The following came in a March 13 email from Jennifer Roback Morse.

I wrote to you earlier about the Ruth Institute annual three day pro-marriage conference here in San Diego for university students and young adults, called, “It Takes a Family to Raise a Village,”  or ITAF.  I want you to know that the deadline for application is coming up on March 15th, later this week.  So please, please, tell your students, interns, seminarians or other young adults who would benefit from the  ITAF program that they need to get on with it and apply now!!

This seminar-style conference brings together young adults, 18-30, for an intense inter-disciplinary, inter-faith program that will help them make an informed and compassionate case for natural marriage, one man, one woman for life.  Our graduates have gone on to form clubs, start their own blogs, be guests on radio programs and write for established internet outlets.

This year our conference is in a beautiful San Diego resort, the Town and Country. We’ll be hosting about 35 students and a dynamic panel of speakers.

This three day event is FREE for students and includes all the lectures, food, transportation in San Diego, lodging, plus a travel stipend to assist them in travelling to San Diego.

Conference dates are Thursday, May 30 – Sunday, June 2, with departures on Monday morning. This year our invited and confirmed speakers  include:

Bill Duncan, JD  He is the director of the Marriage Law Foundation, a legal organization whose mission is providing legal resources in defense of marriage as the union of a husband and wife.

Robert Gagnon, Ph.D. He is an Associate Professor of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. He is the author of The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics as well as numerous scholarly and popular articles.

Mark Regnerus, Ph.D. He is associate professor of sociology at the University of Texas at Austin, and a research associate of the university’s Population Research Center. His areas of research are sexual behavior and family formation. He is the author of the important new work on adult children of parents who had same sex relationships. He is also the author of two books on the sexual behavior of teenagers and young adults.

Scott Yenor, Ph.D.  He is professor of Political Science at Boise State University, and the author of Family Politics: The Idea of Marriage in Modern Political Thought. The book explores how major Western political theorists have viewed the family, and fundamentally misunderstood the family.  Yenor argues that marriage is more than a contract, though the perspective of contract has come to dominate Western thinking

Freda McKissic Bush, M.D. is a partner with East Lakeland OB-GYN Associates in Jackson, Mississippi, and a Clinical Instructor in the Department of OB-GYN and Department of Family Medicine at the University of Mis­sissippi Medical Center. She is the author of Hooked: New Science on How Casual Sex is Affecting our Children.

Thomas Peters, MA, He is the Communications Director for the National Organization for Marriage. He founded the very popular American Papist blog.

And myself, Jennifer Roback Morse

We will close with a Gala Dinner Sunday June 2.  Our keynote speaker for the dinner will be Hollywood insider, former FBI counter-terrorism agent, and Catholic father of 9, Tim Clemente. He will speak about “Hollywood’s War on Love, and What We can Do About It.”  Patrick Coffin, host of Catholic Answers Live! will be the Emcee for our Gala dinner.

Please tell your young friends to go to the Ruth Institute website to apply.

Jennifer Roback Morse

Founder and President, The Ruth Institute

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