With a sweep of broad brushstrokes, a television documentary last week created such a damning picture of the treatment of young, unmarried mothers between 1946 and 1976 by the Catholic Church and other religious institutions that the end credits carried an apology by Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster and president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, for the “hurt” caused and the lack of “care and sensitivity”.
His was not the only apology, with regrets expressed for past insensitivities from the Salvation Army, the Methodist Church and the Church of England. This was undoubtedly a humiliating confession to make for bodies that have reformed their methods in so many ways. But were religious organisations the only scapegoats in this blame game?
