Paul KeenanDear Editor, I refer to the various letters (IC 12/6/14) concerning mother and baby homes and what has unfolded in recent days regarding the one in Tuam. As Morty O’Shea says, fuller and more accurate information is needed for a true assessment of what happened.
Having said that I am disturbed by some of the comment in Fr Con McGillicuddy’s letter. Ireland may indeed still have been recovering from a devastating civil war in 1925 but no matter who was responsible for looking after those who were living in mother and baby homes, whether religious or secular, there was no excuse for either the unwed mothers or their children being treated in an inhumane manner as if they were a lesser form of life.
A moral imperative to care for them should have been paramount.
In the past when similar situations have come to light there have been times of hand-wringing as if because it happened in the past it should be left in the past and is therefore nothing to do with us in the 21st Century. We all do well to remember Our Lord’s teaching that the Kingdom of God belongs to children (Luke 18:16).
Yours etc.,
Peter Stobart,
Belfast,
County Antrim.