Early in June a story broke about the heinous goings on at now closed orphanage in Ireland. I was appalled, everyone who read the story was sickened. Then, another story on this case came to light about a woman, Catherine Corless, and her research on the town of Tuam. No one had bothered to checked with Catherine before printing their story. They took a few details here and there and then just made up a story from there. Actually, Catherine wanted to put up at plaque with the names of the children in the little cemetery where they are buried. A cemetery where the townsfolk had been maintaining for years, putting in rose bushes, flowers, and even a grotto.

I wrote about the real story here, called “The Truth Behind the Irish Children and the Septic Tank.”

Update: The AP has issued and apology.

Ireland-Children’s Mass Graves story

DUBLIN (AP) — In stories published June 3 and June 8 about young children buried in unmarked graves after dying at a former Irish orphanage for the children of unwed mothers, The Associated Press incorrectly reported that the children had not received Roman Catholic baptisms; documents show that many children at the orphanage were baptized. The AP also incorrectly reported that Catholic teaching at the time was to deny baptism and Christian burial to the children of unwed mothers; although that may have occurred in practice at times it was not church teaching. In addition, in the June 3 story, the AP quoted a researcher who said she believed that most of the remains of children who died there were interred in a disused septic tank; the researcher has since clarified that without excavation and forensic analysis it is impossible to know how many sets of remains the tank contains, if any. The June 3 story also contained an incorrect reference to the year that the orphanage opened; it was 1925, not 1926.

I wonder if ABC, CBS, CNN, and NBC who are always ready to bash Christians, and especially Catholics, will follow suit. I won’t hold my breath.