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MEXICO CITY TO
HOST WORLD CONGRESS OF FAMILIES III, MARCH 29-31. Joining with
the Mexican-based organizations, Family Network and Family &
Society, The Howard Center soon convenes the Third great Congress
in this series. The session will be held at the state-of-the-art
Banamex Center. “Pro-family leaders of the world, scholars,
clergy, political leaders and families of many faiths and
nationalities, and men and women of good will will unite in Mexico
City to celebrate the Natural Family,” reports Center Special
Events Coordinator Jean Heise. Confirmed speakers include Dr. Wade
Horn (U.S. Assistant Secretary for Health and Human Services);
Professor Gary Becker (Nobel Laureate in Economics); Rabbi Daniel
Lapin (President of Toward Tradition); Cardinal Renato Martino
(President of The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace); Dr.
Bernardo Kliksberg (distinguished philosopher from Argentina); and
Dr. Paige Patterson (President of the Southwestern Baptist
Theological Seminary).
Members and friends
of The Howard Center are invited and encouraged to attend this
important event. You may register on-line thru the World Congress
of Families website (www.worldcongress.org) or directly with the
Mexican Organizing Committee (www.cmf.com.mx). If you would like
to receive a printed invitation and registration form, contact
Carol at 1-800-461-3113. Rooms at several Five-Star hotels are
available at special rates of $90-$135 per night, via the Mexican
website.
LARRY JACOBS NAMED
CENTER VICE PRESIDENT. He comes from the Cincinnati, Ohio area
where he has served for the past two years as President and CEO of
Healthy Beginnings, a non-profit, Christian medical practice and
healthcare ministry that provides medical care for women and
babies. Earlier, he was a Manager of New Products and New Business
Development at the Procter & Gamble Company. He holds a B.S.
degree in Environmental Science from Allegheny College and both an
M.A. (Economics) and M.F.S. (Natural Resource Policy) from Yale
University. He is married to Jennifer and they have two children,
Amanda (age 7) and Aaron (age 4). He was recently selected by the
Cincinnati Business Courier to the 2003 Class of the “Forty
Under 40,” a recognition program for young business, economic
and community leaders. “We are excited to have Larry on board to
increase our ability to shape ideas that make a positive
difference in the lives of families, locally, nationally and
internationally,” said Howard Center President, Dr. Allan
Carlson.
JANET LYNN
SALOMON, BYRON CALHOUN, MD, JOIN CENTER’S BOARD. At its
November meeting, The Howard Center’s Board of Directors
welcomed two new members: Janet Lynn Salomon of Virginia; and
Byron Calhoun, MD, of Rockford. “The talents of our new board
members, combined with the leadership already in place, makes the
Howard Center a key organization in the campaign to defend
families and faith in our society,” said Allan Carlson.
• Janet Lynn
Salomon won an Olympic medal for figure skating at the 1972
Sapporo Olympics and, on turning professional, became the highest
paid female athlete in the world. According to a recent column in
USA TODAY, many skating enthusiasts consider her to be the
greatest skater in the sport’s history. She left that world,
though, to become the full-time mother of five sons. In recent
years, Janet has become a close Howard Center friend, speaking at
its 1998 founding dinner in Rockford and serving on its Board of
Advisors.
• Dr. Byron Calhoun
is Director of the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine for
Rockford Health Systems. He is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force
Academy (1979) and The University of Iowa Medical School (1983).
Long active in pro-life work, he is President of the 1,000-plus
member American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and
Gynecologists, the National Medical Advisor to The National
Institute of Family and Life Advocates, and a Physician Advisor to
Focus on the Family. The author of nearly 50 articles in medical
journals, he is also architect of The Perinatal Hospice, a new
pro-life alternative to help families facing fatal fetal
abnormalities. Dr. Calhoun is married to Kathryn and they have
five children.
THE ‘AMERICAN
WAY’ PUBLISHED. In November, ISI Books announced publication
of The ‘American Way’: Family and Community in the Shaping
of the American Identity by Allan Carlson. Accordingly to the
author, “This new study of the ‘American Way’ argues
that ‘family’ and ‘religiously-grounded community’ served
in the 20th century as the dominant imagery for American self
understanding. The ‘American Way’ shows how this nation’s
identity has been shaped by carefully constructed images of the
American family and the American home.” Critical comments
include: “Allan Carlson’s The ‘American Way,’ is the most
counter-cultural book of the year” (James V. Schall, S.J.,
Georgetown University); “Brilliant and disturbing, this book is
a ‘must read’ for anyone worried about the state of our
private and social institutions” (Bruce J. Frohnen, Ave Maria
School of Law); “Allan Carlson knows more about the history of
the American family than any other person.... This is a book of
major importance” (James Hitchcock, St. Louis University); “Carlson
makes the case clear: The fight for the family, the fight for the
dignity of motherhood, the fight for [authentic] children’s
rights...is the cornerstone of our fight for the American way”
(Eduardo Hall, Human Events). Order through: www.isibooks.org or
at your local bookstore.
CENTER RENEWS
AGREEMENT WITH FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL. As part of this broad
collaboration, Allan Carlson will deliver another series of Family
Policy Lectures to FRC audiences in Washington, DC. The theme for
2004 will be “Marriage on Trial.” Scheduled lectures include:
• “Speak Now or
Forever Hold Your Peace: On the Communal Nature of Marriage”
(February 18). This talk will explain why marriage has never been
a private matter, just between the couple, but has always involved
a close regulation of the couple by extended family, religious
communion, and the larger community.
• “Two Becoming
One Flesh: On Marriage as the Union of the Sexual and the Economic”
(March 10). Dr. Carlson will examine the real power and meaning
behind this ‘anthropological’ view of marriage, underscoring
the economic power generated by the complementarity of the sexes
in a married-couple home.
• “‘Conjugal
Happiness’ and The American Way: On the Special Relationship
Between Marriage and the American Experience” (May 5). This
lecture will build on Alexis de Tocqueville’s insight that “There
is certainly no country in the world...where conjugal happiness is
more highly appreciated than in America.”
• “Standing for
Liberty: Marriage, Virtue, and the Political State” (June 16).
This talk examines G.K. Chesterton’s contention that “the
ideal for which [marriage] stands in the state is liberty.”
Those interested in attending one or more of these lectures should
contact Mark Haskew at FRC (mnh@frc.org or 202-393-2100).
CENTER TO HOLD
CHICAGO BANQUET ON MAY 1; PHILOSOPHER ROGER SCRUTON TO SPEAK.
Center members and friends are invited to attend this event, to be
held at The Renaissance Chicago Hotel, One West Wacker Drive in
Chicago, beginning with a reception at 6 p.m. The speaker, Dr.
Roger Scruton, is England’s most prominent conservative
philosopher. His 30 books include The Meaning of Conservatism, A
Short History of Modern Philosophy, The Aesthetic Understanding,
Sexual Desire, On Hunting, England: An Elegy, and The West and the
Rest. He has also written an Opera (“The Minister”), founded a
journal (The Salisbury Review) and publishing house (Claridge
Press), served as a columnist for The London Times and The
Financial Times, been a regular contributor to BBC’s popular “Moral
Maze,” and taught at Birkbeck College (London), Boston
University, and Princeton. He will address the subject, “An
Englishman Looks at American Conservatism in the New Century.”
Persons interested in attending should contact Jean Heise at
815-964-5819 or 1-800-461-3113.
HOWARD CENTER
DIRECTORS ENDORSE IDEA OF FEDERAL MARRIAGE AMENDMENT. At its
November meeting, the Board of Directors approved a resolution
stating that the definition of marriage in the United States
should “consist only of the union of a man and a woman.” It
also recommended that Congress consider amendment language
addressing the problem of activist judges and the issue of
registered partnerships. “Recent events suggest that the U.S.
Constitution will, one way or the other, be amended regarding
marriage,” commented Center President Allan Carlson. “Either
the Supreme Court will impose a radical new definition of
marriage, along the lines of its Lawrence v. Texas decision, or a
democratic majority will affirm the traditional view of marriage.”
He continued, “The Board members present at our meeting felt it
important to take a strong position on this issue.”
CHRISTOPHER
SHANNON NAMED AS 2004 KOHLER FELLOW. This Center program gives
direct financial support to younger scholars, allowing them time
to research and write a new book in the field of family studies.
Dr. Shannon holds his Ph.D. in American Studies from Yale
University. He has taught at St. Mary’s College in Indiana and
at The University of Notre Dame, where he has also served as
Associate Director of the Cushwa Center for the Study of American
Catholicism. In addition, Dr. Shannon has worked at the
International Museum of Photography and Film. While Kohler Fellow,
he will craft a manuscript tentatively entitled, “Bowery to
Broadway: Family, Community and the City in Classic Hollywood
Cinema.” He will argue that the genre of “Irish- American
films” produced during the 1930’s and ‘40’s—such as The
Public Enemy [1931], Gentleman Jim [1942], and Going My Way [1945]—”owed
their success to an ability to affirm ideals of family and
community that, despite their undeniably urban textures, resonated
with the values of Protestant small-town America.”
BRIEFLY
NOTED...
• Starting with an
essay by Senior Fellow John Howard on the moral example provided
by George Washington, The Howard Center has inaugurated a new “op-ed”
placement program, with distribution to an initial list of 80
newspapers.
• A new paperback
edition of Allan Carlson’s 2000 book, The New Agrarian Mind: The
Movement Toward Decentralist Thought in Twentieth-Century America,
appears this February from Transaction Books, Rutgers University.
Order at:www.transactionpub.com
• “Rediscovering
the Family,” Allan Carlson’s review of The Two-Income Trap by
Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Warren Tyagi, appears in the January
26, 2004, issue of National Review.
• A chapter by
Allan Carlson appears in the new book, Does Christianity Teach
Male Headship? The Equal Regard Marriage and Its Critics, edited
by David Blankenhorn, Don S. Browning, and Mary Stewart van
Leeuwen and published by Eerdmans (www.eerdmans.com).
• John Howard’s
article, “How Quickly We Forget,” appears in the January 2004
issue of The Herald- Examiner (New York).
• “What Has
Government Done to Our Families?” a paper by Allan Carlson,
appeared in the e-journal Ludwig von Mises Institute Online,
January 5, 2004.
• Allan Carlson’s
essay, “The Fractured Dream Of Social Parenting,” leads off
the Fall 2003 issue of Family Policy Review.
• The
Howard Center was co-sponsor for “The Defend Marriage and Family
Conference,” held at Mesa, AZ, November 22, 2003, and organized by
United Families International. Allan Carlson gave a talk on
“Marriage on Trial: Some Lessons from History.”
• Robert Patterson
has been named a Research Fellow at The Howard Center. A former
editor of Family Policy, Mr. Patterson will contribute abstracts
to the Center’s monthly New Research.
• On October 18,
2003, John Howard opened the annual Ingersoll Symposium, “The
Dangerous Quest for Equality,” at Belmont-Abbey College in
Belmont, NC, with a talk on the history and purposes of the
Ingersoll Prizes. Allan Carlson also gave a paper on “The
Curious Costs of Gender Equality.” The Ingersoll Prize recipient
this year was British historian Paul Johnson.
• “Book TV” on
C-SPAN2 featured Allan Carlson’s lecture on The ‘American Way’
in several nationwide broadcasts during November and December,
2003, and February 2004.
• Allan Carlson was
a frequent commentator in late 2003 for Family News in Focus Radio
Service.
• Larry Jacobs
spoke at the pro-life Heartbeat International Annual Meeting in
Omaha, NE (November) and Medical Symposium in Columbus, OH
(December).
• Kohler Fellow
Christopher Shannon and Allan Carlson were guests this January 7
on “Extension 720,” the popular radio talk show on WGN-AM
Chicago, hosted by Dr. Milt Rosenberg (who is also a Center Board
Member). They discussed challenges to the American family. Earlier
(September 8), the Center’s 2002 Kohler Fellow, Brian Robertson,
appeared on the same show to discuss his book, Day Care
Deception.
• The Howard Center
organized a Liberty Fund Colloquium on “Liberty and
Responsibility in the Work of Wendell Berry,” held October 9-11
in Savannah, Georgia. Fifteen invited scholars engaged in an
intensive three-day dialogue on Mr. Berry’s agrarian essays,
novels, and poetry.
• The Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) interviewed Allan Carlson in
Washington, DC, on October 30 concerning the distinctive influence
of religious belief on American life.
• Religion &
Society Report editor Harold O.J. Brown leads a tour of Protestant
Reformation sites in Germany this summer. Persons interested can
contact him at 704-366-5066.
• Allan Carlson
appeared on “The Tony Gilbert Show,” KXEM-AM, in Phoenix, AZ,
concerning the retreat from marriage in America.
• John Howard’s
essay, “Service Above Self,” appears in the November issue of
Personal Excellence.
• On November 15,
Allan Carlson presented the paper, “Post-Marriage Culture?: The
Case of Sweden,” to the symposium, “Reaffirming Marriage in a
Post-Marriage Culture,” sponsored by The Law School at The
Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
• Allan Carlson
discussed The ‘American Way’ on “RadioWest,” KUER-FM, Salt
Lake City, UT, with host Doug Fabrizio (November 24); on WDOV-AM
radio in Oregon (January 8); and on “The Jan Mickelson Show,”
WHO-AM (“The Voice of Iowa”), Des Moines (January 28).
• The Howard Center
co-sponsored the annual “Life Breakfast,” held January 16 in
Rockford, with 400 in attendance. The speaker was Erwin Lutzer,
Pastor of Moody Bible Church, Chicago.
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