major funding for "religion & ethics weekly" is provided by the lily endowment, an indianapolis based family planning 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. with congress back from spring recess, work has resumed on several key issues and faith-based groups have been deeply involved. as the senate took up expanding background checks for gun sales, interfaith religious leaders including clergy from newtown, connecticut, held a 24-hour prayer vigil in support of new

gun control measures. they set up more than 3,000 grave markers to honor the people shot to death in this country since the sandy hook school massacre on december 14th. the leaders prayed for an end to gun violence. religious activists made more than 10,000 phone calls to the senate this week urging support for new gun restrictions. a broad array of faith groups also played a prominent role as advocates for comprehensive immigration reform took their case to capitol hill. at a massive rally religious leaders joined others in calling on members of congress to support a bill that would offer a path of citizenship up to 11 million people are in this country illegal. dr. rabbi david saperstein told the group scripture calls for such reform. >> 36 times more than any other law it says treat the stranger, the resident noncitizen as yourself. could god not be clearer than that command?

>> meanwhile, many catholic churches around the country held special services to pray for changes in immigration policy. also this week, religious groups began weighing in on president obama's proposed 2014 budget. one measure in particular is generating debate in the faith community. the president has proposed significantly restructuring u.s. foreign food aid. among several changes the plan would divert much funding away from direct delivery of u.s. aid to instead focus more on vouchers for local procurement of food. some relief groups say this will be more cost effective but several others expressed concern that the assistance would not get to the people who need it the most. in other news, at the vatican pope francis and united nations secretary-general ban ki-moon discussed growing international concern about north korea. it was the first meeting since francis became pope. the two highlighted their shared

commitment to fostering faith and human dignity and they talked about the crisis in syria and the conflict in africa. religious tensions remain high in egypt after a new wave of deadly violence between muslims and coptic christians. two people were killed and more than 80 wounded in a riot outside of cairo's historic st. marks cathedral during funeral services for four christians killed. they blamed mohammed morsi for not protecting the christian minority and particularly harsh language he warned egypt is, quote, collapsing. in israel, controversy continues to surround gender segregation at one of judaism's holiest sites the western wall. women are regularly detained for violating rules which bar them from leading prayers there and wearing prayer shawls reserved for men. this week a possible compromised

was announced to expand the area where men and women can pray together. it faces strong opposition from orthodox leaders. now, a special report. 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. >> 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. no one. domestic violence is often unnoticed, hidden from our eyes.

but actually it is rampant in our society and in our communities. we know, of course, that there are probably women here this morning who have experienced violence in their own home and our heart goes out to you. >> one in four women will be abused sometime in her lifetime. >> rita smith executive director of the national coalition against domestic violence said 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. >> 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. >> 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 the victims he decided to start his own ministry. >> priests generally do not talk about it and most dioceses in the united states have very limited services for victims of domestic violence. >> he goes to parishes where he is invited. so far he's traveled to 30 parishes in the chicago area. he has no budget and a limited staff of volunteers to focus attention on the problem and pastors have not always been enthusiastic about his message. >> one priest didn't want to do it because he thought it would

be offensive to the children who might be in the congregation. listening to the homily. others think we don't have that problem here. it's someplace else, we don't have it. or that it's too difficult a topic to talk about and they don't know how to do it. >> i would say at this point most churches are not doing a particularly good job of this. it's not that they don't want to, it's just that this is a very, very complex issue. >> and we're here tonight because we want to serve especially those people who suffer violence in their own homes. >> after talking about domestic violence at mass, father dahm invites parishioners to meet with him to discuss how their church might help those suffering abuse. on this night six people came. some had been victims. others simply wanted to help. >> i come from an abusive home. and which 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 in u.news is not very mh has changed as far as men who batter and women who struggle to get out of the relationship. >> when he preached at our parish about a year ago, i was sort of surprised because i was unaware at that time of domestic violence and how prevalent it is within all communities. all neighborhoods, all levels, all ethnicities. >> father dahm tells them the 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. >> many times victims call and they don't say i'm a victim of domestic violence.

they just might say, um, i need to talk. or i'm having problems in my home. or my husband and i are having problems. okay? so that's all. so, that actually is a code almost for i need help. >> one day i end up in the hospital. because i have bruises on my face and he hit me. and hit me on my face many times. >> 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 this is the man of your life, because he's the father of your daughter. so, you belong there. >> so many of the women that i

work 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. you want that? >> the u.s. conference of catholic bishops has said, quote, 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. valley yoki is a director with

mary kai cosmetics. she said 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 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 aren't supporting women and our church would be nowhere if it weren't for women. >> about 25 people showed up for a meeting about domestic violence after father dahm spoke at the masses. yoki 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. >> 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. it's also more frequent. the belittling, demeaning, the insults. all the ways in which the woman is isolated from her family and friends. >> that was the case with elia and roman carrion, the first 20 years were marked by periods of emotional trauma. >> the verbal abuse. the silent treatment. the humiliation of the words. he would -- he will call me names. he will call me crazy. he would, like, every time i bring up about counseling, he would say, no, you go to counseling, you're the one that's crazy. >> to me i was a nice man. that's what i thought about me. i never hit anybody, so i wasn't

doing anything wrong. i was just doing -- actually, i thought of myself as doing something better than most of my family. >> finally with father dahm's help, they entered counseling. >> i would hear other men telling their stories and i would say, you know, 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, you know, after a little while i realized, geez, that's what i do. >> how would you describe your marriage now? >> healthy. if i have to choose one word, it's healthy. not only -- not only are we healthier, are we more in love. >> now i know that she is my partner and we're aiming to be -- to grow old together. not -- it's not about me anymore. now if something happens to you, it happens to me, too. >> 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 did unlearned. i've seen it with abusers who have converted and now have turned their lives around. they're super active in our parish, so we have a very strong men's group in our parish that is made up primarily of people who are perpetrators. >> i went 20 years with my marriage without knowing all this. so, i did a lot of things -- now i regret the things.

i can live the rest of my life with my wife without violence. >> which is why father dahm will continue visiting parishes, delivering a homily that will be news for some, for others it's a message that may change their lives. for "religion & ethics weekly," i'm judy valente in chicago. in new york orthopedic surgery joseph dutkowski specializes in treating severely disabled patients, motivated, he says by his catholic faith. bob faw has our report. >> this is a young person who has a genetic missing piece genetic six chromosome. >> in a busy clinic in rural upstate new york orthopedic surgeon joseph dutkowski sees hundreds of children and adults disabled by disorders which leaves them crippled or deformed

or in the case of 19-year-old homer king jr. blind and deaf from a metabolic dysfunction. >> and we're going to fall, one, two, three. >> as a doctor, everything dr. dutkowski does is informed by his deep catholic faith. >> let's get you out here. was it st. francis who said preach the gospel at all times and use words if necessary, and so you do it with your actions. people don't need for me to preach at them. people don't need for me to lecture them. they need -- they need for me to care. they need for me to walk in with the love of god and to try and share it in any way that i can. >> whether treating junior or two married cerebral palsy patients josie and chris rosa -- >> you look like you should be bringing in an aircraft with that. what you up to? you're looking well today. >> yeah. we got to talk. >> we got to talk. we can talk, that's for sure. >> dr. dutkowski is unfailingly

patient, willing to listen no matter how long it takes. >> i know this might sound strange, but can you just -- [ inaudible ]? >> yeah. i'm happy to do that. patients like they need me to listen to them. they need somebody who cares enough to listen to their story. because they all have a story. they all have a need. >> 57-year-old dutkowski was an engineer when he says he got the calling to become a doctor. >> i applied to medical school and i wrote my essay, i wrote that i wanted to take some of this technology and figure out a way to help people with disabilities. now, there's nobody disabled in my family. there was nobody that i knew of who had a disability that i was thinking about when i did it, so i would take that as a holy spirit moment. ron, ron. >> most days here dutkowski sees 25 to 30 patients, like

8-year-old jeremiah harrington born with a club foot. for each patient dutkowski uses an old-fashioned leisurely approach not often encountered in modern medical practice today. >> now look at your feet. can i look at your feet? >> uh-huh. >> thank you. from a spiritual standpoint what i try and do as a physician is that even if i can't cure the situation, even if i can't cure the condition, even if i can't make it all go away, if they're being overburdened with that cross, if i can just hold up a corner sometimes, it might make it light enough for them to be able to carry it and move on. >> here in the country, he does more than just listen, give injections and comfort to anxious parents, every monday at the bassett medical center in cooperstown, he operates on severely disabled children and before each surgery he prays. >> it's an overwhelming responsibility. and if i try and go in there on

my own, i run so many risk of failure. but if i come in and i ask god to be with me and help me, that even in those cases where it might not work out perfectly, i'm with him. and i can -- i can be in peace. i was born and raised in the country. i love being out here. >> dutkowski isn't anchored to the country, though. every week crucifix nearby, he drives in to new york city to see patients three hours-plus on the road, often spent in prayer. >> it's prayer to the holy spirit. it's holy expert, soul of my soul, i adore thee. enlightened and strengthen and console me, tell me what to do and command me to do it. >> here, anywhere for that matter, joseph dutkowski is not reluctant to display his faith. >> good morning, good day, hello, god bless you. how you doing? >> good.

>> but he never imposes his beliefs on anyone. >> i'm not up there to tell them what to believe, but if i make that opening and it's important to them, then it can be part of their care. >> it is a ministry he takes each week to new york presbyterian morgan stanley children's hospital, where at the cerebral palsy center he sees patients like 10-year-old devin. >> after the shot can we send him to school tomorrow? >> dutkowski hopes the medical community will learn from treatments pioneered here how to treat cerebral palsy patients not just when they're young but also as they grow older. >> country doctor coming down to wonderful, you know, the finest medical centers in the world, i was out of my comfort zone. but what's the risk? if i fail, yeah, i got a little egg on my face. big deal. but if we succeed, we can move the world. >> he can't get comfortable.

>> 2-year-old nathan has a rare congenital disorder. his mother jennifer feels about the same as most parents do when it comes to dr. "d" as he is affectionately called. >> he listens, yes. he's a listener. he understands. he takes the time to educate. a person such as myself. >> a lot of doctors don't listen. they just want to do what they got to do for you and go away, just because we may look funny doesn't mean you should talk over us or through us. >> it's not like that with dr. "d," though, is it? >> no, no, no, no. because dr. dutkowski would never treat us any different. he treats us with respect and decency. >> and knowing that dutkowski is a man of faith, reassures many even nonchristians like devin's father. >> it does. it does make me feel comfortable because it means he has some sense of responsibility in what he does.

because whoever believes in god does have a sense of caring, guidance, do you know what i'm saying? >> treating so many young disabled patients might shake a person's faith in a merciful god. do you ever ask yourself why did god let this happen? >> no, i don't. because what i see when i see, i go in that room and i feel love. it's an energy from outside that draws me in. >> these are bodies that are, forgive me, misshapen, malformed, twisted, crippled, and you see in that the likeness of god? >> yes, i do. i see the image and likeness of god in every one of those individuals. >> for dr. dutkowski, then, faith and medicine intersect, complement one another. seeing affliction, he also finds something meaningful. >> there are days i go home with tears in my eyes because suffering's real, but sharing suffering is a gift.

the depth of that love, the depth of that commitment, the depth of working with individuals like that, that's the privilege. >> dutkowski says he doesn't heal, that only god can do that. in the meantime, this old-fashioned man of faith and modern man of science, continues a ministry to both body and soul. >> all right. god love you. >> for "religion & ethics weekly," this is bob faw in delphi, new york. on our calendar, sikhs celebrate one of their most important holidays, the saki, often observed as a spring harvest festival, the day also marks the time when sikhs first identified themselves as a defined group in the 17th century. many hindus observe it as a time of renewal and rebirth. hindus are also celebrating the nine-day festival to honor the many female forms of the

deities. finally, more than 60 years after he died in a korean war prison camp, father emil capone this week received the nation's highest military award. at an emotional white house ceremony, president obama presented a posthumous medal of honor for his acts of bravery on the battleground. he put his own life at risk to rescue wounded americans and refused to leave them when his regiment was surrounded by chinese soldiers. he negotiated their safe surrender and continued tending his flock amid terrible conditions in a prison camp. seven months later he died from an untreated illness. his remains are in an unmarked grave in north korea. the vatican has declared capone a servant of god and opened an investigation as to whether he should be recognized as a saint.

that's our program for how, i'm kim lawton. you can from us on twitter and facebook where i have a fan page, too, watch us any time on the pbs a.m. for iphones and ipads. there's also much more on our website including twitter's outreach to religious leaders and audio and video podcasts are also available. join us on pbs.org. spring in full bloom in washington captured by videographer patty hamly. major funding for "religion & ethics weekly" is provided by the lily endowment, an indianapolis-based private family organization. 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.

>> good evening from los angeles. the contributions and challenges facing latinos. we took our cameras to chicago state university. let me start by introducing the panelists. domingo garcia, executive secretary and treer