ABCNEWS.com : Thousands Enslaved by Ireland's Catholic Church There have been no direct reparations from the Irish Catholic Church to the tens of thousands of women it used as slave labor. Nor has there been a formal apology. It's not even known how many victims of the Magdalene laundries are still alive: they are not organized, and many don't want to talk about this terrible part of their past.
Very few Churchmen in Ireland will comment on the scandal. An exception is Willie Walsh, the Bishop of Killaloe. Over a cup of tea in his residence, he said that it is "a source of pain and shame."
"These girls were rejected by society, and the Church in some way thought it was giving refuge to these girls," he says. "I suppose … the Magdalene laundries was in some instances a form of slavery."