Photo:picpanzee.com/prolifemarry The Church in Kerala is hoping to help widows in India – who often suffer from social stigmas – through its new matchmaking website.
The Family Commission of the Kerala Catholic Bishops Council has launched prolifemarry.com. The website will help match individuals hoping to marry. One of its major goals is to help widowed women, especially those ages 35-45, find a new husband.
Fr Paul Madassery, family commission secretary for the bishops’ council, described the shame that widowed women often face in the country. He expressed hope that use of the marriage website will help reduce this stigma.
“We want to empower widows who are emotionally, socially, financially, physically and mentally affected after the death of their spouse,” he told The Logical Indian.
“Even today, the society prescribes them [a] dress code and forces them to behave in a certain manner in the social gatherings,” Fr Madassery told The New Indian Express.
He stressed the human dignity of those who have been widowed and said that they should not face discrimination in society.
“We want to bring in a change in the overall outlook [toward] widows in our community,” he said.
The website has no registration fee, but it will require people to pay a small price in order to exchange contact information with those they meet. All of the money raised from the website will be donated to pro-life charities.