Ireland admits involvement in Catholic laundry slavery

A man looks at a burial plot for victims of the Magdalene Laundries in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin, on the eve of the report to investigate the state's role in the laundries. / Press Association via AP Images

DUBLIN Ireland has admitted some responsibility for workhouses run by Catholic nuns that once kept thousands of women and teenage girls against their will in unpaid, forced labor.

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Magdalen laundries: Women confined in convents

The apology comes after an expert panel found that Ireland should be legally responsible for the defunct Magdalene Laundries because authorities committed about one-quarter of the 10,012 women to the workhouses from 1922 to 1996, often in response to school truancy or homelessness.

"To those residents who went through the Magdalene Laundries in a variety of ways, 26 percent of the time from state involvement, I am sorry for those people that they lived in that kind of environment," said Prime Minister Enda Kenny on behalf of the Irish government, according to Reuters.

Survivors said they were unsatisfied with the prime minister's response. Steven O'Riordan, spokesperson for Magdalene Survivors Together, told Irish paper The Journal the apology was a "cop out."

Ireland stigmatized those that had been committed as "fallen" women - prostitutes - but most were simply unwed mothers or their daughters.

The report found that 15 percent lived in the workhouses for more than five years, and police caught and returned women who fled. They endured 12-hour work days of washing and ironing.

The state apology could pave the way for payments to survivors.

[skullcheck]

What isn't clear is that if this northern Ireland or southern. The North part is ran by the catholic church from England thanks to the so called Iron Lady. In which the south has been revolting for centuries in the IRA. i would like to know which side was in dealings with this action before jumping to conclusions as so many have been.

[Andthatsit]

You Irish should be talking about yourselves, to knowingly let this happen to your own people is a Frigging shame! So please make sure the blame buck stops in your mouth first and then you can pass it along. it'll only come right back to you though so.....

[clifjay]

Ah yes, what would Jesus do? The hypocrisy of the church rings out loud and clear .Being a nun, priest or lay person in the Roman Catholic Church no more makes you Christ like than going to McDonalds makes you a hamburger. I know that is a ludicrous analogy and it is so intended. The RC Church like so many governments, corporations and other organization have committed so many atrocities in the name of God it is pitiful and makes me wonder why would anyone want to have anything to do with them. I heard a bad joke long ago where it was said Jesus is coming back and boy is he pissed. Small wonder, if he got angry enough in the temple to throw out the merchants and money changers just think what he would do with the Vatican crowd and all the sheep who blindly follow them. The organized church is so corrupt and off message when it comes to preaching the gospel they should just stop. Like so many large organizations they are secretive, corrupt and willing to sacrifice their own and anyone who disagrees with them. Wouldn't making amends to the women who were imprisoned in the laundries and other victims of the church from sexual abuse or what ever other form be dealt with fairly, yes indeed, What would Jesus do?

[oldoc44]

Just out of curiosity, just who's clothes were being washed and ironed at these "laundries" ? Was this a place where, like our present-day dry cleaner/laundries, people brought in their soiled clothes and had them done for a fee? Or was this where the clergy or other privileged people got their things done... or maybe for hospitals and such. How about a clarification on this general interest point. Sounds like some sort of compensation is due here.

[HolyVoice]

"authorities committed about one-quarter of the 10,012 women to the workhouses from 1922 to 1996, often in response to school truancy or homelessness."

It sounds like this was well documented. Ireland should consider restitution for those they mistreated, and their families. Forced labor for civil penalties, and the social stigma, would not ordinarily be considered Christian practices, which puts the onus on the Catholic church proper to get right with the Lord.

I wonder what would be a good penance for the Catholic Church?

[whatsamata]

A woman with my grandmother's name is on that list. It wasn't her, but it drives it close to home.

[cleric77]

The 60's folk song says it all, "Do it in the name of heaven (religion) you can justify it in the end." Yes, evil people use their religion to justify their evil deeds and actions.

[polisigh]

Religious institutions should not be tax exempt and donations to religious institutions should not be tax deductible. The IRS should not determine what a religions is. Religious activities should be held to the same civil laws as any other activities. If religious leaders want to influence law and policy in the world outside their religion, let them contribute their resources as the rest of us should.

[167irishboy]

Sad. Horrible things happen everywhere and every race, creed, color, and religious denomination. We should always stay vigilant in trying to expose them.

[joannenc]

Thank you for that comment.

[michaelamsterdam]

The Roman Catholic Church got in on the ground floor of a new scam called Christianity...by hijacking the fledgling movement (often through violence and intimidation) and setting themselves up as the ONLY way for mortal man to attain heaven and to avoid the agony of hell...

According to them...to go against ANY Church dogma...say, for example...to accuse or question the depraved, perverse activities of it's child-molesting clergy...is to condemn yourself to eternal damnation and torment...

So you'd better just shut up, pay up and do as you're told.

THEY CREATED A RELIGION BASED ON GUILT AMD FEAR...a system of belief having precious little to do with the religion that Christ preached...but instead came up with a religion ABOUT Jesus...

Talk about a gang of shakedown artists!

[HolyVoice]

I think you've got things a little mixed up. The church as defined by Jesus are the people who participate in their faith with Him at the center of their belief.

The bureaucracy of an institution, whether it be religious, educational, governmental, or other, are making decisions for others that may not align with the merits of the institution(s).

The idea of a bureaucracy taking control of the membership is not at all new. It happens with often terrible results. When these bureaucracies become toxic, they have to be dissolved, or at a minimum reformed.

A funny joke I heard recently is that Jesus not only saved sinners, but also all the lambs and goats that would have been sacraficed in the last 2000 years.