Posted by Cara Solomon
Recently on this blog, Global Human Rights fellow Maeve O’Rourke, LLM ’10, wrote about Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries, where as many as tens of thousands of women and girls were forced to live and work for the commercial benefit of four orders of Catholic nuns. Today, thanks to photographer Tarquin Blake, we’re posting some striking images of The Good Shepherd Convent/Magdalene Asylum, which operated a residential laundry until the late 1970s.
A big thanks to Tarquin for letting us post his images. Check out his project, Abandoned Ireland, here.
those poor women
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my mother elizabeth lynch was reared in the good shephards.she was 5yrs old.elizabeth ended up in the home for unmarried mothers in blackrock in cork.i was born 13/6/1961.6months later she was sent to our lady’s mental hospital.she died from a seizaure approx 10 yrs later.anytime i have made enquires re;information on family ,medical records i come up against a brick wall.i have already tried f.o.i.which turned out incorrect with very limited information on it.i have no idea where to get any information on my birthmother who now lies in a paupers grave in st.finbarrs cemetery.
i too have been trying to get the records of my stay at the good shepherd convent, both convents have been closed down and i traced the nuns to a residence in pretoria after contacting them i was told there were no records. So I have now tried the child welfare in Durban as I was made a ward of the court when sent to the convent. To date I have had no response
why all the secrecy.i would dearly love to know about my birthmother.just little things such as do i look like her.do i have any of her personality any of her gifts and talants.are there any family members out there.i get worried when i hear i am going to be blessed with a new grandchild i worry abiut medical history.it is all very cloak and dagger .
Dear Maura and Anne,
It may be useful to read through the following websites of volunteer-run organisations in Ireland, which provide lots of information about, and help with, tracing family members.
Adoption Rights Alliance
http://www.adoptionrightsalliance.com/support.htm
Adoption Support Network of Ireland
http://www.adoption.ie/
Justice for Magdalenes
http://magdalenelaundries.com/resources.htm
It has been well documented that the vows taken by the Good Shepherd Sisters, also known as the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd is an order of religious women of the Roman Catholic Church. According to Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia, additional to the standard vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, the Good Shepherd Sisters take the fourth vow of zeal for saving souls particularly of women and girls which reads ” I bind myself to the labor for the conversion of fallen women and girls needing refuge from the temptation of the world”.
So how do these nuns carry out the vow which they have taken?
I will now tell the story of my sister and how she was treated in their institutions for the “conversion of fallen women and girls needing refuge from the temptation of the world”.
She was a young child of about eleven years old when she was sadly sexually abused by her father (now deceased) and after a traumatic court hearing was placed in the custody of the Good Shepherd Convent (Mount Marian) in Montclair, Durban.
She was incarcerated in the convent and the nuns gave her the name of “Anne”, removing her identity as this was their policy.
Each day was carried out in silence where they attended Mass, marched to the dining room, prayed and then were marched again in silence to do the chores of cleaning, polishing and washing corridors, verandas, dormitories etc. After school they were marched up to the laundry where they were put to work doing the hospital laundry of washing sheets, towels, table clothes, pillow slips etc. Boiler suits which were covered in grease had to be washed, dried and ironed. Shirts were washed, starched and had to be ironed in a certain way. They had a commercial tumble washer which was called “the mangle” due to the fact that quite a few of the girls over the years had got their fingers and hands caught in it and were crippled and burnt by it.
“Anne” ran away at one stage as she could no longer stand the abuse and treatment meted out by the nuns but was caught and taken back to the convent. This resulted in her being locked up for several months in the dressing room which was a room under the stage in the hall. She was in solitary confinement with nothing to do, no school, no books, no nothing and no exercise and the only contact which she had was with the girl who brought her food to her.
She was finally transferred to the Johannesburg convent but found it very hard to settle in as she had been on her own for so long with no one to talk to she just could not stand being part of a crowd of girls. She just could not mix and just stayed silent, she felt totally dehumanised.
Some of the girls started to snigger about her and talk behind her back, they made fun of her because she never spoke to any of them and she just did as she was told by the nuns. One day she could not handle it anymore and she yelled at one of the girls to stop and leave her alone. Unfortunately the girl in question was Mother …………..’s favourite who actually got a nod from Mother …………and she attacked her and really beat her up. She was a mess and she believed that she really lost her mind, anyway she ended up in the infirmary away from everyone and stayed there for a while.
“Anne” was a slave to the Good Shepherd Convent who was deprived of her childhood, denied her freedom, deprived of her brothers and sisters, removed from an abusive home into an abusive institution, and then endured an abusive marriage that lasted some twenty four years before she found her freedom.
She had never been taught that she had rights and that she could make choices, now at sixty three years of age she needs closure and the need to stand up and be counted and to ensure that the people who abused her step up to the plate – this includes the Good Shepherd Convents and the Catholic Church.
“Anne” had done nothing wrong, she was the unfortunate victim but had to endure the treatment handed out by these women who were bound to “the labour for the conversion of fallen women and girls needing refuge from the temptation of the world”???????????????
I have written “Anne’s” story and hope that others who have lived their lives at the hands the nuns will come forward and tell their story. Believe me you are not alone.
i wish her all the luck in the world god love her my mam was in good shepherd in 1966 she had her baby taken from her and he was adopted and my mam eventually left that awful place and settled here in england i need answers too but dont know where to start i need to do this for her god rest her soul,catherine barlow xxx
I have just recently started tracing my birth mother and found out that she was sent to the good shepherds after my birth, she was there for almost 3 yrs, is there any way to get information regarding this or is it a closed book like everything else?
I doubt whether you will get any records as these were non existent for my sister. I do not know what they have done with them but if the convents have the records they sure are not parting with them. Good luck in your search.
i was in blackrock my son was born thire in juily 1973-i was lucky my sister took me out and my son they wanted me to give up my son no way i fought them al the way i hated them and the place some girls had no one just left thire they had a hard time as no one cared abouth them they had thire babys and cared for them for six weeks one morning thire told to dress thire baby next thing thire baby was taken into a nother room nevery to be seen again i hated them nuns it was a sad and hard time back then glad its gon now . al the best
my mam was sent to the good shepherd convent in 1966 if anyone was there at that time could they please contact me just want to chat and see if i can find anything out or anyone that knew her,my email is phunnybunny2@hotmail.co.uk xxx
Does anybody know if babies were actually at Magdalene Home. The one I have in mind is Gloucester St., Dublin. Also, I think Good Shephered records are held in Cork.
I am doing Ph.D research on the Magdalen Laundries and would like to hear from anyone who was in the Laundries over the last 80 years. Please contact
Marie Brennan Ph.D Research
School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work
Queens University Belfast
6 College Park
Belfast, BT7 1LP
Direct Line: 028 9097 3311
Email: mbrennan25@qub.ac.uk
http://www.qub.ac.uk/soc