Responding To The Mother And Baby Homes Report - By Fr. Patrick Cahill

This past week in Ireland, the country welcomed the release of the Final Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes.  Fr. Patrick Cahill discusses this issue in today's homily.

For our listeners outside of Ireland who are not familiar with this, the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home operated between 1925 and 1961 in the town of Tuam, County Galway, in the West of Ireland.  It was a maternity home for unmarried mothers and their children. The Home was run by the Catholic nuns of the Bon Secours Sisters. Unwed pregnant women were sent to the Home to give birth.

In 2012, the Health Service Executive in Ireland raised concerns that up to 1,000 children had been sent from the Home, for the purpose of illegal adoptions in the United States, without their mothers' consent.  Subsequent to that, it was also discovered that there was a high death rate among infants in the home.  Excavations carried out in late 2016 and early 2017 discovered a vault with twenty chambers, which was later identified as a sewage tank, and this is where the remains of the bodies were found.  The burial site was unmarked and unregistered. This sparked national outrage and so this report investigates this and other institutions in Ireland responsible for the care of unmarried mothers and their babies during the period of 1922 to 1998.

To read the full report published on 12th January 2021, visit https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/d4b3d-final-report-of-the-commission-of-investigation-into-mother-and-baby-homes/

 

                                                             ******************************

PAVING THE WAY HOME:

Website: http://pavingthewayhome.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pavingthewayhome

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pavingthewayhome_

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com

Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com

 

SUPPORT PAVING THE WAY HOME:

If you would like to financially support the work of Paving The Way Home so that we can keep on top of our costs and can continue to produce regular material, please visit http://pavingthewayhome.com/support-us/ .  Your support is greatly appreciated.  Thank you.

 

HOLY FAMILY MISSION:

Learn more about Fr. Patrick's work with Holy Family Mission at https://www.holyfamilymission.ie/