About 50 people gathered Oct. 8 at St. Katharine Drexel Parish, 9015 S. Harper Ave., to learn about domestic violence, to pray for its end and to advocate for victims of domestic violence.

The event was hosted by the Archdiocese of Chicago Domestic Violence Outreach ministry, the domestic violence ministry at St. Katharine Drexel Parish and other groups in honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month. It included talks and the chance for people to learn about community resources, followed by a walk on Stony Island Avenue to raise awareness of the prevalence of domestic violence.

“Today we gather to decry domestic violence in our community and around the world,” said Deborah Hammond, program director for the domestic violence initiative of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago. “We will walk today as a sign of solidarity in our hope that domestic violence will end.”

In his opening prayer, Dominican Father Paul Whittington, St. Katharine Drexel’s pastor, prayed not only for the safety of victims of domestic violence, but that they might come to experience the joy of life. He also prayed for their families, and for the perpetrators of domestic violence.

Rev. Gwendolyn Moore, who spoke at the event and who identified herself as a 47-year survivor of domestic violence, has found much joy in her life. She is now an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ and a retired hospital chaplain with four children, 12 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.

In 1975, Moore was living with her husband in Tennessee when an elderly neighbor who lived in Moore’s grandmother’s former apartment asked her for a ride to the doctor. The neighbor took that opportunity to ask her about why she stayed with her husband, when the neighbor could hear her crying and screaming every night.

She saved up $75 and bought Greyhound bus tickets for herself, her four children and her younger sister and returned to family in Chicago. At the time, she said, she had an eighth-grade education.

The abuse she suffered affected not only her, she said, but also her children, even the youngest, who was 2 years old when Moore brought them to Chicago. Twenty years later, Moore said, her daughter told her, “I know my daddy beat you every day.”

Cook County Circuit Court Judge Steven G. Watkins hears felony cases in the county’s domestic violence courthouse, 555 W. Harrison St.

“I see domestic violence cases daily, not monthly, not weekly, but every single day,” Watkins said during his presentation, noting that it’s an intimate or familial relationship that sets domestic violence apart from other crimes. Most people think of husbands and wives, but it can also be boyfriends and girlfriends, or parents and children.

In recent years, he said, the court has seen more domestic violence in the LGBTQ community. While men can be and have been victims, he said, the victims he has seen in his courtroom are predominantly women.

Most people think of domestic violence as physical abuse, he said, but it can also be sexual abuse or assault, or psychological, emotional or financial abuse.

Victims who come to the domestic violence courthouse can meet with victim advocates who can help them figure out what their next steps should be and help with procedures for, for example, getting an order of protection, Watkins said.

“Oftentimes, victims are shaken,”” he said. “They need support. Sometimes they feel embarrassed.”

Survivors, Moore said, all have a hero inside of them. People who reach out to them must understand how high the barriers are that stop them from leaving or getting help, and must keep encouraging them, knowing that it takes most victims seven attempts to leave their abusers before they are able to stay away.

“People need to know that although we look good, some of us are not good,” Moore said. “We deal with this violence at home, we subject our kids to it, we subject our extended families to it. This is my way of coming back in and giving my time to women and children.”

Delores Felton attended the event in honor of her sister, a victim of domestic violence who recently died. Before she died, Felton’s sister founded Rita’s Recovery Room, a non-profit organization that helps victims of domestic violence, and her family is continuing that work.

“It was always her hope to start a home of recovery for women who have been abused,” she said.

If you are a victim of domestic violence and need help, call 800-799-SAFE. For information about the archdiocese's Domestic Violence Outreach, visit pvm.archchicago.org/es/human-dignity-solidarity/domestic-violence-outreach