Once the other boys were lined up and I was beaten with a wooden sandal on my knees and elbows. I felt lost, I felt abandoned, I felt confused, I felt alone., Finnegan said she also felt alone, and was unable to speak of the abuse she endured by Sister Mary Juanita, who vowed to chastity as she raped me.. Now, 30 years on, he wanted the police and his solicitor to find those hidden documents because, he believed, they would confirm his recollections of his time at the orphanage. Eight years ago, when a handful of victims of nun abuse came forward to SNAP, Dispenza urged the Chicago-based Leadership Conference of Women Religious, an association of the leaders of congregations of Catholic nuns, to address the issue and reach out to victims of nun abuse. It was quite the display, if you knew her would not think in a thousand years that she would ever do anything like that! No one would believe how bad it was. Father Tindall, the church's child protection coordinator in the north-east of England, ventured: "Too much of the organised culture of the church was very disciplined and rule-bound, and gave an opportunity for people under pressure to use the language of discipline to be punitive. But after Pope Francis recently made the bombshell admission that some nuns were abused by priests and even used as sex slaves, dozens of Catholics have come forward to report a tangential, and just as evil, phenomenon sexual abuse by nuns. That is why I want to take them to court.". The scathing report, by Professor Bruce Grundy of Queensland University, told of how one girl, Helen Carter, had her legs burnt with a red-hot poker, to exorcise the Devil, while another child almost lost her legs which became infected after a nun pulled out her ingrowing toenails with pliers. All we want is for the Catholic church to change its ways and let us live in peace. They've always ruled by fear. ", Some former residents say they were sexually abused - Cusiter remembers a driver who "would touch up the boys and the girls" and, she says, a child would often be used to keep watch while one of the handymen pursued his sexual relationship with a nun - but most of the cases against the Sisters of Nazareth concern physical violence. It could that some people have have self-esteem problems. Why Are Nuns So Cruel? I was up at 5am scrubbing floors, doing laundry. Unexplained-Mysteries.com I froze and became that 15-year-old kid again, she said. Then, in March, a shocking report was published into allegations of abuse and brutality at one of the order's homes in Queensland, Australia, over a 90-year period ending only in 1976. Give us an apology. Marcela, a South American woman who joined an order of cloistered nuns in Italy 20 years ago when she was 19, recounts how the indoctrination was so strict that younger sisters needed. It gives a good idea of the standard of care. 5 Top The Silver Thong Member 33.4k January 22, 2011 in Spirituality, Religion and Beliefs. There they found a disciplined regime which, they say, tipped over into violence. One of them, dated Sunday April 2, 1967, pledges: "I will keep these promises seen here." Try to be understanding and compassionate. No one did and I was just told to follow on. There was no record of Betsy after that incident, nothing. So far, the Poor Sisters of Nazareth have refused to comment, but it is believed that the allegations will be contested vigorously. ), it wouldn't be hard to, Couple a sadistic personality and a whole lot of pent up sexual frustration.yeah anybody would go psycho. Thomas Paine, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13JK5kChbRw. These days the nuns look after old people. Cusiter recalls a particular incident when Sister Alphonso came for her while she was playing on swings. She had been sent with her sisters to Glasgow's Nazareth House from their home in the Highlands after their mother was diagnosed with tuberculosis, a disease that was still "like a death knell in the 1950s". The Poor Sisters of Nazareth were founded in the mid-19th century in Hammersmith, London, to take care of the young and the old. The Sisters of Nazareth lawyer, Dr Abernathy, points out that Nazareth Houses were overseen by local authorities and by the government. This can lead to nuns being quite resentful toward Mothers. "The nuns would take off the belt and just hit you with it. The nuns were terrible.". Dealing with those wounds and scars, and surviving through daily life is a challenge for many of us. Finnegan said she has suffered PTSD and anxiety for most of her adult life and has turned to prayer and research on sexual abuse to try to forgive what was done to her. In most movies, nuns are seen as strange recluses from society. ), it wouldn't be hard to see why some Nuns are high-strung. People can be cruel unintentional, they can say or do things unconsciously, but that is not an excuse for their actions. She has never consulted lawyers, nor sought compensation from the church. They were like prison officers. "I don't want their money," she says. The punishments accelerated, she says, after she and her brother began running away. She also wants the Vatican to require Catholic leaders to contact police right away if they are confronted with abuse, rather than alerting local bishops or other church hierarchy first. They are with kids at school every day from 9 to 3, she said. When the child was taken to the dentist, he asked, "What's all this bruising?" with all the other girls looking on. No matter what any "spiritual leader" might say. Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in, Please refresh your browser to be logged in, Extra 20% off selected fashion and sportswear at Very, Get up to 10% off using the Booking.com app, $6 off a $50+ order with this AliExpress discount code, 10% off selected product with this eBay discount code, Compare broadband packages side by side to find the best deal for you, Compare cheap broadband deals from providers with fastest speed in your area, All you need to know about fibre broadband, Best Apple iPhone Deals in the UK April 2023, Compare iPhone contract deals and get the best offer this April, Compare the best mobile phone deals from the top networks and brands. The archbishop also accused Currie of being unreliable. If you were scrubbing the floor and looked up you could get a whack over the head or even be kneed in the face. The Irish Examiner newspaper, which has investigated the finances of the religious orders involved in running the laundries, says they owned assets in 2012 of 1.5bn euros ($1.9bn, 1.2bn). I said, 'No, this is about crimes against children.' In 1981, the school became the co-ed St. Johns Prep. Sister Margaret McCurtain, a glinting Dominican scholar and one of Ireland's best-known Catholic reformers, suggests the "sexual oppression of nuns could emerge later in the form of cruelty". Or maybe it's just being in a power of authority with god as your boss. He said, 'Pray for him my son.' At Christmas there was jam. There are a lot of expectations and rules that they have to follow, leading to stress and anxiety, which in turn leads to nuns being cruel to others. He had lost his family, and letters from his siblings and his mother were never given to him. "We had wonderful parents. I remember being made to sit in a cold bath. Gruel definition, a light, usually thin, cooked cereal made by boiling meal, especially oatmeal, in water or milk. "One of the worst things that ever happened to me was being locked in a cupboard as a punishment. This can lead to a lot of unresolved issues, and these issues can eventually turn into anger and resentment. My Father's Story on the Nuns and Priests. gruel meaning: 1. a cheap simple food made, especially in the past, by boiling oats with water or milk 2. a cheap. He had put a cross by one of the windows in the eaves. I haven't taken a drink for more than five years," he says. reading cinemas refund; kevin porter jr dad shooting; illinois teacher and administrator salaries; john barlow utah address; jack prince obituary; saginaw s'g m1 carbine serial numbers; how old was amram when moses was born; etang des deux amants carp fishing "We were taken to the beach, it was so grey and wild and windy, we were frozen." I was terrified 24 hours a day. Yet another was scarred after being scalded by a nun who accused her of not using enough hot water when washing. They were always calling us guttersnipes or scavengers and seemed to enjoy humiliating us. We believe that it is at this level that true healing can begin.. Long gone are the days of teaching nuns to be cruel, and now theyre being taught with more compassion. Nuns are supposed to be modest in their appearance, which can lead to them being quite critical of others who dont dress modestly. No matter what any "spiritual leader" might say. Gmail So if you see a mean nun, remember that shes probably going through a lot. By using this site you consent to our use of cookies as per our, People who don't know how to weep with their whole heart, don't know how to laugh either. If you did it wrong, you got a clip." She was sent to the orphanage, with her brother, when she was five - her grandmother had just died, her mother had left, and her father felt he could not take care of the children. On the shelves around his Victorian tiled fireplace Currie displays old toy fire engines - it was his boyhood ambition to be a firefighter. Abuse is only broken when the cycle stops. Celibacy is NOT normal for humans. i think they just really need to get laid, Damn nuns I don't think I have ever met a nun but damn them anyway errrrr. Why are Nuns so mean? These are major things, the experience was a severe danger to people's lives." Nuns used to be cruel; that much is true. Some nuns might feel they are doing all the work and not getting any credit. The allegations stretch back. You could get beaten for nothing at all. An unexpected encounter with one of the nuns she'd known when she was at the orphanage - Sister Alphonso - changed her life. Once I was beaten black and blue, so badly I had to stay in the infirmary for five weeks, and when I came out I was given a bag of sweets and told to tell no one about what happened. The woman owned me.. (11 Reasons Why), Why Does Batman Not Kill? Awesome teachers and kind OR 2. My time there has deeply affected my life. It is a Christian duty, for your greater glory, not theirs. "Sister Alphonso didn't use leather straps, she used her fists, she had some strength." Nuns indeed put in a lot of hard work. The boy forswears spending his pocket money, bad language and playing at fire engines, but the letter begins with "No Dirt At All", the 'No' underlined many times. On the other piece of paper he mapped all the features of the room behind that window, its pipes, floorboards, walls, doors, a cupboard. I don't need financial help. Archbishop Mario Conti, Scotland's most senior Catholic churchman, has accused the former Nazareth House inmates of being seekers not of justice but of "pots of gold". Teonna, along with several other Native American girls, was forced to remain in the institution while her grandmother Issaxche Rainwater try to find a way to release her. Neither woman could understand why there was so much cruelty, with Mary saying: "They were nuns and educated and took up their vocation to go in there for prayer and looking after us. We have tried every way to get the church to accept what happened, but they've done nothing. Learn more. Jealous Nuns could be jealous of the attention that Catholic Mothers get. What if I ended up in Nazareth House as an old person?" Good or bad just jot one or two down for me if you don't mind. He was put in Nazareth House when he was two. I was in bed by 7pm and they used to check you were asleep with your hands across your chest. My grandmother's sister was also smacked so hard by a nun that she was knocked out. "I was passed to the child abuse unit at the age of 39." "We've had a lifetime of being accused of being liars and cheats, searching for a pot of gold." The Sisters of Mercy taught the girls at her high school; the boys were taught by the Christian Brothers. I'd have left you you're just Glasgow tinks.' One of the heart-rending storylines of Paramount+'s Western series '1923' revolves around Teonna Rainwater, a Native American girl who gets tortured in a Catholic boarding school. After graduating high school in 1969, Finnegan struggled to deal with the abuse and tell her story, but her efforts fell on deaf ears. This can lead to a cycle of cruelty thats hard to break. For more than a hundred years, Nazareth Houses all over Britain were home to thousands of children. I said no." "There was a big polished floor, it was really polished. "I began wetting the bed and this was seen as a dreadful crime. In vain, they'd find their father, but before long the police would turn up to take them back. Then you'd choke and the food would end up on your plate again and she would force-feed you your own vomit. Are they all mean? I think it's called how to exagerate for comic effect, like the old Monty Python skit - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13JK5kChbRw, You need to be a member in order to leave a comment. It can also lead to nuns acting out in ways that are considered cruel. Only my opinion of course, but I'd blame it on a lack of physical and emotional shenanigans with members of the opposite sex. There are 55,944 nuns in the US and 41,406 priests, according to statistics compiled by SNAP. Her own efforts to challenge the hierarchy of the church have been distressing and her association with the public campaign against the Sisters enraged other members of her congregation. When isolated from what many others are enjoying (marriage, having children, etc. So he wrote to God. Any child caught speaking native was punished. Its not easy to always obey those in authority, and many nuns who cant obey suffer from stress and anxiety, leading to nuns lashing out at others in positions of power. The atmosphere was one of sheer terror. Right to her death, Mum kept saying, 'If only I hadn't got ill.' She thought it was her fault. I telephoned Cardinal Winning, and asked him to do something about all the things that were coming to light about Nazareth House. She started to tell me how wonderful it was working with the old people, but her hands were shaking. "The horrifying thing was that being hurt by implements was bad enough, but to see a holy person, a righteous person with - I don't want to exaggerate - a face full of hate, an angelic, holy face turning into a face of horror, a woman crunching her teeth in hate, going berserk, screaming while you are pleading for mercy, the wee leather boots just booting into you. If not you got another whacking. Many youths vow to never be like their parents, only to grow up and mimic the very things they hated as children. "It's up to us whether we want to forgive. She will not describe in any detail how she was raped. But it was off. But it didn't stop the man coming in." Feminist scholar Ailbhe Smyth adds, "Christianity tells us that we have to help the poor, but we don't have to like them. Never has been and never will be. | Meaning, pronunciation, translations and examples They said there were no records of her presence. Eoin O'Sullivan, the Irish historian of Catholic orphanages and schools, cites a very public challenge to the church by Father Flanagan, the priest whose humane childcare was the model for Spencer Tracy in the film, Men Of Boys Town. My mom told me that they had no life, could not leave the convent, no TV, no newspapers, so I think it was simple burn out, no way to get away from us brats. "Of all the tyrannies that affect mankind, tyranny in religion is the worst." Victims now have until age 55 to file civil suits and can press for criminal charges until age 28. "I left the faith as a direct result and don't describe myself as a Catholic anymore. But many nuns never had the chance to break the cycle. But there is good news in all of this. One that stands out is the story of a boy who had become very ill. I am all right, I'm surviving. This embarrassed both church and state in the 1940s. My sister and I have tried unsuccessfully to follow this up. They are recalling what were, after all, very public regimes of pain and punishment. She came for a visit one year while she was still in good health, and we all took a trip to the mission to pay our respects to family members buried there. Currie had likened some of his childhood documents to a diary, but the archbishop insists, "only three sheets of paper were found, two containing aspirations Joseph had listed for himself and the other listing the timing of the Benny Hill show on TV". These emotions can eventually turn into anger and resentment. The. Instead of fetching a doctor they kept me in bed and surrounded me with hot water bottles. So, its no wonder nuns can be so cruel. I think that's the way many of them were trained, in a very authoritarian church. My mother went to Catholic school as a child back in the 1950's. All of these concern allegations of ill-treatment after 1964. "When the Sister died, we were told to pray for her in Heaven, but we all prayed that we were glad. She, too, remembers the nuns' nocturnal inspections. My sister didn't wet the bed at home, but one night she was crying and came to us and said she'd wet the bed. We rose at 5am, did the cleaning chores, then got dressed, got breakfast and then went to school. Ya the pope is the boss speaking for god. Currie took Cameron Fyfe, other lawyers and Nazareth House officials to the building, to the locked door of his former bedroom. Today I have all the soft cuddly toys I want, a room full of them. Currie, now in his early 50s, lives in a Glasgow tenement. (11 Reasons Why). Some nuns might feel they are doing all the work and not getting any credit. "We were skivvies, basically. But today, many of those who were in the sisters' care have come forward to claim that, behind the locked doors of Nazareth House (all the homes had this name), the nuns maintained a ruthless regime. He has unearthed state archives revealing many complaints about cruelty and inspectors' concerns about "dangerous and undesirable punishment". Many were young and pretty, and though maybe they were kind in their first few weeks, they soon became much the same as the rest. The excuse is that it was normal in those days.". Professor Grundy reserved his most scathing words for the police forces and bureaucrats, who he said may have known what was going on but did nothing to stop it. She points out that "15 members of my group have taken their own lives. Its no wonder nuns can be so cruel. While your doing that, tell any stories of nuns that you might have. A spokeswoman for LCWR refused to discuss how many victims of nun abuse had reached out to them, and referred to a statement on the groups website that reads in part, We encourage persons with grievances involving allegations of sexual misconduct by a woman religious to approach the individual religious congregation involved. It was so tragic. "Some would smack you as they came by. ", In the pre- and post-war period, orphans were often sent to homes run by religious orders, such as the Sisters of Nazareth. "Looking back, I think one of the reasons was that the nuns weren't happy and decided we damn well weren't going to be either. And they didn't beat me." Some people can be cruel for many reasons. They were not battleaxes or crones. Are just some of them mean? And the Poor Sisters aren't poor (the order has 154m in the bank) - they've been rebranded and they're simply Sisters. I don't know the answer, but i do know that my grandparents were in catholic school and they also told stories about nuns hurting the kids. "The real meaning of 'dirt' was sexual abuse," Currie says, "I felt dirty. Violent discipline, he says, was not uncontested. "The nuns never believed I was deaf. The nun would roll her sleeves up, so she got a real good whack. Bruises go away, but the horror stays in your mind. He told me he'd been sexually abused by a priest. Its crucial for nuns to be aware of this and to try to break the cycle. "This isn't revenge against the Catholic church, we just want them to come out of denial. I saw it.". document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. Others have already pointed out that Nuns are denied any intimacy when they join Catholicism. "You couldn't talk to the nuns in a jokey or friendly way. Nothing. He sent the envelope to Cameron Fyfe, a Scottish solicitor, with a note naming the boy with whom he had shared that room. why doesn't vanderbilt have a volleyball team; kreslenie ceruzkou portrety. If you were lying on your side, you'd be yanked back. My sister got caned on the hands and the back for that. Last week, New York opened up a window for old cases with the passage of the Child Victims Act. Nuns are often women who don't have much (if any) maternal instinct - To enter a life where you not only aren't supposed to have sex with anyone else but where you also cannot bear children of your own requires a person who has limited amounts of maternal instinct for them to be successful. The group has heard from 35 people in the last several days who claim they were physically and sexually abused by nuns, said Dispenza, a former nun who claims she was abused as a young girl by both a priest and a nun. This vow means they will not have sex or engage in sexual activity, leading to frustration and feeling trapped. God is Love, Sister Mary Juanita Barto told Finnegan as she repeatedly raped her in classrooms at Mater Christi High School in Queens in the late 1960s. Helen's younger brother grew up a distressed, drifting young man. I know that they are supposed to be married to god and suchbut when you are married to a guy that is never around, doesn't talk to you, sets up impossible rules, and never has sex with youwell you would be cranky too. Its not easy to grow up in an abusive or neglectful home, which can lead to trauma and emotional damage. "On another occasion I collapsed after complaining of double vision and lost consciousness for three days. He'd never told anyone. But, back in the day, this is how nuns were taught, and its no wonder they turned out to be so cruel. Contrast Naughty Nuns. There is the cruel nun (The Magdalene Sisters), the anti-fun nun (Sound of Music) . "There were two slices of bread and dripping for breakfast, a ladle of soup at dinner and two more slices of bread and dripping in the evening. They were let go home on some weekends and hollidays. "But girls were beaten every day. ", Francis Docherty is 58 and runs a helpline, Historical Survivors of In-Care Abuse, whose cases include people as old as 95 who are still suffering, still searching for their lost brothers and sisters, still trying to sort things out. Archaic teaching methods are now seen as barbaric. It started when I was about eight. Golda Meir, One good thing about music, when it hits you feel no pain. One bed-wetter was held out of the window by her ankles as punishment. Mrs Guerrier, who is now 73 and lives in Tottenham, north London, said: "The nuns were extremely harsh. Archbishop Conti has strongly denied Currie's claims, indeed he denies that he ever, "either in the context of confessional or outside the confessional, received any complaint of any kind of abuse relating to the care of children in Nazareth House". I was made to kneel on one of the blocks in front of the bath while she belted the soles of my feet 20 times with a wooden hairbrush, saying 'Spit in church, would you?' She asked, 'What do you remember about your childhood?' (11 Reasons Why), Why Are Vegans So Entitled? In those days the people were encouraged to bring their children to the mission to be schooled by the church and they children all lived there. Celibacy is NOT normal for humans. They stood there like ghosts, covered in the wet sheets. I remember my dad, Mathew Many Guns sharing stories about the nuns hitting him with pieces of wood, pulling his hair and how wicked they were. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? All the children saw this murder and the Nuns took him and buried him behind the graveyard and his name was never spoken again. "I told a doctor about the nuns. He is never surprised by attempts to discredit people like himself. Currie is one of the organisers. Nuns have to obey their superiors, which can lead to a feeling of being trapped and powerless, and it can also lead to nuns being quite resentful towards those in positions of authority. They're at the annual bash of the contest's fan club. We saw her being brought out of the water. One of the nuns said: 'You watch you don't get blood on your dress or you'll catch it.' It seems logical that a person suffering from not being a part of normal life, ie:love, sex, child birth ect ect.. would harbor lots of ill will twords those who cannot help themselves. Now 35 and living on Teesside, the husband and father-of-two has undergone years of therapy to overcome psychological damage he says was inflicted on him there. We did all the work in the convent, cleaning the windows, scrubbing floors, doing the laundry and washing out the bathrooms. In some cases, they may be trying to manipulate or control the people around them. Eventually, four years after her encounter with Sister Alphonso, she went to a solicitor. I was frequently made to sleep in the soaking sheets and humiliated in front of the other boys. She was even too nervous to enter her office at a Long Island convent. That started from the moment I went in there. An official inquiry has found that Sisters of Nazareth nuns subjected children to vicious abuse, humiliation and at times sexual assault of "utmost depravity". Even then Aitken was shadowed by unhappiness. It was born out of a fascination with the women who choose . Bob Marley, "We went to explore the Moon & discovered the Earth" Gene Cernan. "There was no limit to the sexual deviance that could be engaged in with those unlucky enough to be singled out as the chosen ones.". But theres an expectation for nuns to dress modestly at all times. So we sat on the sheet to dry it - we were only children. "Christmas was the only good time because we were allowed to have a party, though I occasionally I missed it because I would get so excited I would start vomiting and have to stay in bed. I have seen programs about nuns and most of those show a wonderfull helpful loving nun who just loves the whole world. Moisten two tablespoons of farina with a very little cold milk, and stir it into a cup of boiling water. "You were thrashed about the feet, head and hands, you had your hair pulled and your head bounced off the walls. They would use canes, sticks, the leather belts around their waists. This may be qualified in cases of alleged institutional abuse because there is sometimes a chain of corroboration. When finally a key was found, they went in: the room was almost as he had left it, and behind a plywood panel there were his childhood documents, exactly as he had predicted. Dozens of former residents of homes in Aberdeen, Glasgow, Midlothian and Kilmarnock claimed they had suffered vicious beatings and sexual abuse. FOR MORE than 100 years, the Poor Sisters of Nazareth cared for children in the order's dozens of homes across Britain. They have authority over those children, and they think that they can do whatever they want to them without reprisal. What gives? It was bad enough in Newcastle, but after the war broke out we were moved to Carlisle where it was much more cruel. I think what happens is that religion is handed down from generation to generation in what ever form it maybe and catholics had no problem sparing the rod as that's how they grew up. In my school the nuns, well a few of them were mean. There is still never a day when my sister does not fear being punished for something. (11 Reasons Why), Why Are Harleys So Expensive? I couldnt speak, I couldnt move.. The punishment was being forced to stand in front of a nun's cell with the soiled linen on your head or being sat in the galvanized steel bath while two assistants poured buckets of cold water over your head. Fyfe argues that the cultures of orphanages and schools tend to be specific and different - he also represents clients who were in the hands of the de la Salle monks in Britain, against whom there are more allegations of sexual abuse than there are against the Nazareth House nuns. Finnegan told The Post she approached SNAP for support a few years earlier. The survivors have to get past the argument that the religious orders merely delivered the discipline that was standardised, sanctioned and universal in those days. The mission had boys dorm and girls dorm and behind the dorms outside was a small creek that ran behind the buildings and through the woods.

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