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8
Number
r
>^atho:ic NEWS & HERALD ¥
October 30, 1998
Volume
2^
9
Serving Catholics
Inside
in
Western North Carolina
in
the Diocese of Charlotte
Breaking the cycle
Jubilee
2000 Charlotte conference celebrates
Healing
in
wake
the
of
domestic violence
the Spirit
...Page
jimmy ROSTAR
By
15
Staff Writer
—
CHARLOTTE doesn't
remember
Antonio
the first time he hit
his wife.
Catholics
He didn't think anything of it then. More abuse, both physical and
condemn
emotional, followed. His wife finally
doctor's
called the police.
murder
prised
"When had
...Page
3
I
went
to
jail,
— not because of
I
was sur-
the fact that
I
but the fact that she called 911," Antonio told a group of law enforcement trainees during a domestic hit her,
awareness session at Mecklenburg County Jail North Oct. violence 22.
News
Local
Seniors Day of Reflection
held
Time in jail and six months of counseling at a county-run batterers' education program started Antonio's process of healing himself and the relationship with his wife. "It's a challenge to find out who you
in
really are,"
Hickory
who you
16
"Someyou pick
how you
find out
fall.
New Op(NOVA), An-
the program.
tions for Violent Actions
tonio
said.
are."
Through ...Page
How
Antonio
times you have to yourself up, that's
met Joe Marinello. An educa-
and a member of the Mecklenburg County Sheriff s Office's Domestic Violence Task Force, tional counselor
Mercy Sister Mary Vincent Spencer dies at 96 ...Page
14
Marinello ministers to domestic violence offenders on both sides of prison walls.
Marinello, a graduate of Belmont College, is a parishioner of St. Gabriel Catholic Church in Charlotte.
Photo by Jimmy Rostar
Abbey
fvcry Week
He has counseled and educated for four years,
Editorials
& Columns
and called
his job "a calling"
...
"Let us not grow tired of doing good, for in due time harvest, if we do not give up." (Gal 6:9)
we
shall reap
our
and
4-5
Faith Alive! ...Pages
8-9
Feast of All Saints, Nov. 1 mingling of earthly and heavenly music as sharing
"It is in this
in both, that the saints appear:
'Let the faithful exult in glory; for joy
on
their couches!'(Ps 149:5)"
Days ofDevotion Pope John XXIII
women and
know how I was going to him when he first came into the program because he was rebellious, to say the least," Marinello said of Antonio. Anger and denial fueled Antonio's feelings. But in time,
During the awareness sefrsi^^ Marinello and Paula Irby Thomasoh, also on the task force, examined domestic violence, its impact on society and the misguided attitude that domestic violence is a permissible form of
(truly
Marinello said, Antonio began asking real questions about accepting responr sibility and wanting to change. The batterer's process of realization and acceptance is the only way to stop the abuse, Marinello said, adding that 95 percent of offenders are men. He said he believes that men can change, but it must involve an evolution in the way they think about
behavior.
lished for inmates
Offering a historical perspective, Thomason said that acceptance of violence against women has been "articulated in the precepts of religion, philosophy and law" for centuries. "We've got a lot of work to do,"
"They're all required to take it, because when you think about domestic violence, it really is the hub of all crime," Marinello said. The jail program consists of a domestic violence awareness survey highlighting definitions, symptoms
"I
didn't
deal with
them sing
the season
"truly vocational work."
...Pages
let
u^hGifii
women.
added Thomason, who also works at United Family Services' The Shelter for Battered Women in Charlotte. "Not until the late '70s did the law
become) an
ally for
children."
In addition to counseling outside
the county
jail,
both counselors coor-
dinate the jail's domestic violence program, a "forced intervention" estab-
See
18
months
domestic VIOLENCE,
ago.
page
14