Moral Evil Close to Home Responding to Domestic Violence

Intimate spousal abuse is an insidious moral evil that erodes and distorts love, trust, and care, thus betraying the very nexus of safety and the sacred space we call “home. ” The author discusses the developmental aspects of the abusive male and offers some suggestions and resources grounded in the Christian tradition for addressing this frequently concealed problem. Consider the following parish scenario: The bright Saturday morning suncontradicted the feelings of disbelief and helplessness that members of a suburban parish Pastoral Ministry Board experienced as they listened to the pastor’s opening comments regarding the tragedy of one of the neighborhood’s most prominent families. The deputy mayor, Jack Dorn, had allegedly murdered his wife and their eight-year-old twin sons. The Dorns were marginally active parishioners who sent their sons to the parish school. As the pastor and the Board members shared their memories and marginal contact with the Dorn fam-ily, what became surprising to them was their total lack of awareness that any-thing was amiss in the family. Their reflections led them to wonder if other family parishioners were experiencing similar distress that could erupt in such a violent response. For the majority of the Board, this was their first confrontation with evildoing of this proportion in their serene surroundings. One older Board member re-marked that what ran through his mind was the phrase from the old radio pro