Bethany homes survivor’s anger at bishop’s ‘slur’ about his mother
THE survivor of a notorious mother and baby home in Dublin has told of being ‘offended’ by a letter written by Church of Ireland Archbishop Michael Jackson in which the clergyman describes women referred to the home as ‘women offenders’.
The Irish Mail on Sunday previously revealed that Mr Paul Graham (80), who was born in the Protestant-run Bethany Home in Dublin and now lives in Sydney, Australia, had reunited with a brother he had never met before on a recent trip to Ireland.
Mr Graham subsequently wrote to the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin after he visited Ireland in September to criticise the Church for what he described as ‘lying about their involvement’ in the home.
In response, Rev Jackson said: ‘The Church has always recognised that there was extensive fundraising on behalf of this home among various denominations and also the state from time to time wrote to the archbishop in respect of the homes being used as a place of residence for certain women offenders.’
Mr Graham believes a clear distinction should have been made by the Archbishop in his letter to him between the women who were detained in Bethany after being convicted of a crime and the women, like his birth mother Mary Johnson, who were detained because they had children out of wedlock.
Speaking with the MoS, Mr Graham said: ‘I did find it offensive. When I was in London I met my brother for the first time. The great thing was that his wife told me my mother was the best... loved everybody especially her grandchildren. It made me very happy.’
Mr Graham was adopted into an unhappy home in Belfast and had a difficult upbringing before running away at 14. He always wanted to know the truth about his birth mother as he was wrongly told she was a ‘prostitute who threw him away’.
He struggled for much of his life with alcoholism but has been sober for 38 years and has settled with his wife Hillary, 78, in Sydney where they raised their four children.
After years of research, Paul discovered he had a half-brother called Rodney Whittaker, 74. As
Rodney, tragically, has a diagnosis of dementia, his wife Pat, 71, filled Paul in on the details about his mother and it was a relief to learn she didn’t have the life he thought she had. For Paul, hearing women referred to as ‘offenders’ by the Archbishop was ‘hurtful’.
However, the United Diocese of
Dublin and Glendalough this week told the MoS, that the Archbishop was only referring to women who committed crimes and not women who had children out of wedlock.
A spokeswoman for the Archbishop said: ‘The Archbishop is careful to distinguish the women brought to the home as a result of pregnancy from that smaller group which had been referred by the courts. In his letter to Mr Graham, he was explaining the reason for some State correspondence referring to the use of Bethany by the courts as mentioned by Mr Graham in his letter. It is completely inaccurate to suggest that he was referring to all women at the home.’
Dr Niall Meehan, who has researched the Bethany Home told the MoS that while the Archbishop is referring to correspondence sent by ministers and the courts to the home, all women who were sent to the home were described, at the time, as inmates.
After reading the letter, Mr Meehan said: ‘It appears that Jackson is talking of women (plus teenagers) referred to Bethany by the courts or by the minister. However, classing all residents as “inmates” indicates that all were in Bethany to be punished. The women were considered as having committed crimes against morality or against the state. The children were the often discarded products of this alleged immorality.’
‘My mother was the best... loved everybody’ ‘Women referred to Bethany by the courts’