SYDNEY (AUSTRALIA)
ABC
By Sue Peacock
Ballarat Catholic Diocese Vicar-General Father Justin Driscoll has defended the decision to cut hundreds of brightly coloured ribbons off the fence at St Patrick’s Cathedral just three days after the findings of the royal commission into child sexual abuse were made public.
The ribbons represented support for victims of child sexual abuse and were part of the Ballarat-born Loud Fence movement, which has spread around the world in the wake of widespread abuse by institutions such as the Catholic Church.
The ribbons were stripped from the fence on Sunday by St Patrick’s parishioners and placed in a special purpose-built box in the corner of the churchyard.
But just hours after they were removed new ones were being tied back on after survivors and their supporters reacted angrily to the move.
And many of them took to social media vowing they would decorate the cathedral fence on Ballarat’s main street with even more ribbons this week.
Disrespectful and a mistake
Loud fence founder Maureen Hatcher criticised the move — which coincided with the opening of a memorial garden at the cathedral for those affected by abuse — saying it was disrespectful and a mistake.
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