Ribbons of support removed from church
The top Catholic in the Wellington area has written to church members imploring them not to remove commemorative ribbons tied to church railings.
But a victim’s advocate has said the ‘‘Loud Fences’’ ribbons are still being removed from outside an Auckland Catholic church.
Ribbons were removed from Our Lady of the Assumption Church, Onehunga, in June, before being put back up, Survivors of Abuse in Faithbased Institutions spokesman Dr Murray Heasley said. Every so often Heasley goes and checks on them, and last week they had been removed again, he said.
‘‘They were slashed off. This parish does not give a rat’s a... about survivors and their pain.’’
The Loud Fences initiative, which started in Ballarat, Australia, is where messages are written on ribbons, which are then tied onto railings or fences outside churches to honour victims of abuse by clergy. The idea is that it is the voice of victims and survivors ‘‘trying to claw back some redress for the harm that they suffered inside the Catholic Church,’’ Heasley said.
Ribbons were also removed from a church in Wellington at the end of last year, before being put back up.
Cardinal John Dew has written to priests and lay pastoral leaders in the Wellington archdiocese asking that respect be given to the tying of ribbons. ‘‘In this, coloured ribbons are being hung on fences to show solidarity with victims of sexual abuse and to encourage victims and survivors to appear before the Royal Commission [of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions],’’ the cardinal wrote.
Heasley said it was a sign the church was moving in the right direction, but it didn’t go as far as Otago and Southland. ‘‘They’re actually encouraging people to tie them on.’’
Heasley said anyone with an interest in preventing the sexual abuse of children could tie a ribbon of support at any church of any denomination.