IRELAND
Christian Science Monitor
David Iaconangelo
Staff | @diaconangelo
MARCH 4, 2017 —Government investigators in Ireland said on Friday they had uncovered the remains of babies and children buried in a network of 20 underground chambers at a former Catholic orphanage, appearing to confirm long-held suspicions of mass burials at the church-run facility during the 1950s.
Three months of excavations had already turned up “significant quantities of human remains” of children between 35 weeks and 3 years old at the site, said the judge-led Mothers and Babies Commission.
Ireland’s Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Katherine Zappone, called the findings “sad and disturbing.” She said a proper burial and other memorials would be offered to any surviving relatives of the children.
“We will honor their memory and make sure that we take the right actions now to treat their remains appropriately,” Ms. Zappone said.
The shocking discovery ties into a larger movement that has sought to reckon with past abuses committed at Catholic orphanages and schools, in the decades following a growing secularization – and economic renaissance – in Irish society.
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