After many months of incubation the Relationships Foundation was delighted to bring the Marriage Foundation to launch on May 1st at Middle Temple Hall. The new Foundation is rooted in the vision and concern of Sir Paul Coleridge who was appointed a High Court judge in 2000 after 30 years as a family law specialist barrister and who has dealt with many complex cases of family break up, especially those which involve children. He has been outspoken on this issue for some time, receiving widespread media coverage and rising levels of public interest and support. The launch of the new Foundation was surrounded by extensive press and media interest.
Paul Coleridge told the audience that: “The most important single feature in the healthy and happy development of children is the stable and healthy relationship of the parents. Despite the glossy magazine image of a so-called happy marriage, it does not fall from the sky ready made onto the beautiful people in white linen suits. No, it is hewn out of the rock of human stubbornness and selfishness, with cold chisels and day by day, over the lifetime of the relationship. It involves endless hard work, compromise, forgiveness and love. It is often held together with string and rusty nails but it is, in the end, beautiful and, like everything which is really worthwhile, it is worth the investment.”
The audience was addressed by, among others, Lord Sacks, the Chief Rabbi who said: “It is marriage that makes the greatest difference to the prospects, the life chances of our children . . . The breakdown of marriage carries with it not just a financial cost, not just a social cost, but a human and psychological cost. The greatest way of endowing our children with happiness is to give them the opportunity to form a stable and loving relationship with the two people who brought them into being.”
Dr John Sentamu, Archbishop of York was unable to join the launch due to industrial action on the East Coast line but sent the following message: “I am sorry not to join you at the launch of the Marriage Foundation because of the train strike. You’re on the right track though! I welcome and fully support your efforts to promote marriage in public life. I believe we should advocate marriage as the gold standard, especially where children are involved. Please be assured of my prayers for your work in championing long-standing relationships within marriage.”
The guests also heard from Rachel Gardner and some of the young people from the Romance Academy, a nationwide sex and relationships education initiative run by youth workers which gets close to today’s teenagers on a daily basis, and which understands the realities of life on the streets of England today.
You can download the first Newsletter of the Marriage Foundation here and join as a Member here. See more coverage of the occasion at the Marriage Foundation’s website and Facebook page.