(in memory of all women, incarcerated again their will, for no crime, in the Magdalene Laundries in Ireland. And for their children. March 2018) By Elaine Feeney.
the past is built upon the backs of mothers,
on the blood of women who were once girls.
Here under the sun, we lay red tulips
among marble, rock and ash,
the grave is a singing cave for them to echo,
let us remember their labour.
The present is a blinkered face,
as eyes look forward at the day’s business.
Father Brian D'Arcy says the Tuam and Grace scandals should "fill us with disgust and lead us to hang our heads in shame".
16/03/2018 - The outspoken priest asked how Ireland "can establish a pro-life culture if this is how we treated the most vulnerable mothers and babies".
Writing in his column in yesterday's Sunday World, the cleric told readers he visited the Tuam site in recent days to see it for himself.
"It left me shocked, numbed and very angry. The problem was - and still is - I didn't know where to direct my anger.
By Dublin Singer - Songwriter Ciara Sidine
24/02/2018 - I'm just back from a wee tour of Galway and Sligo, playing the intimate setting of The Black Gate Cultural Centre on Thursday and Moy River B&B Folk Club on Friday - with Conor Brady. From the energetic hum of Galway city to the purple-hazed expanse of the Ox Mountains, it was two enjoyable days of music, connection with new audiences and venues, and joy to play with the talent that is Conor Brady. We’re excited for our upcoming tour of Holland, in April.
Porcelain Shoes
By Daniel McConnell (Political Editor - Irish Examiner
08/11/2017 - Six properties promised to the State by the Catholic Church in 2002 still remain outside full public ownership 15 years later, the Irish Examiner can reveal.
Documents obtained reveal a further 13 properties “handed over” in 2009, including the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dublin, also continue to remain outside of the State’s control.
The Department of Education has been sharply criticised by the chairman and members of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) for the “unacceptable delays” in transferring the properties over to the State.
By Dan Barry - The New York Times
TUAM, Ireland
Behold a child.
A slight girl all of 6, she leaves the modest family farm, where the father minds the livestock and the mother keeps a painful secret, and walks out to the main road. Off she goes to primary school, off to the Sisters of Mercy.
Her auburn hair in ringlets, this child named Catherine is bound for Tuam, the ancient County Galway town whose name derives from a Latin term for “burial mound.” It is the seat of a Roman Catholic archdiocese, a proud distinction announced by the skyscraping cathedral that for generations has loomed over factory and field.
Two miles into this long-ago Irish morning, the young girl passes through a gantlet of gray formed by high walls along the Dublin Road that seem to thwart sunshine. To her right runs the Parkmore racecourse, where hard-earned shillings are won or lost by a nose. And to her left, the mother and baby home, with glass shards embedded atop its stony enclosure.
By Niall Dowd - Irish Central
22/10/2017 - “A mass grave containing the remains of babies and young children has been discovered at a former Catholic orphanage in Ireland"
This from Associated Press: “A mass grave containing the remains of babies and young children has been discovered at a former Catholic orphanage in Ireland, government-appointed investigators announced Friday in a finding that offered the first conclusive proof following a historian's efforts to trace the fates of nearly 800 children who perished there.”
“A great many people are always asking what is the good of keeping these children alive? I quite agree that it would be a great deal kinder to strangle these children at birth than to put them out to nurse.” -- Doctor Ella Webb, June 18, 1924, speaking about illegitimate children in care in Ireland at the time.
The story of Doctor Webb’s comments was in the Irish Times that day in 1924. It was allowed to go without outrage or question.
How do you like euthanasia Irish Catholic style?