October is domestic violence awareness month

Social justice news
October 2004

New report attacks free trade mythology
October is domestic violence awareness month
Relief agencies respond to Haiti devastation
Thousands flee in new explosion of violence in Darfur
USCCB: New banking regulations will hurt poor
USCCB official urges more refugee admissions
Vatican delegate to UN calls for total disarmament

October is domestic violence awareness month
WASHINGTON (September 28, 2004) – The U.S. Bishops' Committee on Women in Society and in the Church is urging Catholic priests and other pastoral leaders to note October's Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

To help church leaders, the committee also has posted homily helps and other information on domestic violence on its web site at www.usccb.org/laity/violence.htm.

The resources provide practical assistance to priests, deacons, and pastoral leaders to help them preach about domestic violence. They also include suggestions for dealing effectively with abused spouses and abusers.

The Bishops took the action in response to the many Catholics who say they never hear about domestic violence from the pulpit.

The committee recognized that some pastoral leaders hesitate to preach about the topic because they are not familiar with it or do not know how to assist abused women and abusers.

The Committee resources include sample homilies and examples of how to connect the Sunday readings and domestic violence. Since pastoral leaders may not know what to say when someone approaches them for help, they reasoned, the resources offer suggestions for dealing with abused women and abusers in sacramental reconciliation and pastoral counseling. The website also includes the full text of "When I Call for Help," the U.S. Bishops' document about domestic violence.

In the statement, the U.S. Bishops declared that "violence against women, inside or outside the home, is never justified. Violence in any form—physical, sexual, psychological, or verbal—is sinful."

Domestic Violence Awareness Month calls attention to the fact that marriage in the Catholic Church should not condemn a women to a life lived in terror, trapped in a cycle of domestic violence, according to a USCCB statement.

"Thousands of brides and grooms will promise to honor and respect each other in October, which has become one of the most popular months for weddings. Sadly, some of these brides will later find themselves victims of abuse—physical, sexual, psychological, verbal or economic—and although they may want to leave the marriage, many believe that Catholic Church teaching on the permanence of marriage requires them to stay in an abusive relationship.

"As 'first responders' to both victims and batterers, priests are encouraged to listen to and believe the victim's story, help her to assess the danger to herself and her children, and refer her for counseling and other specialized services. In dealing with people who abuse, church ministers need to hold them accountable for their behavior."

When interventions fail to stop abuse, "some abused women fear that if they seek a divorce they cannot remarry in the Catholic Church," says Sheila Garcia, Assistant Director in the USCCB Secretariat for Family, Laity, Women and Youth. "The bishops encourage these women to consider seeking an annulment, that is, an official church declaration that the marriage bond is not valid."

In "When I Call for Help," the U.S. Catholic Bishops emphasize that "no person is expected to stay in an abusive marriage…Violence and abuse, not divorce, break up a marriage."

For more information, contact Sheila Garcia at (202) 541-3041 or sgarcia@usccb.org.

Back to page top