Since the beginning of October, I have been out of state almost every week, promoting the work of the Ruth Institute. If you follow me around the country, you will see the range of issues that the Ruth Institute cares about.

 
In October I went to Phoenix as the guest of the Catholic diocese of Phoenix. I did a training session for priests on cohabitation. It was easy to believe that these priests were among the most dynamic of the diocese: they were described to me as the Jedi Knights! 

One of the priests was a canon lawyer for the diocese, and in that capacity, he has been involved in hundreds of annulments. He was intrigued by my presentation showing that cohabitation does not prepare people for marriage. I had explained the impact of the oxytocin effect:  pre-marital sex and especially cohabitation tends to cloud people's judgment about the suitability of their proposed spouse. (If you aren't familiar with the oxytocin effect, you should take a look at my book, Smart Sex: Finding Life-long Love in a Hook-up World.) 

 

Father Canon Lawyer reported that virtually all of the annulment cases showed this pattern: 1. the couple had sex prior to marriage, 2. they thought their sex life was great, and 3. they listed other problems in the relationship that should have been "show-stoppers" prior to getting married, but which they shoved under the rug. He had always wondered how so many couples could overlook glaring problems and still get married.

Later in October I went to Port Ludlow, Washington, to lecture on "Private Charity" for an Acton Institute conference. Their Free and Virtuous Society student conferences are designed for future religious leaders, seminarians, students, and other young adults interested in the intersection between faith and economics. The Ruth Institute plans to have student conferences, modeled after Acton's FAVS conferences. But our young adult conferences would be called, "It Takes a Family," and would be targeted at youth ministry leaders and student campus pro-life and pro-family activists. Our conferences will be a combination of social science and practical information, combined with Christian theology of marriage. We hope to hold our first round of student conferences in spring of 2009.

 

When I left that conference, I traveled with Missouri State Representative Cynthia Davis, who had been in attendance. She invited me to testify to the Interim Committee on Poverty in Jefferson City, on the relationship between the family and poverty. The legislators were intrigued by the Ruth Institute's novel approach to the issue: namely that the family is a wealth-building institution that should be supported, not undermined. They are writing a report based on my testimony.  I hope to continue working with them to introduce family-friendly legislation in Missouri.
           

I lectured on campuses in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Grand Rapids, Michigan. In both cases, the students did the bulk of the work in hosting and publicizing the event, but adult sponsors paid for the event. At the University of Tulsa, I spoke on "It Takes a Family to Raise a Village," as the guest of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. That talk should eventually be available on-line at www.isi.org. 

 

The event at Thomas Aquinas College in Grand Rapids was co-sponsored by the Acton Institute and the campus Students for Life chapter. I spoke on Smart Sex: Finding Life-long Love in a Hook-up World, to people from the community, and high school students, as well as the Aquinas College students.
           

The Ruth Institute exists to support events like these. Student groups, student conferences, conferring with policy makers, providing social science research for priests: your generous support and enthusiasm supported all these activities. With your support, we can continue to do so in 2009 and beyond. Please consider making a year-end contribution to support the work of the Ruth Institute.

 

Thank you,

Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse