“No silence about domestic violence”: that’s the recent appeal made by the Austrian Catholic women’s movement KFBÖ, to mark the inauguration of the international campaign “16 days without violence to women”. Inviting women to seek help from the advice centres, by calling the free helpline 0800 222 555, instead of remaining silent in cases of violence, the KFBÖ has asked the competent political authorities to provide a sufficient number of structures where women can go to seek help. “Unfortunately there are still men who think they can treat a woman as if she were their chattel”, said the President of the KFBÖ, Margit Hauft: “This is demonstrated almost every week by news of violent attacks on women who want to separate from their partner. A concerted campaign of awareness-raising, also in Catholic parishes, is needed”. For years, the KFBÖ has been trying to encourage women to express the problems of violence in the home: “We continue however to note that often women are not willing to do so, in their wish to safeguard the image of the peaceful Christian family within the parish community. In this field we need sensitive and understanding pastoral workers, but especially we need a parish that does not ignore the widespread problem of domestic violence”, she concluded.
