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ISSUE 50 / APRIL - JUNE 2021
Celebng
50
issu es
issues
01 SVOX.IE
P APRE -CJUNI2021A L D I G I T A L I S S U E
Hope
& Aid
for the
persecuted
Church
Please do help hungry Christians in
desperate need. Many are already
marginalised and rejected by their
communities. Some are even denied
food aid because of their faith
Your gift can make a difference
Donate online at:
to lives www.barnabasfund.org/VOX
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VOX.IE APR - JUN 2021 Registered Charity Number 1092935
EDITORIAL
A Time
to Weep
ave you ever had a day when It can never lead to forgiveness and
H you just wanted to crawl back
under the duvet and shut out
reconciliation. Amnesia is no solution. If a
nation is going to be healed, it has to come
the world? Perhaps you’ve been tempted to grips with the past. We live in a moral
to say, “Stop the world... I want to get off!” universe. What’s right matters. What’s
In recent months, it seems as if the news wrong matters. You may keep things
cycles have dished out an unrelenting hidden but they don’t disappear into the
barrage of negativity. ether. They impregnate the atmosphere.”
Jeremiah was given a tough calling So I hope you will bear with us as we
to confront God’s people with the consider some painful truths together
consequences of their sin and rebellion. including the legacy of abuse revealed
And while his message pointed to a in the reports into the Mother and Baby
future hope in Homes (page 18), the
our faithful and
compassionate
If a nation is going to be impact of revelations
about Ravi Zacharias
Lord, there was no
avoiding the ugly
healed, it has to come (page 44) and the
present day reality
truth. He is called to grips with the past. of racism that would
the “weeping seek to diminish
prophet” for a reason. those who should be honoured (page 52).
Preparing for our Easter issue of VOX There is always hope of healing with
magazine - this our 50th issue - I would Jehovah Rapha (our God who heals) but
have so loved to focus only on “happy, first we need to come to grips with the
shiny” themes. Instead I’ve frequently past and face the truth of our present.
found myself in tears conducting “Weeping may last through the night, but
interviews and editing features. Like joy comes with the morning.”
Jeremiah’s message, there is always hope Psalm 30:5 (NLT)
because we worship a God of hope.
Yet as God’s people, there are times
when we need to face some tough
realities.
I never tire of quoting
Archbishop Desmond Tutu on
the subject of abuse (quoted Ruth Garvey-Williams
in Parade Magazine, January Editor (editor@vox.ie)
1998). “Denial doesn’t work.
03 VOX.IE APR - JUN 2021
CONT
April - June 2021
Issue 50
ENTS
ISSN: 2009-2253
EDITOR
Ruth Garvey-Williams
editor@vox.ie
LAYOUT, ADVERTISING
& DISTRIBUTION
Jonny Lindsay
jonny@vox.ie
SUBSCRIPTIONS
18
Subscribe online at www.vox.ie.
All cheques should be made payable
to ‘VOX Magazine’.
VOX Magazine
Ulysses House
22 - 24 Foley Street
Dublin 1
Tel: 089 415 4507
58
info@vox.ie
www.vox.ie
DISCLAIMER
The views expressed in letters and
articles are those of the respective
authors and do not necessarily
reflect the views of the VOX Team
or our partners. The acceptance
of advertising does not indicate
endorsement.
P32
PRINT
Ross Print, Greystones, Co. Wicklow 62
VOX magazine is a quarterly
publication, brought to you by a
passionate team of volunteers.
OUR PARTNERS:
IRELAND
TM
VOX MAGAZINE
Features and Interviews
14 Celebrating our 50th issue and Digital VOX
18 Special Report: Mother and Baby Homes
31 Finding Faith 2021
34 What Now? Responding to the Mother and Baby Homes Reports
40 My Story: Meet Glen Galvin
44 A Pandemic of Silence: the ugly truth behind Ravi Zacharias’
global ministry
48 The Covid-19 Vaccine - weighing the issues and improving
acceptability among migrants
52 Global Success for Irish Teens - the inspirational women behind
the award-winning Memory Haven app
56 A Listening Life - Ana Mullan continues her inspirational series
58 Heart, Soul and Hands - Serve the City volunteers are still
meeting needs in Dublin and Galway
62 Meet the Young Humanitarian of the Year 2020
64 I was so brainwashed - a chance meeting led to months of
involvement with a secretive cult for one university student
Regular Features
06 VOX: Shorts 38 Confessions of a Feint Saint
10 VOX: World News 69 Music Reviews
12 Your VOX: Inbox 72 Book Reviews
32 Musings with Patrick Mitchell 76 VOX: PS with Seán Mullan
05 VOX.IE APR - JUN 2021
YOUREVENT.ie
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06 VOX.IE APR - JUN 2021
VOX SHORTS
NORTHERN IRISH ‘FAMILY
HYMN SING’ RECEIVES OVER
1 MILLION VIEWS
A ‘family hymn sing’ in Northern Ireland has
received more than one million views in over
100 countries after going live on Facebook.
The ‘family hymn sing’ concept was conceived
last year with the first episode going live on St.
Patrick’s Day while the Gettys were in Nashville.
They then returned to Northern Ireland to be at
home during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Gettys believe that the pandemic has
provided an unprecedented opportunity to build
new habits of worshiping God through song in
the home. To be notified about future hymn sings
and to download free music for your family to
sing along visit www.gettymusic.com/hymnsing.
CELEBRATING ST.
PATRICK’S DAY WITH A
DIFFERENCE
Christians around Ireland found innovative
ways to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day
this year while respecting lockdown
restrictions. Here VOX magazine highlights
a few of those projects:
St. Patrick’s display in the park - Dublin
West Community Church
Joan Singleton writes, “Some time ago I
was watching Songs of Praise on BBC1
and they showed a church in England
that put up things in a local park for the
church people to read - a bit like a ‘walking
church’. This created interest for people
who were walking in the park and could
read the notices. I thought, it would be
great if we could do that as a church in our
local park.
07 VOX.IE APR - JUN 2021
VOX MAGAZINE
“As people could not have a St. recorded themselves reading a section of
Patrick’s Day Parade or other celebrations, the Confession.”
I thought we could do this for St. Patrick’s Using the Royal Irish Academy
Day so people could read about St. Patrick. translation of Patrick’s Confession,
I chatted with the team in church who available on confessio.ie, with their
were enthusiastic. We got permission permission, the final video is now
from the council and found out lots about available on YouTube and across the
St. Patrick. We decided to mainly use St. Diocesan social media channels.
Patrick’s own words for the 12 display “We hope that it will be an
boards. By including interactive ‘fact or encouragement to all who watch it, and
legend’ questions, we hoped to interest that they, like Patrick, will know personally
children as well as adults. the difference the Lord makes to those in
“It has been so encouraging to read difficult circumstances,” Damian added.
of St. Patrick’s deep faith and trust in God
and His love for us, the Irish people. We St. Patrick’s Testimony
are praying for God to use this display as The Evangelical Catholic Initiative has
He chooses and would be happy to share published a readable version of St.
these resources with other churches.” Patrick’s Confession in conjunction with
Wild Goose Publishing, a Pentecostal
St. Patrick’s Confession - Kilmore, Elphin ministry based in Bray.
and Ardagh Diocese Wild Goose is the old
Without all of the parades and other Irish Celtic name for the
events that usually take place for St. Holy Spirit. There are
Patrick’s Day, young people from across eight Latin manuscripts
the Church of Ireland diocese of Kilmore, of Patrick’s Confession in
Elphin and Ardagh participated in a special existence today. Written
project to celebrate our patron saint. near the end of his life,
“There are lots of legends and the Confession gives
misconceptions about who Patrick was Patrick’s own account of
and what his mission was. However, we how the Lord changed
are privileged to have the real Patrick his life and used him in a St. Patrick’s
preserved for us in his own words in two powerful way in Ireland. testimony
writings: his Confession (or Confessio) His story is Christ-centered
and his letter to Coroticus, both of which and Scripturally based. In
are readily accessible (www.confessio. fact, he quotes 70 different
ie),” writes Damian Shorten, the Youth and Scriptures including 22
Children’s Worker for KEA Diocese. “To from the Old Testament. The St. Patrick’s
celebrate Patrick and the biblical Gospel Testimony Pamphlet is available on the
he believed and preached, and also to ECI website www.evancat.org/news. This
make people — young and old — more version opens up (accordion style) into
familiar with the truth about him, over a full A1 sized paper and on the back
30 young people from the majority of is St. Patrick’s Breastplate, so it can be
parishes in the Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh displayed as a poster.
08 VOX.IE APR - JUN 2021
VOX SHORTS
NEW HORIZON 2021:
PEOPLE OF PEACE
Monday 9 to Friday 13
CHRISTIAN August.
CONFERENCES ONLINE The one certainty in these
Organisers of popular Christian turbulent times is that
conferences in Ireland have had to apart from our Lord Himself
make the tough decision to move online everything is subject to
once again. Here are the latest updates. change. This is also true for
New Horizon 2021. We had
hoped to organise a LIVE
event but have now made
SUMMER MADNESS 2021 - SLIGO21: NEW WINE the decision to livestream
YOUTH FESTIVAL IRELAND from behind closed doors.
John Kee shares, “It will “We know that like us, This means there will be no
come as no surprise that you have been looking public meetings in Coleraine.
the camping element of the forward to joining While we are sad
festival is off the table for together for our Sligo that our coming together
2021, however we will do Summer Conference. physically is delayed, we
our best to bring you some However, with the are thrilled that NH2021
kind of event or events over on-going situation and will provide an online
the coming months, at a challenges relating programme of Bible
time and date that works to Covid-19, we have Teaching, worship and
for us all and keeps us come to the very prayer with our guest
all safe. We had a really difficult but inevitable speakers Chris Wright (for
big programme for this realisation that our the morning Bible Teaching)
year planned around the Sligo Conference and Malcolm Duncan (for the
theme of prayer and rather this July 2021 cannot Evening Celebrations).
than squeeze that into a go ahead. We have Our minds are often
curtailed programme, we been planning for anxious and fearful in times
decided to hold that until this eventuality and of uncertainty and change.
2022.” are currently bringing Our homes and churches can
Pete Grieg from 24/7 plans together for a be places of tension instead
Prayer says, “It is sad news New Wine Summer of refuges of harmony. Our
in a year of sad news about Conference Online.” - world is burdened with ill
Summer Madness not David McClay, Simon health, economic hardship
being able to happen in Genoe and Hilary and deep political divisions.
person but I’m delighted to McClay But, through Christ Jesus,
say that I’ve committed to Stay in touch via the God of peace is making a
being with you at Summer New Wine Ireland people of peace.
Madness 2022.” on social media or Keep in touch with
Keep in touch at www. by visiting www. the latest news at www.
summermadness.co.uk. newwineireland.org. newhorizon.org.uk.
09 VOX.IE APR - JUN 2021
VOX MAGAZINE
“COME LORD JESUS”
INTERGENERATIONAL
PRAYER RELAY
Christians across Ireland will take part in
an international prayer relay in April as
part of the “Come Lord Jesus” initiative
that seeks to bring different generations
together to pray. The Irish event will take
place on Wednesday 21 April.
Ireland coordinator Richie Gardiner
writes, “I remember in the 90’s doing
prayer and faxing parties where a small
group of children and teens together with
their family would pray and hear God for
a nation and share back the prayers, and NEW FONT FOR
any pictures, words they got from the Holy BETTER LEARNING
Spirit in prayer over fax! The prayer relay is Ever struggled with memorising
an evolution of those prayer days from the scripture? Well then, Australia’s
90s. Imagine children, young people and Royal Melbourne Institute of
families across the globe rising up to pray Technology might just have come
for the nations.” to your rescue.
Prayer will focus on inviting Jesus to They have scientifically
come into three areas: in my life, in the created a new font to help us all
nation and to the world. learn better. Sans Forgetica was
“Like a relay, the baton will be passed specifically designed to be difficult
to us from South Africa who will be praying to read. Using the font triggers a
for us in Ireland on 20 April. In turn, we will cognitive process in the brain that
pray for Tanzania on 21 April as a blessing forces our minds to double their
to that nation for when they take over from efforts to make sense of what is
us on 22 April,” Richie added. written. A direct consequence
“This event allows you and your of this process is that you will
children to be part of a global movement remember the text better.
praying for the world. It will help them The font is a free download.
grow in intercession and connect with
t
I have come tha
the church worldwide, praying for other
nations, for the Gospel to go to the four
fe,
they may have li
corners of the earth and for Christ to
return.”
e
and have it to th
Come Lord Jesus prayer resources are
available on the website at www.cljprayer.
com and from Ireland Coordinator Richie
full. - John 10:10
Gardiner richieg@outlook.ie.
10 VOX.IE APR - JUN 2021Irish Mission Agencies Partnership
Resourcing World Mission Together
A growing network of over 20 organisations working in Ireland & overseas
iMap exists to connect missions, churches & supporters.
Information, Newsletter, Events, Resources, Giving: www.imap.ie
COMING SOON
Ideal for churches, small groups, prayer groups, mission teams
A free six-week online course to explore God’s heart for the nations
and inspire our involvement in it. Read more at momentumyes.com
Tuesdays 4th of May — 8th of June 2021
"If you want to spark a passion among millennials for sharing
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Irish Mission Agencies Partnership clg
CRO 604140 RCN 20204995 CHY 18021
+353 (0) 87 2949518 GordonL@imap.ie www.imap.ie
11 VOX.IE APR - JUN 2021
86 The Fairways, Castletroy, LimerickWORLD NEWS
Over 200 Christians set
free in Eritrea
Since July 2020, at least 205 Christians prison, where 26 Christian men remain in
have been set free in a wave of releases captivity. One of the released women was
across Eritrea. All had been arbitrarily 15 when she was arrested and is now 29;
arrested and imprisoned – without her parents have since divorced. Another
charge, trial or sentence – and the one was 16 when imprisoned and is now
Eritrean government has given no reason 28; both of her parents died while she was
for the releases. in prison. Many of the released Christians
Among those released in recent need clothing, food and accommodation
months were well-known, long-term and are being helped by a Church in
prisoners Aklilu Desbele (left), Mussie Chains partner organisation.
Eyob (centre) and Twen Theodros (right). It is estimated that about 130
Aklilu had been in prison since 2008, Christians remain in prison in Eritrea,
Mussie since 2011 and Twen since 2005. including a group of leading pastors who
Twen was a great friend and help to have been held prisoner for the past 17
gospel singer Helen Berhane during her years.
time in prison. Helen spoke movingly of Experienced observers suggest that
Twen’s care for her following her release. the recent releases may have been
The wave of releases began with 22 ordered to curry favour with the Prime
Methodist prisoners last July followed Minister of Ethiopia, who is a Christian.
by the release of 69 Evangelical and Eritrea has joined forces with Ethiopia
Pentecostal prisoners last Autumn. In in its fight against Tigrayan rebels in
January, 93 prisoners from Evangelical the north of Ethiopia. It is also believed
and Orthodox backgrounds were freed, that Eritrean president Isaias Afewerki
while the most recent to be released was is trying to change the narrative about
a group of 21 women who had been held Eritrea in the international arena, where
in the notorious island prison of Nakura there has been a lot of critical media
in the Dahlak Archipelago in the Red Sea. coverage of Eritrea’s involvement in the
These women were released in conflict in Tigray. There have been many
late February and were the last female reports of Eritrean troops carrying out
Christian prisoners held in Nakura abuses in the region.
12 VOX.IE APR - JUN 2021VOX MAGAZINE
Christians have suffered great highest rates of child marriage in the
persecution in Eritrea since 2002, when Latin America and Caribbean Region.
the Eritrean government banned all “This harmful practice results in a
religious groups except the Eritrean lack of protection, inequality, lack of
Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Lutheran opportunities, and early pregnancy for
churches and Sunni Islam. Thousands girls. It also has a direct impact on the
of Christians have been arrested and country’s economy,” explained Sonia.
imprisoned since then with most being Global experts agree it can also increase
held in extremely harsh conditions, children’s vulnerability to sex trafficking.
including in shipping containers. The Executive Branch modified
Many Christians have been tortured the Civil Code and other laws, clearly
and offered release if they recanted stating that “people under 18 years old
their Christian faith. Others have been will not be able to marry under any
released to make way for new prisoners circumstances.” Prior to these changes,
in the country’s overcrowded prisons. the law permitted children to be forced
Find out more at into marriage as long as there was
www.churchinchains.ie. parental consent and permission from a
judge.
Ending child marriage in In addition to these changes,
the president issued a new decree
Dominican Republic establishing a special cabinet, led by the
The International Justice Mission team Ministry for Women, to work toward
in Dominican Republic has seen a a life free of violence for women and
historic victory against the practice of girls. Ending harmful practices like child
child marriage after leading a successful marriage by 2030 is part of target 5.3
petition to make it illegal. On January 6 from the United Nations’ Sustainable
2021, President Abinader approved a bill Development Goals—and made all the
that eliminates all legal ground for child more urgent in the pandemic. As the
marriage and safeguards the fundamental Dominican Republic is hit by a second
rights of children, particularly girls who wave of Covid-19, the enforcement of
had been vulnerable to this widespread the new legislation will be key to protect
practice. thousands across the country.
Speaking on International women’s “Through this law, a new stage
Day IJM Dominican Republic Associate begins in the country. Our girls and
Director Sonia Hernandez said, “In the adolescents will be protected…and
face of so much injustice... I am inspired cannot be forced into marriage in their
to leave a message that women have the childhood or adolescence.” said Sonia.
potential to fight against broken systems IJM remains committed to collaborating
that don’t protect the most vulnerable. with the public justice system and civil
To strengthen systems so that they will society groups to ensure children are
respond with equity for all.” protected and safe.
The Dominican Republic has the
13 VOX.IE APR - JUN 2021Curious about
Bible College?
Free short Open Day Events on Zoom
are happening now!
Meet teachers and students to learn about our
Certificate and Degree programmes
To find out more and register for an Open day
contact us at:
www.ibi.ie
14 VOX.IE APR - JUN 2021
sarah@ibi.ie 01-8069060Star Prize
YOUR VOX
of VOX we
In each issue
ard a pr ize of a €25
aw
uc he r for our
book vo
r, email
favourite lette
e co m ment. It
or onlin
could be you!
UNACCEPTABLE? informed that it was unconfessed sin in
I was asked a question the other day by my life. But I felt like this since I was a
a friend, “Why are you a Christian?” The very small child. What could I have done
question “Why?’ cuts right to the heart that was so sinful that I was condemned
of motivation. I paused and considered to feel like this?
my answer. I am a Christian because I am I have been advised that if I didn’t
persuaded beyond all doubt that God is practice an alternative lifestyle then it
good. I know that God loves me. I believe would be alright: live a life devoid of love,
that God wants a relationship with me, devoid of family, devoid of intimacy. I
and that Jesus came to earth to ensure was admonished that, “It’s a choice.”
that that relationship could happen. Who would willingly choose to endure
Jesus’ death was to atone for my sin and rejection, degradation, shame, guilt, pain,
allow me to have a relationship with God. fear, loneliness and hurt?
However, my entire Christian walk has I would lie awake as a teenager
been hampered by the way the church unsure what was wrong with me but
and more specifically “Christians” treat knowing that I did not feel like everyone
me. I am an unacceptable Christian. else; praying to God that I could just be
It did not matter whether Methodist, normal, just be like everyone else. I went
Presbyterian, Evangelical, Christian to Christian camps as a youngster and as
Fellowship - they have all been the a leader, petrified that someone would
same. Perhaps you are asking “Why?” figure out that I was different and reveal
In the words of another friend I am a me as such.
“rainbow person” - I belong to the LGBTQI I hated myself. I read books, prayed
community. and talked to people. I spent years trying
Don’t get me wrong; very few to fix myself but nothing changed. Every
churches have let me know that I was effort was in vain, the failure to ‘pray the
completely unwelcome. But there is a strange away’ only added weight to the
great difference between being tolerated fact that I was wrong, a sinner destined
and being accepted. My entire life I have for hell, one who was so unworthy that
felt tolerated. I have been told that if I just God couldn’t be bothered to intervene.
prayed, I wouldn’t feel like this. Please I was perplexed and so I researched and
believe me that I prayed enough to wipe read, prayed and considered. I arrived at
out the entire LGBTQI community. I was a place of personal peace. By that I mean
15 VOX.IE APR - JUN 2021VOX MAGAZINE
I could live with myself. But the old me cold. My life has been filled with
feelings were never far away. pain, loneliness, guilt, fear, self-hatred,
Throughout all of this, I continued and self-loathing. The idea that I must
to attend church, my involvement was continue to expand on how being
always limited by my belonging to that excluded, being treated differently, being
small group of LGBTQI. In the church considered as “less than” makes me feel,
I currently attend, I am made to feel is cruel. It is not my responsibility to
welcome. I have friends; some attended help you work through your deep-seated
my wedding. But my involvement is prejudice.
limited, my strangeness prohibited, Is it fair to ask me to sit and wait
my talents unusable, my presence in pain, while you consider if I should
uncomfortable. be treated like everyone else? I am a
I have spent my entire life sitting in person, not a project. I am a person, not a
church hearing that ‘God is love’ whilst problem. I am a person, not perverse.
I have been treated as a second-class I cannot bear the thought of another
citizen, viewed as a problem, viewed with person enduring what I have endured.
suspicion and disdain. I used to read After I told my friend why I was a
Paul’s letters where he described himself Christian, they asked, “Why do you
as the ‘chief of sinners’. I mused “Was want to teach?” I want to help people
Paul gay?” because I was led to believe understand the simplicity and the beauty
there was nothing worse. of the Gospel, to lose the religiosity that
I go to church now and it is binds hearts and minds and be able to
excruciating; the pain of all those words, freely love and accept all as Jesus did. To
of all the years of being blamed. The have an end to the ungodly hierarchy that
feelings are stifling. Some days I arrive at pitches men against women, white people
church and I can hardly breathe. Some against black, straight against LGBTQI, and
days I stand awkwardly trying to force to help usher in a kinder, more inclusive,
myself to stay calm. Some days I leave more honest, good news for all.
unable to cope with the pain. Some days I In the words of Liz Fosslien and Mollie
sit and listen to words that hammer home West Duffy, “Diversity is having a seat at
my feelings of rejection, pain, shame, the table, inclusion is having a voice, and
guilt, self-hatred and self-loathing. Some belonging is having that voice be heard.”
days I am so filled with anger that I want The Church has grown far from its
to stand up and shout, “What are you infancy as an outlawed faction following
doing? This is not what Jesus meant.” a young Jewish Rabbi. I would like to see
Recently, someone told me, “You must a return to those days. The Church should
continue sharing normal life and your be as diverse as the community it serves.
journey with Jesus with others in church. The Church should be inclusive of all. The
It is the only thing that makes people Church should be the first place in society
really question their long-held beliefs.” that all feel they belong, not the last.
I understand the point they were
making; people respond to [real life] Signed the Unacceptable Christian
stories. However, the sentence stopped (name and address supplied to VOX magazine)
SEND
16 YOUR LETTERS
VOX.IE APR - TO EDITOR@VOX.IE
JUN 2021 OR YOUR VOX, ULYSSES HOUSE, 22-24 FOLEY STREET, DUBLIN 150and a
50 issues
digital VOX
CAN YOU REMEMBER THE VERY FIRST VOX
VOX FAITH LIFE REALITY
Issue 1 January -
March 2009
MAGAZINE IN JANUARY 2009? After 13 years
and 50 issues of the magazine, we’re so grateful to
Born to Dance
look back and see God’s faithfulness, enabling us to
RTÉ’s Ballet Chancer
Donking Rongav
illa
share the stories of what God is doing on our island.
Coming
FREE
First Issue!
Highlights for us have included launching the
Soon
popular Finding Faith Tour in 2013, our research
(Regular Price €3.50)
12 months of hit
movies for 2009
City Lights
One church’s respons
to binge drinking
e projects including “Millennials 2015” and “Women
Too young to kill? and the Church 2018” and the hundreds of features
www.voxmagazine.ie
An Irish charity provide
we have published supporting Christians as we
hope in place of horror s
VOX | Jan - Mar 2009
engage with one another and with the tough issues
|1
ISSUE 28 / OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2015
FREE
facing our communities.
YOUNG ADULTS’ SURVEY Although a global pandemic is not the ideal time
MILLENNIA LS IN IRELAND
HAVE THEIR SAY ON FAITH,
LIFE AND REALITY
to create and distribute any publication, the VOX
team has found creative ways to continue serving
Christians in Ireland throughout this strange season.
The last year also provided us with opportunities
to experiment with new ways of sharing and
THE SURF PROJECT GOD MEANT IT FOR GOOD
THE AMAZING STORY OF VETERAN
distributing high quality content. For this special 50th
CREATING A SPACE FOR YOUNG
issue of the magazine, you’ll notice we’re trying out
MISSIONARY MAUD KELLS OCT - DEC 2015 VOX
PEOPLE TO ENCOUNTER GOD
01
ISSUE 40 / OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2018
a new design, created to enable more people to
FREE
access the magazine on digital devices (along with
ARE WE ALL
ONE IN CHRIS T ?
a smaller size print edition). We’re also working to
bring you more content on our new-look website to
The findings from our in-depth
survey
looking at Women in the Church
help you keep up-to-date with what is happening
across Ireland.
As we look to the future, we’d love to know what
HOW INCLUSIVE IS YOUR CHURCH?
you think of these innovations and any suggestions
you may have. Email editor@vox.ie to have your say
Learning Difficulties and the Body of Christ
OCT - DEC 2018 VOX 01
or complete the short reader survey you will find on
our website at WWW.VOX.IE/SURVEY.
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SPECIAL REPORT
Edna Abercrombie, Samuel Abraham, Daughter of Alice Addison, Donald Ainslie, Eleanor Allen, William Armstrong,
Alexander Armstrong, John Armstrong, Daphne Armstrong, Daphine Atwool, N/A Ayers, Wilda Barrington, Gordon
Barton, Patricia Bass, Female of Gladys Bates, Dennis Baugh, Michael Behan, Dorothy Bever, Robert Bible, Nellie
(Nannie) Bingham, Patricia Birney, Infant Female Bleach, S/B of N/A Boles, Martin Bonny, David Brodie, Henry
Bryant, Eileen Burnett, Douglas Burroghs, John Butler, Eric Carlew, Arthur Carr, S/B female of Mary Carroll, Michael
Carroll, Muriel Carroll, James Carroll, Infant of Esther Carter, Lilian Carty, Norah Cassidy, Jane Cavanagh, Albert
Chamney, Norman Cinnamond, Eva Clarke, Christopher Clifford, Edward Cobb, Clement Collins, Infant Male
of Bridie Conway, Joan Conway, Margaret Cooper, Marjorie Coote, Derek Crampton, Elizabeth Crimmins, Paul
Cullen, James Cully, John Cunningham, Pansey Curley, Isabella Davenport, Mary Deane, Michael Dempsey, Patrick
Diegan, Henry Digan, Evelyn Dixon, William Dolan, Mary Donaldson, Mary Donaldson, Evelyn Donnelly, George
Eager, Josephine Eager, Evelyn Eakins, John Elder, Dorothy Elliott, Derrick Exley, Iris Eyre, Agnes Florence Farran,
Marjorie Farrelly, John Feeney, Stewart Ferguson, Infant Finlay, John Fitzpatrick, Albert Flanagan, David Flanagan,
John Charles Flower, Rose Mary Flynn, Elizabeth Franklin, Ian D Fraser, Maurice Furlong, Herbert Furney, Edith
Mabel (Adult) Galbraith, Ruth Galbraith, Daphne Gardiner, Michael Gauntley, George Geoghegan, Muriel Gerty,
Hilda Gethings, George Robert Gibson, Arthur Gilbert, Noel Gill, Grace (Grave) Glover, Isabella Graham, Sybil
Graham, Mary Patricia Grattan, Mary Bridget Grattan, Dorothy Gray, Kevin Gray (Grey), S/B of John Greer, Lucy
Griffith, David Gunning, William Hadnet, Marjorie Hall, Albert Hanlon, Kathleen Hanna, William Hannon, Joseph
Hargrave, Ruth Hawkins, Andrew Hayden, Muriel Hayes, Patrick
Heaney, Charles Heffernan, Reginald Hendy, Margaret Hendy, William
Henly (Healy), Philip Hingston,
The names of all Charles Hogan, Violet Holt, Annie
Huggard, Fredrick L Hughes, Mary babies who died Hunt, Rhona Hunt, Mervyn Hunter,
Lilian Hurley, Cecil Hynes, Phobe
Lilian Johnston, Derek James Jones, while at the Bethany Hynes, Violet Hynes, Edwin Jennings,
Anthony Jones, Edward Judge, Anna
Kavanagh, Philip Kavanagh, Infant Home in Dublin. Male of N/A Kearney, Gladys Kearney,
Patrick Kearney, Violet Kelly, Mary Kennedy, David Kennington, Kathleen
Kerr (Kerris), Percy Stanley Kerris, Lilian Kertz, James Killeen, Alice Kilpedder, S/B male of Sarah Knight, Louisa
Knight, Noel Knight, Rodrick (Fredrick) Knott, Michael Knox, S/B Male twin of Sarah Lambert, Jean Lang, David
Lang, Patrick J Leavy, John Leehy, Christopher Leon, Laurence Lewis, Stephen Linton, Infant of N/A Lucas,
Franklin MacBeth, Patrick Maguire, Mary Maguire, Mary Kathleen Manning, Herbert Mapstone, Cecil Martin,
William Mason, Thomas Sydney Matthews, Elizabeth McAree, Olive McBride, Trevor McCaffery, Joan McClure,
Daphne McCollum, Thomas McCullagh, Sylvia McCutcheon, Terence McDonald, Mary Kathleen McDonald,
Ronnie McGovern, Roberta McGowan, Rebecca McGowan, Ann McGowan, Francis McHugh, Lily McKenna, Mary
McKeogh, James McKillop, John McKillop, Margaret McKnight, Douglas McMahon, Ernest McMillan, George
McWilliams, Mary Kathleen Mealey, Ethel Meredith, Fredrick Middleton, Sedgewick Frederick Middleton, John
Miller, Ronald Minnock, Peter Moffat, Norman Montgomery, David Moran, Fred Moran, Ann Moran, David Morgan,
Thomas Morris, Robert Morrow, John Morrow, Elizabeth Murphy, Marion Myler, Female Nathan, Stillborn Nathan,
Stewart Neill, S/B Female of George Nelson, Rosabella Newland, Joseph Nolan, William Nolan, Marjorie Norris,
Ramon O’Leary, Henry O’Malley, Joseph O’Neill, George Oakley, Valerie Overton, Ronald Owens, Sarah Parke,
Helen Parker, Desmond Patterson, John Patterson, Robert Patterson, Rita Evelyn Payne, Vera Payne, James Percy,
Elizabeth Phair, Casandra Philips, Eleanor Pollard, James Anthony Preston, David Reilly, Rebecca Robinson, Doris
Roche, Dorothy Roche, Florence (Adult) Rochford, Norah Rountree, S/B of Margaret Russell, Gordon Ryan, Charles
D Sargent, Infant male Scanlon, Herbert Scott, Mary Scott, Peter Shortt, James Smith, Audrey Smith, Male Infant
Smith, Noel Edward Smith, Mary Sodden, June Spence, Joan Stacey, John Stenson, Robert Stevenson, Susan Sunderji,
Rhoda (Rhods) Sweeney, Isobel Syms, Eugene Taffe, Elizabeth Margaret Taylor, William Teskey, Violet Thompson,
Herbert Thompson, Eva Tilson, George Albert Tracey, Betty Traynor, George Turner, Doreen Twamloy, Annie Upton,
Keith Valentine, S/B male of Anna Victory, Violet Walker, Eileen Walker, Alexander Wall, Alfred Warner, Annie
Warren, Mabel Waugh, Samuel George Webster, S/born female of Matilda Welby, Phyllis Whittle, Herbert Williams,
Pearl (Perl) Williamson, Bertrice Willis, S/B Wilson, Christopher Wilton, Norman J Winslow, Desmond WynneVOX MAGAZINE
Mother and
Baby Homes
What is the “Christian” Response?
T
he final report of the themselves from the reports. Criticism
Commission of Investigation has been levelled at the Catholic
into Mother and Baby Homes Church and the State (and by some at
in Ireland was published in families and the wider society) without
January 2021. Soon afterwards, Ulster an acknowledgement that all major
University and Queen’s University Christian denominations across the
jointly released a study of Mother and island were implicated. Shifting blame
Baby Homes and Magdalene Laundries or denying responsibility has taken
in Northern Ireland commissioned by precedence over acknowledgement,
the Inter Departmental Working Group repentance and reparation.
on Mother and Baby Homes, Magdalene Have we become inured to the
Laundries and Historical Clerical history of past wrongs on this island?
Child Abuse. Taken together, the two Are we suffering compassion fatigue
reports chart the treatment of women, or simply worn out by the seemingly
particularly unmarried mothers and unending revelations of abuse, especially
their children, on the island of Ireland by those who supposedly represent the
between the 1920s and the 1990s. They faith we hold dear? In this issue of VOX
make for distressing reading. magazine, we take a deeper look at the
Already drained by a year of implications for Christians in Ireland
lockdowns and restrictions, the public and how these reports affect our witness
reaction, while understandably angry, today.
seemed muted. An initial flurry of Wading through pages of
comment and opinion in the media has dispassionate narrative is a daunting
now subsided. For many it seems this task. So here we begin with a summary
chapter is now closed. of the key findings. What did the reports
Others have scrambled to distance say?
20 VOX.IE APR - JUN 2021SPECIAL REPORT
COMMISSION OF INVESTIGATION and this was particularly the case when
INTO MOTHER AND BABY HOMES IN they were giving birth.” It was in an era
IRELAND when, “all women [in Ireland] suffered
The Commission considered a number serious discrimination” but “women who
of Mother and Baby homes in Ireland gave birth outside marriage were subject
including county homes run by local to particularly harsh treatment.”
health authorities, those run by the Living conditions varied from home
Catholic church (mainly by religious to home although overcrowding was a
orders) and the Bethany Home run by a feature in many. County homes were
Protestant evangelical group. “appalling” with unmarried mothers
56,000 women and 57,000 children having to squat on the floor to eat their
were resident in the homes investigated. meals. Many did not have adequate
While Ireland was not unique, the heating or running water. The conditions
proportion of unmarried mothers in Glenmaddy/Tuam and Kilrush were
admitted to Mother and Baby Homes in described as “dire”. Homes run by
20th century Ireland was probably the religious orders were institutional with
highest in the world. 80% of the women large dormitories but at least had heating
were aged between 18 and 29; 11.4% and running water.
were under 18. The women had become
pregnant outside of marriage and most HIGH INFANT MORTALITY
were destitute. The report noted that Nine thousand babies died in the
some had been raped, had mental homes and the report points to the
health problems or had an intellectual exceptionally high infant mortality
disability. Although it concluded that rate (almost twice the national average)
women were not forced to enter the as the most disquieting feature of
homes, it also states that they had no these institutions. While the death
alternative. rate among illegitimate children was
According to the Commission, the always considerably higher than that of
primary mission of Mother and Baby legitimate children, it was higher still
in mother and baby homes. Entering
“Women who gave birth a mother and baby home significantly
reduced a baby’s chance of survival. By
outside marriage were 1939, an inspector was already expressing
concern at the high rate of infant
subject to particularly mortality. In 1943, three out of every four
children born in Bessborough and 62%
harsh treatment.” of those born in Bethany Home died.
The Commission pointed to the
Homes was “reform and repentance”. lack of professional staff combined
Many women suffered emotional abuse with “what must be acknowledged as a
and were subject to denigration and general indifference to the fate of the
derogatory remarks. “It appears that children who were born in mother and
there was little kindness shown to them baby homes” as contributing to the
21 VOX.IE APR - JUN 2021VOX MAGAZINE
appalling levels of infant mortality and in unmarked graves and in the case of
cited Bethany Home as an example: Tuam, they were buried “inappropriately”
“In October 1936, the Bethany matron on the grounds of the home. Babies
informed the management committee died from a variety of causes including
that five infants had died in the previous infectious diseases and marasmus
month; four from heart failure. She went (malnutrition).
on to observe that the health of all was
good except for one delicate baby.” WHAT HAPPENED TO THE
Many homes did not keep adequate CHILDREN?
death records or a register of burials. While some unmarried mothers returned
Babies in several homes were buried home with their babies, for many this
22 VOX.IE APR - JUN 2021SPECIAL REPORT
simply wasn’t an option. Before legal
adoption was introduced in the 1950s,
children were often boarded out to foster
families with little concern for the needs
of the child. Foster payments provided
additional income for impoverished
households and older children
were a source of unpaid labour.
Although some foster families took
good care of the children, in
other placements they were
exploited, badly fed, kept
out of school and hired
out for employment.
In the 1950s and
1960s, adoption became
the most common outcome.
A significant percentage of
children were also sent to other
institutions such as children’s homes
especially from Bethany Home. The religious orders and by various Protestant
question of consent for adoptions has groups and denominations including the
been raised by a number of survivors. Church of Ireland and Salvation Army.
The Commission reported “no evidence” Most who entered the homes had limited
that consent was not given freely despite alternatives.
what it describes as the “inadequate” The youngest recorded admission
resources of the Adoption Board to was a 12 year-old girl and the oldest a
supervise adoption agencies or examine 44-year-old woman. The majority of
consent during its first 15 years of women were aged between 20 and 29
operation. Many survivors dispute this (58%). Another 33% were under 19
finding. years of age. It is evident that Protestant
and Catholic voluntary organisations
MOTHER AND BABY HOMES and in particular clergy were actively
AND MAGDALENE LAUNDRIES IN
NORTHERN IRELAND
The report of research by Ulster Entering a mother
University and Queen’s found that
there was “a culture of stigma, shame
and baby home
and secrecy attached to unmarried
mothers” in Northern Ireland. It is
significantly
estimated that between 1922 and 1990 reduced a baby’s
over 10,500 women entered mother
and baby homes run by Catholic chance of survival.
23 VOX.IE APR - JUN 2021VOX MAGAZINE
involved in referring women to the Baby Homes was shorter than in the
homes. Republic. Around a quarter of babies left
Women often entered a mother with their mother while a third were
and baby home when they were not placed in institutional homes. A further
in a position to marry. In religiously 23% were recorded as adopted, with
segregated Northern Ireland, religious another 15% listed as going to foster
differences were a common cause of parents.
opposition to a marriage. In other Data assembled from the available
cases, the young age of a pregnant girl records suggests that 4% of babies
meant that marriage was not an option. were either stillborn or died shortly
A number of young women entered after birth (across the entire period)
mother and baby but more detailed
Most described the
homes as the result research would be
of a sexual crime needed to identify
including incest, rape
or “unlawful carnal attitudes of staff as infant mortality
rates because so
knowledge”.
There were
unsympathetic and many children
were transferred
numerous testimonies
recounting
sometimes cruel. to institutions. It
is clear that death
experiences that rates in some of the
involved cleaning, polishing floors and children’s homes were extremely high.
domestic laundering, with no concession A number of women raised
for women in their final trimester of concern about the way adoptions were
pregnancy. Most described the attitudes handled with “consent” being given in
of staff as unsympathetic and sometimes circumstances where they were given
cruel. Women provided vivid accounts little or no alternative. There was also
of being made to feel ashamed about evidence of considerable cross-border
their pregnancy and suggested that movement of children, especially
the atmosphere was authoritarian and to Catholic-run children’s homes in
judgemental. A minority of testimonies Donegal.
offered a more positive assessment of
life in the mother and baby homes. SO WHAT IS OUR RESPONSE?
The testimonies also reveal the In the following pages, you will find
vulnerability, particularly of the younger responses from Kevin Hargaden and
women and girls including details of Richard Carson along with “What
predatory sexual behaviour and/ or Now?” - an opportunity for you and your
malicious actions that they experienced. church to explore practical actions.
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE
CHILDREN?
The length of stay for women and
children in Northern Irish Mother and
24 VOX.IE APR - JUN 2021SPECIAL REPORT
Evangelicals and
Church Abuse
What the Mother and Baby Homes
Report Reminds Us
BY KEVIN HARGADEN
P
aul preached a sermon for stand up to preach in Ireland, you step
the people of Athens in Acts inside the shadow cast by the generations
17 which has been studied of abuse committed by Irish Christians
ceaselessly since. It is the throughout the 20th century.
definitive example of how important it This year began with the publishing
is to, “know your audience.” On the hill of the government’s report into the
which had, for centuries, hosted some Mother and Baby Homes. Over the last
of the greatest philosophical discourses decade or so there have been reports
in human history, Paul demonstrated into the abuses in the Magdalene
his understanding and respect of their Laundry system, the industrial schools,
culture. It is a template evangelists have and various devastating reports into
followed for millennia. abuses in particular Catholic dioceses.
For those of us involved in ministry There is no Irish person unaware of this
in Ireland today, appreciating the phenomenon. Any missional project that
historical context of the place we serve does not consider this context is bound
remains absolutely essential. And the to fail, defeating itself by ignoring the
tragic fact is that right now, and for wisdom of the New Testament and the
decades into the future, as soon as you plain fact that God’s good news is deeply
tied up with our abuse.
The historical fact is clear: we
When I say our abuse,
I mean it. This is not a
conduct our mission today in problem that evangelicals
can brush aside as some
the light of what Christians of all kind of “Catholic issue”.
The Mother and Baby
kinds did up until the last Mother Homes report includes
many references to
and Baby home closed in 1998. evangelical initiatives
25 VOX.IE APR - JUN 2021VOX MAGAZINE
like the Bethany Home in south Dublin, stuff of nightmares. And it is arguably at
where hundreds of babies were buried in the benign end of the spectrum of abuse
unmarked graves. My own denomination, associated with the churches in our land.
the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, never Reading the Mother and Baby
legally ran these homes but prominent Homes Report feels like a gruelling
leaders within our congregations were test of our spiritual stamina. Page after
deeply involved in their operation. They page, atrocities are recorded in the cold
were joined by evangelicals from every and dispassionate tone of an official
conceivable tradition present in Ireland publication. One marvels at the strength
at the time. The historical fact is clear: of the women who rebuilt their lives
we conduct our mission today in the after being so broken down like this.
light of what Christians of all kinds did One laments for the many who surely
up until the last Mother and Baby home were crushed entirely. Remembering
closed in 1998. the historical context has contemporary
I feel the temptation to read these consequences. The Irish churches once
reports and distance myself from paid so little attention to women in their
them. I want to profess, “But, I’m not midst that they could shuffle them off
that kind of Christian!” Since Pontius into captivity and barely even notice.
Pilate, however, the option of washing This is a serious word for anyone with
our hands has not been available to us. ears to hear: how are we different?
The instinct to parse the detail of legal Lament is the biblical mode of
culpability to avoid moral responsibility worship most commonly neglected by
must be resisted. Those who ran these the contemporary church. It is praise
homes and laundries and schools and that begins in repentance. To appreciate
dioceses could say the creed, they prayed the context for
daily, they called Jesus Lord. Every single our mission
member of the Managing Committee of is to begin
Bethany House had to sign an evangelical in lament.
doctrinal commitment as rigorous as This is
any I have encountered. No one will exhausting
be convinced by our efforts to declare but it is the
ourselves righteous! only path
To understand our mission in to liberation.
historical context means wrestling with We preach
the fact that when vulnerable young a message
women were at their most fearful,
Christians not just colluded but actively
constructed and sustained a system
that incarcerated them and then often
dispatched their babies to foreign lands
without consulting them. This is the
26 VOX.IE APR - JUN 2021SPECIAL REPORT
we say is good news – that God took faithfulness and to the cultivation
on human form and dwelt among us. of communities of Christians where
He was born in a state of illegitimacy vulnerable people are safe and those
and shame, and farm animals were His scorned by society are welcomed.
first companions, along with His unwed But to understand our mission in
mother and foster father. The entire historical context also shines light on our
message hinges around a young woman contemporary situation. The last Mother
with the remarkable courage to stare and Baby Home was still open years
into the abyss of social disgrace and yet after the first Direct Provision Centre
still declare, “God’s will be done”. When was established. These two coercive
we align the Mother and Baby Homes cultures overlapped. Where once we
viewed pregnant women with scorn and
This is a serious word for suspicion, modern Ireland – which is still
all too eager to pat itself on the back for
anyone with ears to hear: what it sees as its moral progress – now
views the foreigner the same way. Men,
how are we different? women, and children arrive at our shores
having escaped war or persecution or
against the core of the Gospel message, torture and we put them in pseudo-
we cannot fail to see how compromised prisons and give them €21.60 a week and
our message is if we do not appreciate tell them to be grateful.
this historical context. Such a perversion The Mother and Baby Homes Report
of the gospel, such a crime against God – – for all of its deficiencies – allows us
and women and children – we inherit. to hear some of the voices that have
We must own this legacy and gone unheard. It is thus essential
lament. Even if we think we can protest reading for those want to get a hearing
that our denomination or tradition or in contemporary Ireland. Paul paid
congregation were not implicated, our attention. We must too.
message is still heard in this setting.
And these abuses continue to have real
world effects in the lives of the victims
who are still with us, our colleagues and
neighbours, and friends in church. That’s
where our lament should lead us – back
to care for those caught up by this system
and forward to create cultures where
such abuses will not be replicated.
Acts 17 does not record a mass
conversion followed from Paul’s sensitive Dr Kevin Hargaden leads the Jesuit Centre for
sermon. Wrestling seriously with how Faith and Justice, where he works as a social
our gospel message has been bound theologian. He is an elder for the Presbyterian
up with heinous abuse is not a church Church in Lucan. His most recent book is
growth strategy but an invitation to entitled Theological Ethics in a Neoliberal Age.
27 VOX.IE APR - JUN 2021SPECIAL REPORT
Denial, Apathy
or Lament
How will we respond to the Mother and
Baby Homes Report?
BY RICHARD CARSON
Richard Carson reflects on the report from the Mother and Baby
Homes Commission and the often-overlooked implications for
Protestants and evangelicals.
M
y ministry has been shaped investigation by the State, the legacy of
by two disorientating Irish evangelicalism stands condemned
commutes. The first was and in the area where Jesus reserved
in my early twenties when some of His harshest words - the
I took a bus from the leafy suburbs of treatment of the child.
south side Dublin, where I worked in A well-known principle in
a fee-paying boarding school into the safeguarding children is that the
inner city to work with families affected welfare of the child is paramount. The
by HIV and addiction. The second was Mother and Baby Home report and its
over a decade later when I cycled from primary sources outline how, in multiple
that same inner city community out to ways and on repeated occasions, the
my young family in the slightly less leafy application of giving a cup of cold water
suburbs. in Jesus’s name compromised the welfare
Each day I would pass a cemetery of the child. The physical condition
where over 200 children lay buried in an and spiritual condition of children
unmarked grave, their destiny fulfilled were divorced from each other, often in
under the auspices of the same broad profoundly disturbing ways. Discipleship
movement in which my inner city work from a Protestant evangelical perspective
was grounded - Irish evangelicalism. was viewed as essential, even if this
While the first commute shook my meant applying sectarian approaches to
understanding of advantage and the fostering, adoption and referral which
agency of God in mission, the second compromised the child’s best interests.
shook my foundation of faith and State inspection was actively resisted
social action. Now, following a five-year and all to avoid a core problem - the false
28 VOX.IE APR - JUN 2021VOX MAGAZINE
The memorial at Mount
Jerome Cemetery in
Harold’s Cross
belief that ‘illegitimacy’ itself conferred a So around a hundred other institutions
fragility upon the lives of newborns such are named including around a dozen of
that the high mortality rate in the homes Protestant evangelical ethos. Further to
could be explained away. that, the report outlines the broader lives
There are two ways in which the of the mothers in the homes. There are
readers of VOX from Protestant and few venues of Protestant evangelical life
evangelical traditions may be tempted in 20th century Dublin and Wicklow,
to understand this story. One is that it which do not get at least a mention in the
is about just one small institution; an text.
isolated case limited to the actions of At this point, one could easily focus
a tiny few. This view is understandable the blame for what happened on a
given the fragmented nature of Protestant broader field of ‘society’ as some have
evangelicalism and its institutions, in done. The Taoiseach was criticised for
contrast to Roman Catholicism. However, this approach. Alternatively one may
it would be a far from accurate analysis. take a forensic approach and pick out
Those in governance of Bethany particular homes for analysis of their
Home (one of three from a Protestant governance structures. This is done while
ethos investigated by the Commission) ignoring other homes or generalising the
came from the leadership of Anglican, links to the homes as just involving one’s
Presbyterian, Brethren, Baptist, Methodist ‘members’ even though these members
and other churches. But the report does were actually senior leaders. This is the
not just focus on the 18 investigated approach taken by the Church of Ireland
homes. It also highlights entry and exit and Irish Church Missions. Yet another
points for the women and young children. approach is just to remain silent, allowing
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