The Catholic Leader - 7 May

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The Catholic Leader, May 7, 2017
News
Church responds to child victims of domestic violence in PNG
St Mary’s a safe haven
Forced out: St Mary’s Home for Vulnerable Children, in Mt Hagen archdiocese in Papua New Guinea, will be open to vulnerable children forced out
of the family home and onto the streets.
By Mark Bowling
A NEW focus on domestic violence
in Papua New Guinea has revealed
the Church at the forefront of pro-
viding for child victims.
In a country where Human Rights Watch
estimates 70 per cent of women are raped during
their lifetime, the Archdiocese of Mt Hagen has
built a care centre for vulnerable children, which
its Australian designer says could be duplicated
across the country.
News of the project comes as the 2015 Aus-
tralian of the Year Rosie Batty travelled to PNG
to fire up domestic violence survivors and en-
courage them to change from victims to victors.
Ms Batty visited Lae, PNG’s second-biggest
city, to share her story of trauma and healing fol-
lowing the murder of her 11-year-old son Luke
at the hands of his father.
“All our journeys are different but some
things are the same, and we can get strength
from each other, because we understand in ways
other people never can,” Ms Batty, a guest of the
organisation Femili PNG, said.
Femili PNG receives aid from the Australian
Government and the private sector.
It works hand-in-hand with police and helps
rescued women access appropriate services, such
as safe houses, and assists them to navigate court
processes.
In the PNG highlands the Mt Hagen archdio-
cese is completing a home at Ulga, close to Mt
Hagen, to care for vulnerable children forced out
of the family home and onto the streets.
The St Mary’s home, due to be opened this
month, will provide accommodation, meals,
education and general care for about 15 “at risk”
children caught up in marriage breakdowns,
physical and sexual abuse, poverty and sorcery,
which is common in PNG.
In charge of the centre is Society of Our Most
Holy Trinity Sister Mary Corpus Chrisiti Banas
whose vision is to “Let the children come to
me”, and for “the home to be a place of love,
safety and refuge in the arms of Jesus through
his body, the Church”.
The project architect and chief fundraiser
Sydney-based John O’Brien said the goal was
to provide crisis care and longer-term services
for vulnerable children and to help them gain an
identity.
The centre will offer health care, a literacy
program, spiritual formation and personal devel-
opment.
The project cost $300,000 including the reno-
vation of an existing building.
Mr O’Brien said the centre could be dupli-
cated in other towns by using demountable
structures.
“Domestic violence is a huge problem in
PNG’s male-dominated society,” he said.
“This is a starting point to what can happen.
“The St Mary’s Home for Vulnerable Children
has emerged out of a response by the Arch-
diocese of Mt Hagen to Pope Francis’ ‘call to
action’ following on from the Year of Mercy.”
Mr O’Brien, who works on a range of Church
projects in PNG including Mt Hagen’s new
cathedral, a new teachers’ college chapel and
secondary school facilities, said international
financial support was needed to push ahead with
projects like St Mary’s.
During her visit, Ms Batty reflected on the
long road ahead for PNG women.
She met with a team of two child protection
workers in Lae who are grappling with a case-
load in the thousands.
“In Australia there are child protection workers
burnt out and overwhelmed, and they would only
have hundreds of cases on their file,” she said.
Domestic
violence is
a huge problem
in PNG’s male-
dominated
society.
Brisbane advocate calls
for end to Papuan plight
A CHURCH peace advocate has called for the
Indonesian Government to end violent repres-
sion in West Papua including the right of press
freedom, following the latest police crackdown.
On May 1, police rounded up 200 demonstra-
tors attending an independence rally.
West Papua media reported allegations of some
of those detained being tortured, and there were
photographs of a journalist who had been bashed.
Two days later, on May 3, Indonesia hosted
World Press Freedom Day in its capital Jakarta.
Brisbane archdiocese’s Catholic Justice and
Peace Commission executive officer Peter Arndt
urged the Australian Government to end its
silence on the Indonesian Government’s actions
in its eastern provinces of Papua and West Papua
(often known collectively as West Papua).
Mr Arndt, who has travelled to West Papua
four times in the past two years, said hundreds of
Papuans had pleaded for Australia to take action.
During his visits, Mr Arndt has documented
five instances of police interference as journal-
ists attempted to report at pro-independence
demonstrations.
It included police seizing journalists’ cameras
and deleting photos.
“I have spoken to several Papuan journalists
on my visits to West Papua and they complain
about systematic attempts by Indonesian police
and government authorities to stop them and
foreign journalists from investigating and report-
ing on the freedom struggle in West Papua,” Mr
Arndt said.
He said the marking of World Press Freedom
Day in Jakarta was an opportunity for the world’s
media to throw a spotlight on the situation.
In May 2015, Indonesia’s President Joko
Widodo lifted access restrictions for foreign
journalists in West Papua, however figures from
the Alliance of Independent Journalists in Papua
show that only 15 foreign journalists have in fact
been permitted to enter West Papua.
“… Only a handful of journalists have been
given visas in the last two years and none of
them has been allowed to travel and report
freely,” Mr Arndt said.
“Like Papuan journalists, they have been
monitored closely in an effort to stop unfavour-
able news getting out.
“President Widodo simply hasn’t kept his
promise about media freedom in West Papua.”
Mr Arndt said the Australian Government can-
not stay silent in the face of substantial evidence
of systematic efforts by Indonesian authorities
to stop the voices of Papuans calling for self-
determination being heard and to stop journalists
reporting on police and military repression.
“Prime Minister (Malcolm) Turnbull and
Foreign Affairs Minister (Julie) Bishop have a
moral obligation to challenge the Indonesian
Government on their treatment of the people of
West Papua and their leaders,” he said.
Another death hits suburbs
IN the first hours of Domes-
tic and Family Violence Pre-
vention Month, a Brisbane
court heard of allegations
that brought the scourge into
the city’s quiet streets.
A man from Stafford was
accused of murdering his
69-year-old wife in a home
that looks familiar to so
many Queenslanders.
Its tidy front yard and
well-kept gardens partly
shroud a neat house.
Neighbours say the street
is relatively quiet – just a
normal scene replicated so
many times across the state.
And domestic violence
prevention experts say
these types of allegations,
while devastating, do not
shock them – domestic and
family violence can happen
anywhere, anytime across
the state.
Archbishop Mark Col-
eridge said the Archdiocese
of Brisbane was launching
its Rewrite the Story: Let’s
End Domestic and Family
Violence campaign for 2017
to help promote discussion.
“We launched this cam-
paign last year in May and it’s
something we feel strongly
about continuing,” Archbish-
op Coleridge said.
“We said last year in launch-
ing the campaign that domestic
and family violence was, for a
long time, hidden. It happens
behind closed doors.
“Well, that’s still the case
but we’re realising the scale
of the problem and where the
Church’s resources and ener-
gies can help.”
The archdiocese has
established a website –
– to
provide details on resources
that can assist those who
require help.
“We have this fine agency
– Centacare – that works on a
daily basis with victims of do-
mestic and family violence,”
Archbishop Coleridge said.
“Centacare does superb
work and they have real
expertise in this area.
“We’re again approaching
Rewrite the Story as a part of
helping in a wider effort to ex-
pose this widespread problem.
“We’re very happy to work
with anyone who is commit-
ted to doing something about
domestic and family violence.”
The State Government
is co-ordinating a website
that lists community events
for Domestic and Family
Violence Prevention Month:
If you need assistance,
call 000 immediately if it’s
a life-threatening matter.
DV Connect Womensline
and DV Connect Mensline:
1800 600 636. Centacare
Brisbane: 1300 236 822.
– Michael Crutcher