Mari Steed was two years old when she was
adopted from Ireland by a Flourtown family. Years later, her search for
her birth mother turned up the Magdalene Laundries’ horrifying legacy,
and Steed wants justice—along with an apology from the Catholic church.
The unprecedented apology was about to be
streamed online, projected onto a big screen in the conference room of
the Philadelphia World Affairs Council. As the group’s director of
technology and new media, Steed had set up numerous live feeds
before. But her hands had never shaken