Bumper complaint | Jobs | Presenter Applications for San Francisco | Clerics getting out of the wedding business? - 8/6/07

[Smartmarriages]

- BUMPER STICKER COMPLAINT
- PUBLIC STRATEGY JOB POSTINGS
- PRESENTER APPLICATION
- A PRIEST'S SUGGESTION
 
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- BUMPER STICKER COMPLAINT

I just received a quite eloquent email from a man in Murfreesboro Tennessee
complaining that someone slapped a Smart Marriages bumper sticker on his
car. He's threatening legal action. Puleeze, even if you know someone could
use the hint, don't do this.  Hand them out if you like but don't apply them
to people's vehicles! I assured this man that this is not our organization's
practice. He assumed we walk through parking lots plastering cars.  Nope.  I
told them we mail them out one at a time to people that write in to request
them.  http://www.smartmarriages.com/bumper.html - diane

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- PUBLIC STRATEGY JOB POSTINGS

I just added two more job listings to the jobs page at:
http://www.smartmarriages.com/jobs.html

No cost to list jobs.  -d

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- SAN FRANCISCO SMART MARRIAGES PRESENTER APPLICATION

The SF presenter application is now available. Applications are not due
until Oct 12 but it never hurts to submit early.  Application is on the
conference information page at:
http://www.smartmarriages.com/conferencedetails.html

NOTE: Institutes are by invitation only so you will not find an Institute
application posted. Past institutes are invited to repeat based on their
registration numbers and evaluations.  New institutes are invited based on
evaluations that say "this workshop should be offered as a training
institute" - and by space available.  If you are interested in presenting an
institute, email me and we'll explore the possibilities.

Ditto for keynotes. Keynotes are also by invitation and you will not find a
keynote application on the website.

- diane    

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- A PRIEST'S SUGGESTION

99-Cent Divorce? 
Posted July 27, 2007
http://www.thisistrue.com/blog-99cent_divorce.html
 
In the 15 July issue, I ran this story:
With This Pop Top I Thee Wed
 
Not content with Wal-Mart hogging the spotlight with its summer wedding
promotion [This is True, 24 June], the 99-Cent Only store in Lewisville,
Texas, is offering an alternative. For just 99 cents, couples can get
married in its store. "The whole idea is to draw attention to the
ludicrousness of the extravagance of weddings," said bargain shopping maven
Sue Goldstein, who helped the store develop the service. (Dallas Morning
News) ...A 99-cent wedding? Big deal. What the world really needs is a
99-cent divorce.
 
My wife didn't like the tag, but I figured most divorced men would -- and
left it despite her disapproval. What I didn't expect was a letter from a
priest. Especially this letter, from Fr. Rick in Louisiana:
 
> No. What it needs is a very expensive wedding license, with clerics out of the
> business completely. By officiating at weddings we act as de facto
> functionaries of the state. We got involved in weddings in the Middle Ages
> purely to legitimize political arrangements relating to estate management and
> inheritance and in so doing gave up our claim to any semblance of moral
> authority. 
>  
> Instead, we need to stop officiating at weddings entirely. My recommendation
> -- based on almost thirty years' experience -- is that we wait for perhaps
> five years after the state function and then bless the wedding in an all-out
> joyous recognition of the civil wedding. That can be done -- again, I know
> from experience -- in such a fashion that it is virtually indistinguishable
> from a 'traditional' church wedding; and it has the advantage of recognizing a
> union that has a reasonable chance of success. (On top of that, the
> anticipation of the ceremony would provide a motive for working on making the
> marriage a success.)

 
I figured readers would want to weigh in on whether churches -- Catholic or
otherwise -- should get out of the marriage business.
Randy Cassingham

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12th Annual Smart Marriages Conference, Hilton San Francisco Hotel,
July 2 - 5, 2008  
Pre-Conference Training Institutes June 30-July 2
Post-Conference Training Institutes July 6

List your program and resources on the Directory of Classes at
http://www.smartmarriages.com

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Coalition for Marriage, Family and Couples Education, LLC (CMFCE)
Diane Sollee, Director
5310 Belt Rd NW, Washington, DC 20015-1961
http://www.smartmarriages.com
202-362-3332

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