Posted on 06/04/2014 9:51:45 PM PDT by boatbums
Almost 800 babies and children were buried in a mass grave in Ireland near a home for unmarried mothers run by nuns, according to new research Wednesday which throws more light on the Irish Catholic Church's troubled past.
Death records suggest 796 children, from newborns to eight-year-olds, were deposited in a grave near a Catholic-run home for unmarried mothers during the 35 years it operated from 1925 to 1961.
Historian Catherine Corless, who made the discovery, says her study of death records for the St Mary's home in Tuam in County Galway suggests that a former septic tank near the home was a mass grave.
The septic tank, full to the brim with bones, was discovered in 1975 by locals when concrete slabs covering the tank broke up.
Until now, locals believed the bones mainly stemmed from the Great Irish famine of the 1840s when hundreds of thousands perished.
St Mary's, run by the Bons Secours Sisters, was one of several such 'mother and baby' homes in early 20th century Ireland.
Thousands of unmarried pregnant women -- labelled at the time as 'fallen women' -- were sent to the homes to have their babies.
The women were ostracised by the conservative-Catholic society and were often forced to hand over their children for adoption.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Where did you get that idea? Many protestant denominations have infant baptism.
“Thousands of unmarried pregnant women — labelled at the time as ‘fallen women’”
the hypocritical tragedy is that it is impossible to have a “fallen woman” without a “fallen man” somewhere, but THE man usually escaped serious social sanction for HIS “fall” from grace
So the local residents mow the grass at the Catholic baby dump site,, which was in use because the church refused to allow those innocents into a proper cemetery. Evil...
Trinitarian Christian denominations that oppose infant baptism include the Assemblies of God, Association of Vineyard Churches, Christian and Missionary Alliance, Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee), Calvary Chapel, Community Churches, Evangelical Free Church, Baptists, Gnostic Churches, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, and Churches of Christ as well as other Nondenominational Churches, International Churches of Christ, International Christian Church,[55] Foursquare Gospel Church. Church of God in Christ, Church of God of Prophecy, Grace Communion International, Anabaptists such as the Church of the Brethren, Mennonite, and Amish, Schwarzenau Brethren/German Baptists, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, some Methodists and most Pentecostals. Several nontrinitarian religious groups also oppose infant baptism, including Oneness Pentecostals, Christadelphians, Jehovah’s Witnesses, United Church of God, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints[56] and the Community of Christ.
“Evil” is what? Be specific please, since you are claiming that something is “evil”
Not to comment on the story, just responding to a request to spin a post:
Don’t know about Ireland a hundred years ago. Priests who follow the teachings of the Church do not baptize babies of parents who are not going to practice Catholicism nor raise the child to be Catholic, as evidenced by a refusal to attend Mass regularly, for instance.
It has nothing to do with ostracism, as the parents have the choice.
The priest does not want the child to be judged Catholic if he is not going to practice Catholicism.
It goes to the belief that we are judged by what we know, and by judgment, that is God’s judgment.
The child has a chance at eternal salvation when the priest is attentive to this situation.
“That you are defending evil.”
What “evil” am I “defending” bramps?
Bigot is a nasty phrase, are you calling me a bigot?
Ireland was a nasty place. The Church worked hard made it more cruel. All the excuses in the world can’t explain why they dumped those innocent wretches out into, at best, a converted septic tank.
They should have has a burial in a church cemetery. But they were bigots and cruel, and so they refused.
and when a protestant religion doesn’t baptize kids, they believe that the child’s soul is safe until the age of reason. That is when their soul needs baptism. Before then the protestants don’t think the innocent infant is hellbound, the way the romans.
““Evil” is what? Be specific please,,”
Dumping dead babies and kids into a sewage tank because you think they aren’t pure enough to be given a burial in a normal cemetery. If you can’t see cold hearted home-made evil there, nothing can open your eyes.
Those 800 babies/children had 800 missing fathers..
1600 parents, and maybe 3200 administrators..
I am glad to see that women are finally waking up from the misconception that they absolutely have to have a job in order to have a meaningful life. But the previous situation where women were strongly discouraged from working, or working in menial jobs until they could snag a husband, was just as bad.
We can all point to myriad exceptions where women were successful in business, in education, in the sciences, etc. during the 50's, but the vast majority who succeeded outside the home did so against a sea of opposition.
Yes women were encouraged to fill jobs normally done by men who were fighting in WWII, but they gave those jobs back when the men returned. Labor participation for women was 34% in 1950. Now it stands at 60%. A lot of women who now can freely choose a career are choosing it over life as a homemaker. Partly this is because of a bad economy. Partly it's because since women flooded into the labor market the increased labor supply led to lower wages forcing more families to require two salaries to stay financially secure.
But mostly it's because women, like men, enjoy working and gain fulfillment in doing a good days work even if it is outside the home and doesn't involve bringing up children.
Sorry. I forgot about all the sects that are OK with infant baptism.
Good Lord, you need help, NOW was started in 1966 and you think the feminist movement saved Christian women from the horrors of the best decade in American history, the greatest nation ever created?
The 50s were the peak of civilization before we started our decline.
Are you 14?
So you consider burial in a Catholic cemetery superior?
It actually isn’t. Life expectancy was probably about 50 at the time and pregnancy and early infancy is dangerous. Back in the day mothers were relieved when their child reached their first birthday because infancy was the dangerous time of life.
There was measles and mumps and chicken pox. Influenza, polio, no antibiotics, no incubators, maybe even no doctors, just midwives.
People try to fit history into the present and it just doesn’t fit. My parents each lost sisters who died in childhood. 2 aunts lost infants.
Many of those bodies could have been miscarriages they would surely have buried those children too. Miscarriages still happen frequently today so just think how prevalent they were back then with less medical care and bad nutrition, not to mention the stress the women were under from being pregnant and unmarried.
It was, after all, a home for unwed mothers.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.