22nd Sunday Year C - Homily 6

Homily 6 - 2022

I was reading this weekend’s edition of the Hamilton Spectator. There were two headlined accounts of quite horrific domestic violence. I noticed the articles this time particularly because today is the Church’s annual Social Justice Sunday; and the theme focussed on this year is precisely Domestic Violence. I suppose I could have picked up any of the usual editions of the paper, and would have found similar accounts of domestic violence. Sadly, domestic violence seems to be quite common — yet I cannot remember having ever spoken about it in my homilies.

I have come across instances of domestic violence occasionally over the years in my common pastoral ministry. It does happen in Catholic families, though, no doubt for a number of reasons, most victims are reluctant to speak about it. In my limited experience the victims have mainly been women, and the violence I have heard about has been mainly sexual violence and occasionally physical. I do remember having been told about a sad instance of on-going psychological violence inflicted by a woman against her partner and children — though it is not so common.

Sadly, misunderstanding some of the Church’s teachings can contribute to the continuing of violent relationships.

The Church’s strongly perceived negative attitude to divorce can be a problem. However, no one is morally obliged to remain in a physically or emotionally violent relationship.

A related problem can stem from the Church’s teaching about forgiveness. Forgiveness is complex — but it certainly does not require that any victim remain in a dangerous, or potentially dangerous, relationship.

Some religious groupings, and some cultures, believe that the Scriptures teach what they call “male headship”. The truth is that human persons, male and female, are of equal dignity because they are equally loved by God.

Some violent partners can be cunningly manipulative. The can make the innocent party feel responsible for causing or provoking their violence.

In all of these situations, there are often other considerations complicating decisions: financial insecurity, worry about the effects on children, fear that resistance may provoke even greater violence, the non-availability of secure shelter, social disapproval, and so on.

Innocent victims generally need help and support of some kind. Fortunately, our Catholic Church is aware of the need to make available such professional assistance. Many years ago now, many dioceses set up professionally competent bodies such as Centacare or CatholicCare. I can remember that in our own diocese of Ballarat back in the late ‘seventies, the bishop established what was then called the Catholic Family Service. We could equally expect that priests and Catholic School teachers could be helpful as reliable points of first contact and referral.

To assist our reflection on issues of domestic violence and to alert us to what is available, the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference has commissioned a short statement entitled:
Respect: Confronting Violence and Abuse. It takes less than an hour to read thoughtfully, and it is well worth the effort. A copy of the statement is easily available on the web.