The U.S. bishops' Committee on Women in Society and the Church is urging Catholic priests and other pastoral leaders to promote awareness of domestic violence and to help battered spouses.

In a Sept. 28 press release the committee noted that October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and called attention to information on domestic violence and suggestions for homilies on the issue on its Web site at www.usccb.org/laity/violence.htm.

The resources on the site include suggestions for helping victims of domestic violence and their abusers. They also provide practical assistance to priests, deacons and other pastoral leaders to help them preach about domestic violence.

The committee said the U.S. bishops are drawing attention to domestic violence in response to many Catholics who say they never hear about the issue from the pulpit.

As a way to help pastoral leaders who say they are hesitant to preach on the topic because they are not familiar with it, resources on the committee's Web site include sample homilies and examples of how to connect the Sunday readings and domestic violence.

The site also includes the full text of the U.S. bishops' document "When I Call for Help: A Pastoral Response to Domestic Violence Against Women." It was produced by the bishops' committees on Women in Society and in the Church and on Marriage and Family.

Approved in November 2002, it was an update of a 10-year-old pamphlet-sized document on the issue.

"Violence in any form -- physical, sexual, psychological or verbal -- is sinful; often it is a crime as well," the bishops said in the document.

It urges priests and parish personnel to see themselves as "a first line of defense for women who are suffering from abuse," noting that even when abusers try to isolate their victims from other social contacts, "they may still allow them to go to church."

But it says the church also should offer aid to the abusers who, like their victims, "need Jesus' strength and healing."

The document defines domestic violence as "any kind of behavior that a person uses to control an intimate partner through fear and intimidation" and said it includes "physical, sexual, psychological, verbal and economic abuse."

"Religion can be either a resource or a roadblock for battered women," it said. "As a resource, it encourages women to resist mistreatment. As a roadblock, its misinterpretation can contribute to the victim's self-blame and suffering and to the abuser's rationalizations."

The bishops also point out that they "condemn the use of the Bible to support abusive behavior."

Statistics cited in "When I Call for Help" say that women ages 16-24 are three times more likely than other age groups to be victims of domestic violence but that women between the ages of 35 and 49 are the most likely to be killed as a result of such violence.

The document also argues against the view that church teaching on the permanence of marriage requires victims to remain in an abusive relationship.

"We emphasize that no person is expected to stay in an abusive marriage. Violence and abuse, not divorce, break up a marriage," the statement says. "We encourage abused persons who have divorced to consider seeking an annulment. This process ... can open the door to healing and new, life-giving relationships."

---CNS