The scourge of domestic and family violence must end – so say Australia’s Catholic Social Services Victoria and the Catholic Diocese of Sale. They’re on a mission to educate, inform and equip parish communities to address the problem. They put together a pilot programme, ‘Shining A Light’, and ran it between March and July last Read more
US bishops have urged the Supreme Court to uphold a federal law restricting access to firearms in domestic abuse cases. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops has submitted an amicus brief in a pending Supreme Court case on a law that allows people under domestic restraining orders to be banned from carrying firearms. “As the Read more
A Christchurch high school has slammed its students’ choice of dress-up theme, after learning of a proposed “wife beater Wednesday”, which was canned a day before the dress-up event. Year 13 students from St Bede’s College, the Catholic boys’ school, were intending to dress up in white singlets, sometimes referred to as “wife beaters” before Read more
A fifth birthday is usually something to celebrate with cake. As Backbone Collective reflects on its fifth birthday, we think of our original purpose: to create a safer and more responsive system to increase the safety and wellbeing of all women affected by family violence and abuse in Aotearoa New Zealand. After hearing from hundreds Read more
Anglican women are more likely to suffer domestic violence than women in the broader community, a national report commissioned by the Anglican Church of Australia has found. While 15 per cent of Australians surveyed for the report said that they had experienced intimate-partner violence, the figure among Anglicans was 22 percent. Questioned about specific examples Read more
Society must support female domestic violence victims during the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, says Pope Francis. Abuse during the crisis is increasing all over the world, he says. Women are helping in many frontline roles helping society cope with the pandemic, he says. Praising their efforts, he made particular mention of women in frontline roles such Read more
An increase in family violence has Women’s Refuge calling for help to contain abusers if numbers exceed what police can manage. The refuge’s six safe houses were all in lockdown so they could not take in any new women or children and Albert said it was hard to find other accommodation. Waikato Women’s Refuge -Te Whakaruruhau chief executive officer Ruahine Read more
Domestic abuse victims are speaking out about no-fault divorce settlements that see their abusers entitled to 50 percent of the marital property. Sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars change hands. Some say they paid for the property while their spouse abused them and paid for little or nothing. One woman said her ex-husband was laughing Read more
One of the grooms in the upcoming season of Married at First Sight (MAFS), Chris Mansfield, has an outstanding domestic violence charge in the United States. As a participant on the reality show, which will premiere on Sunday night on Three, Mansfield has wed a stranger in a non-legally binding marriage. Read more
Samoa’s National Council of Churches has described as “insulting” an Office of the Ombudsman report that blamed them for exacerbating family violence. The report says: Traditional village councils and the church have been complicit in maintaining the veil of silence on the issue The church is generally failing in its role to prevent family violence Read more