ROME CONFERENCE
2023
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A Uniting of Two Countries on Matters Concerning the Family
Our President, Professor Mark Regnerus, our excellent fellow Professor Catherine Ruth Pakaluk, and extraordinary Director Dr. Marianna Orlandi flew to the eternal city and joined forces with a local organization, Centro Studi Rosario Livatino, to discuss the present state and the future of the family.
We invite you to watch this conference because there is a lot to learn.
First of all, we can learn how other countries, and Italy in particular, are dealing or may deal with the same issues – the decline in fertility and the aging population.
Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, we can learn how and why we can and should be proud of the ways in which America has treated the family up to the present day.
Of course, the US needs more family friendly policy, we are not denying that; and that is also why we still hope in your support for our work. At the same time, comparing our experience with that of other countries can help us realize all the things that were done right, and that we need to preserve moving forward.
Conference for the State of The Family in Italy and the USA Introductions by Dr. Marianna Orlandi
The Future of the Family in America, Italy, and Abroad with President and Professor Mark Regnerus
Not Planned By Us with Professor Catherine Pakaluk
Italy and the USA: Lessons, Examples and Best Practices for the Cultural Renaissance of the Family
with Dr. Marianna Orlandi and Professor Ronco
Statements from Italian Political and Institutional Leaders about the Conference
"LO STATO DELLA FAMIGLIA TRA ITALIA E STATI UNITI"
Conference sponsored by the Rosario Livatino Study Center and the Austin Institute
Message from the President of the Senate
Rome, May 19, 2023
It is with great pleasure that I greet the participants in the conference, "The State of the Family between Italy and the United States," sponsored by the Rosario Livatino Study Center and the Austin Institute.
Institutional commitments did not allow me to be with you today. Still, I wish to express to the organizers and the many speakers my sincere appreciation for this moment to discuss issues strongly linked to our present and our future.
Indeed, the demographic alarm afflicting Italy for years now constitutes an emergency where no one can longer afford to turn their back.
First and foremost, institutions, government, and parliament have the task of supporting, rewarding, and enhancing the desire to be parents with measures that can translate into concrete, effective and long-lasting aid.
At the same time, stability and prospects of security and serenity must be restored to many Italian families, recognizing they are the fulcrum of a solid and cohesive national community.
In this perspective, today's comparative analysis between Italy and the United States of America undoubtedly represents an opportunity to deepen models and policies that can enrich, with new ideas and projects, a path of social, economic, and cultural growth to be tackled by deploying the best resources and energies.
I, therefore, renew my best wishes for this meeting that confirms and consolidates the important work that your Institutions carry out, with passion and dedication, in the service of all citizens.
From the President of the House of Representatives
Prof. Mauro Ronco
Centro Studi Rosario Livatino
President
Message
With great pleasure, I extend my most cordial greetings to all participants in the conference on "The Status of the Family between Italy and the United States," organized by the Rosario Livatino Study Center in collaboration with the Austin Institute.
I consider this initiative very significant because of the valuable and reliable contribution it will be able to make to the knowledge and deepening of the family and demographic situation in the Western world.
The demographic winter that all Western countries are now experiencing is one of Italy's most critical challenges.
Behind the Italian demographic crisis are complex causes. Among them are the difficulties for young people to form their own families both for economic reasons, also related to late entry into the world of work, and for the difficult reconciliation of work and family time.
It is necessary to support the formation of new families through housing, labor, and social policies that can meet the needs and aspirations of young couples to reverse the current dramatic trend.
The Prime Minister's Office
Rome, May 19, 2023
Dear Professor, Ronco
First, I would like to congratulate the Livatino Study Center, which, keeping faith with its history and vocation, has once again organized an event of profound social significance. The theme of the family, declined according to the meaning of two Western cultures of reference, as are the Italian and the American ones, triggers elements of comparison that are indeed very interesting.
Italy is fast approaching the so-called demographic glaciation, an eventuality that would compromise the nation's future, undermining it from the foundations. A danger also fueled by the era in which talking about birth, motherhood, and the family has become increasingly complex, almost a revolutionary act. Faced with this reality, we have chosen, without hesitation, the support and protection of the family institution as priority principles central to government action.
Increase in the single and universal allowance, help for young couples to obtain a mortgage for their first home, gradual introduction of the family quotient, reward mechanisms for those who will favor women's employment with home-work reconciliation and support for municipalities to guarantee free daycare centers that are open until store and office closing hours.
Another qualifying point is the defense of what nature has established and what some human beings have deformed: we want a nation in which it is no longer scandalous to say that we are all born of a man and a woman, a country in which it is not taboo to say that motherhood is not for sale, that wombs are not for rent, that children are not over-the-counter products that you can choose and return if you don't like them.
It is straightforward; we want to return to being able to perceive ourselves as a viable society, envision our future, and think about it in the decades to come.
Thank you, Professor Ronco, for the invitation, and thank you to the distinguished speakers and all the participants.
I wish you success.