CONVENT LIFE.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 April 1921, Page 12

CONVENT LIFE.

REV. HOWARD ELLIOTT’S CHARGES. MOTHER SUPERIOR'S REPLY. AN EMPHATIC DENIAL-. The Rev. Howard Elliott’s charges regarding the treatment of a young woman in a Roman Catholic institution at Christchurch, apparently the Mount Magdala Home, have been promptly taken up by Dr. Brodie, Roman Catholic Bishop of Christchurch, and the authorities of the home. After reading the report of Mr. Elliott’s meeting, which incorporated the text of the young woman’s statement, Bishop Brodie nominated two justices of the. peace who should accompany him to tfie home for the purpose of witnessing the statement by the mother superior in reply to the allegations. The services of Messrs. H. Holland and Symons were secured, and they visited the home in company with the Bishop and a representative of the paper, Mr. Holland had witnessed the girl’s statement. The allegations made by the young woman, who said she escaped from the home recently, were that while an inmate she was put to work felling trees, cutting hedges, and stoking two furnaces used for the generation of steam for laundry purposes; that she was dressed in a sack as punishment, that she was strapped to a chair while her hair was cut off, that she was dragged into church on Sundays, and that she was refused permission to leave on the expiry of the 4wo years for which she had been placed in the institution by her father.

r.The following sworn declaration by t\e mother superior' was signed, in the presence of two justices and witnessed by them:—!, Mary Borgia O’Rourke, mother superior of the Convent of the Good Shepherd at Mount Magdala, have read a copy of the statement in the Sun, made by a young woman said to have ben an inmate of the Good Shepherd Home. As I have no authority from the young woman’s father to make use of his daughter's name, I can only take the statement as it appears, and conclude it was made by a young woman who left the institution on February 1. Her father had requested the sisters to take care of her, and he was at perfect liberty to at any time withdraw her from "Mount Magdala. Regarding the charges made, I am in a position to deny the truth of any accusation which would indicate that the girl had to do any severe work which would injure her health. The statement attributed to her that she did not have sufficient time for rest is quite incorrect, as all the inmates retire at 8 p.m., and do not rise before 6 a.m. No punishment of any kind is inflicted, and the statement that she was strapped to a chair and her hair cut off is quite untrue. It is unheard of that anyone has been dragged to church on Sunday or any other morning. The inmates are provided with a comprehensive library of the works, and everything is done by way of concerts, entertainments, and games for their happiness. I again deny the truth of the accusations made in the statement, and cordially offer an invitation to citizens of Christchurch, whether Catholic or Protestant, to visit Mount Magdala, and the sisters will be only too pleased to let the visitors see for themselves what is being done for the happiness and general well-being of any person entrusted to our care.”

Unfortunately there has been a campaign of slander against dead nuns, which, by its malice and untruthfulness, has shocked the whole community, said Dr. Brodie. “Apparently this campaign is now to be carried on against living nuns, and, apparently, the recent utterance in Christchurch was part of that campaign.”

In a leading article dealing with the subject, the Sun says: We do not propose to discuss the merits of the case further at present. But we do join—as all fair-minded people must —with the protest of Bishop Brodie against the methods adopted by those engaged in the anti-Ronie campaign. Some of those methods may fairly be described as despicable, indecent, and dangerously inflammatory.