BishopAccountability.org

Sisters of Nazareth: Nuns held to account for decades of CHILD ABUSE

By Ben Borland
Express
April 22, 2018

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/949466/child-abuse-scotland-sisters-nazareth-inquiry-survivors-brenda-banks

The Sisters of Nazareth have consistently refused to apologise or pay compensation

Sister Anna Maria Doolan of the Sisters of Nazareth on way to Scottish Child Abuse inquiry

‘It left me scarred for life' says Brenda Banks

[with video]

A CATHOLIC order has been accused of lacking compassion after complaining of a “difficult year” as they are finally held to account for decades of child abuse.

A CATHOLIC order has been accused of lacking compassion after complaining of a “difficult year” as they are finally held to account for decades of child abuse.

The second phase of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry will begin examining the shameful history of the Sisters of Nazareth on Tuesday, with hearings expected to continue until the early summer.

Hundreds of survivors have come forward to give evidence about beatings, cruelty and sexual assaults at the order’s four Scottish orphanages in Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Kilmarnock.

The scandal was first exposed more than 20 years ago but legal red tape and a lack of political will led to an extraordinary delay in bringing the abuse to a public hearing. While the Sisters of Nazareth have consistently refused to apologise or pay compensation, many of the victims have died or suffered ongoing hardships over this period.

Now the order has been accused of taking an uncaring and hypocritical attitude in its annual report and accounts – filed on January 31.

It states: “As we come to the end of another year we look back at events that have affected the lives of the Sisters during that time. It has been a difficult one for the Sisters in our Region due to our involvement with the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse covering England and Wales and the Scottish Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.

“In the past the Sisters have cared for large numbers of children in all our houses across the UK and unfortunately not all of them have happy memories.”

Despite accepting for the first time last year that children were abused, the annual report also appears to dismiss the hundreds of individual cases as merely “historical allegations”.

It adds: “The Congregation was involved in child care until the 1980s. Due to the Congregation’s involvement at present with both the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse and the Scottish Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, many children formerly cared for in our children’s homes are coming forward with historical allegations. There is a risk of reputational damage to the Sisters and the Congregation.”

The Sisters’ £80million UK wealth is held by three linked charities, with around £30m in reserve funds, £43m in property and £7m in cash in the bank.

Last June, UK Regional Superior Sister Anna Maria Doolan said the order had cared for 14,766 children in Scotland – most of whom will now be dead – and received 404 civil actions and complaints.

Pressed by inquiry chair Lady Smith and senior counsel Colin MacAuley QC at a preliminary hearing, she accepted “retrospectively” that children were abused.

Yesterday, critics said the order showed absolutely no sympathy for those whose lives they ruined.

Cameron Fyfe, the former solicitor who represented hundreds of Nazareth House survivors, said: “It is completely contradictory.They are making it seem as if it’s the nuns who are the victims with it being so difficult for them to fight the allegations and the stress."

“There is not a word or a thought about all the poor kids who were abused in these places. They have said to the inquiry they accept the abuse took place but these statements infer that they are still in denial.”

After the abuse first surfaced in 1997, Mr Fyfe, was involved in the campaign to overturn the three-year “time bar” on civil claims that prevented survivors from suing the Sisters of Nazareth for compensation.

Despite losing at the House of Lords, the Scottish Government removed the time bar last year and there is likely to be further legal action once the inquiry is complete.

Mr Fyfe said: “At first it was a trickle but within a few months I was acting for 600 clients and other lawyers throughout the country were also acting for Nazareth House clients as well. We had so much evidence confirming abuse that it was never really in doubt.”

He expected the Sisters to accept responsibility, adding: “This was the Catholic Church with morals and ethics but in fact it was the opposite, they denied everything, fought us tooth and nail on just about every point.”

Alan Draper, the parliamentary liaison officer for the In Care Abuse Survivors group, also criticised the “poor us attitude” displayed by the Sisters of Nazareth.

He said: “It may have been a difficult year for the good sisters who feel tainted by the whole process, but how difficult has it been for the survivors over the past 30, 40 or even 50 years?

“Some have had experiences that were grim beyond belief that are only now being acknowledged. The inquiry process itself is extremely difficult for the vast majority who have got to go into a court-type system with all these gentlemen in suits and a high court judge and recount what happened to them.”

Nobody was available to comment from the Sisters of Nazareth’s UK HQ in London or from the firm of solicitors acting for the order at the inquiry.

A spokeswoman for the inquiry said: “The inquiry will now look at establishments run by the Sisters of Nazareth in Aberdeen, Cardonald, Kilmarnock and Lasswade."

“Evidence will be heard from a number of individuals who were resident in these establishments, as well as other witnesses. Investigations are ongoing, with evidence being taken from survivors and other witnesses who can provide valuable information, as well as gathering a wide range of documentary evidence.

“We encourage anyone who has information relevant to the investigations to get in touch with the inquiry, including those who may have already reported to the police, have been involved in legal proceedings or have told of their experiences to other organisations.”

Anybody who wants to contact the inquiry can call Freephone 0800 0929300 from 10am-4pm on Mondays and Fridays, and 8.30am-6.30pm on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, email at talktous@childabuseinquiry.scot or by post at PO Box 24085, Edinburgh, EH7 9EA

WEAK with hunger, Brenda Banks used to pray she wouldn’t faint in church as she worshipped alongside her fellow Nazareth House children.

But her desperate prayers often went unanswered and she would black out before being dragged outside by her ear and savagely beaten by the nuns.

Now 74, the great-grandmother was also sexually abused by a cobbler linked to the Aberdeen orphanage and she suffers from a burst eardrum caused by frequent slaps.

Worst of all, perhaps, is the fact her relationship with her three daughters was affected because she says she never learned how to show love when a child.

Ms Banks, who lives in the city’s Mastrick area, said: “I never had a proper start to life; I was in Nazareth House from when I was a baby until they threw me out at 15."

“I met my mother for the first time when I was nine or 10. She came up to see me from Glasgow but I could never understand why I was there.

“One particular nun slapped me so many times across the head that I was left with a burst eardrum. I used to faint in church and she would grab me by the ear, drag me out and punish me for fainting. 

“The food was terrible and we had to go to church three times a day with an empty stomach. I used to kneel and say, ‘Please, God, don’t make me faint because she will punish me’, but I always used to faint. Some girls were locked up in cellars and put in cold baths.

“I was sexually abused by a cobbler. I used to plead with the nuns not to send me over to him but they always did.

“He used to shut the door and try to take down my underwear. I didn’t understand what was happening at the time and I was scared to say anything to the nuns because I would have got battered for it."

“It left me scarred for life and I could never show any love to my daughters because I had never been loved as a child. All I’ve ever wanted was to be heard and it has definitely taken too long for this inquiry to happen.”

Her friends Margaret Stewart, 73, and Annie Bennett, 75, also spent their childhoods in the orphanage and were not even told they were sisters until their teens.

Margaret, who lives in London and is up visiting her sister in Kincorth, said: “They were so cruel. We were in Nazareth House since we were babies.

“If you were naughty they would say you were just like your mother. We were there until we were 16 but I never knew Annie was my sister for most of that time.

“You never got presents at Christmas. If you didn’t like your food they would shove it down your throat. I hated meat and they would shove it down my throat until I was sick. You had to go to church in the morning before breakfast and we got so little to eat girls would faint from hunger.”

Cameron Fyfe, the former solicitor who represented many Nazareth House survivors, said this force-feeding was widespread across all four homes.

He said: “I was getting clients from Wick to Wigton who obviously weren’t colluding because they lived so far apart but they all had such similar stories.

So many of them said they were forced to eat inedible food and if they didn’t it was forced down their throat.

“Very often they were sick and then made to eat their own vomit. It was the most appalling thing I’d ever heard in my life and that was the reason I believed they were telling the truth.”




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