coming up -- judy valente reports on a chicago priest who visits parishes to bring attention to an often taboo subject, domestic violence. and in israel, an interfaith village where israelis and palestinians intentionally live together in peace. plus, a spectacular pageant celebrating mormon history. major funding for "religion

and ethics newsweekly" is provided by the lilly endowment, an indianapolis based private family foundation dedicated to its founders' interest in religion, community development, and education. additional funding also provided by mutual of america, designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. and the corporation for public broadcasting. >> welcome. i'm kim lawton, sitting in for bob abernethy. thank you for joining us. interfaith leaders offered prayers and support as israeli and palestinian negotiators came to washington this week to open the first middle east peace talks in years. state department officials say they will negotiate for at least nine months. there are many tough issues on the table, including jewish settlements, the return of palestinian refugees, and the status of jerusalem.

meanwhile, the state department has just launched a project that could help. christian ethicist and wesley theological seminary professor shaun casey is heading a new office that will try to engage religious leaders and the faith community in u.s. foreign policy. widespread international concern this week over the disappearance of a prominent italian priest inside syria. father paolo dall' oglio lived in syria for three decades and promoted interfaith dialogue at an ancient monastery there. the syrian government exiled him last year because of his support for the opposition. dall'oglio had reportedly returned to help those affected by the fighting. some sources said he was kidnapped by an islamist group. the vatican was unable to immediately confirm those reports. pope francis continued to generate discussion this week after his visit to brazil, where more than 3 million people turned out for his final mass. on the return trip, francis held

an unprecedented 80-minute long press conference where he addressed several controversial issues, including gays. he said, quote, a gay person who is seeking god who is of good will, well, who am i to judge him? although no church policy was changed by the statement, catholics and non-catholics alike debated the implications, with many seeing it as a significant shift in rhetoric. francis also called for more theological work on the role of women, although he reaffirmed the ban on female priests. vandals defaced a sikh house of worship in riverside, california, this week, spray painting the word terrorist around the complex. the incident comes as u.s. sikhs are marking the one-year anniversary of the mass shooting at a temple in oak creek, wisconsin, where six worshippers were killed. special days of prayer and community service are planned in remembrance. there was also vandalism at

washington's national cathedral, when green paint was thrown in the historic bethlehem chapel and the children's chapel. cathedral officials say cleanup and restoration will cost $15,000. green paint was also splattered on a statue of martin luther at a downtown lutheran church, the lincoln memorial, and other d.c. sites. domestic violence, both physical and emotional, is a problem that touches millions, yet many pastors never talk about it in front of their congregations. a catholic priest in chicago is leading a campaign to do something about it. the vast majority of domestic violence victims are women, and father charles dahm wants the church to be a place of refuge for them. judy valente has our story. >> reporter: father charles dahm has come to a parish on chicago's north side to deliver the kind of homily the parishioners have probably never heard before, one which will make some of them uncomfortable. >> how many of you have ever heard a sermon about domestic violence? raise your hand. see, no one.

dough tess mick violence is often unnoticed, hidden from our eyes, but actually it is rampant in our society and in our communities. >> reporter: one in four women will be abused sometime in her lifetime. rita smith, director of the national coalition against domestic violence, says the problem of abuse also imposes a significant cost to society. >> lost time at work, decreased productivity at work, health care costs related to injuries as a result of abuse, response time and cost for law enforcement to go to calls when someone is being battered. >> reporter: but so often the problem lies hidden. >> i've been a priest for 48 years. i didn't see it until i hired a pastoral counselor and one day

she said, "father, you know, almost all my clients from the parish are women who are victims of domestic violence." and i didn't know it. and i knew many of those women. >> reporter: father dahm was surprised by the extent of domestic violence within the families he served. when he realized there was no official church outreach to abuse victims, he decided to start his own ministry. >> priests generally do not talk about it. and most dioceses in the united states have no services, or very limited services, for victims of domestic violence. >> reporter: he goes to parishes where he is invited. so far he has traveled to some 30 parishes in the chicago area. he has no budget and a limited staff of volunteers to focus attention on the problem. >> we're here tonight because we want to serve, especially those people who suffer violence in their own homes. >> reporter: after talking about domestic violence at mass, father dahm invites parishioners

to meet with him to discuss how their church might help those who are suffering abuse. on this night, six people came. some had been victims, others simply wanted to help. >> i come from an abusive home, and it's led me to get into abusive relationships. i'm divorced also because i divorced my abuser, but i was about to marry another abuser. so this is the cycle that continues unless you get help. >> i left a domestic violence relationship almost 35 years ago, myself and my four kids. the sad news is not very much has changed as far as men who batter and women who struggle to get out of the relationship. >> reporter: father dahm tells them a first step is to establish a support group so that women who are battered know they have a safe place to tell their stories. the parish can then work to connect them with agencies that can help. parish volunteers also need to be trained so they know how to respond to pleas for help.

>> one day i ended up in the hospital because i had bruises on my face. he kicked me and hit me in my face many times. >> reporter: women often stay for years in abusive relationships, for a variety of reasons. >> you think you love the person, that god wants you to be in the relationship because it was the man of your life, because he's the father of your daughter. so you belong there. >> so many of the women i've worked with over all these years are practicing catholics, and they cannot comprehend the idea that it would be acceptable if they were to leave and get divorced, so your message is like something i didn't think i'd be hearing in my lifetime. >> what's one of the worst

things you can do for your children is to let them grow up in a home where there's violence. because your daughters are learning how to be submissive to this abuse, and your sons are learning how to be abusive, and they may enter into marriages that are just like yours. do you want that? >> reporter: the u.s. conference of catholic bishops has said "no person is expected to stay in an abusive marriage," adding, "we encourage abused persons who have divorced to investigate the possibility of seeking an annulment." valerie yokie is a director with mary kay cosmetics. she says she first became aware of the extent of domestic abuse by talking to her customers. at one point, she served on an advisory board to chicago's cardinal francis george. she brought the issue of domestic violence to his attention, forcefully, she recalls. >> your eminence, we don't talk about it in our churches, we are

not supporting women, and our church would be nowhere if it weren't for women. >> reporter: about 25 people showed up for a meeting on domestic violence at yokie's church after father dahm spoke at the masses. yokie believes churches are one of the best settings in which to address the problem. >> it's the one place where you have the perpetrator, the victim, and the witnesses, the kids, hearing the message that it's wrong, that god loves you, we're here to support you, you don't have to put up with it. >> reporter: men can also be victims of domestic abuse, often in same-sex relationships, but that number is small compared to women. and domestic violence can be other than physical. >> emotional or psychological violence is much more difficult to detect, but it's also more frequent, the belittling, demeaning, the insults. >> that was the case with elia and roman carreon.

the first 20 years of their marriage were marked by frequent periods of emotional trauma. >> the verbal abuse, the silent treatment, the humiliation of the words. he would call me names, he would call me crazy. every time i would bring up counseling, he would say, "you go to counseling, you're the one that's crazy." >> to me i was a nice man. that's what i saw about me. i never hit anybody. i wasn't doing anything wrong. i was just -- actually i thought of myself as actually doing something better than most of my family. >> reporter: finally, with father dahm's help, they entered counseling. >> i would hear other men telling their story. and i would say, you know, as they were saying their story, i would say how come you're not expecting to get in trouble with the things you're doing? that's wrong. but then after a little while i realized, "geez, that's what i do."

>> reporter: how would you describe your marriage now? >> healthy. if i had to choose one word, it's healthy. not only are we healthier, we are more in love. >> reporter: reported incidents of domestic abuse nationwide are down. but father dahm says it's difficult to measure success because no one knows how many women who need help aren't coming forward. a woman might leave an abusive partner as many as seven times before she finally makes the break. and the abusers don't change easily. father dahm says they have to be confronted and held accountable. >> the good news about domestic violence is that it is learned behavior. it's not something we inherit in our genes. we learn it from somebody, someplace. that means it can be unlearned. i've seen it with abusers who've converted and now have turned their lives around.

they're super active in our parish. >> i went 20 years of my marriage without knowing all this. so i did a lot of things that now i regret. but thank god, you know, i can live the rest of my life with my wife without violence. >> reporter: which is why father dahm will continue visiting parishes, delivering a homily that will be news to some. for others, it's a message that may change their lives. for "religion and ethics newsweekly," i'm judy valente in chicago. although peace negotiations have started up again, many wonder whether israelis and palestinians will ever be able to let go of their animosities. during my trip to the holy land almost two years ago, i visited an interfaith village in israel where jews and israeli arabs intentionally live together as a witness, they say, for peace. >> reporter: nestled in the

hills between tel aviv and jerusalem is a small village called the oasis for peace, in hebrew, neve shalom and in arabic, wahat al-salam. while the middle east conflict continues to churn all around, here they are trying to create a different reality, one that says israelis and arabs can live side-by-side in peace. >> it's possible. we need to learn how to make the impossible possible. we don't take in our consideration impossible. it's possible, let's do it now. >> reporter: neve shalom/wahat al-salam was founded more than 30 years ago by an egyptian-born dominican monk, father bruno hussar, who died in 1996. he wanted to create a place where jews, muslims, and christians intentionally lived together in mutual understanding and respect. abdessalam najjar is an arab muslim from the galilee region of israel. he was part of the first group to move here 33 years ago. >> reporter: why did you want to do this? why did you want to be part of

this? >> you ask me a very difficult question. you assume that i know the answer. i don't know. for me, i said, "ah, it's a way that we can deal with the conflict in an alternative way. cooperation instead of confrontation. dialogue instead of fight." >> reporter: in neve-shalom/wahat al-salam, there's a big emphasis on education, not just for those who live here, but for the greater community as well. the bilingual hebrew arabic primary school has 200 students, the vast majority from outside the village. and there's adult education as well. nava zonenshein directs programs at the school for peace, which sponsors encounter groups and conflict-resolution seminars. >> people have to learn history they didn't know of the other side, learn power relations and

how to share more equally, learn how to change the images that they have of the other side. so these are challenges we have to deal all the time with. >> reporter: zonenshein, who is jewish, also moved to the village more than 30 years ago. she raised her three children here. >> they don't see the other as an enemy. everywhere they go they will fight for equality, for justice, so it's something very deep in their experience, not just they heard about it but they lived this. >> reporter: at neve shalem/wahat al-salam many say spirituality is also a key part of building the framework for peace. >> i believe, and there are some others believe, that peace education and the peace actions in the absence of the spiritual factor will be not complete. >> reporter: here there are many places where people of all

faiths, and those of no faiths, can pray or meditate. one of the most unusual spots is called the space of silence. >> you can meditate as muslim, christian, jewish, buddhist, anything, but everything should be in silence. >> reporter: here there are no walls and no sharp edges. najjar says the founder, father bruno, believed you can't talk to others until you talk to god and yourself. his vision was that by pursuing peace, people are doing god's work, whatever their belief system may be. >> this is the most important thing, the outcome, the results. if the results is what god wants from us to do, we do it, everybody with his own way. >> reporter: and that's the work they intend to continue and expand, no matter what happens in the political world outside. for mormons, a hilltop in upstate new york is sacred

ground. it was there, they believe, that an angel appeared to the founder of their faith, joseph smith, and helped him find the golden plates that became the book of mormon. every july, members of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints celebrate their history with a spectacular pageant in palmyra. last year marked the 75th anniversary of the production. artistic director brent hanson guided us through it. >> the hill cumorah pageant is a volunteer operation. all the actors and staff members are here out of the goodness of their hearts because they believe in the cause and they're excited to be participants in it. >> it's the first time i've ever been this part. so i get married on stage and then i travel through the wilderness before they have the boat scene. and that's probably one of my favorite things to do. >> this year the cast has 750 people in it. and that's part of the

excitement of the show, it's just plain big. the cast members are from across the united states, 30-some states this year, several international families participating. the pageant is loaded with costumes, special effect the soundtrack has been recorded by the mormon tabernacle choir. this site in the palmyra, new york, area is really the cradle of our faith. it's where joseph smith lived when he first began to receive revelations from our father in heaven. this is the site where the book of mormon was translated largely and where it was eventually published. that was in 1830. and it is exciting to be in the

actual place where some of these events which are so special to us as members of the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints took place, there's a sense of coming home. a sense in some ways of a pilgrimage, although that's not a tenet of our faith exactly. the story starts out in the book of mormon with a group of people who leave jerusalem. they're led by a man who's had revelations from god. >> the lord spoke to me in a dream last night. he told me to take my family and go into the wilderness. >> leave jerusalem? >> those people are eventually led to the american continent. it's their new promised land. after they arrive, they have problems. there are brothers who don't get along, who have different ideas about how things should be run. and eventually they split into two groups of people and they have ongoing conflict for

centuries. the book of mormon was written by those ancient prophets in america, and as their civilization deteriorated, the last of those prophets hid the record. >> some day your words will be given to a people of another nation so they too can learn the fullness of the gospel of jesus christ. the words that nephi wrote became part of the book of mormon. this sacred record would be continued by one prophet after another through all the thousands of years that nephi's people would live in the promised land of america. >> those people were waiting for the arrival of jesus christ, just like the people in the old testament were, and they were promised that after his resurrection in jerusalem he would visit them here, and that

scene depicting the savior's visit to those ancient americans at the meridian of time is certainly the highlight, the climactic scene of the pageant. >> he ordained 12 disciples who served him in america as the 12 apostles served him in the old world. >> ye are my disciples, ye are a light unto this people. this is the land of your inheritance given unto you by thy father. write the things which ye have seen and all that i have said. some day i will establish a great nation in this land, a free nation, and i will give them the words ye write. ye shall be a witness unto them. >> that's perhaps what makes us different from the rest of christianity, the concept is that it's a restoration of what

had been before and had been lost. >> and i shall take these plates wherever the lord commands and hide them. and then the lord will keep these plates safe until he raises up a prophet in the latter days. he will send our record forth to convince the world that jesus is the christ. it will be called the book of mormon. >> at the end of the pageant we are introduced to joseph smith as a character. we view joseph smith as a prophet, just like the prophets of old, and we see enacted on the stages and hillside of the pageant moroni coming to him, giving him the plates, telling him to translate it and get it published. >> joseph, you will translate this book by the gift and power of god. the lord has a great work for you to do.

>> in 1829, joseph smith translated the book of mormon, and in 1830 it was published in nearby palmyra, new york. at the lord's command, god's holy priesthood was restored, and the church of jesus christ was once again organized on this earth. >> i have great hopes every night that there will be some people who really connect, who will be searching for the kinds of answers that we're offering, and that their lives will be changed then. >> the savior will return. soon he will be here. on our calendar, this weekend muslims celebrate laylat al qadr, or the night of power,

when they believe the koran was first revealed to the prophet mohammad. and this coming week, muslims will mark the end of ramadan with the three-day festival of eid al-fitr the "feast of fast breaking." finally, we mourn the loss of herb kaplow, the veteran broadcaster who died this week at the age of 86. for more than four decades, herb worked at nbc, then abc, reporting on some of the biggest stories of the day. in his retirement years, he was part of the team that helped develop "religion and ethics newsweekly" and get it on the air. we all valued herb's experience, his news judgment, and the many contributions he made to this show. that's our program for now. i'm kim lawton. you can follow us on twitter and facebook, where i'd love to connect with you as well. watch us anytime on the pbs app for iphones and ipads. and visit our website, where there is always much more, including audio and video podcasts of this program. join us at pbs.org.

major funding for "religion and ethics newsweekly" is provided by the lilly endowment, an indianapolis based private family foundation dedicated to its founders' interest in religion, community development, and education. additional funding also provided by mutual of america, designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. and the corporation for public broadcasting.

barry kibrick: today on "between the lines," what life in a foreign prison can teach you about success, with mack dryden. i'm barry kibrick. mack is a stand-up comic, former writer for "politically incorrect," and a compelling motivational speaker. but it wasn't always that way. as a young man, mack was thrown into a moroccan prison, accused of murder. with his book, "fluffing the concrete," he shows us how to make the most out of even the worst situation. linda ellerbee: i'm a writer today because i was a reader when i was 11 years old, and it was... deepak chopra: you do not need to prove your state of happiness to anybody. warren christopher: most of these speeches were as much as a month in preparation. stephen j. cannell: the characters, the heroes