Mother and Baby Homes: religious orders should not be scapegoats, says Roman Catholic Primate

Speaking on Irish radio at the weekend, Archbishop Eamon Martin said: “They were commissioned by the State and local authorities, county councils and expected to intervene when the rest of society had basically banished these mothers.

“They found themselves in the frontline.”

Dr Martin said there was “clear evidence that the day-to-day running of these institutions was very harsh,” but he said they were subject to inspection and oversight by the State.

“As soon as women and children went into these places, society didn’t seem to want to know any more, be they living or dead.

“If it’s just, proportionate and if it’s in account of the findings of the commission, I do feel the church needs to do reparation for this. I accept that,” he said.

In relation to a redress scheme, Dr Martin said: “I think we can show our apologies are sincere by being willing to contribute in any way we can.

“Minister O’Gorman [Minister for Children] has asked for the church to make a contribution to whatever restorative scheme is put in place.

“I do think religious congregations will be willing to play their part generously.”

The archbishop said he and a lot of people in the church were feeling a “very deep sadness” at hearing the testimonies of mother-and-baby homes survivors.

“We are shamed, really, to realise and think of the number of vulnerable women and their unborn children and then their infants who were stigmatised and shamed and excluded from their homes and families.

“Essentially, they were banished by society with all of their rights largely ignored by everyone,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Bishop of Derry, Dr Donal McKeown, alluded to the issue during Mass at St Eugene’s Cathedral at the weekend.

Dr McKeown, who last week branded the church’s role in failing thousands of women as a source of “embarrassment and shame”, told a Sunday congregation that, when “the Church loses its prophetic voice regarding any issue, it becomes a pathetic voice.”

He added: “When the church structures become too closely associated with the civil structures, we lose our ability to prioritise encounters between everybody.”