Pope Francis urges people to hear cries of children at Christmas

Pontiff prays for children 'abused and exploited under our eyes' in Urbi et Orbi message

The crying of the Baby Jesus is not the only cry people should hear on Christmas as many children around the world are crying because of war, maltreatment and abuse, Pope Francis has said.
“Baby Jesus,” he said, pausing for effect. “My thoughts today go to all children who are abused and mistreated: those killed before they are born; those deprived of the generous love of their parents who are buried under the selfishness of a culture that does not love life; those children displaced by war and persecution, abused and exploited under our eyes and the silence that makes us accomplices.”

http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2014/12/25/pope-francis-urges-people-to-hear-the-cry-of-suffering-children-at-christmas/ 

Abuse case upheld for boy kept in church bathroom

A man who punished his teenage son by confining him in a church bathroom lost an appeal Tuesday as the Missouri Supreme Court upheld his child abuse convictions. In a unanimous ruling, the Supreme Court rejected assertions by Peter Hansen that there wasn't enough evidence to prove that he knowingly inflicted cruel and unusual punishment on his son. Hansen his wife, 13-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter were living at a Seventh-day Adventist church after they were evicted from their Springfield home in April 2009.

http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/article/Abuse-case-upheld-for-boy-kept-in-church-bathroom-5976091.php 

Siblings' sexual abuse highlights flaws in 'negligent' Victorian state care

Young children taken from their parents and placed in Victorian residential care were subjected to horrifying sexual and physical abuse by other children, despite being in the care of workers contracted by the Department of Human Services.

Details of the abuse and neglect surfaced in a Victorian court recently during a hearing over whether two siblings should be returned to their mother or left in the care of the department.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-02/siblings-sexual-abuse-highlights-flaws-in-victorian-state-care/5566378 

Voices From the Grave

It’s been a very big loss. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about Eduardo, Barbara Boehland said. Boehland’s son, Eduardo Ramon, committed suicide back in 1997. She says he did it because of sexual abuse by a priest.  He was sexually assualted by a catholic priest named Carlos Lozano, in San Antonio Texas at the age of 16. 
Barbara Garcia Boehland said after a San Antonio priest abused her son Eduardo twice in 1993 at a seminary boarding school he changed dramatically. “He had a lot of nightmares, on going nightmares, he couldn’t trust people, constantly scared, could never eat. We constantly went to therapy sessions. He just became somebody else he wasn’t,” Boehland said. Just four years after his abuse, 20-year-old Eduardo killed himself in 1997.

https://silentvoicesnolonger.wordpress.com/2014/12/27/ 

John Mann Calls For 'Suspicious Deaths' Of Westminster Child Abuse Whistleblowers To Be Re-Investigated

A campaigning MP has called for the reinvestigation of the suspicious deaths more than 20 years ago of two whistleblowers who he believes had significant information relating to organised child abuse by a group with alleged links to Westminster.
Labour's John Mann made the comments after he handed Scotland Yard a dossier that includes allegations about the involvement of 22 politicians - some of them apparently still serving - in paedophile rings.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/12/22/westminster-childabuse_n_6366080.html 

A Catholic Brother is locked up on 252 child-sex charges re 35 alleged victims

On 29 December 2014, a Sydney court refused bail for a former Catholic Brother who is charged with 252 child sexual assaults. Bernard Kevin McGrath (formerly a member of the St John of God Brothers) is charged with abusing 35 disabled boys while he worked as a Brother at a Catholic institution in the Hunter region, north of Sydney, in the 1970s and 1980s.
McGrath (born 22 May 1947) is a New Zealand citizen. In November 2011, Australian Police commenced extradition proceedings against McGrath while he was living in Christchurch, New Zealand. McGrath resisted the extradition application. In mid-December 2014, the New Zealand High Court finally authorised McGrath’s extradition to Australia and he was immediately brought back to Australia in police custody.

http://brokenrites.org.au/drupal/node/346 

Fresh hope for Catholic school abuse victims as inquiry powers set to be extended

A former Catholic school pupil who says he was sexually abused by a priest from Merseyside has fresh hope the truth will finally be exposed. Home Secretary Theresa May revealed a troubled inquiry into child sexual abuse across the UK could be given extra powers, including the ability to force witnesses to give evidence.
The Sunday ECHO told earlier this year of how both a priest at the centre of a scandal at Mirfield junior seminary in Yorkshire and a former student there – one of those who made the allegations – came from Merseyside.

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/fresh-hope-catholic-school-abuse-8350238 

Pledge to bring Scotland’s child abusers to justice

PAEDOPHILES will “face the full force of the law” promised education secretary Angela Constance yesterday as she unveiled a landmark probe into historic child sex abuse.   Ms Constance told MSPs the statutory public inquiry would have the powers to force witnesses to give evidence.
She said abusers would be brought to justice where evidence of crimes was uncovered. The long-awaited move follows a string of scandals and claims of an Establishment paedophile ring.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/547548/Angela-Constance-promises-bring-Scotland-s-child-abusers-justice 

A 71-year-old retired missionary priest jailed for sexually abusing two boys 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

A 71-year-old retired missionary priest from North Cork has been jailed for three years for sexually abusing two boys at a Co Cork boarding school where he taught in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

Tadhg O Dalaigh, a native of Boherbue but with an address at Woodview, Mount Merrion Avenue, Dublin, pleaded guilty earlier this year to five counts of abusing one of the boys at Colaiste an Chroi Naofa in Carrignavar in 1982 and 1983

http://www.independent.ie/regionals/corkman/news/priest-jailed-for-abusing-boys-30857193.html 

Pope on pain child abuse leaves behind

Rome, December 29 - The pope at the weekend said the aftermath of child abuse is enough to make one "cry out loud", source said Monday.    "The traces that child abuse leaves behind in its victims are enough to make one cry out loud," Francis wrote to fashion designer Roberto Piazza, a fellow Argentine who is engaged in the fight against pedophilia. 
The pope added that "preventing child sexual abuse" is the main objective of his special child protection commission. Francis has shown he is serious about tackling the problem of sex abuse of minors by members of the clergy since taking the helm of the Catholic Church, whose image has been tarred by a series of scandals in various parts of the world.

https://www.ansa.it/english/news/vatican/2014/12/29/pope-on-pain-child-abuse-leaves-behind_092065ba-d4c5-4ba8-831d-f8a5f6bca0b6.html 

Residential care: Victoria struggles to protect and house its most vulnerable children

Victoria has long struggled with how best to care for the state's most vulnerable children. When a child has been a victim or is at risk of abuse and neglect, the Department of Human Services can seek custody of the child from the court.
When a court grants custody to the department, its preference is to place the child with relatives who are capable of ensuring their safety, such as grandparents, aunts and uncles.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-03/residential-care-in-victoria-sam-clark/5568318 

Leaked documents show hundreds of sexual assault allegations in Victorian children's homes

Hundreds of alleged rapes, sexual assaults and instances of sexual exploitation were reported across Victoria's out-of-home care network over the course of a year, according to internal documents.

The figures, obtained by the ABC, lay bare the extent of sexual abuse of children who have been placed in the care of the state. 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-03/documents-show-hundreds-of-sexual-abuse-allegations-in-homes/5570166

Inquiry into sexual exploitation of children in care in Victoria 'delayed

A crucial inquiry into the sexual exploitation of children in out-of-home care was allegedly delayed because of the refusal of the Victoria Department of Human Services to share information with the Child Safety Commissioner.

The inquiry, by the Commission for Children and Young People, was triggered by revelations that groups of paedophiles are targeting children living in residential care units across the state, using drugs, alcohol and cigarettes to lure them away from the units.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-11/victorian-inquiry-into-sexual-exploitation-of-children-in-care/5959672 

Children's Home in Tuam (1920s-1960s)

On Tues 27th May 2014, Mark spoke to Catherine Corless about the former childrens home run by the Bon Secours nuns in Tuam, Co Galway. Catherine's research has found that in a period of just 36 years from 1925 to 1961, at least 796 babies were buried there in a pit, their identities unmarked. 'The Home' received unmarried mothers. 

Catherine is campaigning to have the location of the mass grave marked properly with all the childrens names. Many of them died from conditions as curable as gastroenteritis, measles and malnutrition. Listen again to this remarkable campaigner. 

https://audioboom.com/boos/2202867-the-home-tuam 

Have a rapey Christmas, you religious dinosaurs

Ah, Christmas — the season for joy, tolerance, and goodwill amongst all. Usually in these days, media outlets queue up the glurge — the sappy stories, the tearjerker videos, and the essays about finding meaning in a season defined by religion and its observance. Everyone likes to tap into the happy memories and high ideals of the Christmas season.
Well, almost everyone. For some reason, Salon chose this week to offer two dyspeptic and nonsensical takes on religion, the most outrageous of which argues that one has to support rape in order to be Christian. God raped the Virgin Mary, so they argue, apparently without one single clue as to what the Annunciation actually was or what it means in Christian belief, as well as most other religions:

http://hotair.com/archives/2014/12/22/salon-have-a-rapey-christmas-you-religious-dinosaurs/ 

Irish Women Emerge From Shadows Of 'National Shame'

In post-independence Ireland, thousands of women found themselves incarcerated in church-run laundries. For the first time, the state has apologized for their treatment. These women were a diverse group: former prostitutes, unwed mothers, orphans, homeless women, convicts and industrial school transfers put in the care of the Catholic Church.
Nuns ran the facilities, known as Magdalene Laundries, on a commercial basis, doing laundry for the state, private companies and individuals. But the inmates were never paid for the work, and all profit went to the church. The first of such places opened in the 1930s, and the last laundry in Ireland closed in 1996.

http://www.npr.org/2013/02/24/172740950/irish-women-emerge-from-shadows-of-national-shame 

Make legal to sue the Catholic Church for sex abuse victims.

As a victim of sex abuse by the Catholic Church I was denied a proper education as were many others. I've struggled through life because of the memories, flashbacks and lack of education as have many others. I've had several breakdowns, suffered through depression, PTSD, anxiety, relationships, job prospects ect... Many thousands of victims like myself," many have suicided," have only just survived on their instincts and self preservation. 
Real justice compensation from the church would help the victims cope better with living experiences and give them a sense of dignity, security and a worry free future. The church doesn't want to part with their billions so they are relying on certain laws to avoid paying proper compensation. Average hush money paid averages about $ 10,000 per victim. Some get nothing.

https://www.change.org/p/australian-government-make-legal-to-sue-the-catholic-church-for-sex-abuse-victims?recruiter=54334107&utm_campaign=signature_receipt&utm_medium=email&utm_source=share_petition

Girls choose death over fear of rape

Captured Yazidi girls in Iraq are killing themselves to escape rape and torture at the hands of Isis (Islamic State) militants holding them prisoner.
Hundreds of women and children were captured during the group's bloody sweep through northern Iraq this year and have since been trafficked as sex slaves, forced into marriage and imprisoned. Victims who managed to escape told Amnesty International that many Yazidi girls killed themselves after losing hope of being saved.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/crime/news/article.cfm?c_id=30&objectid=11378539 

Paedophile MPs focus of Scotland Yard probe

British police are investigating claims that up to five paedophile rings operated at the heart of Westminster with the involvement of "highly influential" politicians.
A Labour MP who has handed a dossier of evidence to Scotland Yard said he now believed the complexity of child abuse networks at the heart of government in the '70s and '80s had been seriously underestimated.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/crime/news/article.cfm?c_id=30&objectid=11378066 

Part 3 - Catholic Church in crisis

For decades now the Roman Catholic has been in crisis. The reforms and changes of Vatican II in the mid-1960s sought to make the Latin Church contemporary and more relevant to people in their own went through dramatic changes. In many orders the nuns got out of their habits and began to identify with the people they were serving in contemporary dress. More fundamental changes were also made in various orders. 
In spite of the many changes, however, attracting people to religious orders and the Roman Catholic priesthood has become increasingly difficult, especially in the Western world.Since Vatican II priests, brothers and nuns have continued to leave their vocations, and numbers entering the priesthood and religious orders has continued to drastically decline. The teachers at all Roman Catholic schools at one time were Brothers, Nuns and some Catholic Lay people.

http://www.christianfaith.com/lookout/part-3-catholic-church-in-crisis

Adult Survivors of Childhood Abuse

Adults who experienced abuse as a child can often feel isolated and alone, unable to talk to friends or family about how they feel.  In Ireland currently, the publication of reports such as the Ryan Report and the more recent Murphy Report can be very difficult and painful for anyone who has tried hard to forget their own childhood experiences in an institution or at the hands of nuns, priests, brothers or anyone else working in the catholic church. Abuse is not always sexual, it can be physical, or emotional, or some combination of these three elements.  Neglect is also a form of abuse, and many people who were brought up by people away from their family, may continue to suffer emotionally even now simply because they never felt loved as a child.  

http://www.counsellingcaredublin.com/childhood-abuse.html 

Physical versus mental child abuse

In view of the tweeted responses to the Daily Mail article, I thought it might be helpful to reproduce what I actually said in 2006. Incidentally, I was myself sexually abused by a teacher when I was about nine or ten years old. It was a very unpleasant and embarrassing experience, but the mental trauma was soon exorcised by comparing notes with my contemporaries who had suffered it previously at the hands of the same master. 
Thank goodness, I have never personally experienced what it is like to believe – really and truly and deeply believe ­– in hell. But I think it can be plausibly argued that such a deeply held belief might cause a child more long-lasting mental trauma than the temporary embarrassment of mild physical abuse.

https://richarddawkins.net/2013/01/physical-versus-mental-child-abuse/ 

Waterlooville woman wins High Court case against Catholic church over sex abuse

A HIGH Court Judge has ruled against the Catholic church in a row over whether it can be held responsible for the sexual abuse of a Waterlooville woman by one of its own priests. 

The issue of responsibility arose after the woman, who can only be identified as Miss E, brought a civil action against the church.  She claims she was abused in a children’s home run by the church and therefore the church has ‘vicarious liability’.

http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/local/waterlooville-woman-wins-high-court-case-against-catholic-church-over-sex-abuse-1-3225554 

More Victims Claiming Sexual Abuse by Montana Priests and Nuns

In January, Indian Country Today Media Network reported that a Yakima, Washington–based law firm had filed a 12-page legal complaint on behalf of a Northern Cheyenne tribal member seeking justice for years of abuse she suffered as a child at Montana’s St. Labre Indian School in the 1950s and 1960s. The case is a significant one, as the accused is Father Emmett Hoffmann, a near-legendary figure on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation.
In recent weeks, the case has become even bigger. According to an amended, 19-page version of the legal complaint filed on June 6 in Montana’s Eighth Judicial District Court, priests and nuns misused their authority to “molest, exploit and abuse children” across eastern Montana. The Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis are now named in the complaint, and 10 additional male and female victims have joined the original Jane Doe in filing suit against the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings.

 http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/07/30/more-victims-claiming-sexual-abuse-montana-priests-126332

New Belgium nun child sex abuse case

Belgian prosecutors on Tuesday said they had opened a judicial inquiry after a fresh claim of sexual abuse in an institution for children run by nuns.
The latest probe follows a claim by a 63-year Belgian man to have been the target of sexual abuse in the 1950s in the Sint-Vincentius de Halen orphanage in the northeast region of Limbourg.

http://www.news24.com/World/News/New-Belgium-nun-child-sex-abuse-case-20110111 

Termonbacca nuns 'nearly psychotic'; abuse survivor tells of 'screams of despair'

Nuns who ran a hell hole children’s home in Northern Ireland were nearly psychotic, a former resident said. The Sisters of Nazareth property in Derry was like Auschwitz, youngsters’ screams of despair still haunting survivors, the UK’s largest ever inquiry into institutional child abuse was told.
Inmates formed chain gangs to polish floors until they sparkled – with arms linked and rags under both feet – and were beaten with bamboo canes and straps. One witness reported sexual abuse by older boys to a nun.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/termonbacca-nuns-nearly-psychotic-abuse-survivor-tells-of-screams-of-despair-621080.html

Nuns were unwilling or unable to believe children who were abused

ONE of the worst child abusers in the history of the State was given a reference for a job by the head nun at St Joseph's orphanage in Kilkenny, despite being told he had been "at" children and despite having personal reservations about the paedophile who served a 10- year jail sentence for sex abuse.

David Murray was only investigated in 1995 by a Garda Sergeant, stationed at Kilkenny Garda Station. He began an investigation into allegations of sexual and physical abuse at St Joseph's School in Kilkenny. 

http://www.kilkennypeople.ie/news/kilkenny-news/nuns-were-unwilling-or-unable-to-believe-children-who-were-abused-report-1-2166497 

Murdered and Tortured: Students in Mexico and US Boarding Schools

Most of us live lives sanitized from the torture in Mexico. Once you have seen the torture, or the photos of this torture, these bodies remain imprinted on your mind forever. Please remember the students disappeared and murdered by police in Guerrero, Mexico.
The tortured and murdered children of Indian boarding schools in the US is the subject of the upcoming Tribunal in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Oct. 22, 23 and 24. Govinda at Earthcycles and I will have live video and print coverage of the Tribunal. Torture and murder are easy to turn away from -- we are hoping you will not.

http://bsnorrell.blogspot.co.nz/2014/10/by-brenda-norrell-censored-news-most-of.html 

Indian Boarding Schools continued genocide by US and Canada

The Tribunal on the Devastating Impacts of Boarding Schools began the second day with Jean Whitehorse, Dine' (Navajo) speaking on Native rights and the sterilization of Indian women.

Whitehorse said she went to the hospital in intense pain, and was asked to sign papers.

"Besides taking out my appendix, they sterilized me," said Whitehorse, of the sterilization carried out without her knowledge at Gallup Indian Hospital.

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/brenda-norrell/2014/10/indian-boarding-schools-continued-genocide-us-and-canada

Nuns admit to past mistakes in children's homes

An independent investigation into allegations of abuse at children’s homes run by the Swiss Ingenbohl Sisters of Mercy has found serious failings by the Roman Catholic nuns but has discounted the worst allegations involving deaths in care.

The excessive punishment doled out by some sisters was mainly due to the “systemic misery” of the homes, where both children and carers experienced hardship, the commission of experts found in its review of the decades from 1928 to the 1970s.

http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/nuns-admit-to-past-mistakes-in-children-s-homes/34808078 

Another Disconnect: Nuns, Sex Abuse

I am guilty of instantly running to the defense of American nuns after the Vatican announced that women religious in the United States had “a prevalence of certain radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith.” Like most people, I remembered American nuns working with the most dejected among us – helping the poor, the sick, the homeless, and the fringes of society … and my junior AP English teacher Sr. Lorraine, who was in way over her head. 
But I had forgotten something: The leadership of American nuns in the United States is also no stranger to child sex abuse and cover up. Since 2004, SNAP has been trying to get the Leadership Conference of Religious Women (LCRW) to make some kind of statement on behalf of children who were sexually abused by nuns. There are a number of SNAP members and leaders who were sexually abused by women religious, and many of them feel like their plight is ignored. Eight years later, SNAP has received no response. Victims have been simply shut out of the conversation. 

http://theworthyadversary.com/1259-another-disconnect-nuns-sex-abuse-and-vatican-investigations 

'Endemic' rape and abuse of Irish children in Catholic care, inquiry finds

Rape and sexual molestation were "endemic" in Irish Catholic church-run industrial schools and orphanages, a report revealed today.
The nine-year investigation found that Catholic priests and nuns for decades terrorised thousands of boys and girls in the Irish Republic, while government inspectors failed to stop the chronic beatings, rape and humiliation.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/may/20/irish-catholic-schools-child-abuse-claims 

Woman 'sexually abused by nun'

A woman has told the Historical Abuse Inquiry how she was sexually abused by a nun when she was a young child. The woman, now in her 50s, said she was aged four or five at the time and lived in Nazareth House, Londonderry. 

The inquiry is investigating abuse claims against children's residential institutions in NI from 1922 to 1995.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-26133167 

Sex abuse inquiry 'best forgotten' said senior cleric

A senior member of a religious order who investigated claims of sex abuse at a children's home in County Down in 1958 said it was "best forgotten", an inquiry has heard. The Historical Institutional Abuse (HIA) Inquiry is examining allegations of abuse at Rubane House, Kircubbin.

On Tuesday, the inquiry was told four boys raised the alarm about abuse at the Catholic home 56 years ago. They told the De La Salle Order that the brother in charge abused them. 

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-29430974 

Alleged child abuse victim calls on Pope, Maltese Church to apologise

A man who claims to have been sexually abused by priests in a Sta Venera orphanage is calling on Pope Benedict XVI to issue an apology. Lawrence Grech, 37, said the Pope should use next week's trip to Malta to apologise to local victims of child abuse, just like he did to the Irish last month.
"He should recognise that these things happened in Malta, reflect about the victims' suffering and issue a formal apology," Mr Grech told The Times at the same time as the Pope was celebrating Easter Mass.

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20100405/local/alleged-child-abuse-victim-calls-on-pope-maltese-church-to-apologise.301365 

Catholic church kept child abuse a secret for years

Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church in Dublin covered up decades of child abuse by priests to protect the church's reputation, an expert commission reported Thursday after a three-year investigation.
Abuse victims welcomed the report on the Dublin Archdiocese's mishandling of abuse complaints against its parish priests from 1975 to 2004. It followed a parallel report published in May into five decades of rape, beatings and other cruelty committed by Catholic orders of nuns and brothers nationwide in church-run children's workhouses and orphanages from the 1930s to mid-1990s.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2009-11-27/news/0912010144_1_dublin-archdiocese-dublin-archbishop-diarmuid-martin-priests 

Child sex abuse and the church – how they got away with it

It is now recognised that the sexual abuse of children by Roman Catholic clergy and monks is neither a new problem nor is it caused by ‘celibacy’; it has an extraordinary long history that goes back 2000 years as shown by Dominican priest Father Thomas Doyle, and two former Benedictines, celibacy historian A.W.R Sipe and theologian and canon law expert Patrick Wall in their meticulously researched book, Sex Priests and Secret Codes (2006) . 
They show that the Venerable Bede, (AD 672/3-735) decreed that clergy who committed sodomy with children should be given increasingly severe penances commensurate with their rank. Laymen would be ex-communicated and made to fast for three years while deacons, priests and bishops had to fast for seven, ten and twelve years respectively (p19). In the 12th and 13th centuries, the crime was labeled as sacrilege, then heresy. Penalties became harsher, including fines, castration, exile and even death. Accused clergy were dealt with by church courts then handed to secular jurisdictions for further punishment. That did not stop the crimes.

http://nma.gov.au/blogs/inside/2010/03/26/child-sex-abuse-and-the-church/ 

Victims of Abuse in Church

f you are a victim of sexual abuse by priests, or other leaders in the church, your life has probably been affected in many ways. Almost everything about you may have suffered. Your relationships, your education, your career and even your spirituality and relationship with God may have all been seriously damaged if you were taken advantage of by a spiritual leader.
Though abuse in the Catholic Church is often in the media, sex abuse happens in nearly every religion or denomination—whether Anglican, United, Baptist, or Pentecostal. Church leaders are figures of trust and authority, and when that trust is destroyed, victims feel helpless. Survivors of sex abuse by clergy or priests often live their whole lives not understanding where the pain comes from; why they haven't accomplished much with their lives; why they keep turning to drugs or alcohol. Many people come to a realization, often well into adulthood, that the pain they've had their whole lives is rooted in sexual abuse by Catholic church leaders or clergy of another religion. 

http://www.jellineklaw.com/services/sexual-abuse/clergy-abuse.html 

In Ireland, Allegations Of A Mass Grave At Old Home For Unwed Mothers

A small Irish community has been rocked by allegations that the bodies of dead children may have been interred in a disused septic tank behind a former home for unmarried mothers. The home, located in the town of Tuam near Galway city, had been run by the Bon Secours nuns from the 1920s to the 1960s.
While initial news reports indicated that up to 800 bodies may be buried in the tank, the actual number — if any — is not clear. The assertions stemmed from documents supplied by local historian Catherine Corless, who has said records show 796 children died at the home. The Irish Mail, drawing on those documents, said that:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/06/03/318545130/in-ireland-a-macabre-discovery-at-old-home-for-unwed-mothers 

widespread abuse of Irish children in Catholic Church-run institutions

The government did little as Generations of children were abused, according to the nearly Help lines and counseling services have reported a surge in callers after the publication Wednesday of a five-volume report (find it here) by Ireland's Commission into Child Abuse that found widespread “physical and emotional abuse and neglect" of thousands of children in dozens of orphanages, schools, and workhouse-style reform schools run by Roman Catholic religious orders.decade-long investigation. Counseling centers report a surge in callers since the report's release.

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2009/0521/report-widespread-abuse-of-irish-children-in-catholic-church-run-institutions

Nuns Accused Of Systematic Abuse -- Quebec `Orphans ...

MONTREAL - In a dark episode of Quebec's postwar history, as many as 8,000 children were falsely declared mentally retarded and then mentally, physically and sexually abused by nuns who ran the orphanages where they lived, according to hundreds who have claimed to be victims.
The alleged misdeeds occurred in the 1940s and '50s, when the Roman Catholic Church dominated Canada's French-speaking province, and they remained a secret for 40 years. But in the last year, the orphans - as they are called here, although most were illegitimate children - have begun speaking out.

http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19930402&slug=1693917 

Nazareth House abuse survivor's remarkable memoir now on best-sellers list

For 17 years she was referred only as 'Number 51'. But the little girl who grew up unloved and neglected in an orphanage - now under scrutiny in a major Government investigation - has had the last word.
Marie Therese Rogers-Moloney's heartrending story of the physical and emotional abuse she experienced at the Catholic Church-run Nazareth House and the search for her parents has resulted in success as a best-selling writer.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/nazareth-house-abuse-survivors-remarkable-memoir-now-on-bestsellers-list-30857781.html 

Abuse survivor: Inquiry 'must have teeth'

Dozens of child abuse survivors have urged the government to scrap an inquiry into historical abuse and replace it with a more powerful body.
In the letter to Home Secretary Theresa May, survivors, survivors' groups and associated professionals call for a new inquiry with the power to "compel witnesses to give evidence under oath".

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-30575261 

‘Canadian Philomenas’ continue to fight for justice

Activists on forced adoption say story is a global one, and still needs telling. When Valerie Andrews heard an interview last year on the CBC, Canada’s state broadcaster, with Irish adoption campaigner Philomena Lee, she thought “great, but why don’t you give us some airtime?”

“We are here, we are the Canadian Philomenas,” says Andrews, who has been fighting for years to have the story of Canada’s mother-and-baby homes unearthed and acknowledged. 

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/canadian-philomenas-continue-to-fight-for-justice-1.2045669 

Perth child abuse inquiry opens

Survivors of physical and sexual abuse in orphanages and children's homes across Australia will be in Perth to support men giving evidence at a hearing into Christian Brothers-run residences in Western Australia.
The hearing, beginning on Monday at the Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission, is the 11th case study by the royal commission examining how Australian institutions responded to child sexual abuse. It is the first hearing in WA. 

http://www.skynews.com.au/news/top-stories/2014/04/28/perth-child-abuse-inquiry-opens.html 

Class prejudice and Ireland's report on child abuse

Last week Ireland's Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse released a 2,575-page report detailing horrific conditions tens of thousands of children faced in Catholic-run institutions with government collaboration.
The report chronicles 'endemic and repeated' sexual, physical and emotional abuse by Catholic priests and nuns to children in the period from 1930 until the Catholic Church-run institutions were closed in the 1990s. 

http://www.peoplesworld.org/class-prejudice-and-ireland-s-report-on-child-abuse/ 

Child abuse scandals at the heart of the Catholic Church

The UN denounced the Vatican on Wednesday for failing to stamp out child abuse, and called on the Church to remove all clergy suspected of raping or molesting children. The following are paedophilia scandals that have rocked the Roman Catholic Church in recent years:

- Canada: The Mount Cashel Orphanage in St. John's, Newfoundland was closed in 1990 after it emerged that staff had systematically abused 300 residents over several decades.

http://www.globalpost.com/node/6062424 

Catholic church seeks state aid for child abuse! - Struggle

THE CATHOLIC Church is looking for payment in return for sexually abusing children! Right up to the 1960s young children from Catholic orphanages in Britain and the six counties were shipped out to Australia. 
There the boys, some as young as eight years, were used as almost slave labour by Catholic farmers and the Church itself. Girls were sent into domestic service in the homes of rich Church members. 

http://struggle.ws/ws93/church40.html 

Bishop Resigns Amid Claims of Violence and Financial Irregularities

On Thursday the Catholic Church in Augsburg confirmed their bishop, Walter Mixa had sent a letter of resignation to the pope. Mixa has been accused of violence against children and there are investigations into financial irregularities. News of his resignation has been welcomed by almost everyone, even the Church itself.
Walter Mixa, the Bishop of Augsburg, Germany has tendered his resignation, his office confirmed on Thursday. In his request to the pope, the 68-year-old said he would be resigning both from his bishopric in Augsburg and as the Bishop of the Bundeswehr, the German armed forces. The ongoing public discussion about his character over the past few weeks had weighed heavily upon priests and the faithful in his bishopric, his letter said. The Augsburger Allgemeine and the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspapers reported Thursday that the letter had been sent the previous evening.  

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/catholic-abuse-scandal-bishop-resigns-amid-claims-of-violence-and-financial-irregularities-a-690570.html

The Treacherous Intersection of Faith and Child Abuse

Faith is a deeply personal experience, and I don't say this as a politically correct sound bite. I truly believe that I'm lucky to live in a country that values the right of its citizens to freely practice religion if they so choose. However, as a criminal prosecutor, I am repeatedly faced with situations in which people forsake reason for faith or forsake faith for reason. It's a false dilemma--a needless collision of choices. Too many make the tragic mistake of relying solely on their faith in cases of crimes, particularly child sexual abuse. 
Some religious groups might see these events as strictly a crisis of the soul when, in fact, concealing these atrocities only contributes to even deeper spiritual crises for the victims and their families. That's why I make this plea to families of all faiths: Please do not rely exclusively on the guidance of your religious institutions to deal with the crime of child molestation. If people truly believe in God or a higher power, then they should open their minds and hearts to the possibility that, in addition to their capacity to believe, they also possess the ability to reason for a reason.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/burke-e-strunsky/the-treacherous-intersect_b_6357906.html 

As it Happened: Magdalene Laundries Report

The actual number of known admissions was 14,607 A report into the Magdalene Laundries has found the State was directly involved in the running of the laundries, with just over one quarter of referrals made by or facilitated by the State.
Labour Women welcomed the report, and said: "Any benefit that the State received by the Magdalene Laundries, be it in the form of placing women in a place of incarceration or benefitting from their virtually unpaid work, must be acknowledged.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/0205/366323-magdalene-laundries-report-updates/

Beginning to give a voice to the great silence.

The exhibit of my work ENSLAVED in a Magdalene Laundry, Adelaide is just apart of the mobilization of the 500,000 children imprisoned with hard labour in the Twentieth Century Australia--under the guise of so-called 'care.' 
“The source of our suffering,“ according to Gaston Bauchelaud, “lies in the fact that we hesitate to speak. It comes from the silence we accumulate within us.” 

http://magdalenelaundrytestimony.org/ 

The True Scandal of the Magdalene Laundries

The newly released movie Philomena, from British filmmaker Stephen Frears, starring Judi Dench and Steve Coogan, is inspired by a tragic book written by Martin Sixsmith. It is the true story of a woman searching for her lost son, a lifelong quest that will take her from the UK to America, a desperate quest and heart-wrenching saga.
Taking place in Ireland, which explains some of the conservative positions of the highly Catholic society in which she lives, Philomena, the woman in the film, found herself pregnant out of wedlock (such a word) shipped away to a convent of sort, and forced by nuns to give up her baby boy to a rich family.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sidonie-sawyer/-the-true-scandal-of-the-_b_4509415.html 

Locked in a cell, tortured and abused:

Locked in a cell, tortured and abused: Magdalene Laundries survivor tells of her fight for justice. Elizabeth Coppin, 64, bids to make Government admit role as she takes case to United Nations.  A brave woman who was thrown into a padded cell, had her hair shaved off and was given a boy’s name by nuns in the Magdalene Laundries has taken her fight for justice to the United Nations.
Terrified Elizabeth Coppin was just 14 when she was taken out of the Co Kerry industrial school she had attended for 12 years and “locked up” in the Peacock Lane Laundry in Cork.

http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/magdalene-laundries-survivor-elizabeth-coppin-2802968 

3 held for sexual abuse at orphanage

Kothamangalam police have arrested three persons for the sexual abuse of five children who were staying at the Sacred Heart Home Orphanage at Varappetty, about 50km from here. 
Kothamangalam circle inspector K M Sajeev said the arrested were Thommi (62) who operated the orphanage, Radhamani who worked at the shelter and her husband Chandran (55) who allegedly molested the children. Police said Chandran had sexually abused the children - aged between four and nine— many times in the past one year. 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kochi/3-held-for-sexual-abuse-at-orphanage/articleshow/45324475.cms 

Australia Royal Commission probes child abuse allegations

The Royal Commission in Australia has begun a public hearing in the city of Perth to hear the stories of some of the victims of alleged child abuse by priests in orphanages.

The abuse allegedly occurred between 1947 and 1968 against boys, as young as seven, who were sent to Australia as child migrants. Witnesses have been recounting their stories in the hearing about the horrific abuse they were subjected to in the orphanages by the priests.

http://www.presstv.com/detail/2014/05/05/361367/australia-probes-child-abuse-allegations/ 

Irish Catholic Church covered up child abuse,

The Archdiocese of Dublin and other Catholic Church authorities in Ireland covered up clerical child abuse until the mid-1990s, according to a government-commissioned report released Thursday.
The Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation's 720-page report said that it has "no doubt that clerical child sexual abuse was covered up" from January 1975 to May 2004, the time covered by the report.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/11/26/ireland.religion.abuse/ 

Angry Orphans

IAN HENSCHKE: The old Goodwood orphanage is at the centre of a number of child abuse complaints dating back the 1940s. The Catholic Church has recognised this with a counselling and compensation program for former residents. But now, as Simon Royal reports, some of those people say far from helping them, the program has left them confused and hurt.SUE O'ROURKE FORMER GOODWOOD ORPHANAGE RESIDENT: It still feels like a big mean red brick building to me. There was no peace or any mental stability at all as a child from the abuse suffered. DOROTHY BROWN, FORMER GOODWOOD ORPHANAGE RESIDENT: I was on edge all the time, scared because I never knew what the next day would bring.

http://www.abc.net.au/stateline/sa/content/2006/s2370923.htm 

The Great Arizona Orphan Abduction — Linda Gordon ...

In 1904, New York nuns brought forty Irish orphans to a remote Arizona mining camp, to be placed with Catholic families. The Catholic families were Mexican, as was the majority of the population. 
Soon the town’s Anglos, furious at this “interracial” transgression, formed a vigilante squad that kidnapped the children and nearly lynched the nuns and the local priest. The Catholic Church sued to get its wards back, but all the courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, ruled in favor of the vigilantes.

http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674005358 

Hush fund: Catholic Church paid $43 million to keep abuse secret

THE Catholic Church has admitted paying at least $43 million in hush money to victims of its paedophile priests, as the church's barrister outraged victims yesterday by quoting from the Bible. In some cases, victims were not even allowed to tell their husbands, wives or children about the secret settlements negotiated through the church's controversial Towards Healing process.
The royal commission into child sex abuse was yesterday also told how a Brisbane Catholic priest, Father Frank Derriman, ran a cult-like group sexually abusing young girls and giving them all the surname Brown, borrowed from the Peanuts comic strip's Charlie Brown.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/hush-fund-catholic-church-paid-43-million-to-keep-abuse-secret/story-fni0cx12-1226779292848?nk=1ed50b6dd444e9d80e2491d85794ce74 

Church, State & Adoption

While was no surprise that in 2014 a UN human rights committee finally said the Vatican “systematically” adopted policies that allowed priests to rape and molest tens of thousands of children over decades, there has been no similar outing of the Christian Right's and the Catholic Church's systematic mass child stealing - except in documentaries such as AmFOR's "Chosen Children" - AmFOR.net/ChosenChildren which documents the following.
Separation of Church and State is a basic doctrine of American government. It is also a central issue in adoption because the adoption industry is chiefly driven by so-called "Christian" adoption agencies and their chief lobbyist, National Council for Adoption, which was partly financed by our federal government to promote adoption (with $1-billion in government funding over 4 years). Since adoption generates such astronomical profit for the Vatican and all religious organizations. 

http://www.amfor.net/church.html 

Roman Catholic sexual and physical child abuse in Irish workhouses

The Roman Catholic church operated a series of more than 200 workhouses for orphans, delinquent children, and children of single mothers in Ireland between the 1930s and 1990s. They housed some 30,000 children, were funded by the state, and run by Roman Catholic orders such as the Christian Brothers and Sisters of Mercy.  
Tom Sweeney, 11, who had skipped school. Mannix Flyunn, 8, who stole a box of chocolates. Christine Buckley, 1 month old, who was guilty only of being born to a single mother. Now 62 years of age, she was one of the first victims to break her silence and demand justice. 

http://www.religioustolerance.org/clergy_sex10.htm 

Ex-catholic church monk awaiting extradition for sex trial

Former Catholic brother Bernard McGrath will be extradited to Australia to face 252 child sex-abuse charges. McGrath's lawyer, Phillip Allan, confirmed yesterday the 66-year-old would not appeal the extradition order granted after a lengthy legal process by former Justice Minister Judith Collins.
McGrath had challenged Ms Collins' decision through a judicial review in the High Court at Christchurch. But Justice Cameron Mander concluded no error had been made in deciding to extradite him to stand trial.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/crime/news/article.cfm?c_id=30&objectid=11377068 

Catholic Church Evades Sex Charges in South Dakota

"When the nuns wanted you at night, they'd come get you from the dorm," recalled Mary Jane Wanna Drum, 64, who as a young child lived at one of South Dakota's several Catholic-run boarding schools for Native American children.
"My older sister would tell them I had an earache. 'Take me,' she'd say. It wasn't until this year, when my siblings and I began talking about all this, that I realized she protected me whenever she could. How do I thank her for that?" asked Drum.

http://womensenews.org/story/in-the-courts/110408/catholic-church-evades-sex-charges-in-south-dakota#.VJe92_92AA 

Royal Commission releases findings on the responses of the Christian Brothers in Western

Royal Commission releases findings on the responses of the Christian Brothers in Western Australia and the Catholic Diocese of Wollongong to child sexual abuse.  The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has published two reports; 
 ‘Report of Case Study 11: Congregation of Christian Brothers in Western Australia response to child sexual abuse at Castledare Junior Orphanage, St Vincent’s Orphanage Clontarf, St Mary’s Agricultural School Tardun and Bindoon Farm School’ and ‘Report of Case Study 14: The response of the Catholic Diocese of Wollongong to allegations of child sexual abuse, and related criminal proceedings, against John Gerard Nestor, a priest of the Diocese’.

http://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/media-release/1840/royal-commission-releases-findings-on-the-responses-of-the-christian-brothers-in-western-australia-and-the-catholic-diocese-of-wollongong-to-child-sexual-abuse 

Student told he needed to be 'taught a lesson'

UPDATE 2.45pm: Tasmania Police has confirmed that two detectives have been sent to New Zealand to interview a further suspect in the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
They will be speaking to former Hutchins School teacher Ronald Thomas, who, until recently, was thought to be dead. Recently, police spoke to two former students at the school who indicated that they would like police to further investigate.

http://www.examiner.com.au/story/2773078/student-told-he-needed-to-be-taught-a-lesson/ 

Galway historian reveals truth behind 800 orphans in mass grave

There is a growing international scandal around the history of The Home, a grim 1840’s workhouse in Tuam in Galway built on seven acres that was taken over in 1925 by the Bon Secours sisters, who turned it into a Mother and Baby home for “fallen women.”
The long abandoned site made headlines around the world this week when it was revealed 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 lost little lives.

http://www.irishcentral.com/opinion/cahirodoherty/Galway-historian-reveals-truth-behind-800-orphans-in-mass-grave.html?page=2 

You became so frightened eventually you toed the line'

It took 31 years before the Sacred Heart nuns admitted to Mary that her baby boy had died of septicaemia, writes Claire O’Sullivan Mary*, a 17-year-old from Tipperary, knew her newborn wasn’t well. From a big family herself, she understood babies.
“I kept trying to tell the nuns that my baby was ill but they wouldn’t listen. I knew there was something wrong as he wouldn’t feed and he had always fed. Eventually they lost patience with me and stuffed the bottle down his throat, down the throat of a clearly ill baby boy. He was so beautiful, my blonde haired blue-eyed baby boy but they wouldn’t call in a doctor,” the now elderly woman whimpers. 

http://www.irishexaminer.com/viewpoints/analysis/lsquoyou-became-so-frightened-eventually-you-toed-the-linersquo-271018.html 

Mother and baby scandal hidden in plain sight

Once again, it has taken international press headlines to make the Government address a dirty little secret the State has been aware of decades. The horrific discovery of hundreds of children buried in a septic tank at a former home for unmarried mothers in Tuam in Galway merely lit the fuse on a scandal that was hiding in plain sight.
We have heard Government and opposition TDs alike express their horror at these “shocking revelations” and the need to fully investigate the circumstances surrounding the Tuam discovery.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/mother-and-baby-scandal-hidden-in-plain-sight-271157.html

Boys Town founder Fr. Flanagan warned Irish Church about abuse

Father Edward Flanagan, founder of “Boys Town” made famous by the Spencer Tracy movie, was a lone voice in condemning Ireland’s industrial schools back in the 1940s – and he was viciously castigated by church and government for doing so.
Fr. Flanagan, from Co. Roscommon, left Ireland in 1904 and was ordained a priest eight years later. In 1917 he was living and working in Omaha, Nebraska, when he hit upon the idea of a "boys town," which offered education and a home for the poor and wayward boys of Omaha.

http://www.irishcentral.com/news/boys-town-founder-fr-flanagan-warned-irish-church-about-abuse-46390952-237644371.html

Catholic Church tried to strike deal with police over child sexual abuse investigations

The Catholic Church tried to strike an agreement with New South Wales Police that would have helped shut down investigations into paedophile priests and placed police in breach of the Crimes Act.

Police records, accessed under freedom of information laws by Greens MP David Shoebridge, show two attempts were made to finalise memorandums of understanding (MOUs) between police and the church over how to deal with complaints of sexual and physical abuse by Catholic Church personnel.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-03/catholic-church-tried-to-strike-deal-with-police-over-child-sex/4997774 

Sexual abuse alleged in 70 percent of German orphanages

A new report has found that suspected cases of sexual abuse have been registered in 70 percent of German orphanages over the last three years. Child protection agencies have expressed alarm at the findings. 
Just over a year ago Germany was rocked by reports of widespread child abuse in the years immediately following World War II. The allegations were targeted at the Catholic Church and church or state-run orphanages in particular.

http://www.dw.de/sexual-abuse-alleged-in-70-percent-of-german-orphanages/a-15231885 

Nothing to see here. Move along

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 I would be charged for each record. Then she asked me did I realize the enormity of the numbers of deaths there?”
The registrar came back with a list of 796 children. “I could not believe it. I was dumbfounded and deeply upset,” says Corless. “There and then I said this isn’t right. There’s nothing on the ground there to mark the grave, there’s nothing to say it’s a massive children’s graveyard. It’s laid abandoned like that since it was closed in 1961.”

http://www.metafilter.com/139704/Nothing-to-see-here-Move-along 

Catholic Schools Condoned Abuse for Decades

An investigation into Ireland's Roman Catholic institutions found that priests and nuns severely abused thousands of children for decades while the Vatican and Govt. did nothing to protect the children. Read the full report at: http://www.childabusecommission.com/rpt/pdfs/
High Court Justice Sean Ryan on Wednesday unveiled the 2,600-page final report of Ireland’s Commission to Inquire Into Child Abuse, which is based on testimony from thousands of former students as well as retired officials from more than 250 church-run institutions. The report is a chronicle of beatings, rapes and humiliation.

http://www.highstrangeness.tv/0-4371-catholic-schools-condoned-abuse-for-decades.html