Bring Back Marriage Campaign/ Marriage Enrichment Weekend Prog/ Alabama/ Mapping / ACOD Comedy? - 10/22/09

Wed Oct 22 16:39:00 EDT 2008

- THE BRING BACK MARRIAGE CAMPAIGN
- THE MARRIAGE ENRICHMENT WEEKEND PROGRAM
- WAY TO GO, ALABAMA!
- MAPPING MARRIAGE AND THEFT
- MOVIE PROJECT ON ADULT CHILDREN OF DIVORCE?

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- THE BRING BACK MARRIAGE CAMPAIGN
This is a MUST watch video. There are 5 videos listed, all great, but I want
you to click on the fourth one down of the little girl in the pink dress
titled "Campaign Video".  It was created by the Marriage and Family
Foundation to launch a truly amazing and ambitious 10-year campaign to
change the legacy we leave our children by restoring marriage in America.
The  campaign's goal is to raise awareness about family breakdown as was
done with mothers against drunk driving, anti-smoking, early-detection, seat
belt safety campaigns - raise awareness and offer hope about turning things
around.  The Foundation will do intensive fund-raising and will make
resources available so you can all grab and oar and help take the campaign
nationwide.  Watch here and get truly inspired and motivated.  The video
includes many faces you'll recognize:
http://www.marriagefamilyfoundation.org/national-ad-campaign
- diane 

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- THE MARRIAGE ENRICHMENT WEEKEND PROGRAM

Read about this amazing program that is expanding like wild-fire.

> In the initial hours of the weekend, couples first look within themselves to
> find God. In fact, they don¹t even sit together. The journey of spirituality
> then ripples from self to spouse to family to community. Participants peel off
> their own masks before joining their spouses in sharing fidelity, love and
> understanding. . . .

> ³It¹s very moving from the moment you walk in the door,² says Ruth Johnson. As
> the lovingly prepared dinner progresses, participants break bread and share
> wine (grape juice can be used in consideration of those with alcohol
> problems). The dinner concludes with wedding cake, cut by the couple who has
> been married the longest. . . .

> Materials are well-developed and are updated every two years. Most are
> available in Spanish. ³The program is so well-organized and user-friendly,²
> says Msgr. Olona. There are not only leadership guides and participant books,
> but also supporting videos.
> 
> Currently, the Marriage Enrichment Weekend Program is 100-percent run by
> volunteers. Pastors like it,. . .  because laypeople take full
> responsibility for the organization and running of the program. He also likes
> the logistics of the program. Being parish-based makes it easy to attend and
> cost-effective for the participants. (Ralph Johnson estimates a weekend costs
> approximately $45 a couple, including registration.) . . .

> When the Halls turned toward their Catholic community for support, they found
> a program called the Marriage Enrichment Weekend (http://www.tmewpi.org).
> Three years earlier, the program had just taken root in the Diocese of Santa
> Fe. First run as a six-week course, the highly effective content soon evolved
> into a single, parish-based weekend.
> 
> Within a year, the Marriage Enrichment Weekend drew attendance from 13 nearby
> parishes. ³That¹s with no advertising,² proudly proclaims Ralph Johnson. He
> and his wife, Ruth, who sit on the board of directors, have watched the
> program spread like seeds on the wind into seven states and internationally
> into Mexico. . . .

> Though the Marriage Enrichment Weekend Program seems to have grown
> effortlessly, Ralph Johnson is quick to refute that notion. ³It is literally
> the product of thousands of people living the married life,² he says.
> 
> Ralph, a retired physicist, always understood the importance of careful
> analysis. In the early years, Ralph scribbled copious notes throughout each
> weekend. Afterward, Ruth typed them. Next, clergy and Marriage Enrichment
> leaders evaluated failures and successes. They made changes. They tried again.
> 
> The Johnsons estimate that the Marriage Enrichment Weekend took about three
> years to ³gel.² Ralph, who¹s published over 100 scientific articles, says:
> ³For me, the Marriage Enrichment Program was a process of discovery. I kept
> asking myself, What have we got? What is this? Why does it work?²

Read the full informative and inspirational article, Making Marriage
Stronger,  at: 
http://www.americancatholic.org/Messenger/Nov2008/default.asp

Visit their exhibit at Smart Marriages Orlando or contact them at:
505-821-1571 € http://www.tmewpi.org

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- WAY TO GO, ALABAMA!

 http://www.alabamamarriage.org/map.php

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- MAPPING MARRIAGE AND THEFT

It's interesting that living with both biological parents is more protective
than whether or not the parents are married.  What isn't acknowledged is the
stability marriage brings - that married bio-parents are more likely to stay
together raising their children than cohabiting bio-parents.

http://www.mappingamericaproject.org/get.cfm?i=MA08I06

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- MOVIE PROJECT ON ADULT CHILDREN OF DIVORCE?

Is this for real?  A comedy?  I think so.....  - d

> Yahoo News says:
> 
>     The studio is developing a satirical comedy tentatively titled ³A.C.O.D.
> (Adult Children of Divorce).² The screenplay by Ben Karlin, ³Daily Show² head
> writer and co-creator of ³The Colbert Report,² and Stu Zicherman centers on a
> grown man still caught in the crossfire of his parents¹ 15-year-old divorce.
> 
>     In ³A.C.O.D.,² which Miramax acquired on spec, the lead character
> discovers he was unknowingly part of a study on divorced children. He¹s
> enlisted in a follow-up years later that wreaks new havoc on his family.
> 
> So the dust has settled and the child caught in the middle of a messy divorce
> now finds himself opening old wounds as he finds out his experiences through
> the divorce are being studied.
> 
> Sounds ripe for comedic situation. The interviewer asking questions about a
> situation laid to rest years before and the subject answering with a new
> onslaught of emotion.
> 

http://tinyurl.com/5qkw8z

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