I find the current EU tussle with demanding member countries take their fair share of migrants fascinating. Set aside whether they are asylum seekers or economic migrants, why should a country voluntarily dilute its culture and so on?
What miniscule amount of respect I might have had for the Catholic church went for good when I watched the harrowing account on TV of the Irish fellow whose sister was taken into a distant Catholic run workhouse when she became pregnant out of wedlock. The baby vanished - might have been sold in the USA. Meanwhile she worked 7 till 7 each day with no converstion allowed for THIRTY years .Excess babies were “buried” in he buildings cess pit. This is in our lifetime not from the dark ages.
I've lived here 15 years now and my mother and father in law were born in this little town.
The stories that they both have recounted to me, from first hand knowledge , were harrowing to say the least.
Over the last couple of years there has much soul searching in Ireland over these events and the subjugation of the Irish people by the catholic church but I believe that the surface has just been scratched.
I recently listened to a daily "call in" radio programme in which an elderly man recounted his early life in a boys home after being forceably removed from his birth mother after she gave birth " out of wedlock " . I'm not ashamed to say that his captivating story reduced me to tears whilst sitting in my van and the way he told it in a calm , factual and accurate way made it more chilling and heartbreaking .
If you search there are a number of books written by victims of the blight , but beware they are difficult reading .In particular books relating to the Magdalene Laundries will disturb you .
A definative example of when Church and State go hand in hand .
We wonder if the pope will deign to utter any form of apology when he drops by to rally the remaining faithful this weekend .
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Topic: Anybody else celebrating.... (Read 8444 times)