There are facts and truths that "sexual libertarians" don't want society or public opinion to know, that even they don't want to know. To sum up those facts - accumulated in different human cultures and societies - we don't need sex to live a full life and be content. To define one's identity on the basis of our sexuality alone is to reduce our human value and dignity. I am a lot more than just my genitalia, and so are you. G.S.
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My purpose in these posts is to bring together significant and, where possible, representative echoes of our best human efforts to make sense of our lives - and of our human sexuality in particular - also including the voice of Jesus Christ, the one Saviour of the world, and testimonies from his Church, such as through her teaching voice, the Magisterium. The Church has been accumulating much valuable wisdom granted her by Almighty God since her foundation at Pentecost. In this way, wherever there is darkness in our human understanding, it will serve to highlight the bright and radiant truth, which is Jesus Christ: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also." John's Gospel 14:6-7
Father Gilles Surprenant, priest & poustinik
How parishes can help address the epidemic of domestic abuse By Matt Hadro Washington D.C., Oct 13, 2017
Credit: Yupa Watchanakit via Shutterstock.
Domestic violence is a
hidden epidemic that many clergy and laypersons need additional training to
address, says one priest who runs the country’s largest parish-based ministry
to counter the problem.
“When you start talking
about it, that’s when people will start coming forward,” Fr. Chuck Dahm, O.P.,
who directs domestic violence outreach for the Archdiocese of Chicago, told CNA
about the problem of domestic abuse.
Fr. Chuck said that many
priests and deacons have little preparation to assist victims of domestic
violence, and that more seminary training would be helpful for both preparing
priests and raising awareness on the issue.
He said that “When I Call for Help,”
a pastoral letter on domestic violence from the USCCB, is a helpful resource
for clergy looking for more understanding.
October is Domestic
Violence Awareness Month. According to the CDC, “intimate partner violence” can
be physical, sexual, or even emotional, as with instances of stalking or
“psychological aggression.”
Some 27 percent of women
in the U.S. have suffered intimate partner violence at some point, along with
12 percent of men, the CDC has reported.
There are many physical
and psychological effects of domestic violence on victims – physical injuries
and disabilities and bodily effects of stress, but also anxiety, depression,
and trust issues. Children witnessing violence in the home may grow up with
emotional problems like anger, or may even become abusers themselves when they
are adults.
In his apostolic
exhortation on the family, Amoris laetitia, Pope Francis wrote of the problem
of domestic abuse:
“Unacceptable customs
still need to be eliminated. I think particularly of the shameful ill-treatment
to which women are sometimes subjected, domestic violence and various forms of
enslavement which, rather than a show of masculine power, are craven acts of
cowardice. The verbal, physical, and sexual violence that women endure in some
marriages contradicts the very nature of the conjugal union.”
He also insisted upon
the need for parishes and priests to be ready to deal properly with these
problems: “Good pastoral training is important ‘especially in light of particular
emergency situations arising from cases of domestic violence and sexual
abuse’,” he added, citing the final document from the 2015 Synod on the Family.
Catholics have responded
to this dire need in various ways, from organizing a prayer campaign for
domestic abuse victims to working to spread awareness of the problem and
educate clergy on how to properly deal with instances of abuse.
A symposium on domestic
abuse took place last year at The Catholic University of America in Washington,
D.C., hosted by the university’s School of Social Service.
A “toolkit” for fighting domestic abuse has
been provided by the Catholics for Family Peace, Education, and Research
Initiative, which includes prayers and directions for helping a victim of
domestic abuse.
In recent years, the
group has marked Domestic Violence Awareness Month by asking people to pray at
3 p.m. daily for domestic abuse victims, and has called for a day of prayer on
Oct. 28, the feast of St. Jude the Apostle, the patron saint of hopeless cases.
Fr. Chuck Dahm has
created a parish-based ministry to combat domestic violence. A key part of his
work is simply preaching about it, he says, because it is a widespread problem
that hides in plain sight.
There is an
“overwhelming lack of recognition that the problem is more frequent, more
common than people think,” he told CNA. Many priests are completely unaware of
cases of it, Fr. Chuck noted, although “there are people in their parishes who
are suffering.”
“I have gone to 90
parishes in the Archdiocese of Chicago,” he said. “And after I preach about it,
people walk out of the church and they tell me ‘thank you for talking about
this. This is long overdue. And my sister, my daughter is in it, or I grew up
in it.’ And this is so much more common than anybody realizes.”
Sometimes, Fr. Chuck
said, priests are not well trained and do not know how to handle situations in
which parishioners come to tell them about abuse. They may offer inadequate
advice and solutions.
Fr. Chuck participated
in the symposium on domestic abuse at Catholic University last year. Since then
he’s seen the fruits of the conference, spreading awareness of the problem.
“A significant number
went home with the plans of doing something in their diocese or their
respective organizations,” he said of conference participants.
The Archdiocese of
Washington held a workshop for priests to learn how to deal with incidents of
domestic abuse and 31 priests attended, he said. Two representatives of
Catholic Charities in Vermont are starting a workshop for priests there, and
the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City held a workshop attended by several priests
and a meeting for priests with Fr. Chuck.
Still, sometimes priests
do not attend these events, Fr. Chuck acknowledged, and raising awareness about
the importance of the problem is key.
Unfortunately, it’s been
negative incidents that have driven the conversation about domestic abuse, he
said. For instance, when surveillance videos surfaced of former NFL running
back Ray Rice punching his fiancée, and then dragging her off an elevator while
she was unconscious, the “subsequent outrage” after that and other incidents
like it “helps create more awareness about the problem.”
Then “people feel a
little bit more comfortable and required to speak out about this and do
something about it,” Fr. Chuck explained. “The publicity about negative events
or harmful events is quite helpful in raising awareness.”
“We’re really behind on
this,” he said of the Church’s efforts to combat the problem, but at the same
time, “we’re making progress.”
An earlier version of this article originally ran on CNA Oct. 24, 2016.
© 2006-2023 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal QC
© 2006-2023 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
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