Catholic Church and burning bodies

Letter in today’s Irish Times.

Sir,

Almost 20 years ago, the bodies of 22 women were exhumed from private land.

The identity of these women is still not known and no attempt has been made by the State or by the religious institution who interred these women, stripping them not only of their names but of their identity and of their existence, to find out who they were.

On the discovery of the 22 bodies on the grounds of High Park convent in Drumcondra, home to the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity and Refuge, the Irish State responded in a way which epitomises the utter disregard they had and have for women.

The Department of Environment issued a licence allowing the nuns to have the remains of the additional 22 women removed to Glasnevin for cremation, no investigation, no questions, no vigil, nothing.

Mary Raftery wrote about this travesty of justice, this unspeakable crime against women by both church and State almost 10 years ago.

It is indicative of the apathy of the Irish people and state that 10 years since Mary Raftery wrote this article, exposing the criminal nature of State-church collusion, we are still waiting for an apology for the enslavement and brutal treatment of Irish women.

It is not up to Enda Kenny alone to apologise but to us, as a nation, to show true remorse and come together to recognise and remember these forgotten women.

Yours, etc,

Medb McKevitt
Dublin

I strongly disagree with the letter writer’s opinion that the people of Ireland are in any way responsible for the horrors perpetrated by the Catholic Church in collusion with the State.

It must have been extremely difficult, and impossible in most cases, for an individual or even a group of individuals to challenge an evil, Nazi type organisation like the Catholic Church that ruthlessly exploited the absolute power bestowed upon it by a corrupt political system.