Priest’s comments very saddening
WHILE I cannot imagine that the views expressed recently by an Italian priest about domestic violence are those of many others, if any around the world, it saddened and enraged me to read his comments.
Piero Corsi, a parish priest in the northern Italian village of San Terenzo di Lerici posted bizarre comments on a church notice board calling on women to engage in ‘ healthy self criticism' regarding the issue of men murdering women.
According to the text which was later posted online Corse cites women wearing tight provocative clothing and having households with ‘ babies left to themselves, dirty houses, cold meals and fast food and soiled clothes' as the reasons that provoke violence and sexual abuse in men.
It is astonishing to me that anyone would hold this as a legitimate view, let alone a person in such a position as Corsi.
While everyone is entitled to their opinion I cannot fathom how this man can justify these comments.
How can any woman be blamed for the violent and criminal acts of her husband?
Comments such as this in certain cases will only serve as justification for the actions of a violent spouse who needs someone else to blame.
This priest's comments are of course not the view of the clergy in general, I would hope that the church would make clear its view on matters such as this.
The meaning of these comments are certain to have a potentially dangerous impact on the psyche of both victims and perpetrators of violence in different ways.
Domestic violence is notoriously underreported and this is exactly the sort of attitude that deters women in crisis from seeking help before it is too late.
This is the last thing that a person trapped in a violent relationship needs to hear and is precisely the sort of social attitude that prevents them from making a change.
Corsi clearly has little experience of dealing with such violence within his parish, otherwise he would know that the violent spouse (male or female) is to blame for their behaviour and not the actions of their vic- tim.
It is important to move away from damning notions that irrelevant matters such as clothing or housekeeping are legitimate provocation for any sort of violence. Nobody can use them as any sort of excuse to inflict terror on another person and this message must be sent loud and clear.