And yes, yes, yes it's true that individuals committed these crimes. I suppose the threat of prosecution at any age does serve as some sort of deterrent. But from another point of view, it just doesn't do much good to put an eighty-year-old woman in prison. What is constructive and necessary, is to examine what happened within a societal context, and then fix whatever it is in society that causes such things to happen.

Yes, individuals committed the crimes - but these are crimes that happened on a widespread scale within an institutional context that was established by both Church and State. And it wasn't the English who did this - it was the newly independent Irish nation. And it wasn't Rome that did this - all the institutions were thoroughly Irish. That fact that many of those Irish are no longer Catholic, does not excuse them.

Weren't you people alive when society used to shun unwed mothers? It wasn't a religious thing - it was something that most people did, and it was cruel. And unwed mothers were quietly sent away to some institution, often condemned to a life of poverty and not to be heard from again in polite company. Some of those unwed mothers were actually treated well and given a good education in their institutions - but most of society continued to shun them.

-Joe-