A Call to a Family-Centred Response to the Violence Against Women and Children
“Into whatever house you enter, first say: Peace to this household.” (Luke 10:5)
We offer this message with pastoral concern, inviting every parish within the SACBC to dedicate one Sunday to prayer, reflection, and action in response to the painful and growing crisis of violence against women and children.
It is a long message, yes—but like a shepherd who sees the deep wounds in our women and our children, we cannot remain silent. As disciples of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, we are called to be healers of our families and guardians of the vulnerable.
34 years of celebrating the Sixteen Days of Activism
For thirty-four years, society has marked the Sixteen Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence. Yet, after all these years—after so many conferences, slogans, campaigns, and policy documents—the suffering of women and children has not diminished. In many communities, it has worsened. And so we must ask, with honesty and humility: What is missing in our response?
Each year we hear civil society leaders and faith leaders issuing strong statements: “We condemn this or that,” “we call on our government to do this or that,” “we call on our police and our judiciary to do this or that,” “we call on men to change.”
These strong voices are necessary. They matter. But they have not been enough.
In the three countries within the SACBC region, namely South Africa, Botswana, and Eswatini, many assume the root of the problem is weak policy, weak institutions, and insufficient budgets. And so, in the previous decades, we have responded with more laws, more structures, and more budget allocations. As an example, in 2000, South Africa developed a National Strategic Plan, a nationwide comprehensive programme to respond to gender-based violence and femicide.
Our three countries in the SACBC belong to the SADC. Similar developments have happened within SADC as a bloc. SADC has managed to develop its own regional policies and protocols to respond to gender-based violence, including the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development, as well as the SADC Model Law on Gender-Based Violence.
All these developments are important. Yet the violence continues. Something deeper—something spiritual, moral, and human—is being left unattended.
The call to return to the spiritual root cause of our crisis as humanity
Catholic Social Teaching reminds us that when societies are wounded, we must go to the roots of the wound. And the truth—though painful—is clear:
Violence against women and children is born in the human heart, and it grows in broken families.
It begins where love should dwell: in our hearts and in our own homes.
No law, however strong and effective, can heal a violent heart.
No state institution can replace a broken family.
No policy can restore the peace that is missing in our hearts and in our homes.
Brothers and sisters, Christ sends us—like He once sent the seventy-two disciples—to enter the households of our nations and speak His words: “Peace be upon this home.” (Luke 10:5)
In this moment of crisis, we are being sent again: sent as healers; sent as reconcilers; sent as men and women carrying the peace of Christ into wounded families.
A Call to the Governments of South Africa, Botswana, and Eswatini, and to SADC
We speak respectfully but firmly to our governments in South Africa, Botswana, and Eswatini, and to our regional body, SADC: Our national and regional responses to gender-based violence are incomplete. They do not speak clearly enough about the family as the foundation of society. They do not sufficiently reflect a family-centred approach to the crisis of violence.
We therefore urge:
- That in the three countries, the strengthening of the family be included as a core pillar in national legislation and national strategic plans.
- That the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development integrates family renewal as an essential strategy for ending violence.
A family-centred approach means that equal attention should be given to the girl-child and the boy-child, not one at the exclusion or expense of the other. When we focus only on the girl-child and consistently neglect the boy-child, we undermine the unity and integrity of the family.
A family-centred approach also means that we must face the realities of absent fathers, wounded masculinity, substance abuse, and weakened parenting, which are some of the contributing factors to the violence we witness.
A Call to Ourselves as a Church: A Time for Self-Examination and Self-Criticism
But brothers and sisters, before we ask governments to look inward, we must also look inward as Church. We must ask ourselves difficult questions:
- Pastoral structures for families
Why do many dioceses and parishes not have ongoing ministries dedicated to strengthening marriages and families? Why is the pastoral care of families not at the heart of parish life?
- The role of sodalities
In all our dioceses, we have strong and vibrant sodalities. But are these groups doing enough to address the problem of family violence?
- Sodalities of women: Support for survivors within our sodalities
In our dioceses and parishes, many women who suffer abuse are themselves members of our sodalities of women. Are our sodalities of women doing enough to create safe spaces where their members who suffer abuse can be comforted, supported, and healed?
- Sodalities of men: Challenging perpetrators
Some men who abuse are active in our men’s sodalities. Are the men’s sodalities doing enough to challenge their members to repent and change their abusive behaviour?
- Pastoral councils
Some abusers sit on parish councils, yet councils rarely discuss family violence. Why do we not have a policy to suspend or remove a council member who is abusing their spouse or children?
- Our Catholic youth
Our young people face violence, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, and harmful peer pressure. Are our Catholic youth groups doing enough to help them respond to these challenges?
These questions are not accusations. We raise these questions as an invitation—a pastoral call—to renewal. During this year’s Sixteen Days, may every parish ask: What actions should we take as a parish to promote the deeper spiritual and moral renewal needed to heal family violence? How is the Lord sending us as one of the 72 disciples to bring peace, reconciliation, and healing to the families in our parish?
A return to the power of prayer and a call to repentance
Society has often neglected the power of prayer and repentance of heart because of its overreliance on policy and institutional solutions. Yet prayer is foundational. Repentance and a return to Divine Mercy are crucial. Surely, the crisis of family violence is calling us to return to the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Confession.
This year, during the Sixteen Days of Activism, let our prayer be that the Lord sends me anew—like the 72 disciples—to bring Christ’s healing presence into my broken family.
During the Sixteen Days of Activism, we invite every parishioner to pray the Prayer of Saint Francis, placing it directly in the context of your own family:
Lord, make me an instrument of healing, reconciliation, and peace in my family. Where there is violence, let me bring repentance, healing, and deliverance.
In the context of my family:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.
Bishop Thulani Victor Mbuyisa,
SACBC Liaison Bishop for Justice and Peace Commission 03 December 2025
0 Comments