IRELAND
Clare Champion
BISHOP of Killaloe Fintan Monahan has expressed “shock” and “sorrow” at the discovery of human remains at the site of the former mother and baby home in Tuam. He served as a priest in the Tuam diocese and as diocesan secretary from 2005 to 2006.
The find came at the conclusion of test excavations at the site. They were carried out at the behest of the Mother and Baby Home Commission of Investigation, which was established on February 17, 2015 and is chaired by Judge Yvonne Murphy. The commission has been asked to establish the circumstances for the entry of single women into mother and baby homes and the living conditions they experienced there. It has also been asked to examine mortality among mothers and children who lived in these institutions.
“The reports that have emerged over the past few years have made for me such sad, shocking, disappointing and sorrowful reading. The level of shock and sadness among the general population also has been widespread. We are all overwhelmed by the revelations and even a generation or two later it is impossible to comprehend the great hurt and sorrow that resulted from this system. It really is inexplicable, in the light of the gospel, that is at the heart of all our callings, irrespective of the time we live in,” Bishop Monahan told The Clare Champion.
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