Family and Domestic Violence
In the Community:
Family and Domestic Violence Support Services
Anglicare WA offers a range of services to assist victims of family and domestic violence, to help them build healthy relationships and develop skills to thrive in the future.
If you or anyone you know is experiencing family and domestic violence and/or sexual violence, there is help available:
- if you or someone you know is in immediate danger, please call 000
- 1800RESPECT is a 24 hour national sexual assualt, family and domestic violence counselling line
- the State Government’s Family and Domestic Violence Help and Advice page has a comprehensive list of State and national helplines, for men and women.
If you are experiencing family or domestic violence it is not your fault - the person choosing to use abusive behaviour is 100% responsible.
Help and support is available for you and these services can help with support and safety planning - this may include access to information, emergency accommodation or help with legal issues.
National Anglican Family Violence Project
The Anglican Church of Australia has conducted Australia’s first known national research into family violence within faith communities.
The National Anglican Family Violence Project (NAFVP) investigated the prevalence, experience, and impact of family violence for those who identify as Anglicans in Australia. An announcement launching the project in June 2019 is available here.
In August 2021 the detailed research reports were released following presentation at the National Anglican Family Violence Project Working Conference. The objective of the conference was to share the research findings with diocesan representatives and to develop local and national initiatives in response.
Ten Commitments for Prevention and Response
Ten Commitments for Prevention and Response to Domestic and Family Violence in the Anglican Church of Australia were endorsed by General Synod Standing Committee and circulated to dioceses for adoption and action.
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The detailed NAFVP reports and more information about the Families and Culture Commission and the Family Violence Working Group can be found on the Anglican Church of Australia website.
Liturgical Resources and Prayers
These liturgical resources and prayers for private use can be used and adapted to suit local ministry contexts.
Liturgical Resources from A Prayer Book for Australia
Family breakdown
God of peace, we pray for families in crisis.
Heal the broken-hearted, and bind up the wounded;
comfort and sustain them in their need.
Give them wise and faithful friends, grace to forgive and be forgiven,
and courage for the road ahead, in the name of Jesus. Amen
Those suffering abuse
Loving God,
whose Son was both victim and victor,
we cry to you for those who suffer abuse, [especially…].
Be with them in confusion and pain.
Heal the wounds of body and mind;
break open the prisons of fear, self-doubt and despair;
and strengthen them to face the future with faith, hope and courage.
Reach out to them with your love,
that they may be made whole in body, mind and spirit,
through the healing touch of the suffering Christ. Amen
Those suffering abuse
God, our redeemer and sustainer,
we pray for survivors of violence, abuse and neglect.
Give your power to the powerless, your fullness to the empty of spirit.
Heal their wounds, free them from fear, and restore them to true health.
Grant this through Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen Saviour
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen
Those who abuse
Judge of all the earth, God of justice,
we bring before you all who abuse others.
Turn the hearts of the violent from the way of evil.
Fill them with a hatred of the damage they do,
so bringing them to true repentance and amendment of their lives,
for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen
(A Prayer Book for Australia, Occasional Prayers, p209-210)
Prayers for Private Use
Prayer for Courage and Hope
O God, where hearts are fearful, grant courage and hope. Where anxiety is widening, grant peace and reassurance. Where impossibilities close every door and window, grant imagination and resistance. Where distrust twists our thinking, grant healing and illumination. Where spirits are daunted and weakened, grant soaring wings and strengthened dreams. All these things we ask in the name of Jesus Christ, our Saviour. Amen.
For Those Who Are Abused
O Lord, our Creator and Deliverer, you heard the cries of your people in Egypt and sent your servant Moses to lead them out of oppression. Hear our prayers for all your people who suffer from abuse and oppression, that we too might be a means to free them from their pain.
O Lord, our Deliverer,
Hear Our Prayer
Bring to an end the divisions in your Church throughout the world, that unified in purpose, the Body of Christ may always remember and serve those men, women, and children whose suffering is hidden from our sight or painful for us to acknowledge.
O Lord, our Deliverer,
Hear Our Prayer
Bestow your grace on all persons in positions of leadership throughout the Church, especially our Archbishop Kay, Bishop Kate, and the laity and clergy in our diocese, that your Church may be holy ground where all your people can gather in safety and peace.
O Lord, our Deliverer,
Hear Our Prayer
Guide the leaders of all the nations, that your justice may be brought to all who have been wronged and that every country might be a promised land for its people. Strengthen all who care for the abused and who speak to the world of their pain, that they may find renewal for their labour in your healing presence.
O Lord, our Deliverer,
Hear Our Prayer
Open our eyes to those in our midst who suffer abuse, that we may also open our hearts to share their pain and bring them relief from their sorrow. Lift up all your people whose suffering is beyond their strength to endure, that they may feel the healing of your compassionate love.
O Lord, our Deliverer,
Hear Our Prayer
Remind us always that as you pardon all wrongdoings and heal all ills, we may also forgive those who inflict pain on others and pray for their restoration to wholeness.
O Lord, our Deliverer,
Hear Our Prayer
Hold in your loving care those who have died at the hands of others, and comfort those who mourn them with the knowledge that you will bring justice and healing to all who have been wronged.
O Lord, our Deliverer,
Hear Our Prayer
O Lord, our Creator and Deliverer, you enlightened and strengthened Moses to be a prophet and guide to your people when they cried out for help. Open our hearts, our ears, and our eyes, that we might also work for justice and comfort for all who suffer abuse. This we ask in the name of your Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, who came to set at liberty those who are oppressed. Amen.
Adaptation
The Reverend Nancy Casey Fulton, Women’s Uncommon Prayers
Prayer for Justice/Domestic Violence Healing
We are the church.
We offer ourselves to you, O God, our Creator.
We offer our hands.
May we use them to extend a healing touch to comfort sisters and brothers
and children, youth, and elderly who are afraid.
We offer our eyes and ears.
May we see and hear the signs and stories of violence so that all may have
someone with them in their pain and confusion.
We offer our hearts and our tears.
May the hurt and sorrow of the abused echo within us.
We offer our own stories of violence.
May we be healed as we embrace each other.
We offer our anger.
Make it a passion for justice.
We offer all our skills.
Use our gifts to end violence.
We offer our faith, our hope, our love.
May our encounters with violence bring us closer to you and to each other.
All this we ask through Jesus Christ who knows the pain of violence.
Amen.
Prayer for Those Who Experience Domestic Violence
Creator God,
We gather today because we care about those affected by domestic violence:
women, children, and men.
We remember those who have lost their lives to this malfunction of our society.
We pray that their souls are now at rest.
We remember children living in homes of domestic violence.
Deliver and protect them from further harm.
We pray for perpetrators, that they may seek help.
Help them to relinquish their need to exert power and control.
We remember current victims whose lives are filled with fear and uncertainty.
Those who are trapped in the psychological cycle of violence and abuse, hope and false love.
We ask that you give them a new vision.
Guide them with your wisdom to make sound choices that will lead to new life.
We pray that religious leaders will end Scripture abuse so that they may no longer contribute to the oppression of women.
We give thanks to those who dedicate their lives to providing education, shelter, and support.
Finally, gracious God, be present with us,
restore peace and hope that we may preserve with your Holy Spirit.
In faith we pray, Amen.
The Reverend Angela F. Shepherd, Women’s Uncommon Prayers
Prayer for Restoration
Jesus,
by your gentle touch and encouraging word,
you raised up the woman who had been bent over.
Lift up the heads and hearts of those
who have been bowed down by the shame and pain of abuse.
Heal them so that they may stand up with dignity
and may praise you through the living of their lives in fullness and in hope. Amen.
The Reverend Canon Lorna H Williams, Women’s Uncommon Prayers p359