Are the Churches Doing Any Better Than the Police in Handling Domestic Abuse?

By Clifford Longley
The Tablet
February 11, 2016

http://www.thetablet.co.uk/columnists/3/7935/are-the-churches-doing-any-better-than-the-police-in-handling-domestic-abuse-


One in six of all violent incidents reported to the police concerns domestic violence – an attack by someone with whom the person concerned is in a close relationship. It accounts for a third of all murders where the victim is female. Yet despite these truly horrendous statistics, a recent investigation by the Police Foundation declared that “domestic abuse is a difficult issue for the police to handle; one which they have historically dealt with reluctantly and, on the whole, ineffectively”. This prompts the question: are the Churches doing any better, or are they also ineffective in dealing with a major scourge of society?

The evidence may be incomplete and largely anecdotal, but it is not reassuring. There are parallels with the way the institutional Church failed to appreciate the situation regarding sexual abuse of children by priests. An assault was seen as a one-off lapse calling for repentance and forgiveness. There was a failure to see the lasting damage to the victim; and to realise that the abuser – for all the protestations to the contrary – was very likely to repeat the behaviour. Child abusers are often manipulative, as are perpetrators of domestic violence. “Victim blaming” is common to both.

Experts in the field say that, unless prepared, well-meaning priests can be taken in. The instinctive response is often the wrong one. A priest may feel inclined to tackle the alleged abuser personally, which can backfire dangerously on the victim. She (and most victims, though not all, are women) may be encouraged by the priest to forgive the perpetrator, to blame herself, or to stay in the relationship for the sake of the marriage.