Saturday, Jul 31, 2010

Features

Marisela Sookraj, Maria Rosales-Uribe, Beth Powers and Diana Linaja on the steps of Mission Dolores Basilica. (Mike Vick/Catholic San Francisco)

March 25th, 2009
By Michael Vick

The Ministers of Light, an emerging group organized by lay Catholics in the Archdiocese of San Francisco, aims to shine a torch in a very dark place - the lives of those suffering from the effects of domestic violence.

 

The group looks to fill a gap in the pastoral care available for fellow survivors and to raise awareness of domestic violence in local parishes, Marisela Sookraj, founder of the group and a survivor of domestic violence, told Catholic San Francisco.

 

Sookraj said that while faith communities are often the first place a survivor will turn to when looking for services and counseling, many churches are ill equipped to handle the situation. Her goal is to train and install lay ministers to serve as in-house resources and advocates for survivors of domestic violence in each of the archdiocese’s 89 parishes.

 

Lay ministers will receive eight to 12 hours of training over a two-day period, Sookraj said. Areas covered will be the nature, causes and means of prevention for domestic violence, training in cultural factors involved, and education in peer counseling.

 

”The vision of the initiative is that each and every one of our parishes is not only viewed as a refuge for survivors of domestic violence, but that it is also in fact a refuge,” Sookraj said.

 

Sookraj, a parishioner at Mission Dolores Basilica in San Francisco, said that while she was largely happy with the response of her parish when she encountered domestic violence in her relationship with her former boyfriend, she wished she had been referred to a domestic violence survivor service and advocacy organization and to a faith-based support group.

 

And while Sookraj’s response to the perceived lack of a formalized structure within the Church to minister to survivors of domestic violence was to create just such a structure, she said she has encountered many who simply left the church altogether. Sookraj said she is appealing to those who have left to come back into the fold and join her effort to help survivors.

 

Sookraj said she started the ministry in direct response to a call by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops for Catholics to “ignite a moral revolution against domestic violence.”

 

”I can’t think of a better way to respond to that call,” Sookraj said.

 

She also said the group will not seek to saddle overworked pastors with an additional burden.

 

”The effort is about offering priests a resource in their community to respond to domestic violence,” Sookraj said. “It’s certainly not about inundating priests who already have a lot on their plates.”

 

To that end, Sookraj said she only asks for priests’ support in identifying parishioners who may be interested in taking domestic violence intervention and prevention training, and for their help in publicizing the group.

 

Maria Rosales-Uribe, fellow Mission Dolores parishioner and a lay facilitator who worked with Sookraj when she was in the parish’s catechumenate program, said this approach is important.

 

”We need priests’ support, but we don’t want to add anything to their agenda,” Rosales-Uribe said. “We’re making it a grassroots movement from the people, bottom-up.”

 

Rosales-Uribe said once people know about the initiative and its goals, she hopes and believes they will get on board. Her support comes in part from personal experience, as her daughter is a survivor of domestic violence that occurred when she was a teenager.

 

”She is 30 now, but there are still lingering effects,” Rosales-Uribe said. “Survivors often believe that it’s their fault, that it’s something they did. What they should know is that it is not their fault. They just don’t understand the dynamics of abusive relationships.”

 

With a history in social work and a strong Catholic faith, Beth Powers said she was excited to learn of Sookraj’s group. Powers, a member of the Ministers of Light’s advisory board and a prospective lay minister at her parish, St. Brendan in San Francisco, said the group is a natural fit.

 

”There hasn’t been an avenue for women whose faith is important to them to deal with domestic violence,” Powers said. “I want to mesh my faith and my work. This is exactly where I want to be, and it’s nice to be involved from the beginning.”

 

The group has already established relationships with domestic violence survivor service and advocacy organizations in each of the three counties of the archdiocese. The groups are San Mateo’s Community Overcoming Relationship Abuse, San Francisco-based La Casa de las Madres, and Marin Abused Women’s Services. These groups will train lay ministers in their respective counties. Sookraj has also reached out to Catholic Charities CYO, and to Bishop William Justice, vicar for clergy.

 

Christopher Martinez, senior program manager for refugee and immigrant services at CCCYO, said forging a connection between domestic violence service providers and local Catholic parishes has been a vision of his group for some time. Martinez said CCCYO created a resource guide for parishes, but the effort did not bear much fruit. Now that a survivor-led and parish-based movement has emerged, Martinez said he is happy to lend his group’s resources to the cause.

 

”When someone is in crisis and fleeing violence, the Church is a place of sanctuary,” Martinez said. “It’s one of the few places people who are in crisis are allowed to go to freely. Now the Church will be able to offer refuge to those who need it.”

 

Emily Rosenthal, project manager at Marin Abused Women’s Services, said her group plans to train lay ministers in domestic violence prevention and counseling at parishes within Marin County. Though still in its earliest phase, Rosenthal said the program is an important step.

 

”We have cooperated with faith communities before, and they play a really important role in domestic violence education and prevention,” Rosenthal said. “We’re thrilled the Catholic community has prioritized this issue.”

 

Katharine Berg, associate director at La Casa de las Madres, agreed.

 

”It’s really important for faith communities to be supportive of victims,” Berg said. “It’s a part of their healing process that we can’t address. What we do as a community is try to build trusted access points. Churches are natural place for people to turn to for help and guidance, so this creates an important synergy.”

 

Sherie Querol Moreno, community outreach coordinator at CORA, said the Ministers of Light campaign is an important step toward making the Church a helpful environment for survivors of domestic violence.

 

”Many folks don’t realize the position of Church from the bishops’ statement in 1992 declaring abuse as that which breaks up families, not divorce,” Querol Moreno said. “It is okay for both parties to seek help, because there is help available. People should not be afraid to speak up.”

 

Diana Linaja, a parishioner at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish in Redwood City and a domestic violence survivor, said she joined the group in order to help others dealing with the aftermath of abuse. Linaja said she specifically hoped domestic violence prevention training would aid couples considering marriage.

 

”If you are already in a relationship that is not working, and you think marriage will make it better, it would be beneficial to stop the relationship from the beginning, rather than to get into something you can’t get out of later,” Linaja said.

 

Linaja said if getting out of the relationship is not an option for the woman, she recommended seeking couple’s therapy and anger management classes to help make the relationship healthier.

 

When asked what advice she would give fellow survivors, Linaja said it is important that they simply not be ashamed.

 

”Don’t think you’re alone,” Linaja said. “Don’t be embarrassed. Seek assistance from a shelter or the many programs offered. If I can get out and make a better life for myself and my children, they can do it, too. There is hope.”

 

For more information, contact Ministers of Light at (415) 625-2710 or ministersoflight@gmail.com.

What can be done to help?

From March 27, 2009 issue of Catholic San Francisco.

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