Ghosts of the Orphanage by Christine Kenneally
(Image from amazon.com)
As always, I want to give you fair warning that this post does have spoilers. I found Ghosts of the Orphanage to be well written, informative, and very thought-provoking. Because we know that I don’t actually read books and I listen to them, I would also like to give a shout out to Jodie Harris who read the book to me via Audible. Her voice was very pleasing to listen to.
Ghosts of the Orphanage, gives a detailed look at several of the Catholic church run orphanages in the early part of the 1900s through the 1970s. As you may know, these organizations and residential schools have gotten a lot of press in the last few years for the deaths of children left in the care of these Nuns and Priests. We’ve learned about medical tests. We’ve learned about abuse, both physical and sexual. We’ve learned about children being taken from their homes or left by their parents for various reasons.
What a lot of people don’t realize Is how deep the knowledge of this abuse, went inside the Catholic Church. The author was able to find where members of Catholic Church leadership knew about these abuses and sent many of the priests to what basically equates to a wellness center to be rehabilitated. Once released, instead of sending these abusers somewhere else or removing them from the church, leadership put them right back into the places where they could continue to abuse children. And while I’m sure, it comes as no surprise that the priest abused the children, the abuse coming from the sisters is equally, and in many cases more, abhorrent.
What I want to focus on is how the church was able to keep these atrocities buried for so long. Power. Power and money. Who would possibly believe that someone so godly could be hurting children? The Church leveraged that. And then they spun the tales to make it seem as though the children were lying. Does this sound familiar to you? As I was hearing the research that the author had done and all of the assertions and conclusions that she came to, I realize that it doesn’t matter what an organization is if they have money and power, they feel that they can abuse and get away with it.
I instantly thought of Jeffrey Epstein and friends. They did the same thing. Epstein used his power and money, and the power and money of his friends, to physically, sexually, mentally, and emotionally abuse them. To murder them. To eat them. And just like the Catholic Church they tested the waters. They banked on people not believing the stories. They twisted the truth.
And in the end, they got away with it. There was no punishment for the Catholic Church. Sure some of the priest and other individuals some of them were put on trial and found guilty. But so many of them weren’t. And yet people still send their kid to kids to church camp and let them be altar boys. Is it not the same with Epstein’s friends? Don’t we continue to let them get away with it?
People need to be held accountable for their actions. China and Indonesia Sentence child molesters with the death penalty, and I think that the United States should be the same. It shouldn’t matter how much money you have, how much power you have, or how many powerful friends you have. People need to be held accountable. The people on the Epstein list that known about Epstein’s parties and Did nothing need to be stripped of their fortunes snd put in prison. As for those who actually participate in the parties and the abuse of children, the death penalty seems to be fitting. We need laws to be changed so that there are heavier punishments for monsters of this kind.
I know that writing this is risky, but I can’t be silent anymore. Being silent is to be complicit. I don’t want to be complicit in the horrors that are going on in the United States. I don’t want to be complicit and let people who abuse people (especially children) get away with it. I would remind any US citizens reading this blog post that the Declaration of Independence (even though it was written for white supremacist males who owned the land) says that if government ceases to work for the people, it is the obligation of the people to institute one that does work for the people. The more of us to use our voices the more the abusive people in power realize that they are not going to get away with It.
