Nun holiday statement retracted

Sister Marie Docherty leaves court

The Roman Catholic Church has retracted a statement that a nun convicted of cruelty is to be sent on holiday to the United States. A spokesman for the Bishop of Aberdeen had indicated on Friday morning that Marie Docherty was going abroad for three months to "rest and recover". Sister Marie was admonished at Aberdeen Sheriff Court on Thursday after being found guilty of four charges of cruel and unnatural treatment of girls at children's homes in Aberdeen and Midlothian. The holiday announcement provoked an outcry from her victims and was retracted on Friday afternoon by a church spokesman who said it was a "misunderstanding".

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She will, instead, be recuperating at Nazareth House in Aberdeen. Sister Marie Docherty was found guilty of four charges of cruel behaviour towards girls in her care at two children's homes in Midlothian and Aberdeen during the 1960s and 1970s. She escaped jail after Sheriff Colin Harris decided that, because of the nun's age and heart condition, a custodial sentence was not appropriate. On Friday it was confirmed by the Roman Catholic Church that Sister Marie will continue to work for her order, the Sisters of Nazareth. However, a spokesman said it was "very doubtful" that she would continue in her current role of looking after elderly people. He added that she was a "multi-talented nun" and alternative work would be found for her. Compensation battle News of the nun's foreign break came as it emerged that the battle for compensation by her victims, who resided at Nazareth House homes, could take more than two years. Solicitor Cameron Fyfe has been acting on behalf of the women hoping to win a civil suit against Docherty's order.

Nazareth House in Aberdeen

Mr Fyfe said that some of his clients were angry to hear that the nun had escaped a prison sentence and been admonished due to ill health. But he added: "Most have simply welcomed the jury's decision to convict, that is what they were mainly concerned with." In total, Mr Fyfe represents 420 people who have alleged that they were treated cruelly while being brought up at six children's homes in Scotland run by two orders of Catholic nuns. He said: "My clients' accusations are against 20 to 30 nuns in total. "The claims amount to saying that there was a regime of abuse in these homes - four Nazareth House-run ones and a further two run by another order. " Church 'sorrow' He added: "These people have not been motivated by money - they wanted to be believed and if possible to have an apology from the church. "It is going to be a long process, it could be two years before we get anywhere. Our first major hurdle is to convince the court that these cases should be proceeded with." Docherty originally faced 23 charges but was found guilty of four at the end of a six-week trial. The Roman Catholic Bishop of Aberdeen, Mario Conti, expressed sorrow for any actions which had left a mark on the lives of vulnerable individuals. But he said he could confidently restate that cruel and unnatural treatment did not form part of any official policy of discipline promoted or accepted by the Sisters of Nazareth or the church then or now. And Bishop Conti added that the convictions did not invalidate the great good that was done by the Sisters of Nazareth.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/948077.stm