Y’all may remember the film The Magdalene Sisters that came out a couple of years ago. It was a horrible film that viciously exploted a horrible scandal. The sisters that ran the Magdalene homes had already issued a partial apology when a previous documentary about the situation had aired. Now they have issued a fuller apology.
Author: Jimmy Akin
Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."
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I’m sorry; but how was this movie “horrible” or “exploitative”? The vistims of the Magdalen abuses certainly did not think so; they said their treatment was actually WORSE than the movie depicted!
The film is very accurate historically. Why do some Catholics feel the need to dfend and react against every negative depiction of their Church’s clergy and religious? Michael Rose himself gave the film a good review.
Stepehen Greyfus is way off-base in his review, in my opinion. I myself am at a complete loss to explain the abuse, especially how it could continue under the supervision both of the Irish bishops, and even many saintly popes who reigned at the time.
I’m most curious as to how long the abuse went on for. I don’t know how the Catholic Church could allow this to continue for a long period of time.
So much for abuse being the fruit of Modernism . . .
It’s curious that someone that was not a victim of those atrocious acts should know that those people have been exploited by the film, surely that could only be judged by those who lived it and whose horrors are reflected in that film.
Funnily enough people that lived it did not feel exploited, but liberated that the truth was no longer a dark “sin” which was swept under the carpet, even if the film did not really show the true extent of the terror. As more and more of the past is being made public it gives strength to people that suffered at the hands of those that were supposable there to protect them to bring these people to justice, not in the next life but in this one. An not only “the people” but all involved and implicated and that goes all the way to the top.
I know of at least one woman who went through that particular system and I’ve lived through the “typical” Irish Catholic education systems. Exploitation was what happened, exploiting peoples fears of “God” internal damnation etc. So if the film gave off an air of exploitation I feel it only reflected what happened.
I do not feel the people that inflicted the terror were bad people as we were all born the same only circumstances make people hurt other people, that is to say they were only products of their experiences, a lot them were abused as well, physiologically and physically by the previous generation of The Irish catholic church. That’s not to say that they were all bad, obviously not but that film only reflected the tip of the tip of the ice berg in what occurred to until the mid 80s in Ireland.
There are very few Irish Catholics that do not know at least one person that was abused by the system, and that is more than alarming it is horrifying. If you kill some one the suffering stops there, but people who have lived these things suffer all their lives, their children suffer and so on and so forth, so you could just imagine the amount of people that have been, are now and will be suffering.
The idea of “you shouldn’t talk about these things” because you are exploiting or because of a,b,c,…z is what made it possible for these atrocities to occur, the truth only hurts those that fear it.
Darragh
i am only 11 and i watched the film i thought it was terrible what the nuns did especially what the priest did to crispina when she said that he was not a man of god and then got described as insane was terrible and what happened to margaret her cousin raped her and she got punished for it and bernadette didn’t do anything to make herself look nice and rose didn’t commit a crime she had a baby wooo i may only be 11 but i no when something is write or wrong because i am actually smart and have been tested by my teacher and have the brain of a 15 year old or over
Well for the love of God…. (is that not what ye all would say )… I’m just a normal guy who knew of the Magdalen story from tales in Ireland when I was younger, and then I read the book and watched the film.
I now have an elderly neighbour who was a Magdalen daughter too. She considers herself to be lucky but won’t talk specifics. She does say that the film was a bit light on detail of what was done to those youngsters. The film dealt only with the older girls she said to me. Apparently much of the abuse was carried out on the pre-pubescent ones. the book bears this out more than the film for obvious reasons.
Putting it all together I can only conclude that the beardie-wierdie Jimmy Akin who wrote “It was a horrible film that viciously exploted a horrible scandal. The sisters that ran the Magdalene homes had already issued a partial apology…blah blah…” was obviously never raped by a drunken priest before his balls dropped.
Jimmy – to you a question – are you now, or have you ever been a member of the Catholic Brotherhood? Are you now, or have you ever been a priest? It’s the same question. You have the look of a priest. You have the beard of an ex-priest. Your eyes are your windows.
I know this thread is now 3 years old, but it would be interesting to see how people feel now that Film4 has just aired the offending “horrible film”. Answers on a postcard please!
Jimmy. Please don’t delete this comment of mine. Please answer it publicly, in the decent way.
For the record – I am a Catholic, and have no axe to grind, other than with those who will defend atrocity.
“Please answer it publicly(sic), in the decent way.”
Yeah, Jimmy! Be decent! Don’t call Tony McNamara names, such as “beardie-weidie”. Or post anything like his fourth paragraph.
Ah, Film4 has just aired it. So that’s why I’m getting all the new Magdalene Sisters hate mail!
Tony: Grow up and learn to discourse in an adult fashion. Learn to ask a civil question if you’d like a civil answer.
Also, if you want to send Magdalene Sisters hate mail, consider me instead of Jimmy. I’m the guy who wrote the review Jimmy links above. Judging from your post, I bet you’re as incapable of reading it as the rest of my hate mailers.
Well come on now fellas.. It was hardly hate mail now, was it? It seems to me that your responses to me were more about spite than addressing the argument. How do you spell “publicly” by the way Bill912? I think that you must know some more correct spelling …. That was very important and clever of you to identify a correctly spelled word and suggest otherwise.
The reason I raised the question as to whether JA was or is a priest was simply because the only people I have EVER known to slate either the film or the book have been staunch Catholics, usually priests. I sat in a room with a dozen of them in Kilmaley in 2005 and every one said that the film was a load of lies and that no such atrocities ever happened.
I am sorry I have come across to you as childish and incapable of reading and writing. Thank you for your suggestion that I need to grow up. I am 74. I have written and published 18 books, including historical non-fiction. I have sold millions of them and have made a lot of money from being illiterate or so it seems. I have disclosed neither my true name, nor author pseudonym on this forum. I will however book myself onto a literacy course forthwith.
lets forgive but not forget. my mother and grandmother suffered in golden bridge.
lets not tar todays sisters with the same brush.
i do beleive that all who suffered should be compensated. and i would just like to say to all those who suffered,we will not forget you
love to all
derek
uk