St. Joseph’s Article (Analysis)
“We Saw Nuns Kill Children: The Ghosts of St. Joseph’s Catholic Orphanage” is a chilling article. This article was put created after interviewing many people involved in the trials described and visiting the orphanage itself. I believe it’s purpose was to reveal the unspeakable treatment of the orphans and the trauma it has caused them throughout their lives.The audience here could be anyone and should be many, for this piece reveals the horrors that take place behind the closed doors of a Catholic establishment. This information should be public. It should disgust, enrage, or astonish anyone who reads it. The timing of this is well-placed, even if these events have been unearthed many years after they occurred. The kairos here is important because the Catholic church has been under a lens of scrutiny for quite a few years now as molestation cases have come to light. The emotions of readers, pathos, must be elevated by this piece. It inspires sympathy for the victims and a hope for justice. Reading it myself, I was captivated from the very start, feeling anger and devastation for these victims. Logos is appealed to often, in the form of anecdotes. Whether these are quotes from the victims or separate stories in italics, they add personal voices. The amount of these voices are too many to reject as false. As for the writer herself, she interviewed many people in person and even investigated St. Joseph’s herself, providing herself with ethos.
