Domestic violence remains a pervasive issue in Australia and is still the leading cause of homelessness for women and children, says McAuley Community Services for Women chief executive Jocelyn Bignold. Source: Melbourne Catholic.
McAuley Community Services for Women provides accommodation, counselling, and health and financial services for families fleeing domestic violence.
Ms Bignold said the scale of the crisis is disturbing.
“Victoria police will attend an incident of family violence on average every six minutes. It takes around about 50 per cent of police work,” Ms Bignold said.
“Our murder rate is going up, has been for the last three years after trending down for 30 years.
“COVID, cost of living, gambling and sporting events create spikes in family violence … We are still in a patriarchal society which holds some of this stuff in place.’
“I believe it’s our responsibility to help the Catholic community understand what’s going on.”
The 2015 Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence was Australia’s first investigation into preventing family violence, improving support for victim-survivors and holding perpetrators to account.
After the royal commission, Catholic Social Services Victoria began investigating ways that faith-based organisations could play a role in combating domestic violence.
“I think it was really foresightful of the Catholic Social Services to get in early and start to think about what that means for the parishes,” Ms Bignold said.
“I believe it’s our responsibility to help the Catholic community understand what’s going onwe know the language, we know the context, we have access to the people … We need Catholic communities to understand what’s going on … not to become experts but to recognise signs and refer victims to professionals.”
Church groups are increasingly stepping up to support victims. Several Melbourne parishes have offered leases to crisis accommodation provider the Good Samaritan Inn to repurpose properties for women and children experiencing family violence.
Other parishes have taken part in initiatives like the United Nations–backed “16 days of activism against gender-based violence”, and are including information about respectful relationships in their bulletins.
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Parishes urged to consider new ways of addressing domestic violence (Melbourne Catholic)
