The Magdalene Laundries?

[xDreamerx]

Have we ever discussed them here? After seeing the Magdalene Sisters and Sex in a Cold Climate (A documentary that The Magdalene Sisters was based on), I thought "OMG this is one of most disturbing things I've ever seen". Then I thought, "It would be a good topic to post about on FJ." so here it is. :) I'll put links to the movie below. I was going to link to the documentary but that account has since been closed.

It has Ann-Marie Duff who played Elizabeth I in the BBC miniseries The Virgin Queen.

Edit, the movie page has a working link to the documentary in the description section. Here it is:

[finleeport]

I saw a movie called Magdalene Sisters, and I felt like I wanted to choke those sadomasochistic bitchy nuns.

One thing that surprises me that these people always believe that Mary Magdalene was a whore, when in fact she wasn't (according to the Orthodox Church, she was a relative to the Virgin Mary).

[prairiemuffin]

This is the site of a foundation dedicated to keeping the stories alive and pursuing acknowledgement and justice. Some of the media links are broken, but there are still some good interviews you can listen to:

http://www.magdalenelaundries.com/index.htm

eta: the documentary is also here:

[saraelise]

I watched that film a few years ago, could literally not believe my eyes. I watched a great documentary about the subject too, I wish I could remember the name. I have no idea how people can commit atrocities like these in the name of a loving God. I just don't.

[saraelise]

I watched that film a few years ago, could literally not believe my eyes. I watched a great documentary about the subject too, I wish I could remember the name. I have no idea how people can commit atrocities like these in the name of a loving God. I just don't.

[ItISjustme]

I saw this very disturbing film several years ago. Unfortunately, I had no problem believing there were nuns as sadistic as this. My mother was in a Catholic children's home and had some very upsetting stories to tell about how she and the other children - children who were orphans or neglected or abandoned, remember, and needing love and care - were treated. Just before she died she was signed up as part of a law suit against the order that ran the place (Nazareth House for anyone out there who knows it) but she died before she saw any justice.

[Witsec7]

I lost friends to the Maggies. It was not uncommon for pals to disappear over night. My parents threatened me with the Maggies. A college prof helped me lawyer up.

[CanadianHippie]

One thing that surprises me that these people always believe that Mary Magdalene was a whore, when in fact she wasn't (according to the Orthodox Church, she was a relative to the Virgin Mary).

7th century someone decide she was a whore... 1960's the Catholic church finally released a statement that she wasn't a whore (which they had know for a while before that)... 2012 there are still people out there who think she was, including some religious leaders.

The reason someone once decided to say she was a whore? She is often said to be the same woman who was described simply as "a woman of sin" in another chapter.

[xDreamerx]

I lost friends to the Maggies. It was not uncommon for pals to disappear over night. My parents threatened me with the Maggies. A college prof helped me lawyer up.

Wow. That's horrible. I'm glad you didn't end up in one of those awful places. Sinead O'Connor was in one just for shoplifting. She said one of the nuns was nice to her there and that's how she learned to play guitar. (Or at least that's what I read).

Yeah it's because of a verse in Luke (I believe if memory serves) that talks about a sinner wiping Jesus' feet with her hair. Then in the next verse Mary Magdalene is mentioned so good old Pope Gregory decided they were one in the same.

I actually think the real Mary is a good example, in the sense that she was a disciple and an intellectual. She was curious to learn the teachings of Jesus, at least according to the Gnostic Gospels.

I think she deserves to be considered an Apostle since she witnessed the risen Christ and was commissioned to go tell the others, at least according to the account given in Gospel of John. But I won't hold my breath.

[Witsec7]

I actually think the real Mary is a good example, in the sense that she was a disciple and an intellectual. She was curious to learn the teachings of Jesus, at least according to the Gnostic Gospels.

I don't disagree with Jesusists or much of the Gnostic Gospels. The Christ was a revealed teacher. Religion perverted his message.

A friend of mine from college vanished into the Maggies, had a child there, 7 years later when she was released, she could no longer function as an adult. I was very frightened and went to a prof, it was a horrid time for me, with out his help my parents could have made me vanish.

[koolmom]

I saw this very disturbing film several years ago. Unfortunately, I had no problem believing there were nuns as sadistic as this. My mother was in a Catholic children's home and had some very upsetting stories to tell about how she and the other children - children who were orphans or neglected or abandoned, remember, and needing love and care - were treated. Just before she died she was signed up as part of a law suit against the order that ran the place (Nazareth House for anyone out there who knows it) but she died before she saw any justice.

Odd co-inky-dence in my corner of the free world. Recall wife-killer Scott Peterson? His mother was placed in a Nazareth Home after her own father was brutally murdered and she with her sibs were farmed out when their mother could no longer care for them. To show how ineffective all that brainwashing was, Jackie Chatham, later Peterson, after she married Scott's dad, had three children prior to meeting the Mister.

Closer yet, I've known my dad was placed in a similar home when he was a lad, then found out recently, his cousin (female) had been, too. Neither of them have ever shared any stories of abuse, but my aunt shared a disturbing memory of abuse from her childhood; have to wonder if places like the aforementioned made it easier for so-inclined parents to abuse their own kids or might it just been the era they lived in (mid-Thirties' era)?

[ItISjustme]

Odd co-inky-dence in my corner of the free world. Recall wife-killer Scott Peterson? His mother was placed in a Nazareth Home after her own father was brutally murdered and she with her sibs were farmed out when their mother could no longer care for them. To show how ineffective all that brainwashing was, Jackie Chatham, later Peterson, after she married Scott's dad, had three children prior to meeting the Mister.

Closer yet, I've known my dad was placed in a similar home when he was a lad, then found out recently, his cousin (female) had been, too. Neither of them have ever shared any stories of abuse, but my aunt shared a disturbing memory of abuse from her childhood; have to wonder if places like the aforementioned made it easier for so-inclined parents to abuse their own kids or might it just been the era they lived in (mid-Thirties' era)?

Very interesting. Both my mum and dad (and their siblings) were in Nazareth House and of the ones who spoke about their experience, stories vary. My aunt even became a nun so she clearly didn't have a problem. My mum was very anti authority her whole life and wouldn't take anything meekly so perhaps she was extra difficult.

It was the thirties and theories on child care were very different, of course. Corporal punishment was standard. However, making kids who wet the bed stand naked with their wet sheet on their heads and hitting a child with an abcess on her ear directly on said ear isn't acceptable in any period. Those are just a couple of stories I heard from mum.

[Maul the Koala]

I just watched Sex in a Cold Climate. It reminds me of these days where people don't really want to teach their children about sex. The lady who had her son taken away broke my heart and that she didn't know what sex was when she was doing it.

So angry thinking about it. Are there any other documentaries out there?

[Cran]

Really extremely moving and sobering film!

The issue with supposedly "fallen women" seems to be a cultural one, though, not limited to this church, I once read that in the US, a protestant denomination had similar homes, although not on the same scale. Makes me mistrust religion even more: All this modern sugar-coating, we all love each other etc. seems to be only a thin layer of paint over the true face. That goes for the weakest in society first, children and women.

(We had a large scandal in Germany the last few years, about the ill treatment and abuse children received in the middle of the 20th century in children's homes, many of them were run by the church.)

[longskirtlotsakids]

I lost friends to the Maggies. It was not uncommon for pals to disappear over night. My parents threatened me with the Maggies. A college prof helped me lawyer up.

Wow. My mom is from Eire. She married a few months along. I shiver to think how things may have ended up for her otherwise. This was in the 70's, and girls were still being committed in the 80's from my studies.

Edited to add: This lil fact only came after I saw the film the Magdalene Sisters and started studying them with a fervor. My mom still won't talk much about them, or how much she feared them. She doesn't talk much about her home country, truly- silence is still ingrained in her fifty years later.

[Avalondaughter]

I saw the Magdalene Sisters years ago. Truly chilling. The only reason they closed them is because modernization meant that more people had laundry facilities in their homes and the Maggies were no longer needed. The Catholic Church tries to shove this piece of history aside.

It was FJ that alerted me to Hephzibah House. I kept thinking it sounded like a Protestant version of the Maggies. It made me realize that institutions like this don't go away easily.

[xDreamerx]

Apparently (according to Wikipedia) there were Protestant equivalents to the Magdalene Laundries called Bethany Laundries. I don't know how they were run, but I think it's safe to assume they were just as bad.

It shocked me to learn that the last Magdalene Laundry didn't close until 1996. The Irish government has apparently tried to investigate the situation...but I have a feeling it's a lot like the situation with Residential Schools in Canada (except those were about the racial assimilation of Native peoples).

Apparently there were Magdalene laundries in Canada as well, but I don't know much about them.

[freejoytoo]

I've seen that film and felt seriously depressed to put it mildly. I tried to watch it again last year and couldn't make it all the way through so I've decided not to put myself through it again. It makes me so angry that the Catholic Church basically refuses to acknowledge this or apologise to the girls involved.

[fakepigtails73]

I saw a movie called Magdalene Sisters, and I felt like I wanted to choke those sadomasochistic bitchy nuns.

One thing that surprises me that these people always believe that Mary Magdalene was a whore, when in fact she wasn't (according to the Orthodox Church, she was a relative to the Virgin Mary).

I saw that movie and wanted to slap the nuns as well.

I was flabergasted to learn that the last Magdalen laundries in Ireland closed in...1997.

[emmyfair]

I've seen that film and felt seriously depressed to put it mildly. I tried to watch it again last year and couldn't make it all the way through so I've decided not to put myself through it again. It makes me so angry that the Catholic Church basically refuses to acknowledge this or apologise to the girls involved.

Ditto. I felt like I was going to throw up at the end of the film. The maggies are just one of many nasty things the Catholic church is struggling to cover up, however. I survived Opus Dei and escaped, but I know lots that didn't get out.

[Guest Anonymous]

I saw a movie called Magdalene Sisters, and I felt like I wanted to choke those sadomasochistic bitchy nuns.

One thing that surprises me that these people always believe that Mary Magdalene was a whore, when in fact she wasn't (according to the Orthodox Church, she was a relative to the Virgin Mary).

Mary Magdalene's "whoredom" was a 7th century invention of Pope Jerome. Nowhere in the New Testament is she described as a prostitute. I should think that the disciples would have rebelled against having such a person in on their innermost councils. One of the Gospels did state that she was possessed by demons, which Jesus rid her of. Otherwise, all mentions of her are couched in respectful terms.

[Kitty]

I couldn't make it past the first few minutes of part 2. Fucking depressing :(

[lilwriter85]

I watched the movie when it was in theaters and it was pretty hard film to watch. i have read a few articles about the Magadelene Laundries.

[Kitty]

I watched the movie when it was in theaters and it was pretty hard film to watch. i have read a few articles about the Magadelene Laundries.

I've read some articles too- I'd rather read the articles than watch the movie. Something about "show, don't tell..."

[Cran]

The problem with Mary is that there are so MANY of them, and some unnamed women, too, so Mary of Magdalene got to be identified with several of them, so her story is kind of mashed-up, and so she became a prostitute. In the early church, she was held in high esteem as the apostola apostolorum, the teacher of the Apostels (because she told them about the resurrection).