You're right that individual Catholic priests and nuns have done good things, but good people do good things regardless of whether their goodness has been institutionalized. The Catholic church is responsible for a lot more evil in the world than good.
Regarding healthcare costs, Saskatchewan - Joni's home province - had universal free hospital-based healthcare by 1946, and generally led the way in Canada regarding welfare provision. Joni had her baby in February 1965, by which time there was an established welfare state.
Sarah
At 12:38 AM -0500 02/03/2003, dsk wrote:
Not ALL nuns are like the ones in Magdalene Laundries. It just may be that she had some GOOD
experiences with some of the nuns when she was hospitalized with polio.
At the time of Kilauren's birth, Catholic services may have been the
only or at least the most extensive "social services" available, and if
Joni gave birth in a Catholic hospital (very likely since she had no way
to pay for her healthcare; I'm assuming the Canadian healthcare-for-all
system was not yet in place), then that would easily lead to the rest of
the Catholic network, such as adoption services.
