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Ireland sent girls, women to Catholic workhouses until 1996, report finds
Ireland’s government was directly involved in sending girls and women to work for nothing in laundries run by Catholic orders, a landmark report published Tuesday concluded. The report by Irish Senator Martin McAleese found that orphans and abused, neglected or unruly children were among more than 10,000 sent to the Magdalen Laundries from 1922 to 1996.
Some had committed minor crimes, others were simply homeless or poor. Women with mental or physical disabilities and some people with psychiatric illness also found themselves in the laundries. Their average age, the report found, was 23, but the youngest child was just nine and the oldest known entrant was 89.
Activists called on the government to issue a formal apology and pay compensation, with one group saying those affected had been "treated like slaves."
Their plight came to greater public attention when it was the subject of a 2002 film called The Magdalene Sisters, which used a different spelling. And in June 2011, the United Nations’ Committee on Torture highlighted allegations of "physical, emotional abuses and other ill-treatment" and said it was "gravely concerned" at Ireland’s failure to "protect girls and women who were involuntarily confined."
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/05/16854772-ireland-sent-girls-women-to-catholic-workhouses-until-1996-report-finds
Some had committed minor crimes, others were simply homeless or poor. Women with mental or physical disabilities and some people with psychiatric illness also found themselves in the laundries. Their average age, the report found, was 23, but the youngest child was just nine and the oldest known entrant was 89.
Activists called on the government to issue a formal apology and pay compensation, with one group saying those affected had been "treated like slaves."
Their plight came to greater public attention when it was the subject of a 2002 film called The Magdalene Sisters, which used a different spelling. And in June 2011, the United Nations’ Committee on Torture highlighted allegations of "physical, emotional abuses and other ill-treatment" and said it was "gravely concerned" at Ireland’s failure to "protect girls and women who were involuntarily confined."
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/05/16854772-ireland-sent-girls-women-to-catholic-workhouses-until-1996-report-finds
Is the reality of the situation starting to sink in yet, folks? How much more will it take?
15 replies
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but they get the vapors over contraception - how can ANYONE take them seriously? 
who exactly are the sinners here? 
