Ribbons used to Denote Loss and in Protest.

Ribbons have been used as a transcultural way of memorialising loss or sending messages for centuries.

LOUDfence began as a protest movement founded by Maureen Hatcher in Australia in May 2015. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse held public hearings as part of its Case Study 28: Catholic Church Authorities in Ballarat. People in Ballarat came together to tie ribbons to the gates of St Patrick’s College, a former Christian Brother’s School, in order to demonstrate their opposition to child sexual abuse.

Who we are.

LOUDfence began as a pro healing and reconciliation movement by Antonia Sobocki in the UK in 2020. LOUDfence UK is inspired by gospel values and aims to work with churches to actively foster a culture which is pro-safeguarding and truth telling. LOUDfence celebrates what we want to be. Our starting point - safeguarders are not a necessary evil which exist at the peripheries of the church. Safeguarders are the true north on the moral compass of the Church. They make every sacrament and social service the church offers possible, because if it cannot be delivered safely, it cannot be delivered at all. Rather than being relegated to the outer peripheries of the church, safeguarders stand at it’s centre, at the foot of the cross. To safeguard is to live out the values of the gospel in their most literal sense.

LOUDfence also seeks to promote the much needed Ministry of Survivor Care in the church. To care is to love and love is the most fundamental hallmark of a Christian. We are called to care for and support those who have been injured by abuse directly or indirectly. Supporting those who wish to reclaim the practice of their faith is a form of restorative justice.