Contact: Don Feder, 508-405-1337, dfeder@rcn.com; The Howard Center for Family, Religion & Society, 815-964-5819, media@worldcongress.org
ROCKFORD, Ill., March 6, 2013 /Christian Newswire/ -- World Congress of Families invites pro-family leaders, activists and scholars to join delegates from over 80 countries at World Congress of Families VII (May 15-18, 2013) at the Australian Technology Park in Sydney. The theme for WCF VII is "Happy Families, Healthy Economy: A New Vision for National Prosperity and Social Progress."
World Congress of Families Managing Director Larry Jacobs observed: "WCF VII will be our first Congress in the Southern Hemisphere, the first in an English-speaking country and the first in the Asia-Pacific region. This will also be the first time we've had Congresses -- Madrid 2012 and Sydney 2013 -- in two consecutive years."
Sessions will include: The Causes And Cost of Family Breakdown -- What Families Are Best for the Economy? -- Will the Human Family Survive: Can We Prosper with Small Families? -- Philosophical Roots of the Cultural Revolution -- Secular Humanism and Family Values -- Demographic Winter – Masculinity and Femininity –The Impact on Children of Legalizing "Same-Sex Marriage" -- Economic and Social Costs of Abortion -- Healing Post-Abortion Trauma -- Work of the Home: A True Profession -- AIDS Prevention through Strengthening Families -- Marriage as An Instrument of Human Development -- Promoting Families In the Mainstream Media and Online Media -- Consumerism and The Soul -- Defending Faith In An Age of Christophobia -- The Pornography Industry -- Reaching the Next Generation with a Pro-Family Message.
Additionally, there will be a number of special sessions including business, parliamentary and youth forums, workshops on parenting, family life and marriage, and leadership training.
Among the highlighted speakers are:
Bradford Wilcox -- Director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Virginia.
www.virginia.edu/sociology/peopleofsociology/bwilcox.htm
Janice Shaw Crouse, Ph.D. -- Senior Fellow at the Beverly LaHaye Institute, the think tank for Concerned Women for America, a recognized authority on national and international issues. She has debated at the Oxford Union, the world's oldest debating society. gideon.cwfa.org/articledisplay.asp?id=2112&department=CWA&categoryid
Patrick F. Fagan, Ph. D. -- Senior Fellow at the Family Research Council and Director of the Marriage and Religion Research Institute, Washington, D.C, who examines the relationship between sexuality, marriage and religious practice and America's social and economic strengths and weaknesses. www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=by08b09
Theresa Okafor -- World Congress of Families Africa Coordinator, CEO Life League Nigeria, director, Foundation for African Cultural Heritage.
George Cardinal Pell -- 8th Metropolitan Archbishop of Sydney
Paige Patterson -- 8th president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (former president of the Southern Baptist Convention), who brings to the position three decades of experience in the education of pastors and missionaries. www.swbts.edu/index.cfm?pageid=516
Rabbi Dr. Shimon Cowen -- director, Institute for Judaism and Civilization in Melbourne. www.ijc.com.au/images/Rabbi_Dr._Cowen_CV.doc
John Anderson -- former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, is well-known as a politician of deep Christian conviction and integrity. He faithfully served Australia in the House of Representatives from 1989 to 2005, as the National Party member for Gwydir en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Anderson_(Australian_politician)
Ian Harper -- one of Australia's best known economists, who's worked closely with governments, banks, corporations and leading professional services firms at the highest level. As a member of the celebrated Wallis Inquiry, he was at the forefront of financial market reform in Australia. www.assa.edu.au/fellows/profile.php?id=132
Dr. Ted Baehr -- Founder of Good News Communications, Inc., aka MOVIEGUIDE and the Christian Film & Television Commission ministry. He is an internationally renowned speaker, lecturer, media scholar, film critic, and educator. tedbaehr.com/about
Other distinguished speakers include: Dr. Allan C. Carlson (WCF Founder and International Secretary), Ignacio Arsuaga (Hazte Oir)*, Bishop Peter Elliott (Melbourne) , Patrick Parkinson (professor of law, University of Sydney), Babette Francis (Endeavour Forum)*, Steve Mosher (Population Research Institute)*, Don Feder, Larry Jacobs, Francisco Tatad (former majority leader, Philippine Senate), Dorothy Patterson (Southwest Baptist Theological Seminary), William Saunders (Americans United for Life)*, Roger Kishka (Alliance Defending Freedom)*, Farooq Hassan (Pakistan Family Forum), Gregor Puppinck (European Center for Law and Justice), Bob McCoskrie (Family First, New Zealand), Sharon Slater (Family Watch Int’l)*, Byron and Francine Pirola (The Renaissance of Marriage), Alexey Komov (WCF Russia), Natalia Yakunina (Sanctity of Motherhood Foundation)*, and Warwick Marsh (Dads4Kids)*, Duke Paul of Oldenburg (Pro-Europa Christiana)*, Bill Muehlenberg (CultureWatch), Ewa Kowelewska (Human Life Int’l Europe)* , Peter Westmore (Australian Family Assoc)*, Father Jaroslaw Szymczak (Family Institute, Poland), John Meuller (Ethics and Public Policy Center)*, Paul Mero (Sutherland Institute), Miriam Grossman, MD, Angela Shanahan (Thomas More Forum), Maggie Hamilton (author and social researcher) and Jonathan Doyle (Choicez Media), and Louise Kirk (Alive to the World),* -- * denotes World Congress of Families Partners
For more information about World Congress of Families VII Sydney 2103, click here: wcfsydney2013.org.au. Click here: wcfsydney2013.org.au/registration to register.
World Congress of Families was founded in 1995 by WCF International Secretary Allan C. Carlson, Ph.D., noted family historian, author and president of The Howard Center for Family, Religion & Society. There have been six Congresses to date: WCF I -- Prague (1997) * WCF II -- Geneva (1999) * WCF III -- Mexico City (2004) * WCF IV -- Warsaw (2007) * WCF V -- Amsterdam (2009) * WCF VI -- Madrid (2012)
More than 3,200 delegates from 72 nations attended World Congress of Families VI in Madrid (May 25-27, 2012). The Congress was addressed by 147 speakers from six continents, including eminent religious leaders, scholars, physicians, economists, demographers, scientists, officeholders and leaders of the pro-life and pro-family movements. WCF VI was covered by 190 accredited journalists from all over the world.
In 2010-2012, World Congress of Families held regional events in Vancouver (Canada) -- Sydney -- London -- Edinburgh -- Santa Cruz (Bolivia) -- Riga (Latvia) -- Lagos and Abuja (Nigeria) -- Port of Spain (Trinidad), Moscow and Ulyanovsk (Russia).
Jacobs added: "We're very excited about our seventh World Congress of Families. The Local Organizing Committee, led by Mary-Louise Fowler, has worked long and hard to make Sydney our best Congress yet. Coordinating speakers, venue, exhibitors, delegates and media is a Herculean undertaking. Our pro-family friends in Australia -- including WCF Partners, Australian Family Association, Endeavour Forum and Dads4Kids -- have helped overcome every obstacle to put together a terrific Congress."
World Congress of Families VIII is tentatively for Moscow, in the Kremlin, September 12-14, 2014. Click here for the new World Congress of Families VII flyer. For more information, visit the World Congress of Families websites, www.worldcongress.org or www.wcfsydney2013.org.au.
To schedule an interview with Larry Jacobs, contact Don Feder at 508-405-1337 or dfeder@rcn.com.
The Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society (www.profam.org) is located in Rockford, Illinois and is an independent, non-profit research and education center that provides sound scholarship and effective strategies to affirm and defend the natural family, thus renewing a stable and free society. The Howard Center is the publisher of the journal, "The Family In America" and is also the organizer of the World Congress of Families (WCF) project which is an international network of pro-family organizations, scholars, leaders and inter-faith people of goodwill from more than 80 countries that seek to restore the natural family as the fundamental social unit and the ‘seedbed’ of civil society (as found in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948). The WCF was founded in 1997 by Dr. Allan Carlson, President of The Howard Center. To date, there have been five World Congresses of Families -- Prague (1997), Geneva (1999), Mexico City (2004), Warsaw, Poland (2007) and Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2009). World Congress of Families VI was held in Madrid, Spain in May 25-27, 2012. World Congress of Families VII will be held in Sydney, Australia, May 15-18, 2013, www.wcfsydney2013.org.au.
