Come celebrate 20 years of the The Family: A Proclamation to the World with students and faculty of the School of Family Life at a special conference on November 19th. President Kevin Worthen and Dr. Sarah M. Coyne will be guest speakers, and the objective of the conference is to energize and inspire university students and faculty about the Proclamation.

Over the last 20 years since the Proclamation was released, we have seen a shift in the world’s opinion of the purpose of marriage and family or lack thereof. As the church has stated, “A wide range of social ills has contributed to this weakening of marriage and family.”  As Latter Day Saints, it has become increasingly important to understand the doctrine of family and to live it. A quarter of students at BYU are married and many others are anxiously preparing for marriage. This anniversary celebration serves as a wonderful reminder to those in the early stages of raising families that marriage and family are central to God’s plan.

The Family Proclamation was written by the First Presidency and Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It was first read by President Gordon B Hinckley on September 23, 1995 in Salt Lake City, Utah as part of his message at the General Relief Society Meeting.

Guest Speakers:

President Kevin J Worthen 

President Worthen is the current president of Brigham Young University. He served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to Monterrey, Mexico. He graduated summa cum laude with both his bachelor’s and juris doctor degrees from Brigham Young University in 1982. After working as a clerk for Judge Malcolm R. Wilkey of the D.C. Circuit Court and then for Justice Byron R. White of the U.S. Supreme Court, he joined the respected law firm Jennings Strouss & Salmon in Arizona in 1984. In 1987 Worthen returned to the J.Reuben Clark Law School as a faculty member. From 2004-2008 he served as dean of the Law School before being names BYU’s advancement vice president. He has been the president of Brigham Young University since 2014.

He and his wife Peggy have three children and two granddaughters.

Dr. Sarah M. Coyne

Dr. Coyne is an associate professor of human development in the School of  Family Life at Brigham Young University. She received her BSC degree in Psychology from Utah State University, and her PhD in Psychology from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston, England.

Her research interests involve media, aggression, gender, and child development. She will soon be starting a major longitudinal study that will examine how parents and children can use media to strengthen family bonds in this digital age. This research agenda will support and help us understand the statement, “Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on … wholesome recreational activities”, as described in The Family: A Proclamation to the World. She has 4 young children and currently lives in Spanish Fork, Utah.

Photo courtesy of pixabay.