In the septic tank no less.
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/b...on-secours-catholic-orphanage-ireland-n728656
The bones indicated that they were from children ranging from a few weeks old to 3 years old. They don't yet know how many individuals - just a septic tank full of children's bones.
But please Pope Francis tell us how the Church is pro-life. Utterly revolting. Every abortion debate should start with this as exhibit A.
SLD
I'm not sure I see the connection to abortion. Unless, these children were murdered? Likely, they were miscarriages and early childhood deaths, no? The death certificates existed, they were just buried in mass graves? I don't understand exactly what's going on, or is that precisely the issue?
It's connected to the abortion issue, not abortion, itself.
Abortion has always been a bad choice among other bad choice. No one in the history of the world has ever gotten pregnant because they enjoyed an abortion. It doesn't take much imagination to create a mental image of life at this Home for Mothers and Babies. Even if we sweeten the picture by adding a cadre of benevolent and caring nuns, it was a time of high infant mortality, in the best of situations. Given the documented practices of the Irish Church and orphan girls, it's not likely there was a lot of benevolence or caring. Maternal mortality would also be high, but the article does not mention any other graves on the premises.
It does give an interesting window into a time when abortion, or to put it better, "right to abortion," wasn't an issue. Today's fight over abortion centers on a presumed sacredness of life, even to the point of some people insisting aborted babies be given a funeral and burial. Nothing of that sort is seen at this place. At this time, the Irish Church would be operating under the theology of pre-VaticanII times, which would include 'limbo", as the destination of unbaptized infants, those that died before the rite could be performed. It's also unlikely that a septic tank, cistern, or any other "underground structure that appears to have been "related to the treatment/containment of sewage," would qualify as "consecrated ground,"a necessary condition for proper Catholic burial.
After VaticanII, limbo was de-emphasized and now it's treated something like an old superstition that has been abandoned in modern times. Whether this would factor into whether a bunch of Irish Nuns and priests would handle the bodies of dead infants is difficult to say. It's unlikely any of the women who worked there are still alive, but it's certain some of the mothers who were sent there, have survived to this day. I'm sure some of them will come forward in the coming days and bring us more information.
