Grand Rapids erects a civic tent for marriage

Policy Review, Jul/Aug 1998 by Sider, Roger

The Long Haul

Our headquarters is located at the Family Institute, a mental-health education and prevention program of Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services, the largest provider of behavioral-- health care in western Michigan. We have also secured broad financial support. We received contributions from about a dozen local philanthropists in amounts ranging from $500 to $10,000 each. In May, we received word of a $20,000 grant from a local donor toward the $99,000 budget for the next phase of the project.

We have a decade of work ahead of us. Because the weakening of marriage has deep roots in our culture's focus on individualism, we do not expect a quick remedy. Most of our civic leaders have not yet elevated marriage to the top of their agenda. At this time, we've barely touched our minority communities and those who are most at risk financially.

But we are encouraged by early signs of progress. A local college has put together a committee of faculty and counseling center staff to find ways to better prepare their students for marriage. Churches are upgrading their premarital and marriage-support programs.

In March 1998, a local conference on marriage sponsored by the Pine Rest Family Institute attracted 300 mental-- health professionals, members of the clergy, and others. William Doherty, the author of Soul Searching: Why Psychotherapy Must Promote Moral Responsibility, challenged us to examine our counseling ethics critically. He believes that many practitioners undermine marriage by being inattentive to the social obligations of their clients toward spouses and children.

A growing number of our city's citizens and civic groups are beginning to see that healthy marriages are fundamental to healthy communities. We know this approach can work: In at least 15 cities that have embraced community marriage policies, says McManus, the divorce rate has dropped significantly. In the words of the Reverend Ben Ingebretson, one of the original framers of our community marriage policy, "Our job is to cast the vision. Having done that, we claim partnership with every person and organization in our city who is working to strengthen marriage."