Fidelity Month, recognized in June, is a grassroots movement started by Robert P. George, Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University. In March 2023, he read polling data in the Wall Street Journal that said that Americans’ confidence in ideals like marriage, religion, and patriotism had decreased in the last ten years, and their confidence had only grown in money. George decided to launch “Fidelity Month” in May 2023 as a needed rededication of Americans to one’s spouse, family, community, and country.
“Those are the sources of America’s strength and unity as a nation,” said Christopher Parr, Special Projects Manager for George. “We don’t have a common ethnicity, a common religion. It’s those things that that study showed were declining, and so that gave [George] the idea to start [Fidelity Month].”
Parr directs Fidelity Month’s special events, which this year included a webinar and a national day of prayer. Fidelity Month is an interfaith movement, including Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, and more. The movement experienced their first in-person event on June 9 in D.C., and Utah Senator Mike Lee introduced a Senate resolution regarding the designation of June as Fidelity Month on June 12.
“It’s a time for cultural remembrance, a time to provide Americans as individuals and in different institutions or organizations, states, civic organizations, etc., [with] an opportunity to rededicate themselves to these things,” Parr said.
Focus on the Family’s Vice President of Marriage Greg Smalley said that Fidelity Month is an excellent reminder to work on your marriage. “Let’s raise up men and women who want to really honor their marriage and guard and protect it, invest in it, and let’s show them how to do that, and give them a month to celebrate that,” Smalley said.
Focus on the Family is a Christian organization that provides resources designed to grow healthy marriages and families. Those at Focus believe that the family is the foundation for a healthy, God-honoring society.
Recent polling by The Times UK showed that Gen Z seemed more appreciative of marriage than their Millennial counterparts had been in a 2004 study. 39% of young adults in 2004 believed that marriage was irrelevant, but only 21% of adults aged 18-27 believe that today. 61% disagreed with the statement that it is irrelevant, and 18% did not know.
While there may be hope that young people are rethinking the decline of Fidelity Month’s values, Smalley still believes that Americans are losing their trust in marriage. “I keep seeing [that] the percentage of couples or people who say they want to get married still is decreasing,” Smalley said. “Those who do, though, they want to do this right. And that’s super encouraging.”
In pursuing marital fidelity, Smalley stressed the importance of a daily ten-minute check-in with your spouse. “If all you did was a daily check-in, if you, every week, go out and have some fun together, do a little date night, and then you repair when you hit those moments of conflict,” your marriage will improve. “It’s really not rocket science,” Smalley said. “Those three things alone [are] going to shore up our fidelity, shore up our relationship[s].”
The goal of the Fidelity Month movement is to continue practicing fidelity year-round. This year, the movement will continue past June and be rebranded as simply “Fidelity.”
“When we hit July 1, we’re going to keep going,” Parr said. “June is a special time to personally audit yourself to see how you are being faithful in your community and your family. But … making sure you’re practicing those [virtues] is not just something you do in June, it’s all year.”
Although some may view Fidelity Month as an attack on LGBTQ Pride Month, both Smalley and Parr see Fidelity Month as positive, not negative. “What I really love about Fidelity Month is that it’s not focused on … just ‘don’t have an affair,’” Smalley said. “Let’s not just try to avoid the negative … let’s actually go after and grow healthy marriage.”
“We are a positive movement,” Parr said. “We are not explicitly trying to just battle our opponents. [George] said it, it’s ‘lighting a candle instead of cursing the darkness.’”
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