McManus, his wife, Harriet, and other nationally known advocates will speak during a Lipscomb Conference on Family Wellness at the Willard Collins Alumni Auditorium on campus. In various ways, the speakers will address an emerging Marriage Movement, the effort to change the ''divorce culture'' of America into a society that values lasting marriages and urges spouses to understand the full consequences of marital breakup for children. One speaker, Judith Wallerstein, is co-author of The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce. Contrary to the media clich , though, such children are not a cynical generation, Wallerstein said, and they do value love, marriage and parenthood. But they are also highly wary of commitment and fearful of betrayal.
Divorce is often a stumbling block to higher education.
In her study, divorced fathers were more likely to visit children when things were going well financially and personally, but the main concern of many remarried fathers was to please the new wife. Stepmothers were extremely influential in shaping a father's relationship with children of previous marriages. Mike McManus' work focuses on shoring up marriages and cutting the divorce rate with the help of local congregational life. Since the 1980s, he and Harriet, married 35 years now, have promoted a ''Community Marriage Policy'' for local communities 133 towns in 37 states so far where groups of clergy join together to insist on serious premarital counseling and other initiatives. McManus advocates that congregations train married couples to be mentors to help other couples prepare for a lifelong marriage, strengthen existing ones and restore troubled ones.