4. juni 2014 - Update: 3. marts 2017 -
2017:
3. marts TV2: "Massegrav for små børn fundet i Irland"
"Kriminaltekniske eksperter siger, at de har fundet en massegrav med små børn ved et tidligere katolsk børnehjem i Irland."
"Udgravningerne har afsløret 20 underjordiske kamre, der indeholdt ’væsentlige mængder af menneskelige rester’."
Link <her>
26. juni 2014 Kristeligt Dagblad:
"Blandt andet er det ikke dokumenteret, at der rent faktisk eksisterer en massegrav på børnehjemmets grund."
"Bill Donohue, præsident for Den Katolske Liga for Religiøse og Civile Rettigheder, der er USA's største katolske interesseorganisation kalder oplysningerne fra Tuam for ”hysteriet om Irlands massegrav” og et ”fupnummer”."
Link <her>
- - -
Arkiv fra 2014:
2014: "796 børn fundet begravet i septiktank på Irsk børnehjem drevet af nonner"
Endnu en trist katolsk historie ser ud til at være under afdækning i Irland:
796 børn fundet begravet i septiktank på Irsk børnehjem drevet af nonner.
2. juni - Avisen independent.ie skriver bl.a.
Catherine Corless, en lokal historiker og slægtsforsker, opdagede dødsattester til 796 børn, der spænder fra spædbørn til børn op til en alder af ni år.
Der var en høj børnedødelighed henover en periode af 40-år, og mange af børnene menes at være døde af smitsomme sygdomme og eventuelt underernæring.
Men der er ingen registrering af deres begravelse.
Hele artiklen er <her>
2. juni - The Washington Post skriver bl.a.
Bodies of 800 babies, long-dead, found in septic tank at former Irish home for unwed mothers.
Between 1925 and 1961, thousands of “fallen women” and their “illegitimate” children passed through the Home, run by the Bon Secours nuns in Tuam.
-
The grim findings, which are being investigated by police, provide a glimpse into a particularly dark time for unmarried pregnant women in Ireland, where societal and religious mores stigmatized them. Without means to support themselves, women by the hundreds wound up at the Home. “When daughters became pregnant, they were ostracized completely,” Corless said. “Families would be afraid of neighbors finding out, because to get pregnant out of marriage was the worst thing on Earth. It was the worst crime a woman could commit, even though a lot of the time it had been because of a rape.”
Hele artiklen er <her>
3. juni - thejournal.ie skriver bl.a.
Allegations about mass grave of 800 babies ‘being taken very, very seriously’
The dead children were not buried in coffins and no gravestones mark the place where they were buried. The home was closed in the 1960s and then demolished and a housing estate now stands in its place.
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of the Dublin Archdiocese said there should either be a public inquiry into “outstanding issues of concern” at the mother and baby homes or else, where appropriate, a social history project to get an accurate picture of what happened at the homes.
Hele artiklen er <her>
++++
31. maj - i thejournal.ie skriver Donal O'Keeffe - Opinion:
Massegrav 'fyldt til randen med små knogler og kranier' viser, hvordan vi værner om børn
On Liveline during the week, a clear picture emerged. Unmarried mothers incarcerated until they signed over their babies, healthy children sold to be adopted by wealthy Americans and disabled infants, who had no sale value, abandoned in “Dying Rooms”, and their bodies dumped by the brides of Christ in a septic tank.
This was a nationwide industry founded on human suffering. In a country utterly corrupted by its own twisted version of Catholicism and run by a complicit elite, young women who “fell pregnant” were condemned. They had sinned and were left to the mercy of perverts and brutes. Their children were a tainted commodity to be sold or discarded at the whim of people considered “religious”.
A further horror is that it seems highly unlikely Tuam was the only mother and baby home which starved infants and crammed their tiny bodies into unmarked graves. The dead children must number in the thousands.
Hele artiklen er <her>
17. maj 2014 - Radio interview fra BBC med Catherine Corless:
4. juni Archdiocese of Tuam: Statement of Archbishop Neary in Support of Home Inquiry
Archbishop Neary welcomes the announcement today of the Minister to establish a Cross-Departmental Examination for the burial arrangements of Children in Mother and Baby Homes.
Hele presse medd. er <her>
5. juni - The The New York Times skriver bl.a.: Inquiry Urged on Site Called Mass Grave of Irish Babies
The burials are believed to have taken place on the site of a so-called mother-and-baby home in Tuam, County Galway, from 1925 to 1961. The institution, which was run by the Sisters of Bon Secours, was subsequently demolished, and a housing development now sits adjacent to the site.
-
There is mounting pressure not only to start an investigation into Tuam but also to extend it to the other former sites operated by the order throughout Ireland. The homes have come to international attention in recent years largely because of the movie “Philomena,” which told the story of one woman’s search for the son who was taken from her.
Hele artiklen er <her>
5. juni - Laura Smith-Spark, CNN: Anger grows over reported mass grave of children from Irish unwed mothers home
Hele artiklen er <her>
6. juni - NPR: An Open, Dark Secret: Ireland Reacts To Mass Grave Of Children
Hele artiklen er <her>
7. juni - The Irish Times: Tuam mother and baby home: the trouble with the septic tank story
The Irish Times skriver bl.a.:
Catherine Corless’s research revealed that 796 children died at St Mary’s. She now says the nature of their burial has been widely misrepresented.
I never used that word ‘dumped’,” Catherine Corless, a local historian in Co Galway, tells The Irish Times. “I never said to anyone that 800 bodies were dumped in a septic tank. That did not come from me at any point. They are not my words.”
The story that emerged from her work was reported this week in dramatic headlines around the world.
-
In response to Corless’s story, Minister for Children Charlie Flanagan confirmed this week that there will be a Government inquiry into all mother-and-baby homes.
Corless has proved that 796 children died while at St Mary’s in Tuam – a shameful statistic that would not have been known without her years of dedicated work. It seems clear that at least some of these children lie in the small plot of land at the back of the Dublin Road housing estate. Excavation might be the only way to be sure. “Our intention in setting up this committee was not excavation,” she says, “but I would welcome the truth.”
Hele artiklen er <her>
Bemærk:
Man bør se video interviewet med den lokale historiker Catherine Corless i ovenstående artikel og / eller læse hvad hun helt præcis siger i det interview:
Transcript of Catherine Corless interview by Rosita Boland <her>
Det er ikke helt i harmoni med selvsamme udlægning som Irish Times giver i deres artikel.
7. juni 2014 - Politiken: Massegrav med 800 børn øger presset på den katolske kirke
Politiken skriver bl.a.
De færreste fik en kristen begravelse
Septiktanken gemte på resterne af 796 børn i alderen to dage til ni år. Alle sammen uden ceremoni smidt i den gamle kloak fra det nærliggende mødre- og børnehjem St. Mary’s, der blev drevet af den katolske nonneorden Bon Secour i perioden 1925-61.
Ved at grave i lokale arkiver opdagede Catherine Corless, at børnedødeligheden på hjemmet var omkring fire gange højere end det nationale gennemsnit i Irland, og efter en sammenligning af antallet af dødsfald med antallet af børn begravet på den lokale kirkegård stod det klart, at det var de færreste af de børn, der var bukket under på St. Mary’s, der havde fået en kristen begravelse.
Allerede tilbage i 1944 advarede en rapport om, at børn på hjemmet, der husede ugifte mødre og deres børn, var »underernærede og vanrøgtede«.
-
Lover politiundersøgelse
Nonneordenen Bon Secour har udtrykt deres forfærdelse over sagen og lovet, at de vil støtte indsamlingen til et mindesmærke, der skal markere de knapt 800 børn, hvis dødsattester anfører dødsårsager som tuberkulose, underernæring og lungebetændelse.
»Vi kan ikke dømme fortiden ud fra vores synspunkt i dag. Men vi kan sørge for, at der findes et mindesmærke for disse børn«, siger fader Fintan Monaghan.
Irlands regering lover nu en politiundersøgelse af sagen.
Og det er på tide, hvis man spørger Paul Redmond fra gruppen Adoption Rights Now, der forsøger at varetage de mange tvangsadopterede børns interesser.
»Regeringen er skræmt, fordi det her er så enormt«, siger han som forklaring på, hvorfor det har taget så lang tid at få sagen undersøgt.
Hele artiklen er <her>
8. juni 2014 - BBC: Tuam babies: Archbishop Diarmuid Martin calls for inquiry
BBC skriver bl.a.:
One of the most senior figures in the Catholic Church in Ireland has said a full inquiry is needed into the deaths of almost 800 children at a convent-run mother and baby home.
-
"The indications are that if something happened in Tuam, it probably happened in other mother and baby homes around the country," Dr Martin told RTÉ radio.
"That's why I believe we need a full-bodied investigation.
"There's no point investigating just what happened in Tuam and then next year finding out more.
"We have to look at the whole culture of mother and baby homes; they're talking about medical experiments there."
He added: "They're very complicated and very sensitive issues, but the only way we will come out of this particular period of our history is when the truth comes out."
Hele artiklen er <her>
8. juni 2014 - RTE radio 1: The Tuam babies inquiry
The Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, speaks to us about the Government's preliminary inquiry into the former Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, Co. Galway, and the Church's approach to any investigation.
Kan høres via denne afspiller:
Programsiden er <her>
8. juni 2014 - BBC: Mari Tatlow-Steed speaks of childhood in Sacred Heart mother and baby home
BBC skriver bl.a.:
Mari Tatlow-Steed lives in Philadelphia, but was born at the Bessborough home run by Sacred Heart sisters in County Cork.
She said there were two categories of children in the home.
"Children that were earmarked to go over to the United States for adoption or even remain in Ireland, we were fattened up, we were given the better food," she said.
'Neglect'
"And I have no doubt there were probably children who might have had difficulties when they were born, congenital problems, weaknesses whatever it may be, that the nuns just decided, 'well we know this one is not going to be earmarked for adoption', so they're not going to get the same level of decent care."
She described it as a form of "benign neglect".
"They (nuns) felt these children were not going to thrive or be as marketable, 'well, we're just not going to spend as much effort or time'," she said.
When Mari was 18 and became a mother herself, it prompted her to begin a search for her own mother.
Hele artiklen er <her>
8. juni 2014 - Daily Mail: Ground Penetrating Radar reveals two 'anomalies' beneath Tuam Home site
Daily Mai skriver bl.a.
The ground penetrating radar survey carried out by a top engineering company on behalf of the MoS revealed there are ‘two anomalies’ on the site at the centre of the Tuam babies scandal.
The specialised radar showed two areas at the site which are likely to be man-made or unnatural structures; one a box-like structure and another a wide area of up to 48 square metres which has been covered over and which contains items of denser material than the surrounding soil.
The issue of possible mass graves at mother and baby homes across the country has made global headlines since details of 796 babies who died at the Tuam home but for whom no burial records could be found was revealed in the MoS two weeks ago.
The treatment of these babies is in stark contrast to that of the deceased members of the Bon Secours order buried near this site. When the order moved away from Co. Galway, the nuns’ remains were moved to a well-tended and attractive plot in Knock, Co. Mayo.
By contrast, the Tuam babies were left with no memorial.
Hele artiklen er <her>
8. juni 2014 - Independent.ie: Author battled clergy to gain first-hand experience of mother-and-baby homes
Independent.ie: skriver bl.a.:
THE year was 1955 and the nun was speaking to Dr Halliday Sutherland, a Scottish doctor, author and TB treatment pioneer who visited both the Tuam home run by the French sisters, and the infamous Magdalene Laundry in Galway City as he was researching his book, Irish Journey.
To gain access to the Magdalene Laundry, Dr Sutherland had to accept interrogation by the fearsome Bishop of Galway, Michael John Browne – one of the most senior Catholic clerics and a noted supporter of the notorious sectarian boycott of Protestants in Fethard-on-Sea.
Dr Sutherland's original 1955 manuscript kept by his grandson Mark (hallidaysutherland.com) is a remarkable contemporary account of what he found at the Tuam mother-and-child home 59 years ago.
He wrote: "At Tuam I went to the old workhouse, now the Children's Home, a long two-storied building in its own grounds. These were well-kept and had many flowerbeds. The home is run by the Sisters of Bon Secours of Paris and the Reverend Mother showed me round. Each of the sisters is a fully trained nurse and midwife. Some are also trained children's nurses. An unmarried girl may come here to have her baby. She agrees to stay in the home for one year. During this time she looks after her baby and assists the nuns in domestic work. She is unpaid.
-
Dr Sutherland later met Bishop Browne and made a contemporaneous note of the often hostile exchanges as he tried to get permission to visit the Magdalene Laundry.
Bishop Browne: "Why do you want to see the Magdalene Home?"
Dr Sutherland: "I want to see how you treat unmarried mothers. Many of these girls come to England. It is said that 55 per cent of the girls in British Catholic Rescue Homes are Irish."
Bishop: "That is propaganda. Fr Craven began it. Cardinal Bourne repeated it. For 25 years I have asked for the figures. They can't give them. Do you know the figures?"
Sutherland: "No, I'm trying to get them."
Bishop: "You will find there are only a few. Hundreds of decent Irish girls are going to England. At this moment your government are advertising high salaries for Irish girls to go to England as nurses in your mental hospitals."
Sutherland: "English priests say that most of the Irish lose their faith within six months of coming to England."
Bishop: "Then why don't your English priests look after the Irish instead of throwing bastards in our face!"
Sutherland: "My Lord, no-one is throwing bastards in your face. Ireland is a Christian country where going to Mass is a social duty difficult to avoid."
Bishop: "That is normal. It should be so in England."
Hele artiklen er <her>
Halliday Sutherland: The Suitcase in the Cellar
9. juni 2014 - Independent.ie: Nun admits children involved in medical trials
Independent.ie skriver bl.a.:
ALMOST 300 children resident in care homes in the 1960s and 70s were used in medical trials, it has been reported.
298 children in ten different care homes were involved, it was reported on Newstalk Breakfast this morning.
In one of the trials, 80 children became ill after they were accidentally administered a vaccine intended for cattle.
Pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline uncovered the experiments after it purchased one of the labs involved.
Hele artiklen er <her>
Wikipedia: Bon Secours Sisters
Wikipedia: Tuam
Wikipedia - oprettet 1. juni 2014: Bon Secours Mother and Baby home, Tuam
Wikipedia: Archbishop Diarmuid Martin
amnesty.org: Ireland: ‘Tuam babies’ mass grave allegations must spark urgent investigation