Bishop in Tonga speaks out about gender based violence -

Tonga’s Bishop speaks up about gender based violence

Tuesday, February 28th, 2012

Tongan Bishop, Paini Mafi, says church leaders need to open their eyes and look beyond the bible in order to understand and combat a “huge problem” of gender based violence.

“As leaders of our churches we ought to be at the forefront of current issues such as violence against women and children, which are affecting not only the members of our churches but also our country,” he said.

“We should not close our eyes to this huge problem before us, but we need to work together to combat the scourge of gender based violence.”

“We should not just read the bible, but read also daily newspapers and other important documents, so that we are better informed of the current issues in order to implement our roles more effectively.”

Bishop Paini, the Head of the Roman Catholic Church of Tonga and Niue, and the chairman of the Tonga National Forum of Church Leaders was speaking at a national consultation with government in Nuku’alofa on February 21.

The consultation is intended to seek from church leaders their views on the proposed changes to legislation to better protect women and children from violence. It provided opportunities for church leaders to share their views and concerns on proposed changes that might challenge Christian values.

Source