World Congress of Families IV will open tomorrow (May 11) at
Warsaw’s Palace of Culture and Science. The opening session will be preceded by a press conference from 9:00 to 9:30 am -- for journalists only -- in Kisielewski Hall.
The Congress will begin with an opening ceremony (10:00am), which will include Family Awards, as well as welcoming remarks from Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Roman Giertych; Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, Mayor of Warsaw, and other Polish leaders. There will also be a “passing of the torch” from the leaders of Mexico’s Family Network, host committee for World Congress of Families III.
Introductory remarks and short welcoming messages will be delivered by : Allan Carlson (international secretary, World Congress of Families), Katarzyna Mazela (chairman of the organizing committee and vice president, Forum of Polish Women), Austin Ruse (president, Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute), Enrique Gomez Serrano (director, the Family Network, Mexico), Catherine Vierling (general secretary, European Forum for Human Rights and Family) and Ewa Kowalewska (director, Human Life International).
Additionally, on the opening day, the Congress will be addressed by: Ambassador Ellen Sauerbrey (Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration), Carlo Casini (member of the European Parliament), Gerard-Francois Dumont (the Sorbonne) and Margaret Ogola (national executive secretary, Kenya Episcopal Conference).
Attached is the complete program for World Congress of Families IV, whose theme is “The Natural Family – Springtime for Europe and the World.”
The following countries will be represented by speakers at WCF IV: Australia, Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Kenya, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Pakistan, Poland, Qatar, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, The Holy See – Vatican and Venezuela.
More than 3,000 delegates are expected from over 60 countries, including pro-family leaders, activists, scholars, researchers and parliamentarians.
Previous Congresses have been held in Prague (1997), Geneva (1999) and Mexico City (2004). World Congress of Families IV will mark the 10th anniversary of the World Congress of Families.
The Congress meets amidst concern over plummeting birthrates in Europe and controversy over proposals to strengthen Poland’s pro-life abortion law and require teachers to refrain from teaching about homosexuality in the schools.
For more information on World Congress of Families IV, go to
www.worldcongress.org. To schedule an interview with Allan Carlson, please contact
Larry Jacobs at (011)-423-663-072-673; Don Feder at (011)-423-663-060-615, or Carol Griesbach at 1-(800) 461-3113.
The World Congress of Families (WCF) is an international network of pro-family organizations, scholars, leaders and people of goodwill from more than 60 countries that seeks to restore the natural family as the fundamental social unit and the ‘seedbed’ of civil society. The WCF was founded in 1997 by Allan Carlson and is a project of The Howard Center for Family, Religion & Society in Rockford, Illinois (www.profam.org). To date, there have been three World Congresses of Families – Prague (1997), Geneva (1999) and Mexico City (2004). WCF IV will be in Warsaw, Poland, May 11-13, 2007.
The Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society located in Rockford, Illinois is an independent, non-profit research and education center that strives to be the leading source of fresh ideas and new strategies for affirmation and defense of the natural family, both nationally and globally. The Howard Center is also the organizer of the World Congress of Families project which unites people of goodwill who recognize that the family is the fundamental unit of society and coordinates the efforts of pro-family groups from more than 60 countries worldwide.