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The Press
September 14, 2002
Nuns on the run
by Yvonne Martin
A woman who says she was tortured by the Sisters of Nazareth at a Christchurch
orphanage wants them to pay for her alleged suffering. Defenders of Nazareth
House say she is driven by greed, not grief.
A nn Thompson is the latest in the swelling ranks queuing for compensation from
the Catholic Church.
Thompson's target is
The 61-year-old grandmother, from Whangarei, last week appeared on prime-time
television alleging she had been tortured by sadistic nuns as a girl at
Nazareth House in Sydenham in the 1950s.
As well as regular thrashings, the nameless sisters would use her as a human
toilet brush, flushing the loo while her head was shoved down the bowl.
Punishments were allegedly meted out, not because she was a bad girl, but
because she was born out of wedlock.
"As they'd thrash you, they'd say, `We'll get the Devil out of you'. I was
the Devil's child," Thompson said breathlessly.
While nothing could alleviate her painful childhood, the compensation she now
seeks from the Catholic Church -- a cool $500,000 plus -- could make life
"a little better". "I think I deserve it with what I've been
through," she said.
Coming off the back of a global wave of allegations against priests and
brothers, the serious claims against the
Coincidentally, the senior nun at the centre of an escalating storm over child
abuse allegations at a Sisters of Nazareth orphanage in
One of five women seeking compensation for alleged abuse at Nazareth House in
As leader of the sisters in
While Thompson was detailing her ordeal at Nazareth House, Sister Bernard's
attempts to keep a low profile were foiled when an Australian 60 Minutes
television crew ambushed her visiting her ill sister in
Until that moment, Sister Bernard had refused to front up to the media this
week -- her minders citing a bad cold when The Press tried several times to
meet her. In a statement, she denies all personal allegations made against her.
Investigations by The Press raise curious anomalies in some of the wilder
claims swirling around Nazareth House in
Despite her claims of being traumatised by sadistic nuns, Thompson stayed on at
Nazareth House until she was 19. She worked for the
In 1965, her wedding was held at Nazareth House, the very place where she says
she was regularly abused. The wedding was paid for by the nuns.
Five months before Thompson began pursuing compensation from the
Thompson, who did not return calls to The Press, is adamant the abuse at
But staunch supporters of Nazareth House, some who shared a dormitory and
giggled in Mass with Thompson, are questioning elements of her story.
They say that while their upbringing was strict and orderly, the nuns were
benevolent dictators who took in hundreds of kids from broken families and
single mums -- and looked after them as best they could.
How can girls from the same era in the same orphanage have hugely contradictory
memories of their childhoods? Could both versions be right? Are reported
settlements within the Catholic Church, worth tens of thousands of dollars,
tempting convent kids to try to cash in on their pasts? How is the Church,
buffeted by abuse allegations dating back 40 and 50 years, going to be able to
distinguish between a true victim and a Judas after his or her pieces of
silver?
The Order of the Sisters of Nazareth, founded in
At the time Thompson lived there the nuns had about 100 "orphans"
from separated or solo parents before the days of the domestic purposes
benefit, as well as elderly residents. Now it is a retirement home with 81
residents, still run by the sisters.
Early last week about 50 supporters gathered at Nazareth House in
Thompson alleges she was beaten for any misdemeanour or for no reason at all.
Nuns would strip her at night, tie her to a bed and thrash her, she claims.
So frightened was she of abuse, she would wet her bed, which would bring more
grief -- the human toilet brush treatment.
But that is not how fellow "Naz" girl, Elizabeth Rose, who shared the
same crammed dormitory, remembers it.
"At no time did I see any kind of physical abuse from the nuns," she
says. "If she (Thompson) was hit, we would have heard it in the dorm. We
were so close together. If you put your arm out, you could have almost touched
the next bed. You could hear the kids coughing or sneezing."
She remembers uncontrollable giggling sessions with Thompson in the church
pews, when some of the elderly residents broke wind, and getting poked in the
back by tut- tutting sisters.
Rose was also born out of wedlock, like many of the other girls, but says it
was never an issue. To the contrary, nuns would comfort girls like her, who had
no family to visit them on Sundays, with extra love and lollies.
Rose remembers sports events, picnics at
Theresa Campbell, who was also at Nazareth House with Thompson, says her claim
that she was stripped and thrashed does not tally with the nuns' extreme
modesty.
They were never seen leaving the bathroom, for instance. For years,
"We had to wear slips like operating gowns while lining up for a bath, and
wear them in the bath, because we weren't allowed to look at another person
naked," says
Fellow supporter Barbara Mills says cleanliness of body and soul was next to
Godliness.
"Sister was so modest she couldn't even watch Bing Crosby look lovingly at
Ingrid Bergman in The Bells of St Mary's. She would put her hand over her face
-- and looking away, come over all peculiar," says Mills.
Three nuns looked after about 100 girls, each doing a morning, afternoon or
night shift. While they did resort to the cane and strap to curb rebellious
natures, in a highly disciplined era, they were never heavy-handed or
malicious, says Mills. "If those stories were true," she says,
"we would have known what was going on."
She remembers live singing sessions at 3YA radio station, playing basketball at
The nuns were held in such esteem,
Thompson was initially raised by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd at
She would subsequently pursue a payout from the Good Shepherd Sisters for
cruelty she alleges happened under their roof.
Thompson spent nine years at Nazareth House, leaving in March 1960 to a job as
a housemaid. She returned to work for the Nazareth Sisters at the
A 1966 note in her
In 1999 she asked the sisters for a copy of her records.
The first the sisters heard of Thompson's legal action was this year in May,
five months after she had landed a significant settlement from the Good Shepherd
Sisters for alleged cruelties during her time at the
Thompson was one of 14 former
Both parties agreed the settlement was to be kept confidential, but simmering
tensions over how the money was split caused fall-out among the women,
prompting some to break ranks.
One woman told The Press that she received about $20,000, while another
complainant received more than $50,000.
Thompson has joined four other former
Several of the women in the group action also received payouts from the Good
Shepherd Sisters for their time at
"The
The
"Some kids are more vulnerable and would be subject to a lot more of the
punitive stuff than some others," she says.
Associate Professor Jeremy Finn, who lectures in criminal law at the
"There is also very possibly a significant proportion of them which are
absolutely true. The problem is knowing which is which," he says.
The Nazareth Sisters are deciding, with legal representatives for both parties,
what process they will use to deal with the allegations. Their solicitor, Lee
Robinson, is still waiting to hear the full extent of the claims. At issue will
be whether and how these complaints can be investigated given the lapse of
time.
It is unlikely Sister Bernard will play a role in the negotiations. The first
Seventeen people have received settlements, reportedly ranging from $46,000 to
$86,000 after accusing nuns at Nazareth House in
A document filed in a
Investigating journalists discovered she was very much alive, a sprightly 69
years old, and leading the
Sister Bernard has now spoken exclusively in a deal with 60 Minutes, and the
Catholic Church has warned all other media to stop invading her privacy
"forthwith". And, ironically, despite Thompson's cameo appearance in
living rooms throughout the nation, her lawyer is requesting confidentiality
for his clients.
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CAPTION:
A Nazareth House dormitory in the early 1950s. An assembly of girls at