Children forced to eat vomit in Church run homes

Children at residential homes run by Catholic nuns were treated like prisoners at a Nazi concentration camp, a former resident has claimed.The largest ever public inquiry into child abuse at residential care homes in Northern Ireland has heard harrowing details of victim's experiences.
Children at the church-run "hell hole" were made to eat their own vomit, the courthad already been told.
Young people at Sisters of Nazareth properties in Derry were known by their numbers rather than names and many allegedly subjected to humiliation, threats and physical abuse, counsel to the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry Christine Smith QC said.
One witness told the inquiry on Tuesday he was put in a chain gang polishing floors, bathed in detergent as punishment and sexually assaulted by a woman when he was aged five or six.
The Sisters of Nazareth order of nuns oversaw St Joseph's Home in Termonbacca in Londonderry and used to bathe the children in Jeyes fluid.
The witness claimed: "It was kind of like a Zyklon B gas chamber."
The alleged abuse happened in the 1950s and '60s. He was later transferred to a home in Galway in the Irish Republic owned by the Christian Brothers.
"Essentially a Gulag, a child's prison," he claimed.
He added: "The comparison was two hell holes. Which is better? It is difficult to describe when things are bad, you are on a race to the bottom. Salthill (Galway) was Auschwitz, Termonbacca was Treblinka."
The treatment of children in church-run residential homes is a key concern of the investigation being held in Banbridge, Co Down. It is chaired by retired judge Sir Anthony Hart and is considering cases between 1922, the foundation of Northern Ireland, and 1995.
The Nazareth House Children's Home and St Joseph's Home, Termonbacca, were run by the Sisters of Nazareth in Londonderry. Those allegedly abused there will give evidence later this week.
The religious order has already issued a public apology.
Public hearings are due to finish in June 2015, with the inquiry team to report to Stormont's power-sharing Executive by the start of 2016.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/01/28/northern-ireland-child-abuse_n_4679717.html?

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Reply 1

ash92:)

Original post by Ravenous

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/01/28/northern-ireland-child-abuse_n_4679717.html?

Disturbing.
Did they say why they thought the children deserved such treatment?

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 2

Ravenous

Original post by ash92:)

Disturbing.
Did they say why they thought the children deserved such treatment?

Posted from TSR Mobile

Not that I know of

Reply 3

User995789

Make another thread but instead of church name it "mosque" and see how many responses you will get. (Loads)

Its shocking that this kind of crap is allowed to happen and nothing happens till its too late.

Reply 4

FredOrJohn

Original post by ash92:)

Disturbing.
Did they say why they thought the children deserved such treatment?

Normally one would assume that the adult involved was having some sort of mental illness and the social services should be able to spot the abused child. I guess this must be a result of the 2008 crash and the cut backs in social care.

I think, if the Catholic community all voted Labour, this type of thing would not happen. However, I can see that Conservative policies (cut backs) also have a valid reason. Its a shame that its the children that will suffer .
Difficult question - should religious people vote right or left in order to help children the most ?

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 5

Plainview

Original post by Blueray2

Maybe that's because the news would then be totally made up.

Reply 6

Plainview

Original post by FredOrJohn

So Catholic nuns forcing kids to eat vomit is the fault of the Tories?

Reply 7

GR3YFOXXX

Unfortunately this story happened in my home town. Totally f*cked up.

Reply 8

FredOrJohn

Original post by Plainview

So Catholic nuns forcing kids to eat vomit is the fault of the Tories?

... One would assume so. I mean , having met significant numbers of religious people this is not normal behaviour. LOL. One would assume thier abnormal behaviour was not spotted by the social services. So one would expect this must be due to the crash of 2008 and the cut backs there after. I wonder why its not the main news item on BBC. Really weird.

Reply 9

Plainview

Original post by FredOrJohn

"The alleged abuse happened in the 1950s and '60s"

Reply 10

FredOrJohn

Original post by Plainview

"The alleged abuse happened in the 1950s and '60s"

Oh, OK. Well in that case, can't answer specific question, but in a general sense education in Ireland during 50s 60s was way better then the UK as Ireland was a third world country in 50s but now its GDP per capita is either greater or on par with UK... Really the question, in a general sense, should be why were the Irish NUNS so much BETTER at educating people then the UK education system of the 1950s and 1960s...

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 11

Wattsy

Original post by FredOrJohn

Original post by Plainview

"The alleged abuse happened in the 1950s and '60s"

Well that is a prime example of why you shouldn't assume and to read the OP before commenting.

This is horrible and its probably not the main item on BBC because:

1) It's the lunchtime news
2) It's Irish news
3) It happened more than 40 years ago.

Reply 12

FredOrJohn

Original post by Wattsy

I was being facetious because the thread was not serious...

Reply 13

ash92:)

Original post by FredOrJohn

But from what was apparent to me after reading the excerpt. more than one person was involved :dontknow:

Reply 14

FredOrJohn

Original post by ash92:)

But from what was apparent to me after reading the excerpt. more than one person was involved :dontknow:

Could be but as I said, we can't answer specific question (we don't know enough), but in a general sense education in Ireland during 50s 60s was way better then the UK as Ireland was a third world country in 50s but now its GDP per capita is either greater or on par with UK... Really the question, in a general sense, should be why were the Irish NUNS so much BETTER at educating people then the UK education system of the 1950s and 1960s... We can only go on GENERAL trends , not specific incidences because even the best systems have bad failings

Reply 15

ash92:)

Original post by FredOrJohn

I see where you are coming from...but my question was to the incidence of the thread specifically, as opposed to the country and children homing/educational performance as a whole.

Reply 16

AreebWithaHat

If you want more traffic on this thread. Needs less Christianity and more Islam :wink:

Reply 17

scrotgrot

It has nothing to do with religion, secular institutions are no different as we see from abuse in care homes.

Religion is at best an aggravating factor resulting from the fact that rigid moralising means "punishment" can be used as a justification for abuse

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 18

FredOrJohn

Original post by AreebWithaHat

If you want more traffic on this thread. Needs less Christianity and more Islam :wink:

OK - Why do Islamic states, in a general sense, educate their children to a lower standard then the irish nuns (using them as a low bench mark).
From the press:
"
In reading, Irish students are now ranked 4th out of 34 and Ireland is outperforming counties like New Zealand, Australia, Northern Ireland and the US. Ireland is performing at a similar level to Finland, regarded as a leader in education, and ahead of all other European countries.
"

Reply 19

Swanbow

Original post by FredOrJohn

This is a historic case, read the article and read up on Catholic orphanage abuse. It isn't the fault of our current government so don't try turn it into a politics debate. Plus Catholics tend to vote Labour outside of Northern Ireland anyway.