Dear Friends,
This year, the Church marks Social Justice Sunday on Sunday 28 August, our celebration of St Augustine and St Monica’s Feast Days. For this reason, I am sharing some reflections on the Statement ‘RESPECT: Confronting Violence and Abuse’ today.
An indication of its importance is the fact that some Australian dioceses, including Broken Bay, already have policies on Domestic Violence, a timely reminder of the needs of our society today. The tragic murders of Hannah Clarke and her 3 children in Brisbane in 2020 highlighted the need for effective legislation in relation to controlling behaviour, and governments are working on appropriate legislation as we speak.
The Bishops’ Statement points out that the roots of domestic and family violence ‘lie in the abuse of power to control and dominate others,’ behaviour in stark contrast to the loving relationships that are central to Jesus’ teaching in the Gospel. This is also in stark contrast to values which our society espouses - equality and reciprocity, respect and freedom – values sometimes compromised even in our public institutions.
The Statement points out that most of those who suffer violence and abuse in homes and families, workplaces and communities, are women and children; the perpetrators are most often men. For Christians, Respect for Life is all-embracing, a ‘seamless garment’ extending to the sacredness of women’s relationships and lives and those of their children.
Respect: Confronting Violence and Abuse focuses in a special way on the problem of spiritual violence and abuse. Unfortunately, religious teachings – including our own – may be manipulated by perpetrators to excuse violence or to exert control over others. We can never underestimate the impact of cultural factors in the Church and in society which often play an important role in the violence and abuse suffered in families, households, communities, and workplaces. This behaviour can only be described as sinful.
Respect, dignity and justice, transformation and hope are possible. The Statement affirms the work being done by faith communities and organisations to support those who experience domestic and family violence and abuse, and to address the drivers and enablers of violence. It points to further ways in which we can all respond to spiritual violence.
Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB, ACBC President, writes, ‘But no matter who suffers such violence, and who perpetrates it, the damage to the lives of the victims and survivors of such abuse is real, destructive, and long-lasting.’
Faith communities are called to support and believe those going through domestic and family violence and abuse, to hold perpetrators to account and work towards individual and social transformation.
Hard copies of the Statement - ‘RESPECT: Confronting Violence and Abuse’ - are available in our churches today or you can download it from the net.