Magdalene Asylums

[Preachers12]

Brethren in Christ, God give you Peace.

Someone recently brought this topic up in a very negative manner about Catholicism and I had never heard of it. I'm looking for suggestions on resources to learn more about it that are reliable.

Peace and grace to you,
P12

 

[Filia Mariae]

Mgadalene Homes have generally been places where women who had reformed a sinful lifestyle, frequently prostitution, could live while they got back on their feet. There was recently an independent film about a Magdalene home in Ireland that slammed the Church and the sisters.

 

[pmcleanj]

When I was a girl, "the Magdalene" was known as the place where girls went who had "gotten in trouble" -- which meant, were pregnant. They would go to the Magdalene before their pregnancy began to show. Their parents would tell people that they were visiting an aunt, or away at boarding school. When the baby was born it would be put up for adoption from the Magdalene, and the girl would come home "from visiting her aunt" with her reputation intact.

Yes, it sounds medeaival. But as little as forty years ago, that was the norm for a girl who got pregnant. There were no pregnant teens in highschool, no "teen mothers" classes interspersed between academic classes.

 

[Miss Shelby]

Ask Axion. He put a good deal about it on another board.

Michelle

 

[Irish Melkite]

Mgadalene Homes have generally been places where women who had reformed a sinful lifestyle, frequently prostitution, could live while they got back on their feet. There was recently an independent film about a Magdalene home in Ireland that slammed the Church and the sisters.

Carly and pm,

I'm afraid you both have a somewhat uninformed view of the so-called Magdalene Laundries, which would be what the OP referred to. There is a reasonably accurate description of the history at The Magdalene Laundries. I can provide additional sites, if anyone wants to pursue the subject further. Although the film referenced was harsh, the story depicted was essentially accurate. Their history is an unfortunate blot on the Irish Catholic Church.

See also Unfortunately, It's True, Magdalene Laundries, and the Apology of the Sisters of Mercy.

Many years,

Neil

 

[pmcleanj]

The Magdalene Laundries were a specific "Magdalene" home. They weren't the only one, and the term was used in the vernacular for homes for unwed mothers. I did have friends as a girl who "got in trouble", and some of them actually ended up having a better experience and better mentoring at "the Magdalene" (which was not the Magdalene Laundries of documentary notoriety) than they got from their own mothers. One still remembers the Sister Superior as the first real "mother" she ever knew.

Of course, the bad experiences make much better press, but it's good to remember the situations where devout religious women did real good, too.

 

[Miss Shelby]

Carly and pm,

I'm afraid you both have a somewhat uninformed view of the so-called Magdalene Laundries, which would be what the OP referred to. There is a reasonably accurate description of the history at The Magdalene Laundries. I can provide additional sites, if anyone wants to pursue the subject further. Although the film referenced was harsh, the story depicted was essentially accurate. Their history is an unfortunate blot on the Irish Catholic Church.

See also Unfortunately, It's True, Magdalene Laundries, and the Apology of the Sisters of Mercy.

Many years,

Neil

Yes there is some truth to it, but that movie is basically a smear campaign against the Church.

Michelle