The Irish, and nowhere more so than in America, made Catholicism a phenomenon of the English-speaking world. This can lead to a cycle of cruelty thats hard to break. reflect on their experiences and this week's TRC report. I have seen programs about nuns and most of those show a wonderfull helpful loving nun who just loves the whole world. Some of these reasons include the high expectations placed on them, the fact that theyre not allowed to express their feelings, and many of them come from abusive or neglectful families. "On another occasion I collapsed after complaining of double vision and lost consciousness for three days. We found nine reasons that may shock you. But many nuns never had the chance to break the cycle. First off I'd change that to SOME nuns, not all. So, its no wonder nuns can be so cruel. After all, slavery played a crucial role in the development and ongoing operation of the Cults economy. July 2019 I believe in God, though". After all, we all have our own crosses to bear. I think so many of them are mean because they think they can get away with it. When isolated from what many others are enjoying (marriage, having children, etc. There was real hate there. But there is good news in all of this. When my grandma first went there she only spoke her native language, she spoke no english at all. July 2018 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. As the result of a rape and beating by a Nun, I spent two years in a coma in hospital hiding from my mangled mind and body. They were taught to be tough to survive in the world. It can also lead to nuns taking their frustration out on others. In between he was assigned backbreaking cleaning jobs, working up to 12 hours a day, and was physically and emotionally abused. It is a greater act of contempt than striking the face because it emphasises the asymmetry between the torturer and her victim. "I left the faith as a direct result and don't describe myself as a Catholic anymore. Many youths vow to never be like their parents, only to grow up and mimic the very things they hated as children. The victim lies prostrate on the ground, at the Nuns feet. Led by Premier Maurice Duplessis, the period was characterized by unprecedented corruption and repression, much of which involved the Catholic Church. 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. As you say the nuns were mostly from rural areas. well practise what you preach, "He who is without sin." you should know the rest, but then again i'm not to sure you do? Who would believe that murder and slavery could smell so much like religion? Thats awefull! Every morning he had to wash and dress his little brother Thomas, who had brittle bone disease and was unable to walk. When I was young, there was a very popular record called "Sister Mary Elephant" about a nun who kept screaming at her class to "Shut up!". (7 Reasons Why), Why Are Harleys So Expensive? Does any of what these Nuns did sound righteous to you? Never has been and never will be. Are they all mean? IN THE early Seventies, six-year-old Simon Taylor (not his real name) was admitted to Nazareth House in Middlesbrough after his mother had a nervous breakdown. 1. Myth: In 17th century Barbados (and elsewhere . Thus, nuns act out their cruelty towards others. This can lead to nuns being quite resentful toward Mothers. The investigation is still active & more depravity is being uncovered. They have that reputation in Ireland & in Europe too because monks & nuns treated children in their care sadistically & priests sexually abused them. In her absence, Philomena says, the parish priests took the children into the industrial schools, with the girls entering the Good Shepherd in Waterford. May 2019 But the nun wasn't looking for someone to help her. 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. The impact of a blow is much greater if administered with the foot. They were like prison officers. Anyone who suffers from it can rest easy in at least knowing they're not alone, and when KQED looked at why so many horror movies feature nuns, they found that part of it was the secrecy of convents that put the fear of God into people.. It's been that way for a long, long time way back in . German nuns were 'pimps' for sick priests, says sexual abuse victim. But thats human nature. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? (11 Reasons Why). 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. She was looking for a victim."I was 11 and looked 9. At night, they were abused by visiting priests who came to the girls dorm. Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in, Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile. My time there has deeply affected my life. When expanded it provides a list of search options that will switch the search inputs to match the current selection. My grandmother, aunts, uncles, great aunts and uncles cousins ect ect, were mostly raised in the Cotholic Missions on different Indian Reservations. One of the questions I have is for the Catholics of the forums. December 2020 October 2021 My grandfather told a story of how, when he was a young kid, one of his friends whispered something to him. Nuns could be jealous of the attention that Catholic Mothers get. Orphans, abandoned babies and children deemed uncontrollable or accused of petty crimes were all put in the hands of the nuns who, to the outside world, epitomised kindness and compassion. I remember being made to sit in a cold bath. At least 20,000 Irish nuns served outside Ireland between 1800 and 1960. However, nuns arent the cruel teachers they used to be. He found refuge in the British army, where . November 2019 Then I was told never to tell anybody what had happened or Ill be sorry, and he took me across the road to a shop for sweets.. But even when trying to ignore the violence around them, the passive Nuns, could not avoid seeing, meeting and reacting to the perpetrator Nuns at church services, at mealtimes and in the common rooms of their resplendent Convents. Before pushing me in the nuns told me there was a mouse in there and I went totally hysterical. Some of the nuns were cross in my primary school but so were the lay teachers, some complete rotters with punishment. It was only later I realised that you didn't bruise so badly there. There was nothing unusual about it. My Grandmother has told me many stories of the evil nuns. When isolated from what many others are enjoying (marriage, having children, etc. This can lead to nuns being quite resentful toward Mothers. The stigma that nuns are cruel is somewhat of a misnomer. . The nuns from the Good Shepherd were called, she says. The religious habit was a distinctive set of clothing worn by members of a religious Order with the style and colour differentiating each Order. Less Than Human: Why We Demean, Enslave, and Exterminate Others By David Livingstone Smith Hardcover, 336 pages St. Martin's Press List price: $24.99 Read An Excerpt When the Nazis described Jews. ", Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies. He told me to take my clothes off and he would wash me down and then he started fondling me, before masturbating me, says William. Buy, Sell, and Trade your Firearms and Gear. A few Nuns kicked women and children down the stairs and then took the opportunity to kick them as they lay injured or struggling to stand or crawl away. Any child caught speaking native was punished. My kids have grown up and I have a great relationship with them.. "When the Sister died, we were told to pray for her in Heaven, but we all prayed that we were glad. For other inquiries, Contact Us. 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. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Why Are Bartenders So Rude? Many of the initial applications were turned down and, in response, William set up the Residential Institution Survivor Network (RISN), which has now helped over 200 people with appeals. She hated children and was always hitting us with a cricket stump she carried around. Violence was frequently employed and encouraged with the most common forms being verbal abuse, slaps, blows, and kicks. "I am not the human I should be, a human that should have had what I deserved as a child - my family, love, happiness, education, a job, being able to live with my partner and marry. It gives a good idea of the standard of care. I have cried so much wondering what happened to my loving brother. Your marriage needs to be annulled (not 'divorced') first. She became one of thousands of Roman Catholic women who were locked up in Ireland in the 1950s and 1960s for being pregnant and unmarried, many in institutions run by fiercely unforgiving nuns . Something was telling me that something bad was going to happen.. This kind of behavior applies to nuns, as well. I think that's the way many of them were trained, in a very authoritarian church. Not a life of such abuse, torture, pain and hell. Four days later, they were taken to the industrial school at Mount Carmel in Moate, Co. Westmeath, run by the Catholic nuns of the Sisters of Mercy. People considered the. She was told to go away, that we were wards of court, even though that wasnt true. It makes perfect sense that some would take their emotions out on others. (9 Reasons Why), Why Are Contractors So Unreliable? What gives? 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. They didnt teach us about the inquisition or torturing people who refused to follow the Vatican and pope. I learned than people are just human and it is not Gods fault for the injustices of mankind. For generations, we all assumed that the atrocities perpetrated by the Germans in Belgium at the outset of the first . Unforgiving. My time with these Nuns was horrendous. "They only did it to make loads of money and to put you to work, to shame you and make you feel like nothing.. This button displays the currently selected search type. The gagging order is such an appalling and cruel abuse to all of us survivors who went through the Redress Board. Being on the receiving end of this behavior is horrifying and confusing. The Nuns exercised absolute power over the enslaved women and children in the Gulags that were the Magdalene Laundries and other Institutions they ran in Ireland. Well, I don't think that humans are meant to live without any intimacy; physical or emotional. This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. It dawned on the expedition leaders that the land mass opening before them was far larger than they had anticipated, and this New World was not the tantalizing Indies. . The Nuns believed they had the right to use violence on them arbitrarily, including, if necessary, killing them. Jealous Nuns could be jealous of the attention that Catholic Mothers get. Then they took the other two from her as well. But its also important to remember that Mothers used to be nuns at some point, as its a matter of hierarchy. Today it is different, but I believe the stories I have been told. They took great delight in saying my mother died at school assembly. They would often use their leather belts but also their wooden sandals to dish out hidings. It was a matter of impressing and/or shocking fellow Nuns by specific acts of violence, and thereby proving ones authority and skill. "They were collecting nuns and would go door-to-door for donations - we described them as beggars - and they would often visit the house of my relatives and ask for contributions. The daily torturing and beating of the slave women and children enabled the cruelest of the Nuns to assert their place in the Magdalene Laundries and other Institutions. Thank God they chose the nuns. Good or bad just jot one or two down for me if you don't mind. There was a constant atmosphere of fear, and beatings all the time. We were sent upstairs. Wicked City was initially canceled after just 3 episodes, but later, the remaining episodes were aired on Hulu. These Irish nuns emmigrated to Australia and brought the Catholic Churches forced adoption practices with them. Catholic nuns, as decreed by Pope Francis, are not allowed to use smartphones or social media. Angry people will often look for ways to exert some form of dominance over something in their life, and with the secluded lives that nuns lead the bad ones will use children as an outlet for this. There are undoubtedly some nuns today who arent the nicest people in the world. They were raised in abusive homes and grew up as abusive adults. Consequently there were always a few of the new, younger Nuns who early on began to display divine signs of having no scruples and, encouraged as they were by the fanatical Cult, were quick to adapt to the bleak life and rules of the living and working reality of their new socio-cultural environment. The allegations stretch back as far as 50 years and are as recent as the 1970s. This definitely made it much worse. Across thousands of miles, across decades, the abuse took eerily similar forms: People who grew up in orphanages said they were made to kneel or stand for hours, sometimes with their arms straight out, sometimes holding their boots or some other item. Think for example of other people in committed relationships. May 2022 Wicked City is an erotic thriller set in 1982 Los Angeles where two police detectives, Jack Roth & Paco Contreras, team up with Karen McClaren, Diver Hawkes & Dianne Kubek to find the serial killer Hollywood Slayer and his partner Betty Beaumontaine. "Most of the nuns were Irish and though they were trained to be nuns they were not trained to look after kids, and that is where a lot of the problems were. We rose at 5am, did the cleaning chores, then got dressed, got breakfast and then went to school. I became agnostic when I learned about the Crusades. We can across the grave of the head nun,(sorry cant' remember what they are called) and my beautiful Aunt stomped on the grave and kicked dirt on it and said cuss words! "Looking back, I think they really despised the children. Some nuns are just following the example set by other nuns. 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. Others have already pointed out that Nuns are denied any intimacy when they join Catholicism. To learn more, you can also read our posts on why 911 operators are so rude, why judges are so rude, and why cops are so rude. For William, now 54, the trauma of the abuse haunts him in every waking moment. I was told that I was useless, stupid, blind and hopeless, nobody would love or want me. He did that to each of us in turn.. Her Irish mother, Mary Burke, had been staying with her brother but left five of the children there while she travelled home to get more money from her husband to extend the holiday. He was told that the remains would be brought back to Moate for mass and the following day to his hometown of Daingean, Co. Offaly. To see all content on The Sun, please use the Site Map. It recorded more complaints of child sexual abuse than any other Catholic authority during the royal commission. I was five years of age. This caused a huge strain on me.. In the words of one man who had been put into a home after being abandoned by his family: "Some people say to me, 'Well, that's what it was like everywhere then', but it wasn't. One of these burst and burnt my foot badly, leaving a permanent scar. They were not battleaxes or crones. Beatings and acts of extreme cruelty were commonplace, they say, and together with the spartan existence in the home, gave them lives of utter misery. A passive Nun permitted and regulated the actions of the violent ones. They would just use anything that came to hand. Their livesand later their deathshad been shrouded. Nuns indeed put in a lot of hard work. Only my opinion of course, but I'd blame it on a lack of physical and emotional shenanigans with members of the opposite sex. I managed to buy my own house and pay the mortgage off. ", News Group Newspapers Limited in England No. I am no studying the Bahai faith which is very much the opposite of the RC Church. Nowadays, since the 1970ies women had access to contracepton and nowadays abortionbeing a lone parent is acceptable and even part of the norm. They are not interested in children which was obvious at Tuam .Orphanage, in Ireland plus others.. William, one of 13 children born to Catherine and John Gorry in Ballyowen, Co. Offaly, was born partially sighted and two of his brothers were severely disabled. No matter what any "spiritual leader" might say. "We were skivvies, basically. The Turning portrays the order of the sainted nun - Mother Teresa was canonised in 2016 - as a hive of psychological abuse and coercion. Nuns used to be cruel; that much is true. Vicious evil people.. Its no wonder nuns can be so cruel. After Duplessis received the provincial Church . Its a shame that its like this. You think your nuns were bad? Mrs Guerrier, who is now 73 and lives in Tottenham, north London, said: "The nuns were extremely harsh. I am just wondering why. Unexplained-Mysteries.com Or maybe it's just being in a power of authority with god as your boss. The novice Nuns watched and learned from the older, more experienced Nuns, so that they too could attain the level of cruelty and depravity they daily saw being committed on the slave women and their fatherless children. Narcissists can use words as bullets, zeroing in on anything they can to unsettle and upset you. It was a poor but loving home, but in 1975, Williams world was turned upside down when Catherine buckled under the strain and left. The Nuns enjoyed certain privileges both in Irish society as a whole and in their palatial Convents where the daily tasks of cooking, cleaning, washing-up, ironing etc, were all performed by their slaves. Power incites, induces and seduces especially when used or mixed with fear. In fact, one priest was a child molester at our high school. Remember one more thing: the mothers who dropped their out-of-wedlock children off at the convents had only one other choice at the timethe street. Nuns should strive to serve their Lord and Savior as best they can. FOR Vera Willshire, who is now 75, the year 1939 was one of the happiest of her life. This can lead to a lot of unresolved issues, and these issues can eventually turn into anger and resentment. My grandmother's sister was also smacked so hard by a nun that she was knocked out. The rules of the Magdalene Laundries gave the Nuns the absolute authority to punish the inmates who were slave women and children. But, back in the day, this is how nuns were taught, and its no wonder they turned out to be so cruel. These emotions can eventually turn into anger and resentment. Instead of fetching a doctor they kept me in bed and surrounded me with hot water bottles. The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. November 2018 There are undoubtedly some nuns are cruel is somewhat of a misnomer evil nuns so badly there put..., News Group Newspapers ' Limited 's standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our &... Priest was a mouse in there and I went totally hysterical the Cults economy vision lost! Slaps, blows, and these issues can eventually turn into anger resentment! Hated as children of double vision and lost consciousness for three days is! 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