Asking women to forgive the church for the times when it failed or moved too slowly to address their plight, Roman Catholic Bishop Francis Alleyne said yesterday that the church needs to do more to address the scourge of domestic violence and he admonished men not to misuse the scriptures as a justification of violence towards women.
The Justice and Peace Commission (JPC) of the Roman Catholic Church in collaboration with Help and Shelter is hosting a four-day domestic violence prevention workshop spread over two weekends – yesterday and today and on March 24 and 25 at the St Paul’s Retreat Centre, Vryheid’s Lust, East Coast Demerara.
Bishop Alleyne in opening remarks at the workshop yesterday, said, “The church rests on the evidence that a very high percentage of victims are women. From those women who have suffered the church asks forgiveness for the times when as an institution and through us as pastors, the church has failed… failed you by being tardy and neglectful in addressing your plight.”
Turning to the scriptures, he said, “In Ephesians we read that we are God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus to live the good life as from the beginning he had meant us to live it. And we ask ourselves what has happened to that work of art when we look at that reality of domestic violence.
“I begin by stating that domestic violence is at no time acceptable or justified. It is an ill, an evil that must be addressed and dispelled.
“In the context of Guyana where there is clear evidence that this is very prevalent, the church joins the voices to condemn this behaviour and places itself among others that are already on the front lines to raise awareness to what this is and to become part of those efforts to dispel this ill, this evil,” he said.
“It is my hope that this workshop will mark the beginning of many and increasing numbers of conversation to spread the knowledge of domestic violence and the gravity of this reality,” the Bishop said.
He said that the greater the sense of worth that people have for themselves and others and less frequent would occurrences of domestic violence be. “We have to be involved in these efforts to arrest evil and promote life,” he said.
“In 2002 the bishops of the United States issued a very strong statement against domestic violence. This document is titled ‘When I Cry for Help’ and the Clergy of the Diocese stand firmly in agreement with [this statement],” he said.
He said that teachings in scripture about the sufferings of Christ must not be interpreted to mean that women must suffer in silence in abusive relationships.
“Misuse and misinterpretation of scripture has been a source of further violence to victims by laying guilt and blame on their shoulders,” Bishop Alleyne said.
He also called for more training for members of the clergy to be more prepared to deal with reports of domestic violence.
The workshops are part of a larger Awareness and Public Education Project currently being spearheaded by the JPC of the church towards helping to reduce the incidence of domestic violence in Guyana.
The objective of hosting the workshops is to train 35 parishioners in domestic violence prevention so that they can assume a more active role within the Diocese and the wider community. Particular attention will be given to Regions 4 and 5 while the church builds its capacity to undertake similar projects in other regions.
This domestic violence programme is a six-month project developed and executed by the JPC and funded by the Catholic Relief Services.
