Tag: family breakdown

The Social Impact of Fathers

(June 17, 2016) Dr J is once again Todd Wilkin’s guest on Issues, Etc. This Father’s Day, they’re discussing the social impact of fathers.

Making the Case for Marriage: Acton 2016

(June 16, 2016) It’s that time of year again–Dr J is at Acton University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She’s been with the conference since the beginning, and yesterday she gave one of the foundational lectures designed to orient religious leaders in basic economic concepts. This lecture is on "Making the Case for Marriage."

What the Hook-Up Culture does to Women

(June 15, 2016) Dr J is once again Drew Mariani’s guest on his show on the Relevant Radio network. They’re discussing the effects of the sexual revolution on women.

Making Marriage Matter, Part 2

(June 9, 2016) Dr J fields questions after addressing law students participating in the Alliance Defending Freedom’s Blackstone Legal Fellowship. If you missed her talks on the family as the foundation of society and the agenda of the modern sexual revolution, check out our podcast stream.

Making Marriage Matter, Part 1

(June 9, 2016) Dr J addresses law students participating in the Alliance Defending Freedom’s Blackstone Legal Fellowship. In the first part of her talk, she lays the groundwork for the social significance of the family as developed in her book Love and Economics.

C-FAM: The Sexual Revolution

(June 3, 2016) Dr J addressed a select group of UN delegates on problems of the sexual revolution. This exclusive event was sponsored by C-FAM and held at a resort on Lake George, New York for 30 delegates from around the world and their families. C-FAM is the Center for Family and Human Rights, and it advocates for life and family at the United Nations.

The Case for Marriage (SWBTS), Part 1

(May 24, 2016) Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, one of the largest Southern Baptist seminaries in the world, hosted Dr. J at their annual Summer Institute, sponsored by the Land Center. She addressed pastors and seminary professors on making the case for marriage.

All Saints Greek Orthodox Church

(May 21, 2016) Dr J is in Australia! She was invited to speak at All Saints Greek Orthodox Church in Sydney. Her talk is entitled "Same-Sex Marriage Affects Everyone.&quot, She took questions afterward, too–those are available on the Ruth Refuge podcast.

Marriage Alliance: Public Policies and Personal Strategies

(May 20, 2016) Dr J is in Australia! She was invited to speak at a Marriage Alliance event in Sydney. Her talk is on public policies and personal strategies for sparking discussion and change on the marriage issue. She took questions afterward, too–those are available on the Ruth Refuge podcast.

Future Families Forum

(May 19, 2016) Dr J is in Australia! She was invited to speak at the Future Families Forum, an invitation-only educational event for over 200 leaders in the Greek Orthodox community in Sydney. She’s speaking about class warfare.

Sydney Roman Catholic Adult Education Center

(May 18, 2016) Dr J is in Australia! She was invited to speak at the Sydney Roman Catholic Adult Education Center. Her talk is entitled "Same-Sex Marriage Affects Everyone.&quot, She took questions afterward, too–those are available on the Ruth Refuge podcast.

South Toowoomba Baptist Church

(May 17, 2016) Dr J is in Australia! She was invited to speak at the South Toowoomba Baptist Church. Her talk is entitled "Same-Sex Marriage Affects Everyone.&quot, She took questions afterward, too–those are available in the Ruth Refuge podcast.

Hobart Cathedral of St. Mary’s

(May 15, 2016) Dr J is in Australia! Archbishop Julian Porteous invited her to speak at the Hobart Cathedral of St. Mary’s on the island of Tasmania. Her talk is entitled "Same-Sex Marriage Affects Everyone.&quot, She took questions afterward, too–those are available in the Ruth Refuge podcast.

Our Lady of the Rosary

(May 14, 2016) Dr J is in Australia! She was invited to speak at Our Lady of the Rosary near Sydney. Her talk is entitled "Same-Sex Marriage Affects Everyone.&quot, She took questions afterward, too–those are available in the Ruth Refuge podcast.

HB 1102: Surrogacy in Louisiana

(May 3, 2016) Dr J is Jeff Crouere’s guest on his radio show "Ringside Politics.&quot, They’re discussing the work of the Ruth Institute and the surrogacy bill currently before the Louisiana legislature.

HB 1102 on "The Current Word"

(May 2, 2016) Dr J is Kathleen Benfield’s guest on her radio show "The Current Word.&quot, They’re discussing the work of the Ruth Institute and the surrogacy bill currently before the Louisiana legislature.

Which is Harder on Kids: Death or Divorce?

(April 21, 2016) Dr J is once again Drew Mariani’s guest on his show on the Relevant Radio network. They’re discussing the recent study that compares outcomes of children whose parents have died with those whose parents divorced. The study was a joint project of Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Tokyo.University of Tokyo.

FAVS: The Family and the Market

(April 15, 2016) Dr J addresses Christian faculty, clergy members, and business leaders at the Acton Institute’s "Toward a More Free and Virtuous Society&quot, conference. Her talk is entitled "Virtue and Economic Thinking."

Mommy come back!

  by Meredith H. (South Jordan) It started when I was 5. I remember hearing them fight scream while I cried trying to go to sleep. One night as I was asleep I heard some yelling outside my door. Then I heard my mom singing though my dad was still trying to argue with her. […]

The grass isn’t always greener

When I was 13, my mom began an affair with an old boyfriend, who she ran into at a reunion. She eventually divorced my dad, and married him. My father was devastated. My mom justified her actions by telling everyone their marriage had been miserable and my dad treated her poorly. This was a huge […]

Is Homo Economicus an Attachment-Disordered Child?

(March 10, 2016) Dr J addresses students, faculty, and community members at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. The event was jointly sponsored by the CUA Anscombe Society (a chapter of the Love &amp, Fidelity Network) and the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family. Her talk is entitled "Is homo economicus an attachment-disordered child?&quot, and is inspired by her first book, Love and Economics.

GWU: The Sexual Revolution and Its Victims

(March 10, 2016) Dr J addresses students, faculty, and community members at an event jointly sponsored by the Federalist Society and the James Wilson Institute at George Washington University. Her talk is entitled "The Sexual Revolution and its Victims."

Restoring Marriage Today

(March 4, 2016) Dr J is one of the speakers at this year’s Catholic Answers Conference: "Restoring Marriage Today.&quot, Her talk was entitled "Keeping the Family Together: Public Policies and Personal Strategies."

I never thought to question the morality of abortion.

My mother left when I was six. My sister and I went to a beautiful old house we called “the home” – a group home for girls whose families were under stress. We were fed and dressed well, had lots of play time but, even with my sister there, I was scared. I saw Matron […]

From the Median: The Need for Intact Families

(January 6, 2016) Dr J is once again Molly Smith’s guest on From the Median to discuss how the sexual revolution has not provided a solution to our problems–the whole package has been damaging, and we can’t ignore some fruits of it while condemning others.

When parents don’t love each other

by s.f. (ny, ny) When parents don’t love each other, they don’t love each others family. when they don’t love each other’s family, they don’t love the family of their child. the child feels alone and can’t show too much love or devotion to either side. when the parents remarry and have children, they love […]

Hidden Pain

by c.a.w. Life growing up was never easy for me. Maybe it was my sensitive temperament. I was shy, and a bit of a tomboy. Consequently, I was never popular in school. It was hard, but at least I had my family to turn to, right? I always had my brother to play with, and […]

Parental Alienation Syndrome

by Heather B. (Maryland) My Experiences with Parental Alienation Syndrome I still remember standing at the top of a sloping gravel driveway. My sister stood beside me; I was uncertain of the words we were trained to speak. As the black pick-up truck made its final ascent to our front door, I look at my […]

3rd times a charm

by Ashtin (Iowa) My dad My biological mother and father had only known each other 6 months when they had their shotgun wedding, which my mother was 5 months pregnant at. They were young, even though my mom had Curtis(6)( my brother from a previous marriage) already, Logan was born, then myself. But at the […]

Their divorce nearly killed me

Growing up in suburban Philadelphia, the daughter of two yuppies, it seemed like I had everything. I was pretty sheltered, a shy child by nature and nurture. The later cause of my introverted nature was the fact that my parents avoided verbal communication with each other. The only time I remember them directly talking to […]

Missing Father, Missing Time

by Shannon (Texas) I was fairly young when my parents divorced, six. It was rough on my brother and I. My dad kidnapped me and brought me to court. He asked me to lie about my mother in hope that he would attain custody, that did not happen. My parents fought a lot and I […]

Just terrible

by Mia So when I was four months old, my mom go diagnosed with CML. My dad kept on going to New York for work. When he was working on a movie he had sex with the girl who is 18 years younger than him. My mom found out when the baby was born. My […]

Magnificat San Diego

(November 16, 2013) Dr J is the speaker at the San Diego Catholic Women’s Magnificat Breakfast. She gave a talk on "Healing the 21st Century Family&quot, and her own testimony encompassing family, the sexual revolution, economics, marriage, and healing.

Argument Club for Women: Dr J &amp, Rabbi Marcia Zimmerman

(October 1, 2013) Dr J travels to the Twin Cities to participate in a debate sponsored by the Argument Club for Women. Up for discussion: "Is Opposition to Same-Sex Marriage a Form of Bigotry?&quot, I bet you can guess which side Dr J is arguing. On the other side is Rabbi Marcia Zimmerman, senior rabbi at Temple Israel of Minneapolis. Dr. Deborah Savage, co-founder of the Siena Symposium, moderates. The debate will start around 9 minutes 40 seconds–there’s a bit of an explanation about what the ACW does first.

No easy solution

My mom needed to divorce my dad. He had been physically abusive for years. Eventually he committed adultery. While my mother felt totally betrayed, there was a part of her that was glad she finally felt no one could expect her to stay married to him. That was when I was 13. Now I’m an […]

The Parents Move On, But the Children Suffer Forever….

by Cindy (Pennsylvania) I was born in 1967. My parents were on the cutting edge of society then. My mother had become a career woman in 1961, when my brother was an infant. There were no daycares, only grandmas. Even after I was born, my mother wanted little to do with marriage and family. My […]

2nd class citizen in my own family

by Second class citizen (USSA) I was the eldest child in step family situations on both sides. It was like being a second class citizen in my own family. On my mother’s side, a new child was born, and the entire family revolved around this new child. On my dad’s side, he remarried women who […]

Turned Out All Right?

by CTW (Illinois) My mom denies how painful the divorce was for my brothers and I. Once we grew up, she openly mocked the statistics demonstrating poorer outcomes for children whose parents divorced, because we didn’t suffer any of the social pathologies to which we were statistically more susceptible: none of us ended up in […]

The issues are legion

There are too many sufferings in my life to list. Two things I would say are: Divorce and one remarriage ruined every holiday family gathering for me because parents or siblings pressured me to attend. I can’t be in two places at the same time, and parents would be angry or saddened because they knew […]

"The kids will be fine if the adults are happy…"

by Anono-Mama (Planet Earth) I am the child of divorce. My parents divorced when I was about three, and I was bounced back and forth between their households my entire childhood. There were several things that were and still are very painful. My mom later remarried. I loved my step dad a lot, but when […]

Divorce for good reason

by army brat (America) My father came home from a deployment and had found me (a toddler) bruised after being abused by my mother. He took me, and left, and ultimately gained full custody (in the south, at a time when males receiving full custody was unheard of). We were financially wrecked, and although we […]

Gifts for them but not me

by sigh (Boston, MA) One time my step dad came home from a trip. We were all excited to see him, and he had some gifts. Two gifts, to be exact. One for my mother. One for my sister (his daughter). They both opened the boxes in front of me. Inside were matching jackets, a […]

The myth of divorce as the way to solve all your problems

by CTW My parents divorced when I was 9… …and proceeded to continue to fight with one another for my entire childhood and into my adult life. My own marriage also ended in divorce, and yet the conflict has continued for the past 12 years and is likely to continue at least until the youngest […]

Family and Citizenship

(April 12, 2013) Dr J travels to Grove City, Pennsylvania, to speak at Grove City College’s Vision &amp, Values Conference on The Government’s Duty to Marriage. She also takes questions after the talk–check out our Ruth Refuge for those.

Divorce for "unchastity", or so they claim…

by Rebekah (Michigan) When I was young I used to tell people that I was glad my parents weren’t together. When probed further I could only fall back to the fact that I had hardly remembered them together and that they seemed so different from one another. I would then try to highlight their vast […]

Jumping Ship After Raising the Kids

My parents divorced after 29 years of marriage. Their children, including myself, were all over the age of 18. My mother said that she waited until we were all out of the house to leave, because we would not be affected so much. She was wrong. Many of our extended family members said, “If that […]

my parents divorced when i was 39

by Stephanie (Canada) They had been married so long! They had three children and at that time, 21 grandchildren. It had been hard between them forever, but seemed to get worse every year. My mom mocked me for being distressed past six weeks – she said “You knew this was coming”. Well, yes and no. […]

Lost Identity

The earliest memory I have of my natural family is when I was two or three years old. I remember lying on my father’s shirtless back while he did pushups. After he finished his exercises, my mother used tweezers to pluck stray hairs out of his back. It is a personal memory, one of many […]

Legal Issues and a Lifetime of Stress

My parent’s divorce could potentially be the cause of my depression, anxiety, OCD, social anxiety, and schizophrenia. Things got quite bad in a way you might not expect. There was no hitting or drinking involved. I was born to my parents when they were dating. The two had been in love throughout high school, and […]

Trying to Outrun the Curse

My parents got divorced as I was entering high school. I generally say it hit my younger brother the hardest. I think that’s just because his reaction was more outward. My dad is on wife #3. Hopefully, she’s the final one. My mom didn’t remarry. She viewed it as her keeping her vow, since my […]

Great Books on the Subject of Divorce and Children

by Thomas M. Loarie (Danville, CA, USA) I became a single parent of a 13 year old son and a ten year old daughter when my wife of 16 years decided to pursue a “new” life 400 miles away from our home. I spent a great deal of time and money doing what I could […]

What should I call this man?

by JVW (NC) I distinctly remember when I was 5, trying to figure out what to call the man my mom had married. I knew my dad was supposed to be called dad, but this man was around me every day, always here, and my dad was only around from 12:30-5 every Sunday with a […]

Dr J &amp, Dr Gary Gates @ UCLA

(August 29, 2012) Dr J and Dr Gary Gates participate in a debate on the definition of marriage at UCLA. Dr. J, of course, is founding president of the Ruth Institute, Dr. Gates is a research associate at the Williams Institute at UCLA, a public policy research organization. The event was sponsored by the school’s Federalist Society. Hang on for the Q&A afterward, too.

Dr J &amp, Christine Sun @ the University of Arkansas

(February 9, 2012) In this debate at the University of Arkansas Little Rock, Dr J and Christine Sun ponder the definition of marriage. Dr J, of course, is founding president of the Ruth Institute, Christine Sun is Deputy Legal Director at the Southern Poverty Law Center. The debate includes a long Q&A before closing statements.

Dr J &amp, Mitchell Katine @ the University of Houston

(February 7, 2012) In this debate at the University of Houston, cohosted by the Federalist Society and Outlaw, Dr J squares off against Mitchell Katine over the definition of marriage. Dr J, of course, is founding president of the Ruth Institute. Mitchell Katine was the local attorney for John Lawrence of the Lawrence v Texas decision, which overturned all sodomy statutes in the U.S.

Dr J &amp, Manuel Quinto-Pozos @ Baylor Law School

(October 4, 2011) Baylor Law School hosts a debate between Dr J and Manuel Quinto-Pozos, former staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, on the definition of marriage. The debate was hosted by the Federalist Society and the Baylor American Constitution Society.

Dr J &amp, Lorie Burch @ SMU

(October 3, 2011) Southern Methodist University hosts a debate between Dr J (invited by the Federalist Society) and Lorie Burch, Dallas attorney (invited by OutLaw) on the legal definition of marriage.

Fathers need recognition as husbands, too

by Jennifer Roback Morse // originally published at NationalReview.com and MercatorNet In the wake of Father’s Day there is a great article on the Ruth Institute blog about honouring husbands. Jennifer Roback Morse talks about the importance for children of seeing their parents loving and admiring each other Father’s Day is a day for honoring […]

The new, improved, disposable father

by Jennifer Roback Morse // originally published at MercatorNet Last fall, I debated same-sex marriage at a university in Florida. I argued that treating same-sex unions identically with marriage would lead to marginalizing fathers from the family even more than they already are. At the time, I viewed that as a long-term prediction. I did […]

Are Dads Disposable?

by Jennifer Roback Morse // originally published at TownHall I hate to disagree with my friend Glenn Sacks, but I think he has missed the boat in his recent comparison of lesbian “social” mothers with divorced fathers. Mr. Sacks, a prominent fathers’ rights advocate, is correct that in both cases, family law courts diminish the […]