Contact: Don Feder, Communications Director, 508-405-1337, dfeder@rcn.com; Rachel Marble, 815-964-5819, media@worldcongress.org; both with World Congress of Families 

ROCKFORD, Ill., Aug. 9, 2012 /Christian Newswire/ -- World Congress of Families Managing Director Larry Jacobs will be in Australia from August 9 to August 16, to help plan World Congress of Families VII: Happy Families, Healthy Economy.  The Congress will be held next year in Sydney, May 15-18, 2013.

Jacobs will meet with members of the Organizing Committee for WCF VII, which include Mary-Louise Fowler, Trafford Fisher, Justing Coulson, Ron and Mavis Pirola, Peter Westmore, Michael Ord, Greg Stone, Babette Francis and Graeme Mitchell. Bev Adair, Bob McCoskrie and Peg McEntee are also part of the committee but will not be present.

The WCF Managing Director will tour the venue -- the Australian Technology Park in Sydney -- and meet with other key pro-family leaders, including Cardinal George Pell, M.P. Kevin Andrews and Rabbi Shimon Cowen of the Institute for Judaism and Civilization. On August 14, he'll participate in a rally in Canberra for Australia's National Marriage Day.

Jacobs said he was very much looking forward to working with leaders and supporters of the natural family from  Australia, New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific Region.  "The world is searching for solutions to the global economic crisis and these selfless leaders have answers based on strong, happy families.  The vision and the personal sacrifice of time and treasure from these faithful pro-family leaders makes WCF Sydney possible.  I'm looking forward to meeting with them and learning from them, as we partner on this great adventure that God has us on together -- World Congress of Families VII."

More than 3,200 delegates from 72 countries  attended World Congress of Families VI: Family and Marriage, The Future Society at the Palacio de Congressos in Madrid, May 25-27. The Congress included more than 130 speakers from six continents and was covered by 190 accredited journalists. More than 10,000 viewed the proceedigs live through online streaming.

Issues covered at the Madrid Congress included marriage, demographic winter (declining birth rates), euthaniasia, pornography, education, parental rights, motherhood and fatherhood, homemaking, abortion, Christian persecution, re-claiming the culture, media, contraception, the homosexual lobby, transnational organizations, and biotechnology.

Besides Madrid 2012, past Congresses have been held in Prague (1997), Geneva (1999), Mexico City (2004), Warsaw (2007) and Amsterdam (2009).

Jacobs noted: "This will be our first Congress in the Southern Hemisphere, the first in a Commonwealth country and the first in an English-speaking country. Madrid and Sydney will also be the first time two Congresses have been held in two years." The theme of WCF VII is "Happy Families, Healthy Economy."

For more information on World Congress of Families, including the latest issue of our electronic newsletter, World Congress of Families News, go to www.worldcongress.org

To schedule an interview with Larry Jacobs, contact Don Feder at 508-405-1337 or dfeder@rcn.com