Olinda Woodroffe: Pacific ministers well placed to combat violence

By Olinda Woodroffe

5:30 AM Wednesday Dec 12, 2012

Ministers need to find ways of reaching out to families, says Wood roffe. Photo / Thinkstock

I'd like to see church ministers being proactive in curbing violence before it happens. It is good to see church ministers taking a positive step to curb violence, by encouraging parishioners to report violence. Any social problem has many causes, and violence against children is no exception. There is no one solution. Continuing dialogue for solutions should be encouraged.

As a lawyer who has dealt with predominantly church issues at the High Court at Auckland and Wellington for two decades, I'd like to see church ministers being proactive in curbing violence before it happens. "Prevention is better than cure" especially where lives of the young and innocent are at risk. This is vitally important in the Pacific community, as in New Zealand, the church has replaced the village. There is much more that the church ministers can do because they hold the position of trust and respect. Admittedly, the trust and respect has waned in some instances because of their abuse of power.

Ministers need to find ways of reaching out to families to build trust so people within a church may feel safe to ask for help with a potential problem within a family, before violence occurs and someone is hurt.

Talking to each other may deflect the violence. Reporting violence to me is an indication of "talking past each other, in the family and in the community".

In the past, the minister stepped in when there was a problem within the villages. Today, much of this culture is lost. Re-establishing this role for ministers is a positive way forward. Today's ministers must establish the trust of parishioners, in a proactive step to save lives. Reporting violence is good, but why wait until the damage is done?

Ministers need to re-evaluate their roles. It is a positive step to see them standing against misconstruction of the Bible to justify violence, in today's world.

Olinda Woodroffe is a lawyer and parishioner with a BA in Sociology of Religion & Education.

By Olinda Woodroffe

Jeremy (New Zealand) | 10:04AM Wednesday, 12 Dec 2012

I'm sure they are very pro-active in combating violence, and understand the importance of their job only to well. The reality is that we are now a very secular country, so their influence is mostly limited to church members. Corrective discipline lies at that core of promoting the kind of good behaviour, self-control and respect for others that must preceed any reduction in violence, and your PC dig against smacking policy is actually quite unhelpful in that respect.

Rex Fausett (Kingsland) | 10:05AM Wednesday, 12 Dec 2012

Unfortunately those ministerrs are too busy counting the proceeds of their compulsory 10% tithes to worry about their parishioners.

Ken Maynard (New Zealand) | 10:05AM Wednesday, 12 Dec 2012

I agree the Church could use its influence in the Polynesian community to better effect. Not just to curb violence, which is the visible tip of the iceberg, but to address the underlying causes of Polynesian frustration, which is large families, low incomes & low achievement levels.

A lot more attention needs to be given to the role of culture. Race does not matter much, genetically all humans are pretty much the same; but cultural indoctrination is meant to shape our worldview by ~moulding us for life~ & it does to a very great extent.

It is not just a matter of improving Polynesian & Maori education, but a matter of cultural change.

Success does not depend on what we know; but of how we ~live~ what we know. Education informs what we know; but it is culture that tells us how we should live.

In addressing the interactive nature of education (knowledge) & culture; the Churches are well placed to play a key role; not just in the Polynesian communities but in all communities.