IRELAND
Irish Times
Barry Roche
Irish society and churches need to confront the reality of what happened in mother and baby homes and ensure similar scandals are not allowed happen in modern Ireland, a leading church man has told his congregation.
Church of Ireland Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, Dr Paul Colton, said stories emerging from institutions for unmarried mothers run by the Catholic Church and the Church of Ireland were deeply unsettling and challenging for people of all faiths in Ireland.
Speaking at the St Patrick’s Day Civic Service at St Fin Barre’s Cathedral in Cork, Bishop Colton said the place of religion in Irish society had been placed under the spotlight in the wake of “the harrowing accounts about mothers’ and babies’ homes”.
He said he listened to Liveline twice last week to hear “car-stopping, heart-rendering testimony” of women and children who experienced mother and baby homes and he was not in the least surprised at the outbursts of anger against institutional religion.
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