NEWS & EVENTS

On January 27-29, The International Planning Committee (IPC) for World Congress of Families V met in Amsterdam at the RAI Convention Centre, also the site of WCF V (August 10-12, 2009).

Sessions were co-chaired by WCF Managing Director Larry Jacobs and Simon Polinder, head of the Local Organizing Committee. Dr. Patrick Fagan of The Family Research Council was the moderator.

The IPC recommended that the Amsterdam Congress include the following keynote addresses: “How Traditional Are Modern Families In The Netherlands?” “The Family As The Fundamental Unit of Society,” “The Value of Marriage As The Basis of Family Life,” “The Family as The Foundation of Social and Economic Development,” “The Future Depends on Human Life,” “Effects of Government Policymaking on the Family,” and “The Influence of International Law on the Family.”

Panel discussions include: “The Role of The Family in Overcoming Addiction (Drugs, Gambling and Pornography),” “Demography and Declining Birthrates Worldwide,” “Sexuality: Faith, Family and Freedom of Speech,” “Barriers to Adoption: National and International,” Human Trafficking,” “How Biotechnology Affects The Family (Abortion, Euthanasia and Embryonic Stem-Cell Research),” and “The Family and The Future of Nations.”

WCF V will also hear a report from Abuja, Nigeria on the “World Congress of Families Dialogue of Civilizations” (June 4-7).

Like past Congresses, WCF V will be guided by the Natural Family philosophy, as set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations in 1948, and expanded by Dr. Allan C. Carlson and Paul Mero in their book “The Natural Family: A Manifesto.”

At a press conference on the 28th Larry Jacobs commented: “We’re delighted that World Congress of Families V will be in Amsterdam this coming August. Our last Congress (WCF IV) was in Poland, a religious and socially conservative country. Now we are raising the World Congress of Families banner in a part of Europe where the natural family and religion are viewed as roadblocks to development and social progress. Our challenge is to communicate our message and data that proves that the natural family is best for children and society. In doing so, we will challenge the efforts of the European Union and the left to deconstruct the family.”

The International Planning Committee included: Simon Polinder, Evert-Jan Brouwer, Nells Coumans, Frederike Lemmens-Warnaars, Jan Oudman, Geert-Jan Poker and Marloes van der Weide (Local Organizing Committee), Larry Jacobs and Don Feder (World Congress of Families), Lech and Ewa Kowaleski (Human Life Int’l, Europe, Poland), Pastor Alexey Ledyaev and Vadim Privedenuyk (New Generation Church, Latvia), Yuri Mantilla (Focus on The Family), Patrick Fagan (Family Research Council), C. Preston Noell (Tradition, Family & Property), Dorothy Patterson (Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary), Beverly Rice (United Families International), Austin Ruse (Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute), Father Jaroslaw Szymczak (Institute of Family Studies, Poland), Catherine Vierling (European Forum for Human Rights And Family, France), Chris and Christine Carmouche (GrassTopsUSA), Randy Hicks (Georgia Family Council), Farooq Hassan (Pakistan Family Forum), Ignacio Arsuaga (HarzteOir, Spain), Jean-Philippe Thes (The Institute for Family Policies, France), Gwendolyn Landolt (REAL Women of Canada), Benjamin Bull (Alliance Defense Fund), Joseph Meaney (Human Life International) and Janice and Gil Crouse (Concerned Women for America).

Members of the IPC recommended speakers for both plenary sessions and panel discussions, which must be approved by the Management Committee. We hope to publish at least a partial list in the March World Congress of Families News.

Click here to register for World Congress of Families V.

Click here to order “The Natural Family: A Manifesto.”

World Congress of Families Communications Director Don Feder was the keynote speaker at the 36th Annual March for Life Rose Dinner on January 22, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Washington, DC.

The Rose Dinner (attended by more than 350) capped the annual March for Life, the largest pro-life event of the year, which drew over 300,000 activists and leaders to DC this year. Nellie Gray, Founder and Leader of the March for Life since 1973, spoke on the need for consistency in advancing pro-life principles.

In his remarks, Feder connected the life issue to Demographic Winter, relating declining birth rates (which have fallen worldwide by more than 50% since 1979) to the tragedy of abortion.

Feder noted: “Besides the obvious connection (killing 44 million children a year tends to depress the birth rate), these life issues are linked in a more fundamental way.

Both are supported by a culture of selfishness – a culture which refuses to acknowledge an obligation to the past or a responsibility to the future – a culture which views the family as optional, faith as an impediment to human happiness, and personal gratification as the only measure of a life welllived.”

Click here for an article on Feder’s speech on LifeSiteNews.com.

Click here for a trailer of the documentary
“Demographic Winter: the decline of the human family.”

World Congress of Families International Secretary Allan C. Carlson addressed an EU Ministerial Conference (February 5-6, 2009).

The conference was called by the president of the Czech Republic to consider “The significance of family care for children as an adequate option to a career life and which is worth respect and support from state and society.”

D r. Carlson, a widely published family scholar, and currently a visiting professor of political science and history at Hillsdale College, spoke on “Expanding Child-Care Choices For All Families.”

The session was attended by more than 400, including delegations from ministries of EU member states responsible for family and social affairs, representatives of the European Commission, other government officials, politicians, scholars, NGOs and interested parties.

Participants included Petr Necas, deputy Prime Minister of the Czech Republic and Minister of Labor and Social Affairs; Mara Carfagna, Italy's Minister for Equal Opportunity and Family; Ursula von der Leyen, Germany's Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth; another fifteen EU Ministers for family issues; and the representatives of over 100 family-related NGOs.

Other speakers included Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, the President of the Pontifical Council for the Family; Professor Paul Kirchhof of the Institute of Financial and Tax Law at the University of Heidelberg; Anna Zaborska, Chairwoman of the Committee for Women's Rights, The European Parliament; and Professor Jay Belsky, currently at Birkbeck University in London (and a leading researcher/critic of infant day care).

The meeting faced intense hostility from socialist parliamentarians in the EU, who object to recognizing the parent (usually mother) at home as doing socially valuable work.

In their private meetings, Carlson was told that the EU Family Ministers agreed to recognize the value of persons who contribute to "intergenerational solidarity" (Euro-speak for parent/child bonds). Carlson commented, "The Czech government showed true courage here in advancing the real interests of children and the natural family, notwithstanding fierce socialist and feminist opposition."

The full title of the conference was: "Parental Childcare and Employment Policy: Collision or Complementarity?” and took place in the Prague Congress Centre, where the first World Congress of Families was held in 1997. The Centre was built around 1980 for annual meetings of the old Czech Communist Party.

Click here for the text of Allan Carlson’s remarks at The EU Ministerial Conference in Prague.

TABLE of CONTENTS

International Planning Committee
Meets in Amsterdam (Jan. 27-29)

Feder Keynotes 2009
March for Life Rose Dinner

Allan Carlson Addresses EU
Conference in Prague (Feb. 5-6)

World Congress of Families Hosts
Rockford Life Breakfast

Sixth World Meeting of Families in
Mexico City – January 13-16

Second International Symposium on
Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide,
May 29-30

Family News from Around the Globe

WCF: Profiles in Leadership

 Thank you to all WCF Co-Sponsors
for your continuing support.

CALENDAR

April 25 – Larry Jacobs will address the Illinois Lutherans for Life conference, on Demographic Winter.

May 29-30 – Second International Symposium on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide in Washington, D.C.

June 4-7 – World Congress of Families Dialogue of Civilizations in Abuja, Nigeria

August 10-12 – World Congress of Families V in Amsterdam, the Netherlands

November 6-7 – Pro-Life World Congress, Saragossa, Spain www.saragoza2009.org

May 24-26, 2010 – Global Summit on the Family, in Moscow (tentative)

Speaking at a colloquium in Mexico City in January, Arie Hoekman, a representative of the United Nations Population Fund, said that far from being a tragedy, high rates of divorce and out-of-wedlock births in developed nations are a blessing in disguise. Hoekman observed: “In the eyes of conservative forces, these changes mean the family is in crisis. In crisis? More than a crisis, we are in the presence of a weakening of the patriarchal structure, as a result of the disappearance of the economic base that sustains it and because of the rise of new values centered in the recognition of human rights.” World Congress of Families Managing Director Larry Jacobs replied: “There are reams of data showing that children from broken homes, either through divorce or failure to form families, have much higher levels of drug and alcohol abuse, crime and mental illness than their counterparts from intact families. But, perhaps Hoekman thinks these social pathologies also represent the triumph of human rights over patriarchy.”

Click here to read the WCF press release of February 5.

John Porritt (who chairs the British government’s Sustainable Development Commission) told a London newspaper: “Having more than two children (per family) is irresponsible. I am unapologetic about asking people to connect their own responsibility for their total environmental footprint and how they decide to procreate and how many children they think are appropriate.” Chief environmental advisor to Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Porritt is expected to deliver a report in March calling for aggressive government spending to promote more abortions and birth control, as well as campaigns urging British families to have fewer children. Porritt echoes Britain’s Optimum Population Trust which suggests that coercive measures may be necessary to limit the size of British families. Until quite recently, the birth rate in the United Kingdom was 1.8, well below replacement level (2.1).

A 2-inch model of an unborn child in the 10th week of gestation has created a furor in the Netherlands, including attacks from pro-abortion forces. The model, which is realistic in every detail, was carried in Amsterdam’s annual March for Life last December. Appearing on Dutch national television, Cry for Life President Bert Dorenbos defended the display and noted that 100 abortions take place daily in the Netherlands. Cry for Life recently tried to send fetal models to each of the 150 members of the Dutch Parliament, along with an explanatory letter and a book about post-abortive women. In January, Cry for Life received a phone call from the Parliament informing the group that the materials would not be forwarded to Members and would be destroyed if not picked up. In early February, Dorenbos wrote to the chair of the Dutch House of Representatives decrying this assault on freedom of expression.

Appearing on a network television show, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi defended including hundreds of millions of dollars for contraception in President Obama’s economic stimulus bill. “Well, the family planning services reduce cost… The states are in terrible fiscal crisis… (and) the contraception will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government,” Pelosi proclaimed. Critics noted that Pelosi seemed to be saying that preventing more children from being born will reduce costs to the states. They note that the person not conceived or born today can’t pay taxes tomorrow. The ratio of workers paying into the Social Security System versus retirees receiving benefits went from 4-to-1 in 1960 to 3-to-1 today, and is expected to decline to 2-to-1 by 2030.

Send us news of pro-family developments in your country and around the world. We’re particularly interested in the activities of pro-life and pro-family groups outside the U.S.

To reach the editor of the World Congress of Families News email dfeder@rcn.com.

This continues our regular feature celebrating the women and men who have contributed to the growing success of the international pro-family movement.

Evert-Jan Brouwer was born in South Africa in 1976. His parents moved back to the Netherlands in 1977. He’s the oldest in a family of seven brothers and two sisters.

Brouwer received a Master of Arts degree from Leiden University, where he majored in political science.

After graduation, he began working in the Dutch Parliament as a political advisor to the Reformed Political Party, a position he held for 9 years.

Founded in 1918, the Reformed Party is the oldest party in the Dutch parliament. Though not aligned with a specific denomination, its positions are Biblical. As such, it is pro-family, pro-life, pro-Israel, pro-development and “pro-responsible stewardship” for natural resources and the environment.

Brouwer currently works as advocacy coordinator for two organizations – Woord en Daad (Word and Deed) and Prisma.

Woord en Daad is a non-profit organization supporting development projects in 20 countries. It funds a variety of familyfriendly initiatives in health, education and job-creation – trying to strengthen family structures in situations of extreme poverty.

Prisma is a Dutch association representing 15 Christian development agencies. Brouwer is frequently in contact with Members of Parliament and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, pleading the cause of the family in developing nations.

As a member of the Local Organizing Committee for World Congress of Families V, Evert-Jan is responsible for contacts with political groups in the Netherlands and the Dutch Parliament. He also acts as a liaison between the LOC and organizers of the “World Congress of Families Dialogue of Civilizations,” to be held in Abuja, Nigeria, June 4-7, 2009.

Evert-Jan says: “I am really looking forward to having the World Congress of Families V in the Netherlands. I see it as a great opportunity to build a genuine worldwide network of families, representing families from all continents.”

He and his wife, Annemarie Karels, (who comes from a family of ten) were married in 1999 and currently have four children – Ralph (born in 2000), Martha (2002), Korstiaan (2004) and Renske (2007).

Evert-Jan notes, “Our marriage and our family are both a responsibility and a source of joy for us.”

Click here for the Dutch website for WCF V

Cristina Vollmer de Burelli, has been the Executive Director of Alliance for the Family (AFF) – a World Congress of Families Partner – since 2002.

Educated at Ste. Marie De Neuilly in Paris and Cambridge University in Britain, Burelli received an MA in social anthropology. She is fluent in Spanish, English and French and is a social entrepreneur.

Cristina oversees the production of content, teacher training and marketing for AFF’s character- education curriculum “Alive to the World” (in Spanish, “Aprendiendo a Querer”) created by her mother, Christine de Vollmer.

Cristina has also directed the translation of the “Alive to the World” series from Spanish to English, and an African adaptation of the series. She supervised the design of its evaluation instruments, and is directing the production of content for digital media and the Internet, including: online teacher-training courses, and a bilingual values-education gateway (Infoval.org) which was recently launched.

In addition to her work at AFF, Burelli is a board member of the National Fatherhood Initiative, whose mission it is to improve the well-being of children by increasing the proportion of children growing up with an involved, responsible and committed father. Because of her belief in the importance of music as a way out of poverty and a powerful instrument for transforming the lives of underprivileged youth in the Americas (in addition to its impact on public diplomacy), Cristina has also been very involved with the Youth Orchestra of the Americas.

Before moving to the United States in 2000, Cristina lived in her native Venezuela, where she was a trustee of several boards including Provive, (an NGO dedicated to promoting respect for human life from conception), The British School, and El Museo de los Niños, one of the largest children’s museums in Latin America.

She speaks on a variety of topics close to her heart, such as the challenges and urgent needs for educating in democratic values and empowering the young by inspiring noble purpose through character and entrepreneurship.

Cristina has dual citizenship (Venezuelan and American). She is married to Pedro M. Burelli and is the mother of five, including two in college. Her mother, Christine de Vollmer, is a member of the World Congress of Families Management Committee. Her father, Alberto Vollmer, is a former Venezuelan ambassador to the Holy See.

Click here for the Alliance for the Family website

Click here for the Fatherhood Initiative

Click here for Provive