Too many were content to see unwed mums and babies suffer
Hysteria sustained by church and State forced women into unfit homes, writes
WE were not all “at it”. Not everyone let babies die cruelly in mother and child “homes”. Just as we were not all responsible for the reckless behaviour that later broke banks and cost Ireland billions. Blaming society in general is a means of avoiding accountability.
It is wrong for the official report on mother and child “homes” to claim that responsibility for harsh treatment meted out to single mothers and babies “rests mainly with the fathers of the children and their own immediate families”. To add simply that institutions of the State and church “supported”, “contributed to” or “condoned” that treatment is a cop-out.
It is puzzling for the report to claim prominently that: “There is no evidence that women were forced to enter mother and baby homes by the church or State authorities.” This is literalism, a narrow definition of “force” that misses the point. The report itself admits: “Most women had no alternative.” It states, too: “They were forced to leave home, and seek a place where they could stay without having to pay. Many were destitute.”
Social hysteria, sustained by church authorities and by the cowardice of governments, forced desperate women to enter unfit “homes” once the father of the baby or the parents of the mother failed to provide shelter and support.
Of course, society in general bears some blame. But no matter how rigidly communities treated pre-marital sex “to protect the farm”, it was no excuse for “refuges” that were funded by church and State letting innocent babies die and mistreating their mothers.
Those who were morally and professionally responsible for the system were government ministers, heads of government departments, religious orders, local bishops and gardaí, and doctors who used children as guinea pigs. Their behaviour was cowardly, unchristian. They knew of babies dying in disproportionate numbers, of women in misery, because of abuse and rape, but looked away.
The failure of church and State to pursue older fathers guilty of rape or incest was one reason for the scandal, but the report blaming terrified young fathers seems not far off blaming the mothers themselves.
Public relations apologies, by politicians who say sorry on behalf of everyone before moving on, are cheap. There were, in fact, some who spoke up when it came to mother and child “care”. People like health inspector Alice Litster, who pointed out what was wrong but was ultimately ignored.
Another was Minister Noel Browne, politically terminated in the 1950s for wanting the best possible medical service for mothers and babies. And there were those like Edna O’Brien and John McGahern, who left Ireland when condemned for writing frankly about sex. Those in power did too little to change attitudes. They ensured what President Higgins on Friday defined as “a judgmental, authoritarian version of church/State relations” prevailed. Hysterical book and film censorship bred ignorance. Young people were denied contraception, despite the fact that this inevitably meant more unwanted babies.
It is sobering to recall that in the late 1950s a railway worker was jailed, and lost his pensionable job in Naas, because he sold condoms.
Before sentencing him to two months’ jail and fining him £20, Justice O’Grady said, “I have given this case careful consideration and I look upon it as a very serious matter” (Leinster Leader, December 14, 1957). One month later, a senior counsel persuaded the Circuit Court to remit his prison sentence and halve the fine. But the man did not get his job back. The local parish priest also took steps to ensure that he would not receive the State pension.
And not even a woman made pregnant through rape or incest, no matter how brutal the circumstances, could get an abortion. It was out of the question. But having her baby die of malnourishment and neglect in a “home” was not. Some lives were more sacred than others.
Too many citizens were satisfied to see unmarried mothers and their “bastards” suffer. Others were afraid. Speaking out could tar you as a troublemaker, and that mattered when so many scarce jobs were determined partly by religious favouritism and political pull. All it took was a nod to ruin your chances.
Recently we have seen what happened when Garda Maurice McCabe spoke out about corruption in the justice system. He was almost crushed personally as senior gardaí, officials and opinion-formers looked the other way or rubbished him. How much harder it was to speak out in the mid-20th century.
Catholic authorities groomed the fiction of Ireland as a special, moral society. It was a unique example, an English-speaking country that was Catholic when others were not. It pumped out children for whom it had no jobs but many of whom came to staff the Roman Catholic mission overseas, from Africa to Alberta. The Irish Catholic Church once helped to educate and inspire generations of Irish people. It ran health and social services when nobody else did. The image of the loving Sacred Heart became a symbol of the people’s spiritual identity.
After Independence, bishops abused their power. They have alienated many from religion. When the bulk of a nation loses its cultural identity without finding a coherent new one, it leaves society prey to darker forces. Where there was faith and hope, church authorities sowed doubt and despair. The psychological implications of this are generally ignored.
Irish Catholic authorities have not been up to the task of reform. The hierarchy listens to whom it likes to hear. Even as the report recited shocking details last week, church authorities would or could not say where all the abused and neglected babies are buried. The new Archbishop of Dublin is already busy refusing to bless divorced couples in second relationships and gay couples who are Christian.
Bishops expressed regret last week, politicians apologised. But there was no TV or Zoom event to grip the national imagination, no sight of church and State in robust dialogue with those most hurt. Still today, some Irish children suffer unacceptable conditions and inequality.