CHILD ABUSE BY NUNS

There have been many reports of sexual and physical abuse of children by nuns.

1. In 2009, the Sisters of Mercy offered to pay "a further €128m (£117m) to compensate for decades of abuse in its schools and orphanages."

"The compensation offer to the Irish education department is by far the largest from 18 orders of Catholic priests, brothers and nuns found guilty of chronic child abuse...

"A nine-year state investigation ruled that all the orders permitted and covered up endemic rape, molestation, beatings and mental cruelty in their children's institutions."

Sisters of Mercy to compensate child

2. The Kollenberg orphanage in Sittard was run by German Carmelite nuns.

"Bedwetters were forced to stand absolutely still, wearing nothing but their dirty underwear over their head.

3. "At a sanatorium run by Franciscan nuns in Bunde, naughty children were put in a tub filled with ice cold water, a punishment applied in other places as well."

Catholic nuns also abused children :: archief nrc.nl

4. The Poor Sisters of Nazareth are nuns who have looked after children in the order's dozens of homes in Britain; and in their many homes around the world.

Claims of sexual and physical abuse by the nuns have come from around the world.

Nuns 'abused children' - News - The Independent

In 1997, dozens of former residents of homes in Aberdeen, Glasgow, Midlothian and Kilmarnock claimed they had suffered vicious beatings and sexual abuse.



In 1998, a report was published into allegations of abuse at one of the order's homes in Queensland, Australia, over a 90-year period. 

The report told of how one girl, Helen Carter, had her legs burnt with a red-hot poker.

Vera Willshire was beaten so badly she had to stay in the infirmary for five weeks.

To hide injuries from visitors, children were put into a "black hole" without bedding, ventilation or light.

According to the report:

"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."

Nuns 'abused children' - News - The Independent

5. The Magdalene Laundries were run by nuns.

Young girls were sent to live in these asylums which operated in several parts of the world.

Since 2001, the Irish government has acknowledged that girls in the Magdalene laundries were victims of abuse. 

"Until well into the twentieth century, girls deemed to be 'difficult' – because they were sexually active, or sexually abused, or simply poor – were sent to laundries by their families or the state. Despite having committed no crime, they were not allowed to leave the institutions and were forced to work for no pay, making them literally slaves. Many women spent their entire lives there."

Depressing but not surprising: how the Magdalene Laundries got ...

Posted in: Child abuse,Magdalene,nuns,Poor Sisters of Nazareth,Sisters of Mercy