Tahanan (Home) for Women Survivors of Domestic Violence in a Synodal Church in the Making

This chapter addresses the pervasive issue of domestic violence among Filipino women, particularly abused mothers and wives, and how this poses a challenge to the local churches in the country and to the universal Catholic Church to become synodal, which means to take serious steps in order to end the cycle of abuse and violence in many homes. Despite the rise of feminist care providers, their approach has not been widely integrated into the pastoral practices of the Church. The study aims to deconstruct, reconstruct, and reclaim the concept of “home” and “homemaking” by utilizing vernacular-postcolonial hermeneutics of the Filipino word tahanan . The chapter begins with a survey of domestic violence in the Philippines, examines structural barriers, and explores feminist care practices, particularly those of the Lunas Collective, a volunteer-powered care space for survivors of gender-based violence. The chapter advocates for a theology of feminist collective care, aiming to provide comfort ( pagpapatahan ) by not silencing or denying the suffering of women victim-survivors and help them create a sense of home by recognizing their agency and the indwelling of God within them ( pananahan ng Diyos ).