An interfaith committee worked with the city's schools to develop a values-education curriculum, which began to be put into place, with United Way funding, three years ago. The process has just begun, but this year, with the help from a local private foundation, the program reaches students in 125 elementary and middle schools. We call on the parents of the city's children to be involved in this effort, for theirs is the primary responsibility for education. And this is a daunting challenge because so many of them are themselves the children of a generation of confusion. We are determined to do something about that, and in so doing, we believe that in working with the schools we are making a contribution to the cause of true freedom.
Children are often at risk because parents and families are at risk.
Disposable spouses and disposable families inevitably make for disposable children. The interfaith community is beginning to work together on this, through common efforts at marriage preparation. In many places interfaith partners have reached an agreement on a common approach to preparing young people for the responsibilities of married life and family life. Religious leaders have agreed that they will perform weddings at their respective places of worship only for those couples who have sat down with counselors for frank, structured discussions of the future. Here again, we are only at the beginning of the road but the results are already encouraging.