May 2014 TAKEN Unwed Mothers Pressured to Give up Their Babies
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ANGLICAN JOURNAL Inspiring the faithful since 1875 vol. 140 no. 5 may 2014 TAKEN Unwed mothers pressured to give up their babies Valerie Andrews says the memories are burned into her mind. She was 17 when her family sent her to stay in a maternity home for unwed mothers in 1969. On the surface, these Valerie Andrews homes— many of which were run by or supported by churches or individual church members— provided a refuge, shielding girls and women from the social stigma attached to having a child out of wedlock, but Andrews and other women say there is another side to the story. They say they were coerced into giving up MICHAEL HUDSON babies they wanted to keep, by methods that included shaming, intimidation and withholding information about alternatives. The body of Christ Andrews recalls her On his recent trip to Toronto, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby celebrates the eucharist at the convent of the Sisters of St. John the Divine. amazement when a new He met privately with Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, as part of his commitment to meet with primates throughout roommate told her she was keeping her baby. “Are we the Anglican Communion to foster friendship and mutual understanding. See coverage at anglicanjournal.com allowed to do that?” Andrews See Separated by, p. 12 A TIMELINE TO RECONCILIATION Anglican Healing Fund co- indigenous Anglicans. “Our sented a copy to the Truth and ers, and indigenous people still ordinator Esther Wesley kept apology hasn’t been empty,” Reconciliation Commission at feel its discriminatory effects. hearing people refer to “empty Wesley said. its final national event, held in The timeline was produced apologies” whenever they Realizing many people were Edmonton, March 27 to 30. with help from Nancy Hurn talked about the sad legacy of unaware of the church’s efforts Laden with powerful im- (General Synod archivist), Indian residential schools in to atone for the past, she came ages, text, quotes and graphics, John Bird (special assistant Canada. up with the idea of a timeline the timeline begins with the to the primate on residential That bothered Wesley, who poster that would trace the arrival of Anglicans in North schools), Henriette Thompson was aware of how many people relationship, good and bad, America in the 1400s, bring- (public witness director for so- within the Anglican Church of between indigenous people ing with them the Doctrine cial justice) and Saskia Rowley Canada—indigenous and non- and the Anglican church. of Discovery. Repudiated by (General Synod graphics and indigenous—have worked to With support from the the Anglican church in 2010, print production manager). change an unjust and unequal primate, Archbishop Fred the doctrine decreed that In Hurn’s opinion, the relationship. The church has Hiltz, and the general sec- “non-Christian nations have timeline’s underlying message also offered close to $6 mil- retary, Archdeacon Michael no rights to their land and sov- is this: “Before we can move lion for projects that promote Thompson, the “Timeline of an ereignty…” Today, it underpins forward in reconciliation, we MARITES N. SISON healing and reconciliation evolving relationship” came laws and policies in nations have to understand our shared Wesley: no empty apologies between indigenous and non- into being. The primate pre- founded by European coloniz- history.” —MARITES N. 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I had to so my family’s annual trip to the reserve my time and energy to tend outskirts of Camrose, Alta., to the one precious flower, the one that greenhouses to buy bedding plants Mum loved more than any other— was a spring ritual that I eagerly her only grandchild, Alia, whose anticipated while I was growing middle name is Jasmine. “Take up. It was so wonderful to follow care of Alia,” she told me when she my parents down the hothouse was in the hospital. aisles, breathing the warm, moist “I wish Grandma could go back air, heavy with the scents of flowers to Grandpa’s house,” Alia said to and green things, and admire the me one day last winter. bursts of colour when spring was “I wish she could, too,” I said, still just getting started outside. My “but she can’t come back from mother loved flowers, and I learned heaven, sweetheart.” their many names, as they dropped LEIGH ANNE WILLIAMS “Is heaven far away?” regularly into her conversation. We I faltered. How far is it? An avid gardener, my mother, Evelyn Williams, cherished her granddaughter, Alia, would drive home, our trunk full “God is always with us, and above all her other beloved flowers. of red and pink geraniums, bright Grandma is with God, so maybe marigolds, an array of petunias and she is close by,” I said. “Maybe she begonias, purple and white lobelia, and flowers that grew in the more told her, raving about that brief can see us.” spiky dracaena and silvery-soft temperate east coast climate. springtime window of a week or “Does heaven have a window?” dusty miller to mix into planters. “There’s a peach tree in the two when those big, delicate waxy- Alia asked. At home, Dad would get out a yard,” I excitedly told my mother by pink blooms cover the trees. “Yes, maybe it’s like that,” I said. small rototiller to churn up the phone, eager to share the wonders Two years ago, my mother came I often think I am still frozen. I beds around the house, stirring up of my new city. I often detoured to help me care for our year-old have been reminded that no season the smell of the black earth and through the public gardens to walk daughter, Alia, while my husband is truly safe, but I lifted Alia up the avoiding the peony shoots, while or sit among the huge rhododen- was abroad. It seemed like the other day to touch the big fuzzy I helped Mum with the fun part of dron bushes, azaleas and bed after magnolia timing was right. She was buds on our neighbour’s magnolia planting. bed of tulips and roses. Gardens here for the beginning of spring, tree. And I’m watching to see how The rest of the spring and for me, like her, were places to seek but an unusual warm spell that the big trees in the park, so broken summer were intimately connected peace, solace and joy amidst the March moved everything far ahead in December’s ice storm, will begin with the welfare of the garden. beauty of what was green and alive. of its proper time. The magnolia to grow again. I think of the last There was joy and satisfaction Hot Toronto summers, I found buds were starting to open when stanza of Gurney’s poem: For he when plants flourished, impatience when I moved again, had their a hard frost came. Almost all the broke it for us in a garden / Under when cold weather stunted them, own exoticism. “Mum, I can grow flowers were ruined. We were both the olive trees / Where the angel of concern when heat wilted them or jasmine and hibiscus and bougain- disappointed but told ourselves strength was the warden / And the a hard rain pelted the blooms down villea!” The Victorian garden at the there would be other springs, other soul of the world found ease. into the mud. The worst was hail. Cathedral Church of St. James of- magnolia seasons. Maybe this spring, I will begin Many a time my mother ran out fered another welcome refuge from Soon after, though, our own hard to plant again. the slings and arrows of everyday frost came.