Healing Garden
Providing caring relief for those who have suffered abuse Healing and reconciliationDonate to the healing gardenThe Garden
As part of our diocesan desire to reach out to those who have been hurt by abuse in a sensitive and meaningful way, our diocesan safeguarding team, the Hope Centre and our healing and reconciliation group have designed and created a garden on the grounds of our Cathedral.
“The banner He raises over me is Love” (Song of Songs 2:4). In many different cultures people leave ribbons behind them when they leave special places as a sign of hope they have in the future. In Celtic traditions ribbons have been hung by holy wells as a sign of prayer, just as candles are lit in a church as a sign of a prayer that carries on when you leave. Ribbons have been used as a sign of peace, of hope and of blessing.
124 ribbons in total were placed around the tree between 15th and 17th before being blessed on the national day of prayer for survivors, and will soon be made into an art installation
Mary’s Narrative
Read Mary’s Story here as told by her daughter Angela
“There was neither fun nor kindness ever shown to her”
our hopes
we hope the garden will provide:
- Spiritual and emotional calming relief
- Reduce stress and anxiety
- Improve an individuals sense of well-being and hopefulness
The artist Johan Barber kindly designed the above image of the garden. Her thinking behind the painting was to make the foreground darker, to represent moving from the darkness of grief and sadness into the light of the garden with the birds positioned in such a way to encourage the person to come within the garden and find peace and joy
