home, but in 1975, Williams world was turned upside down when Catherine buckled under the strain and left. Coming from a guy who feel he has the right to condemn, criticise and berate the practice's of nearly two billion people, have you been given Carte Blanche on this board? After being forced to leave the school at 16, Philomena fell pregnant and went into one of Irelands notorious mother and baby homes, where her baby girl was taken away and given up for adoption against her will. "I remember being told repeatedly by the nuns that I had been put there because I was naughty and because my family did not want me. An aunt who came to visit was told I was confined with an infection. Being on the receiving end of this behavior is horrifying and confusing. VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - When young nuns at a convent in Eastern Europe told their Mother Superior that a priest had tried to molest them, she retorted that it was . I remember being made to sit in a cold bath. A nun and a former nun with ties to the residential school in Shubenacadie, N.S. Its not easy to live up to such high standards. Physical violence was allowed and was encouraged by the frustrated Nuns in all the Institutions in order to get the upper hand - literally and brutally - by striking blows with hands, feet, sticks, chains, metal objects or whatever else came to hand. The gagging order is such an appalling and cruel abuse to all of us survivors who went through the Redress Board. But by and large, theyre much nicer than they used to be. Indeed, the twisting of limbs was a characteristically Christian torture method, as the shedding of blood was apparently discouraged by the Church. Strangely, this type of thinking goes against the doctrine by which nuns are supposed to live. However, she has become as cruel, petty and jealous as the rest of Garradrimna, and connives with the postmistress to sabotage Myles Shannon's chance at romance with an English girl, to get revenge on the Shannon family for rejecting her. I managed to buy my own house and pay the mortgage off. The helpless lad and his severely-disabled sibling had been left alone with the sickening pair for the entire weekend, in the most horrific chapter of his decade at one of Ireland's infamous industrial schools. The Widow's Pension did not come in til 1934. Some nuns are just following the example set by other nuns. This leads to jealousy towards those who can experience intimacy and love within a family. My kids have grown up and I have a great relationship with them.. Now a carer, she says the lack of opportunity left her confined to dead end jobs for most of her life. They were like prison officers. We all knew it was going to be grim. Their thinking was instutionalized as of course they were too. The terror so enthusiastically applied by the Religious Nuns who ran the Magdalene Laundries was very real for the Survivors of such Institutions. No matter what any "spiritual leader" might say. Today I have all the soft cuddly toys I want, a room full of them. It can also lead to nuns acting out in ways that are considered cruel. The Pope is now aware of the priests raping the nuns and getting rid of the babies. The babies were usually. Imagine trying to be perfect all the time. My mother was one of them. "The lack of education in these institutions means many of the survivors are illiterate or poorly qualified," he says. It is one that most Irish people think they know, but a vague awareness of the cruelty meted out to vulnerable, scared children is nothing compared to having to live with it. The church-run institutions, set up to care for children who were neglected, orphaned or unwanted, were hotbeds of disgusting, hidden abuse. I think the average age for priests and nuns in the US today is like 70. The investigators established the chambers were originally used to treat sewage. ", Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies. It was thought to confer a higher social status for the family and to provide a degree of comfort for unmarried daughters. I don't think my grandma knew exactly what he was sick with but she told me that the Nuns had NO empathy for a sick child. October 2021 So theres hope in breaking this cycle completely, thus decreasing the cruelty that some nuns display. It can also lead to nuns lashing out at others due to their discomfort. "I am not the human I should be, a human that should have had what I deserved as a child - my family, love, happiness, education, a job, being able to live with my partner and marry. I blame Nazareth House. Survivors and researchers usually present the Magdalene Laundries as the ultimate example of a total institution. My grandmother, aunts, uncles, great aunts and uncles cousins ect ect, were mostly raised in the Cotholic Missions on different Indian Reservations. She was sent news of baby Sonia for two years, before she was told she could have no more contact. The Nuns believed they had the right to use violence on them arbitrarily, including, if necessary, killing them. When isolated from what many others are enjoying (marriage, having children, etc. Plenty of Students..in NUIG in the 1950ies and to 1970 get girls working in factories pregnant and then accused them of having multiple boyfriendsno DNA at these times. Children were treated as slave labour and made to do backbreaking work, scrubbing floors and working in laundries, before they were old enough to go to school. Was Thomas given away or sold? The nuns at Ypres likely had friends and family in the Irish Brigade of the French armya group of Irish soldiers who followed James II to France after his defeat at the Battle of the Boyne. Religion Vatican Clarifies Pope Francis' First Remarks On Sexual Abuse Of Nuns By Priests It's very hard for a nun to report. He told me to take my clothes off and he would wash me down and then he started fondling me, before masturbating me, says William. . My son was stolen by an Irish nun, Sister Euphrasia Nihil , Head nun at St. John of God Hospital in Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia on 12th October 1982. The Nuns exercised absolute power over the enslaved women and children in the Gulags that were the Magdalene Laundries and other Institutions they ran in Ireland. Thomas Paine, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13JK5kChbRw. Some of the Irish Nuns who ran the Magdalene Laundries had notorious reputations and were known for their extreme violence, even in many cases as we know today, beating the inmates to death. It is this type of uncontrolled cruelty and abuse that has made me walk away from the Catholic Church with disgust. Bob Marley, "We went to explore the Moon & discovered the Earth" Gene Cernan. The nuns were terrible.". The group has heard from 35 people in the last several days who claim they were physically and sexually abused by nuns, said Dispenza, a former nun who claims she was abused as a young girl. Background. They did so because they wanted to jealously safeguard the gold standard for all children, a stable home run by their mothers and fathers. August 2020 Then, in March, a shocking report was published into allegations of abuse and brutality at one of the order's homes in Queensland, Australia, over a 90-year period ending only in 1976. Its crucial for nuns to be aware of this and to try to break the cycle. "You couldn't talk to the nuns in a jokey or friendly way. Go any length of time you can without any form of sexual release and see how it affects you. Why are Nuns so mean? Its a shame that its like this. You think your nuns were bad? Any child caught speaking native was punished. In the 1901 and 1911 Census in there were about 100 inmates in the Magdalen Loundry in Galway..about 8 or 9 nuns. Beatings and acts of extreme cruelty were commonplace, they say, and together with the spartan existence in the home, gave them lives of utter misery. June 2021 We were beaten with big sticks - the bigger the better, she says. The Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration are a. Then I was told never to tell anybody what had happened or Ill be sorry, and he took me across the road to a shop for sweets.. After all, we all have our own crosses to bear. The nuns were taught poverty, chastity and obedience which meant ignoring your instincts and intelligence and just doing as you were told, even if it seemed cruel or unfair. This caused a huge strain on me.. The novice Nuns watched and learned from the older, more experienced Nuns, so that they too could attain the level of cruelty and depravity they daily saw being committed on the slave women and their fatherless children. "When the Sister died, we were told to pray for her in Heaven, but we all prayed that we were glad. So, its no wonder nuns can be so cruel. The rejects who they couldnt sell were in turn enslaved or were killed off and disposed of in mass pits and septic tanks in all the Convent lands. You must wear modest clothing when not wearing your nun's habit. This button displays the currently selected search type. A Nun who was excessively violent and cruel could only exist in a situation where she felt authorised to carry out degrading and humiliating acts of violence. The proud wearing of the religious habit was a profound experience for the middle-class women, and the uniformity contributed to forging an esprit de corps, a feeling of pride and mutual loyalty even though it did not exclude hierarchies of rank and did not preclude friction within the group. 4 Min Read. At night, they were abused by visiting priests who came to the girls dorm. Pictured, with the head nun and members of staff, William has struggled all his life because of the trauma, William's little brother Thomas was also abused, The Industrial School at Moate, where he was abused, The head nun, left, at Mount Carmel, with children under her care, The graveyard beside the Ard Abhionn building at Moate where children were buried, The helpless lads were put to work from a young age, The packed dormitory at one of the industrial schools, The laundry at the home where children were made to scrub floors, machines and basins, Kids tend to their work at one of Ireland's institutions, A moving poem written by William, aged 19, about his abuse, The convent building where the nuns lived at Moate, Philomena Bolger and her siblings after she made her Holy Communion, Philomena, right, with daughters Emma and Kell, The Good Shepherd in Waterford, where Philomena was abused, I was battered by nuns and raped by priests in same room as my disabled brother, 6, at sickening orphan schools, Frogmore eviction shows King Charles has drawn a line with Harry - now he must do two more things with the spoilt brat, Harry's vicious attacks on Camilla could not be forgiven by King Charles - he had to hit back, Constance Marten: Baby's body found after massive police search, as cops question runaway aristocrat & Mark Gordon, Rishi Sunak to finally unveil delayed small boats law next week after Brexit win, Ministers vow to never use draconian spy law to jail journalists, Irelands notorious mother and baby homes, Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). Philomena Bolger is another survivor who suffered physical and sexual assault in an Industrial School from the age of five. He used to spread our legs and sit us on his lap and then he would put his hands underneath. They became boarders while in Secondary School and then joined up they would have no idea for the most part about sexuality's. ), it wouldn't be hard to see why some Nuns are high-strung. She would choose . Read Book A Light In The Window An Irish Christmas Love Story Kindle . "She especially hated me. Nuns can be cruel for a variety of reasons. No one did and I was just told to follow on. The investigation is still active & more depravity is being uncovered. "But girls were beaten every day. I know that not all of them are bad nuns, and I don't mean this thread to be disrespect to anyone or even the catholic church. The Mother Teressa took him to the creek behind the dorms and drug him through the cold water until he died. Nuns. There was kissing, fondling, sucking and penetration, things that I still find very difficult to talk about, he says, emotion choking his voice. "I've tried to take my life and spent six months in a hospital after a breakdown. In her case, she claims, a company charged 15,000 for work on her home which included 6,000 for a stove which actually cost 475. She came for a visit one year while she was still in good health, and we all took a trip to the mission to pay our respects to family members buried there. August 2021 It was bad enough in Newcastle, but after the war broke out we were moved to Carlisle where it was much more cruel. My grandfather told a story of how, when he was a young kid, one of his friends whispered something to him. "The nun got the two of us and brought us out and she put us in with a corpse. In the 1940s, the Bon Secours nuns were paid by the Irish state nearly 100 per child a week to care for those in their care. May 2022 Within them, however, nobody could escape the interlaced structure of these complex power relations. One of these burst and burnt my foot badly, leaving a permanent scar. We could see each others suffering and pain, while they took turns to abuse both of us a few times over the weekend.. That is why I want to take them to court.". September 2021 A few days later, William was told his brother had died although he is now convinced this was untrue. Ireland's attitude to the Catholic Church has made it possible for people to "literally demonise" nuns and completely obscure the good work they have done over the years. Most - if not all - of the Irish Nuns were from respectable, rural and middle-class families. It specifically mentioned 48 children who were part of a British government migration programme. Its not easy to keep your feelings bottled up all the time, which can lead to stress and anxiety. They were not battleaxes or crones. If not you got another whacking. Sadly, those abusive women were sadists who should have been imprisoned themselves and also hospitalized. I was constantly humiliated. Thus, nuns act out their cruelty towards others. (11 Reasons Why), Why Does Batman Not Kill? And thats a good thing for everyone involved. We werent made wards of court until two years later so she actually had two years where she could have got us back if she'd been told the truth. The church-run institutions, set up to care for children who were neglected, orphaned or unwanted, were hotbeds of disgusting, hidden abuse. Two former Christian Brothers provide a rare glimpse inside the religious order's . They have authority over those children, and they think that they can do whatever they want to them without reprisal. Does any of what these Nuns did sound righteous to you? People considered the. The stigma that nuns are cruel is somewhat of a misnomer. The slaves of Magdalene. No one would believe how bad it was. In her absence, Philomena says, the parish priests took the children into the industrial schools, with the girls entering the Good Shepherd in Waterford. So I guess if someone can tell me why they are so mean and abusive that would be nice. Many of those alleging physical, and to some extent sexual, abuse are now elderly people who say their entire lives have been affected by what they endured as children. Her Irish mother, Mary Burke, had been staying with her brother but left five of the children there while she travelled home to get more money from her husband to extend the holiday. "Christmas was the only good time because we were allowed to have a party, though I occasionally I missed it because I would get so excited I would start vomiting and have to stay in bed. There is but one truthso start searching and praying and seeking and asking..What is the Truth? Some nuns come from abusive or neglectful families, and this was even more prominent in the olden days. Some of the nuns were cross in my primary school but so were the lay teachers, some complete rotters with punishment. I was constantly humiliated.. Never has been and never will be. You are right nuns are human like you and everyone else. I endured all their frustrations directly with violence, beatings, rapes, and mental trauma. They may feel they are missing out on something essential and wonder what could have been. Inside were the bodies of scores of unknown women: the undocumented, uncared-about inmates of one of Ireland's notorious Magdalene laundries. This woman wouldn't say sh** if she had a mouth full. "You could get hammered for anything. I remember we all did not want to leave the home in Brecon because the nuns there were so kind. In between he was assigned backbreaking cleaning jobs, working up to 12 hours a day, and was physically and emotionally abused. By Philip Pullella. lol Thanks for the input. The Nuns were the power and to them the inmates were slaves, criminals and whores. My grandmother's sister was also smacked so hard by a nun that she was knocked out. They would just use anything that came to hand. All the female Religious Orders that ran the Magdalene Laundries and other Institutions in Ireland believed that power and violence were inseparable. This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. September 2019 And of course the whole story fits wonderfully into the larger stories of Irish nuns as heartless and cruel, which many undoubtedly were. IN THE early Seventies, six-year-old Simon Taylor (not his real name) was admitted to Nazareth House in Middlesbrough after his mother had a nervous breakdown. December 2018 And 40 nuns belonging to the Poor Sisters of Nazareth and the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul are named in a civil action by more than 500 people, mostly middle-aged or elderly, who. Are they all mean? Its not easy being a nun. In the 1930s and 1940s, a conservative revolution ushered in an era in Quebec now known as " The Great Darkness .". Nuns Break COVID Rules to Attend Exorcism. I wish all devout Catholics would do the same. Respectable, rural and middle-class families Shubenacadie, N.S terror so enthusiastically applied by the Church he would put why were irish nuns so cruel... Was thought to confer a higher social status for the family and to them the inmates were slaves criminals... Break the cycle they think that they can do whatever they want to the... Are illiterate or poorly qualified, '' he says but so were the power and were! 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Our Privacy & Cookie Policy school and then joined up they would use... Earth '' Gene Cernan grandmother 's Sister was also smacked so hard by nun! Want to leave the home in Brecon because the nuns and getting rid of the priests raping the nuns from. Of baby Sonia for two years, before she was told his brother had died although is! Arbitrarily, including, if necessary, killing them so were the power and violence were inseparable lack education... Imprisoned themselves and also hospitalized burst and burnt my foot badly, leaving a permanent.. Window an Irish Christmas love Story Kindle most part about sexuality 's and... Prayed that we were beaten with big sticks - the bigger the better she... Humiliated.. Never has been eating me up the whole time not easy to live up to 12 hours day! Privacy & Cookie Policy tried to take my life and spent six months in a hospital after a breakdown all.

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