Say Sorry

A Harrowing Childhood in two Catholic Orphanages

by Ann Thompson

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Overview

This is a truly harrowing tale, written in the first person by a woman born out of wedlock to live her childhood as an orphan, abused, unloved.

Ann Thompson was born in Wellington in 1941 to a 16-year-old mother who tried to fight the catholic church in taking Ann away from her, they took 2 and a half months to ripped Ann away and then they took the baby down to Christchurch and placed the baby in a Catholic orphanage.

What follows is a sadly familiar tale of cruelty, neglect, torment and tears – all triggered by the abuse of nuns there to care for her.

Most of these tales of abuse come from overseas homes.

This one comes from Christchurch, from Mount Magdala Girls Orphanage run by the Good Shepherd order of nuns from 2 and a half months old up to ten years old. Then Nazareth House, from 10 years old to 19years old run by the Sisters of Nazareth. Then worked at St. Josephs Boys Home from 19years old, up to 25 years of age.

And it rings true. One thing you have to remember is that us babies were stolen by the catholic church and sold to the highest bidders and also kept in their orphanages to be their slaves to make money for them...

Description

Ann just two months old when she was placed in a Catholic orphanage in Christchurch, New Zealand. She was physically and sexually abused by religious and lay staff at the orphanage and forced to work long hours on the orphanage farm and laundries. This is one of the first books to look at abuse within New Zealand Catholic institutions. I was stolen from my mother arms by St Vincent De Paul who were working for the nuns. I was abused from 18months right through until I left at the age of 25years old after we got Married. I knew nothing about the world outside those red brick walls. I had no education I started working on the nuns farm at 5years old also in their laundries and kitchen.

About the author

Print book : Biography : English View all editions and formats Summary:

Abuse survivor Ann Thompson has put decades between her horrific childhood in Catholic orphanages and life today as a wife, mother and grandmother, but the demons of that nightmare past still haunt her.

"Sometimes I feel like a 12-year-old girl living in a woman's body - an old woman's body at that," she says. "oy spine is twisted and arthritic because I was thrown against the walls of the playroom again and again as a child and I've got arthritis in both hips as well. Because of all the slaps across my face and head with nuns' fists or sticks, I have chronic earache - the pain is like a hot needle."

The daily brutality of life at St Joseph's Catholic orphanage and Nazareth House, both in Christchurch, was supposed to rid Ann of the "evil" that the nuns said was in her because she was the unwanted baby of an unmarried teenager. But it was not the only ordeal inflicted on Ann during her 15 years in church care. As well as constant mental and physical torture, she was sexually abused as a toddler by female helpers at the orphanage and again by a priest as a vulnerable young teen.

Paperback$15.00

Other titles by this author/publisher

Ann's Poetry by Ann Thompson

They Promised Heaven But Led Me to Hell by Ann Thompson

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