Implementing
A COMMUNITY MARRIAGE POLICY(tm)

About the handbook: 

Divorce is one of the major disruptive forces in our communities today.  George W. Gallup, Jr., once wrote:

"If a disease were to afflict the majority of a populace, spreading pain and dysfunction throughout all age groups, we would be frantically searching for reasons and solutions.  Yet this particular scourge has become so endemic that it is virtually ignored.

"The scourge is divorce, and oddly neglected topic in a nation that has the worst record of broken marriages in the entire world.  Divorce is a "root problem" in our country and is the cause of any number of other social ills." 
 
    This comment was made as part of a forward to the book Marriage Savers, by Michael J. McManus.  Mike McManus, together with his wife, Harriet, have been instrumental in the formation of the movement we now see underway to re-establish solid marriages in the United States. 
 
    One of the many counties to adopt a Community Marriage Policy(tm) based on the lead of Mike and Harriet McManus is Lenawee County, Michigan.  Lenawee County, however, added a new twist.  Not only did it establish a policy requiring premarital education for those being married in a church, but with the leadership of James E. Sheridan, who headed the local effort, the civil officials in the county, all five judges, four mayors and four magistrates agreed to also require couples to premarital education before any of them would perform a wedding.
 
    This became a major source of controversy.  Radio talk shows from across the country and Europe interviewed Sheridan.  He was quoted in newspapers and magazines and was on Oprah and several network morning and evening news casts. 
 
    One of the questions frequently asked is: How do we do this in our community?  Exactly, what did Sheridan do in Lenawee County?   In this Handbook, Sheridan gives a detailed, step by step, description of what was done, how long it took to plan, what people were needed to provide support along with copies of most of the documents he used in setting up the program.
 
    This Handbook has become a model for groups trying to set up a Community Marriage Policy(tm).  If you want to know how to get started, this Handbook will tell you.

Cost: $9.00 plus sales tax and shipping expenses.