PRIESTS WERE LAST week urged to take an active role in helping women by "naming domestic violence as a crime and more importantly as a sin" in sermons.
The National Hoard of Catholic Women made the appeal as it published a resource pack aimed at raising awareness among Catholic women and the Church in general of the incidence of domestic violence.
The pack, which took 18 months to produce, was compiled in response to the United Nation's International Year of the Family.
It claims not to cover the subject of domestic violence exhaustively but hopes to raise people's awareness, especially the clergy's, of what practical help can be offered and gleamed. Pracitical advice advice includes pinning up a list of local helplines on parish noticeboards.
The Board hopes by the
publication to explode myths and unveil the secrecy which surrounds domestic violence.
Mary Brogan, President of the National Board of Catholic Women, said there was a need "to make laity and clergy aware of domestic violence in their own parishes. It doesn't just happen at St. Elsewhere down the road". •
"Raising Awareness of Domestic Violence", COS'S 12.50 from Becket Perm, Thomas Becket School, Becket Way, Northampton, NN3 6117