We are designed for love. We're designed to experience love eternally. This is joy.

And that is grounded in family relationships, mothers, fathers, children, bound together eternally.

I think it's so beautiful.

I've taught the proclamation for years and years now.

And every time I read or recite it, I marvel at what it offers.

From a research standpoint, it literally in nine paragraphs gives us hundreds,

if not thousands of research studies, what they illustrate. It actually lays out who we are

and the divine design of our heavenly parents for our growth and development. And it lays out

how through the atonement of Jesus Christ, we can

all participate in sacred ordinances and covenants that bring us back to the presence of God

and bind us in eternal relationships forever.

That is what the proclamation gives us.

This is Mary Richards, reporter at the Church News.

Welcome to the Church News podcast.

Today we are taking you on a journey of connection as we discuss news and events of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

September 2020, Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. September 2025 marks the 30th anniversary of the family, a proclamation to the world,

which proclaims that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God,

and that the family is central to the Creator's plan for the eternal

destiny of his children.

Janet Erickson is a BYU Associate Professor who teaches and does research on the family and

presents frequently on covenant relationships.

She is a research fellow of both the Wheatley Institute and the Institute for Family Studies,

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