Andrew Brennan's Blog (27)

When my friend died

everything altered

Memories faded slowly

leaving this trace

of sadness

in the twilight

where memories

flicker,…

Anger written on a page

Enchantment shattered,

sense scattered

Ink ravenous with rage hacks and scratches

Till hearts, scythed and asunder,

deaden, stiffen, nerves shriven.

Imagine that! As a…

Paddy Doyle is dead. He authored the book The God Squad and it'll get a mention in the news. TDs and thier ilk will be rolled out to say a few words but at the time of the books publication in the late-80s no legislator read the book. It took until 2009 for survivors stories/testimony to be acknowledged. RIP Paddy.

Thousands of people in Switzerland who were forced into child labour are demanding compensation for their stolen childhoods. Since the 1850s hundreds of thousands of Swiss children were taken from their parents and sent to farms to work - a practice that continued well into the 20th Century.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-29765623

The Irish religious orders humiliations on little children and their Mums in the Institutions, is a long and sordid history. It has gone on since the birth of the nation. Their presumed moral authority has been a solid foundation for these kinds of abuses. And these Religious Orders thought they had the right to commit these abuses against the children. Because they were poor and their parent(s) had little education, some people in the government of this coutry – and that includes the…

CASE OF D.G. v. IRELAND

In the case of D.G. v. Ireland,

The European Court of Human Rights (Third Section), sitting as a Chamber composed of:

          Mr     G. Ress, President,

          Mr     I. Cabral Barreto,

          Mr     L.…

The Virgin Mary is pregnant and it’s an unpleasant — even shocking — surprise.

At least that’s how she is depicted in a controversial new billboard erected Tuesday by St. Matthew-in-the-City, an Anglican church in Auckland, N.Z.  Swathed in blue, green and red robes, a shocked Mary clasps her hand over her mouth while looking at a pregnancy test.

“Regardless of any premonition, that discovery (of being pregnant) would have been shocking,” vicar Glynn Cardy and associate priest…

All that glitters is not gold

Behind all the glitter, the flashing neon and the mood music there are many people outcast from society - cast into the shadow by a shamed system.  Many who went through the Industrial Schools system ended up on the streets; many of them lived…

Survivor of Fr. Brendan Smyth outlines case against Brady - Brady spent 14 years putting obstacles in his way.

INTERVIEW

.. the Main f

indings from the Commission of Investigation into your Diocese are as follows:



YOU misled a previous inquiry and gave a false account of how YOU were handling allegations



Between 1996 and 2005, YOUR diocese failed to report nine out of 15 complaints made against priests, which ‘very clearly should have been reported. The most serious lapse was the failure to report the two cases in which the alleged victims were minors at the time the complaint was…

 A meticulously maintained secret archive on abuse allegations against clerics in the Diocese of Cloyne is sure to be a major part of the (soon to be published) report into the diocese of Cloyne.

The archive apparently contains stunning data on abuse allegations dating over several years, related correspondence, clerical responses and the diocesan handling of the…

From the record of Dail Eireann

Maureen O’Connell, a deputy of the…

Human Rights Commission

Ireland has committed itself to promoting and protecting human rights. The Irish Government must report on a regular basis to the United Nations (UN) on the extent to which it is meeting these obligations. In October 2011, Ireland will be examined by the UN under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). Under this new and innovative review process:



* Ireland will report on its…

Bear in mind this was written in 2005 - before the publication of the Ryan Report.

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Kicking the church more fun than facing real problems

Charlie 'The Hare' Maguire was one of the dwindling number of survivors from Ireland’s gulag of the 1940s – the industrial school system. A powerless man seemingly perceived as a rural outsider, he spent nearly two-thirds of his life in the custody of the State, and died after nearly half a century as a patient in St Davnet’s hospital in Monaghan.

Charlie Maguire was born in 1933 on a small farm at Knockroe, near the Co Cavan…