Memorial ribbons trashed at Cathedral next to inquiry into child abuse

Tuesday, 25 June 2019

Child abuse survivor advocate confronts church after ribbons cut at St Patrick's Cathedral

Only minutes after a hearing of the Royal Commission into child abuse wrapped up, a man was removing abuse survivors' memorial ribbons at nearby St Patrick's Cathedral.

The bizarre incident on Tuesday followed ongoing controversy about the destruction of 'loud fences' which commemorate abuse victims.

Murray Heasley and Louise Hutchinson had been at the Royal Commission hearings across the road when a man was seen throwing commemorative ribbons into a bin.

One loud fence in Onehunga was desecrated earlier this month, prompting the head of Auckland's Catholic Church's to implore parishioners to respect child abuse victims and commemorative ribbons.

But it seemed Bishop Patrick Dunn's message may not have been transmitted to volunteers at St Patrick's on Wyndham St, across the road from where the inquiry into historical abuse was held.

*Abuse survivor plans trip to replace memorial ribbons

*Catholic sex abuse: Brothers say priest 'crushed my soul and spirit'**

This book lauch ceremony four weeks ago with author and abuse survivor Mike Ledingham (far right) was the inspiration for a loud fence in Onehunga and now Auckland central.

Dr Murray Heasley, spokesman for Survivors of Abuse in Faith-based Institutions, confronted a man seen removing the ribbons.

The man said his name was Tom and he was a Catholic volunteer caretaker acting on instructions from a woman at the church shop to remove the ribbons.

He asked if Heasley was 'a Methodist' who wanted '$1000'.

Many of the ribbons, thrown into a rubbish bin, had been sent from Australia by abuse survivor Grant West.

These loud fence ribbons were sent from Australia and binned after a church volunteer claimed he was ordered to remove them.

Nobody at the nearby church shop admitted knowing who ordered the ribbons' removal but one volunteer at the church office upstairs said she previously had no idea what the ribbons were.

'If somebody was going to put something on your front fence, it would be courtesy to knock on the door,' she said.

St Patrick's was an inner-city church frequently vandalised, she added.

The search for answers into the latest loud fence controversy led to an office beside St Patrick's in Auckland CBD.

'In the future when you want to do something like that, perhaps it's best to get in contact with the office beforehand.'

Heasley said the loud fence movement did not seek permission from perpetrators or clerics generally.

West told Stuff the latest ribbon removal was sickening.

'It's ignorance…this has got to stop. Even after being told by Murray, they still turn around and say 'we don't care'.'

West added: 'I am going to try and raise the funds to fly over to Auckland and tie a ribbon onto every Catholic Church in and around Auckland.'

He said Tuesday's incident was another example of 'disregard towards those abused by the Catholic Church'.

Archbishops and Cardinals should tell every church in New Zealand that survivors have the church's blessing to tie ribbons to fences, West said.

'I would like to see that the priests from each parish attend their own church and tie a ribbon with me.'

Dunn previously said, through a spokeswoman, that he tied a ribbon himself to the Onehunga church.

Church spokeswoman Lyndsay Freer said she the ongoing removal of Onehunga ribbons was 'really annoying' but it wasn't yet clear exactly what happened at St Patrick's.

'If people don't know, you can't blame them…it's still early days.'

She said the Bishop told her he was writing to Heasley.