The Most Rev Richard Clarke said in the Presidential address to the Church's General Synod which is taking place this year in Limerick that the proposal is in response to "the terrifying incidence of domestic abuse and violence in Ireland today".
"What is immensely disturbing is that the incidence of reported violence is so high (and we know that it cuts across all social classes and all socio-economic groups) that we must therefore assume that it is present within every community represented here today.
"In the Republic of Ireland, one in five women in a relationship have been abused by a present or former partner. In Northern Ireland, the Police Service responds to an incident of domestic violence every nineteen minutes on average, day and night, seven days a week.
"And we know, much domestic violence and abuse goes unreported, whether through fear or manipulation," he said.
Rev Clarke said people who suffer in this way must be encouraged to seek help and the church should provide sanctuary to those in need.
"For many people, in every part of this island, the Church does not have a reputation as being a place of safety, far from it. Surely we can work together to reverse this notion of what we are," he said.
