Clergy abuse survivors fear their ongoing struggle for acknowledgement from the Catholic Church may be forgotten, after parishioners cut the ribbons adorning the fence of St Patrick's Cathedral on Sturt Street.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The ribbons have been removed as part of maintenance and repairs to the cathedral's historic fence, the Ballarat Diocese says, but the church has not given a guarantee the ribbons will be able to be replaced once works are completed.
The ribbons being cut from the fence were accumulated over years as part of the Loud Fence movement, a form of peaceful protest where the public tie ribbons on the fences of churches, cathedrals and other buildings where institutional abuse occurred.
Ballarat, a city with a long history of such abuses, has many.
Loud Fence Ballarat vice president Mark O'Brien led a contingent of protesters on Saturday morning when the ribbons were removed, and said it was tough to watch them being cut down.
"I have got mates who have suffered tremendously. I have mates who are dead. I just hope that their lives, their stories, will never be forgotten. I just hope that taking down the ribbons is not an action to forget," Mr O'Brien said.
The cathedral said it looked to remove the ribbons to allow contractors to paint and perform maintenance on the metal fence, however cast doubt on allowing any further ribbon tying on the fence.
Ballarat Diocese Vicar General Marcello Colasante said he was "unable to guarantee" the cathedral would allow further ribbons to be tied to the fence after maintenance had finished in a few weeks' time.
"I think it is a very sensitive issue. The maintenance of the fence needs to be carried out. I think it was always going to be a point of contention, the actual removal of the ribbons," Mr Colasante said.
"My understanding is that the people who are removing the ribbons are doing that respectfully and reverently.
"They will then be stored, and there will be a further consultation down the track with the Loud Fence movement and victim survivors about how best to memorialise those ribbons."
Mr O'Brien said Loud Fence met with the cathedral weeks prior to the ribbon cutting, and asked them to delay the removal for a week to notify victim-survivors in Ballarat of their removal.
He hoped further talks would come after the removal of the ribbons, which would involve what he said would be a "world first" acknowledgement of abuse committed in the Ballarat Diocese.
"My honest answer is that there hasn't been enough done by the church or a lot of institutions and organisations. There is a tendency everywhere, and has been exhibited by the church itself, to cover things up," Mr O'Brien said.
"I hope that what the parish can do is make some meaningful decisions that involves survivors, that involves consultation, that shows people have been heard and listened to and can be validated. Their abuse has not just been thrown to the side and forgotten."
Survivor unhappy with church response
Abuse victim-survivor Tony Wardley was one of many outside of St Patrick's Cathedral on Saturday to protest the ribbons' removal.
Mr Wardley has long advocated for the Catholic church's recognition of abuse victims, and travelled to Rome alongside other survivors in 2016 to hear Cardinal George Pell give evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse.
He was unhappy with the way the Ballarat Diocese had handled the removal of the ribbons, and questioned the amount of consultation the church had had with survivor groups.
"You have had Marcello spruik a lot of rubbish, saying there has been a lot of consultation, there hasn't," Mr Wardley said.
"They got some members there, told them what was going to happen, there was no consultation.
"It hasn't stopped. They have to be accountable. It is just window dressing. There is no substance behind their empathy for anyone except the dollar."
Mr Wardley said the ribbons would return to the fence after maintenance work had finished, regardless of the diocese's position on having them there.
"It is a simple thing, they will repaint it, the ribbons will go back on," Mr Wardley said.
"In reality, all they want to do is get rid of the ribbons. They will temporarily but they will be back."
St Patrick's Cathedral parishioner Kevin Elliott was part of the group cutting the ribbons and said it was necessary to repair the fence.
"We need all these ribbons off so we can actually wire brush it, do any repairs and get a paint. The heritage people have directed us to do that," Mr Elliott said.
"I can see that there are emotions running. I can completely understand where they are coming from. I would hope that they understand that the job that we are doing has to be done, we are not doing it to be antagonistic or anything like that.
"We are just doing what we have got to do, but I completely understand where they are coming from. There are still questions to be answered which hasn't been done yet."
Affected by this story? There is help available.
You can phone the Ballarat Centre Against Sexual Assault, in Sebastopol, on 5320 3933, or free-call the crisis care line 24 hours on 1800 806 292.
Or phone Lifeline on 13 11 14, the Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380, or Relationships Australia on 1300 364 277.
