Two nuns negotiated a ‘secular miracle’
This was the date when, on the eve of a general election, the state signed a legal indemnity with the Catholic Church. For less than €128 million that institution signed over responsibility for compensating those systemically raped and abused by the clergy over the last five decades. The taxpayer, would eventually be forced to pay out over €1 billion. As something of an extra, the perpetrators of child abuse were de facto amnesty from prosecution.
The two nuns that pulled off this secular “miracle” are Sr Elizabeth Maxwell, then the secretary general of the Conference of Religious of Ireland (CORI) and currently head of the northern province of the Presentation Sisters, and Sr Helena O’Donoghue leader of the Sisters of Mercy, south central province.
