• In New Orleans alone, almost 15,000 complaints are filed in the courts each year.
• 10,000 peace bonds are filed yearly in Orleans Parish.
• 40% of women seeking separation or divorce claim cruel treatment as grounds for their protection.
• One-third of all homicides in Orleans Parish are related to domestic violence.

Perpetrators and victims of domestic violence cross all socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds.
Domestic violence can come in the form of physical assault, which may include but is not limited to beating, punching, slapping, kicking, or choking. Abuse can also take the form of threats, sexual assault, and/or coercion, enforced isolation, economic and emotional mistreatment. Statistics show that batterings are rarely singular, isolated events.
However, women, who in overwhelming numbers are the victim of domestic violence, are finding ever expanding community resources which offer safety in emergency situations and long-term protection, including transition to safe housing for themselves and their children.
For nearly 20 years, Catholic Charities has operated programs designed to protect battered women and their children and to assist them in transitioning toward a safer, improved quality of life.

Provide shelter and transitional housing services to battered women and their children. The programs offer housing and meals, as well as individual and group counseling, information, referrals, advocacy, and community education.

Deborah St. Martin, Administrator
1000 Howard Avenue, Suite 1000
New Orleans, LA 70113-1942
Phone: 865-0057 FAX: 866-7931

Provides legal assistance to women in Orleans Parish who have been battered and who need assistance in securing a safe environment for themselves and their families.

Theresa M. Marchese, Administrator
1000 Howard Avenue, Suite 1000
New Orleans, LA 70113-1942
Phone: 523-3755, ext. 2217 FAX: 523-2129
tmmarchese@archdiocese-no.org

PARTNERS AGAINST VIOLENCE Often, the doors of a Catholic Charities program for battered women and their children are opened with a telephone call. If you or someone you know is the victim of a battered, understand that you must not allow this isituation to continue. Listed below are telephone numbers of agencies which can offer shelter, advice, and/or referral:

• Crescent House - 525-3755
• Project S.A.V.E. - 523-3755, ext 2216
• YMCA Battered Women's Hotline - 486-0377
• Rape Crisis Line - 483-8888
• Child Protection - 483-4911
• Metro Battered Women's Shelter - 837-5455
• St. Bernard Battered Women's Shelter - 278-7788