magdalene laundries
Operated by the Sisters of the Magdalene Order, the laundries were virtual slave labor camps for generations of young thought to be unfit to live in Irish society.
who had become pregnant, even from rape, who were illegitimate, or orphaned, or just plain simple-minded, who were too pretty and therefore in “moral danger” all ran the risk of being locked up and put to work, without pay, in profit-making, convent laundries, to “wash away their sins.”
They were completely cut off from their families, and many lost touch with them forever.
Stripped of their identities, the were given numbers instead of names. They were forbidden to speak, except to pray. If they broke any rule or tried to escape, the nuns beat them over the head with heavy iron keys, put them into solitary confinement or shipped them off to a mental hospital.
Over a period of 150 years, an estimated 30,000 women were forced into this brutal penance, carried out in secret, behind high convent walls.
The last Magdalene laundry finally closed down in 1996. 1996!
As Zed said, “I really should get around to getting myself formally excommunicated.”
Unreal. Stuff like this is what I try to remind my friends about when they bitch like it’s the end of the world when a movie is sold out.
“formally excomminicated” sounds good to me. it’s amazing how delusional some people (NOT all) involved with religion can be; they imagine themselves as having the right to do these things to people, but they don’t. it’s very hard to respect people, especially the higher-ups, involved with religion. recently, i was having a conversation, and the topic of gay rights came up; one person that I was speaking with said that, a few years ago, the leaders of the 3 primary faiths (who, you must note, have hated and slaughtered eachother for hundreds of thousands of years) got together to agree on one thing: to try and stop the gay pride parade. how can i respect, much less follow, these people? it’s revolting and very, very sad.
i remember the black vans from the laundry with a statue of mary mounted pn the side .
The women used to bless themselves before handing the clothes to the wretched looking girls collecting .
what was wrong with our parents no wonder hitler got away with what he did.
I was an inmate of the Magdalene Laundry in Denegal for three years. Yes, we worked hard, but I have not personally experienced all the negativity that the media has aroused. In fact, some of the girls were selfish bitches, with no manners, and frequently NEEDED to be disciplined. The Sisters were strict, and did use corporal punishment when necessary, but not to the extremes that the media portrays – at least not in my experience. But in those days, it was acceptable for everyone to use corporal punishment – parents, teachers, any authority figure. On the whole, I found the Sisters to be motherly and merciful – I learned many good lessons by quietly observing them and how they reacted to us – an unruly mob of girls. Today, I am married with three children and send them to a Catholic school. I wish there were more Sisters teaching in the Catholic schools.
I am just glad the victims of this abuse had the strenght to come forward and make public the torture that they went through at the hands of the people that were being paid to care for them. If it was not for these peoples amazing strenght and commitment the horrors would continue today.
I am irish, and there would have been a good shepard laundry in my town i may be to young to remember it but my grandmother will to this day not even pass by the doors! She will never tell me why.
thank you to all that came forward and remember the souls that were forever lost behind the walls of magdalene and good shepard laundries.
Teresa, one of the main things that upset people about the inmates of the Magdalene Laundry is the extreme hipocracy of making young girls pay for the sins of society. For instance, implying that women get pregnant by themselves or they somehow actively participated in rape or that they deserve to be separated from society because they are orphans.
At least that’s my point of view.
I come from a large irish catholic family, with two adopted siblings. I found the film moving and enlightening as for me it was very close to home – to think that the biological mothers of my siblings may have endured such experiences. The adoption of my siblings was never discussed at home – in true irish tradition – so I feel linked to this somehow, and can only imagine the pain and suffering of those poor mothers who’s babies were taken from them. the mothers maybe of my brother and sister….?
I have only found out about this. The demand for justice for and recognition of these women is important and urgent as time denies justice to those who die. It should be on the agenda of every political party, human rights body, trade union.
Every parish priest should be lobbied about this issue.
Teresa (July 18, 2005) I would be very interested to know WHY you were sent to one of these laundries and would you send you own child to one if she/he had been raped or simply mis-behaved? I also recommend you open your eyes and challenge you to read a book called: Kathy’s Story by Kathy O’Beirne.
The things I have recently learned about the Irish government and the Catholic Church disgust me!
I have no connection to anyone involved in any of the Magdelene laundries but I have seen the film and am appauled. I am Roman Catholic and feel betrayed by the Church. Those responsible for incarcerating those women are criminals who are guilty of kidnapping, slavery, torture, and a host of other crimes for which they should be imprisoned. Why does no one recognize this fact?
I found this movie so disturbing. First, the Catholic church is based on traditions not the bible. Jesus paid for all our sins when he willing died for EVERY person on this earth. No works, hard labor, or any of the other weird things the catholic church demands people to do will get you to heaven, only the grace of God will get you there, a simple pray of forgivness! The Catholic church is full of bondage! The bible is clear that men and women can serve God and have a spouse. I really believe that this kind of stuff would not happen if the church did not put such restrictions on priests and nuns.
No works save Eph 2: 8-9
Traditions over God mark 7:7-8
Real mediator 1 tim 2:5
forbiding marriage wrong 1 tim 4:3
I pray that all leave the catholic church and read the Bible to learn who the Lord really is! He LOVES you!
Christian-thinktank.com has a really big section on womens issues and the bible. It has alot of details about why women were treated the way they were and it shows how God loves women, but how men screwed up God’s laws. I pray it helps everyone out there as much as it helped me. Now I can love God because I know he loves me and it was the men (or people) of this world that screwed up his Truth, not HIM.
This was a very enlightening film for some, an affirmation for others, and should be a source of shame for the religious orders involved. While little has beem known about the Magdalene laundries, beyond the walls that contained the secrets of abuse, is that these ‘good’ sisters established these hell holes in other countries as well. There were ten in Australia, all run to the same formula of enforced containment and unpaid labour that added to the riches of the castholic church. At the very least the survivors of these places are entitled to an acknowledgement that the atrocities occured – minus the usual social excuses – and the orders involved should be disbanded, their assets sold and the proceeds from these given to its victims.
We cannot begin to address global human rights issues while we ignore our own.
Hello,
I wish to contact Kathy O’Beirne as I experienced some of the abuse at the hands of nuns in an orphanage in America.
I do believe Kathy O’Beirne and I am related , some way in the clan of O’Beirne.
If this is at all possible please do so.
Thank you
Carol O’Beirne
i myself haven’t experienced anything in connection with the megdalene laundries but after seeing the film i have developed a facination with these women and how it was allowed for them to be so teribbly degraded in this way.I cannot imagine the pain and suffering these girls and women endured and i cannot come to imagine how they ever coped.It is extremely difficult to visualise how these women managed.Especially the young girls.At just 14 years myself i can’t even bear to imagine such pain and suffering for no apparent reason at all.So to all the survivors of the magdalene laundries i offer my uttermost respect to you not only for enduring the terrible experience but for coming out and sharing your story with us to prevent any kind of reacurance.The courage envolved was simply unmeasureable.You are an insparation to me.
Hi all,
I too was touched by this book, so much that I contacted her agent and arranged for an appreciatin site to be set up. All we need now is people to join! Kathy will be given the details of the page, the password and all access to it.
Please visit and join
http://www.myspace.com/kathyob_appreciation
CONTRIBUTORS SOUGHT FOR NEW BBC1 “FOUND” SERIES
Found is the BBC1 documentary series which explores the emotional and heartfelt stories of foundling and adoption cases, following individuals as they seek to trace their loved ones.
The first run of five episodes in May 2006 was acclaimed by viewers and critics alike, leading the BBC to order a new series of five programmes which are about to start filming.
Each case in the Found series receives a considered portrayal, with all sides of the story explored. What would make a mother abandon her child? What does it feel like to grow up not knowing your real name, where you were born, or even your date of birth? Found explores these sensitive and complex questions, touching on our society’s attitudes towards illegitimacy and ethnicity over the last seventy years.
The series is presented by Kate Adie, the broadcaster and author who is familiar to viewers from her years as BBC TV’s Chief News Correspondent. Kate was herself adopted and her book Nobody’s Child, published in 2005, offers a compelling insight into the moving and inspiring stories of abandoned children.
The Found production team works closely with charities such as NORCAP (National Organisation for the Counselling of Adoptees and their Parents) to give abandoned children of all ages an opportunity to trace their past.
Found’s producers are on the hunt for new cases right now.
We welcome calls or emails from individuals who have an extraordinary or heart-warming story to tell, especially those who have personal experience of:
• Abandonment
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If this is you or someone you know and you would like to be involved or you would like some more information, please contact: Jane Ayoade as soon as possible at Leopard Films on this telephone number 0207 288 2175.
Alternatively, via email: janeayoade@leopardfilms.com
I read Kathy’s book when it was republished as ‘Don’t Ever Tell’ and I cried so much. My heart goes out to Kathy, all the other girls from the laundries and to all the children who were forced away from their mothers and into adoption. I pray that God would heal all the wounds which were carved deep into their souls and that they would be gradually freed from the pain they felt and still feel.
You know, Lance (July 18th) is right.
The Lord Jesus loves us all, and he died on the cross for us, so that if we put our faith in him, accept him as our saviour, and love him, we can be with him for eternity in heaven!
It’s a beautiful gift that he is offering, and we can all have it…do you want it?
I pray that all the girls and women from the laundries who are involved in Catholicism would have their hearts softened and their eyes opened by the Lord, that they would really know him, and be close to him and turn away from Catholicism, and for everyone who reads this that you would realise that knowing Jesus is the best thing that could ever happen to anyone, join the family!!
Hopefully, I’ll see you all in heaven.
Much love in Christ,
Amy.
I’ve just finished dont ever tell what a heartbreaking story as a single mother of two children, it brings out such strong emotions … i’m not catholic but my children attend catholic school i have always found churches very scary so much so that the hairs on the back of my neck stand up !!! probably not a bad judge well done kathy your so brave telling your story xx
I too have read Kathy’s book and seen the film the Magdalene sisters. I have never been so affected by a book in my life and i felt such saddness and grief. What a brave women for speaking out against the sadistic tyrants that were catholic priests and nuns.
How could any loving parent send their children away to those places? it breaks my heart at just the thought of it. I have two small children and we are not really a religious family but in my eyes the people of the church cannot be trusted again after these terrible acts. I would not feel comfortable sending my children to anywhere that nuns or priests would be taking care of them!
What i cant understand is why some women were sent to landries for having being raped, sometimes by their own family members! or because they were seen to be flirtacious yet were raped, sexually abused and beaten by the priests and nuns in the laundries. These nuns and priests are the real sinners not the innocent women that were imprisoned. Some of these priests and nuns must still be alive, i wonder if they feel ashamed by what they have done or do they still feel that these women are sinners. They should be found and punished for the terrible sins that they commited. Please could someone tell me why they havent already been punished?!
im really frustrated because i have just finished the very disturbing book “dont ever tell” and my heart went out to the lady, i have now discovered that it all could be all a houx and i feel very confused and feel miss led. i hope kathy in a way tou are fictional in a way because then at least those terrible things didnt happen in such a way, but at the same time i hope you are telling the truth because a person should not be allowed to miss lead people into beleiving things that are not true when they are of such a serious nature.
I found her book absolutely inspirational. I am 17, and a strong catholic, I can not beleive that somebodydoing God’s work would do something like that. It’s completley disgusting and goes against every they are supposed to beleive in. I hope kathy finds her justice in this world, and even if she does not she must know that the people who did those things will be judged in God’s eyes and will serve their justice. xxx
After reeding Kathy’s book i feel that I now have the strenght to write about my own experiance’s
Kathy had the whole world against her at a young age. I wish i could meet the lady. She is a credit to people that have been abused in the world.
Has for the people who did these nasty things to her. I hope they undrstand what they have done. They call themselves holy people. Where is the holy in what they have done.
A message to kathy you keep going you are better than them.
Regards
John McGrath x
I watched the movie for the second time late last nite and I was unable to sleep that nite – nor quite thinking about the whole situation all day. Now I have to read Kathy’s book. Too me it gets harder and harder to keep my faith. In the past year I have found out one of my uncles was molested by a Monsig. in our parrish, that MANY priest that I knew from my 12 years of Catholic school have had many many charges brought against them, and that the principal of my high school (a fellow school student of my mothe!) molested scores of boys I KNOW personally from my high school. I could go on…but I wanna sleep tonite
I read Kathy’s book last night and cried because I live so far away from Dublin that I couldnt go into an institution and try to cheer some of these poor ladies up. since it appears to me the only crime these ladies committed was to be born.
I am not catholic and would never want to be.
I wish I could do more to help Kathy’s cause and her fellow surivors other than just sending some emails to the appropriate people.
Good luck to you Kathy.
From Leanne.
Australia
To those who have spoken out the terrible truth, may God grant that you find inner peace and that you may some day at last be free of the horror and injustice of your past.
May God bless you all!
Lee-Anne
South Africa
i live in england and obviously have never experienced ANYTHING of the magdalen laundries.when i read “dont ever tell”by kathy o’beirne, it made me feel sick.
yes, im only fifteen years old but that does not mean that i do not understand morals and what religion SHOULD be about.
i am completely non-religous, but am supportive of friends and family that are.
when i was eleven years old, i was raped.i know how dirty it makes you feel,how they very thought of it makes you squirm.i was sexually abused by my late uncle untill he passed away when i was seven.
imagine what this does to a young girl,especially in this society,where you are expected to commit sexual acts with partners at a young age(14/15 ish).how are you to be a normal teenager or even adult commiting these acts if the only time someone has “touched” you,it was not of your free will and only to hurt you or use you.
most adults would not understand what i am talking about because things were different for them but in this day and age children are growing up faster, your sixteen year old daughter could have lost her virginity at the age of thirteen!
she could have been pregnant and gotten it aborted.she could have caught serveral STI’s and managed to either hide them or get rid of them.you may feel like your relationship with your daughter(or even son) is perfect,that they tell you everything and you would never need to worry about things like this.think again.there is so much you can do annomously,they will never need you to know.
if this is how i feel about a non-religous man raping a non-religous child,if this is the effect it has had on me,im sure you will agree i know too much for my age and think too far into things.imagine what this would do if both/one of the parties were religous.
isnt god supposed to help?
isnt god supposed to be supportive and protective of EVERYONE?
this so-called god should have taught these priests and young men/women how to deal with the urge to sexually abuse the children,not let them do it.
im not sure if you can see things from my side, but i would love to discus the matter with anyone who has anytime to care about today’s children.
if you have read this thoroughly,then i thank you.
if you skipped to the end, i dont thank you,i wish you to be dammed for not caring enough to give up five minutes of your time, as it has taken me longer to type this…
should anyone like to contact me,my email address is as follows- jaigh_ox@hotmail.com
i have just recently read dont ever tell, it is so distrubing knowing that another human could do this to someone.
I think kathy is a brave and heroic woman, who amazingly survived the ordeal she was put through throughtout her life. The irish religion was harsh and greuling like life in launddries.
I was disgusted when i read that her family said she was lying and there were no records of her being in the laundries.If they were to think about it logically there wouldn’t be as the nuns always changed the name of the woman. Also saying she was in it for the money,if they think that they are very Hypocritical as they puplished a book and it’s very likely they enjoyed the profit made from the book.Were as kathy had a different reason for the intentions for the book she done it to let her story be told to the world and make us aware what went on behind closed doors.
thank you for reading
annalise
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xx xx MWAH MWAH
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