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Metro NY Minute --
July/August 2010 |
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News From the
District
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UU
Leadership Team Institute By the Sea, hosted by
the Joseph Priestly District and the Metro NY District
and scheduled for August 26-August 29 at the Ocean Grove
NJ Retreat Center, is a residential learning experience
for congregational leadership teams to equip them with
practical tools and powerful ideas that can transform
their congregations. For a flyer,
click here  .
For track descriptions,
click here .
To register (wait list only),
click here. For more information, contact
Patricia Infante.
Congregations signing up for
Association Sunday 2011 by August 20 are
automatically entered into a raffle, and UUA President
the Rev. Peter Morales will deliver a sermon on
Association Sunday to the winning congregation. The
winning congregation will be notified between August 23
and August 27. So far, 26 District congregations have
signed up.
Watch a video message from President
Morales.
More Good Stuff to Check Out!
|
 Mark
Bernstein has been named Regional Growth Development Consultant for
the Central East Regional Group (CERG). CERG
comprises the Metro NY, Joseph Priestley, St. Lawrence, and
Ohio-Meadville districts. Mark previously served as Director of
Growth for the Joseph Priestley District, assisting organized
clusters of congregations and the district Growth Committee to
advance Unitarian Universalism.
SAVE THE DATE for the annual Leadership Day at the UU
Congregation at Shelter Rock (Manhasset NY): October 2!
This full day training opportunity for congregational leaders is not
to be missed!
News From the
UUA 
 Delegates
to General Assembly 2010 approved Phoenix AZ as the
site for General Assembly 2012 but specified that the event
would have minimal "business as usual," creating instead a
special Justice General Assembly focusing on immigration and
racial and economic justice. Read
more.
Read the business resolution and the
related responsive resolution. In other votes, three
Actions of Immediate Witness were approved:
Clean Up the Energy Bill;
Gulf Coast Environmental and Economic Justice 2010; and
Oppose Anti-Immigrant Measures at the State Level.
Chosen as the Congregational Study/Action Issue for
2010-14 is
Immmigration as a Moral Issue. The 2010 Statement of
Conscience is
Creating Peace. For complete General Assembly coverage, click
here.
The 8th National Conference
for Large Congregations will be held March 17-20, 2011,
in Minneapolis MN, featuring the Rev. Dan Hotchkiss as the
keynote presenter. Rev. Hotchkiss is senior consultant at
the Alban Institute and author of Governance and
Ministry: Rethinking Board Leadership. The conference
will also include more than 30 90-minute workshops on topics
such as stewardship, social networking, growth, worship, and
temporal leadership. The conference is intended for
leadership from congregations with 550 or more adult
members. Registration materials will be sent to eligible
congregations in September.
Two new episodes in the video
series A Religion For Our Time are now available.
Episode Six, titled A Passionate Commitment to
Young Adults, features the First UU Church of San Diego
and how the church transformed itself from a graying
congregation into a multigenerational one.
View the video. Episode Seven, titled Multicultural
Worship, illustrates how worship at All Souls,
Unitarian, in Washington, DC, is designed to serve a diverse
community.
View the video.
Materials for
Building the World We Dream About, a
series of 24 two-hour workshops, is now available online as
part of the Tapestry of Faith adult religious education
curriculum. The program "seeks to interrupt the workings of
racism and transform how people from different racial/ethnic
groups understand and relate to one another." The program
includes take-home activities, reflections, and readings.
Beacon Press has dedicated a web page to immigration reform
issues, highlighting publications that
are "Essential Reading for Understanding the Immigration
Debate."
Multicultural Growth & Witness is a new UUA staff group,
as of July 1, dedicated to partnering with congregations and
leaders to promote intentional multicultural growth and
ministry, inclusion, and congregation-based public witness
and social action. Areas of responsibility include Jubilee
II training, the Welcoming Congregation program, and
Standing on the Side of Love. The new staff group in part
replaces the Identity-Based Ministries and the Advocacy and
Witness staff groups.
 Las Voces del Camino, a Spanish
language UU hymnal, is now available from the UUA
Bookstore. The hymnal presents 75 songs, including some from
Singing the Living Tradition. Also available is
Bless All Who Serve: Sources of Hope, Courage and Faith for
Military Personnel and Their Families, a
pocket-sized book of readings and songs from many faith
traditions, plus reflections by veterans and military
chaplains.
The final report is now available for Now is the Time,
the special fundraising effort conducted from 2004-2009 by
the UUA. More than 25,000 people contributed a total of more
than $50 million, an unprecedented UUA fundraising
achievement. Read
the report .
2011 is the
50th anniversary of the merger of the American Unitarian
Association and the Universalist Church of America forming
the UUA. Invited to participate on the 50th
Anniversary Task Force is the Rev. Vanessa Southern, Minister
at the Unitarian Church in Summit
(NJ). Congregations are invited participate in the
anniversary and resources to do so will be available online
in the fall.
Read more.
President Peter Morales and
Moderator Gini Courter will be among those Standing
on the Side of Love in Phoenix July 28-30 to protest
SB1070, Arizona's new immigration policy scheduled
to go into effect on July 29. In a protest May 29 in
Phoenix, more than 500 people marched under the Standing on
the Side of Love banner.
 The
Katie Tyson Fund for Youth and Young Adult Ministries
has been established to support scholarships, grants, and
programs for youth and young adult projects, conferences,
outreach, and more. The fund is in memory of Katie Tyson, an
active 21-year-old member of the young adult group at
Arlington Street Church in Boston MA whose life tragically
ended in an automobile accident as she was returning from
General Assembly 2009 in Salt Lake City UT. A special
presentation was made at General Assembly 2010 in memory of
Katie. Make
a donation.
The UUA Board of Trustees voted May 20 to make TIAA-CREF the
new recordkeeper of the UU Organizations Retirement Plan
replacing Fidelity Investments. Plan participants will not
have to take any action as a result of this change since
investments will be transferred to funds that mirror ones
they are already invested in. The conversion will be made
about November 1. Information packets have been sent to all
participants. The change was spurred by a growing commitment
to genocide-free investing.
News From Congregations
| Milestones and Transitions
Julie Taylor will be ordained
by the Fourth Universalist Society
(Manhattan) on October 10 at 5:00pm.
Peggy Clarke will be ordained
by the UU Fellowship of Northern
Westchester (Mount Kisco NY) and the
UU Fellowship of Braircliff, Croton, and
Ossining (Croton-on-Hudson NY) on
October 24 at 4:30pm at the UU Fellowship of
Northern Westchester. She will serve the
Fourth Unitarian Society of Westchester
(Mohegan Lake NY) as Consulting Minister
beginning August 1. Peggy also serves the UU
Fellowship of Briarcliff, Croton, and Ossining
(Croton-on-Hudson NY) as Director of Religious
Education.
The Rev. Jan Carlsson-Bull will
serve the UU Congregation of the Catskills
(Kingston NY) as Interim Minister beginning
August 15, replacing the Rev. Linda
Anderson who was named Minister Emerita
by the congregation in a ceremony June 20. Rev.
Anderson served the congregation as Minister for
18 years.
The Rev. Margie Allen will
serve the UU Fellowship at Stony Brook
(NY) as Consulting Minister beginning August 16,
replacing the Rev. Carol Wolff.
The Rev. Dawn Sangrey will
serve the UU Society in Stamford
(CT) as Interim Minister beginning September 1,
replacing the Rev. Ron Sala.
The Rev.
Emily Boggis and the Rev. ReBecca Ames Sala
have been granted Final Fellowship by the UUA's Ministerial
Fellowship Committee. Peggy Clarke has been
granted Preliminary Fellowship. |
 The UU Congregation of Somerset Hills (Somerville NJ) has
purchased its own church building, previously owned by the First
Church of Christ Scientist, in Somerville NJ. Since it began in
1997, the congregation has been gathering for Sunday services at the
Raritan Valley Community College. Said Ann Perry,
president, "We are now a permanent part of the community. We have
created a home for liberal religion in Somerset County." The
congregation will hold its first service in the new building on
September 12.
Read more.
The Rev. Debra Hafner,
Community Minister at the Unitarian Church in Westport,
(CT) has been selected as the first UU On Faith
panelist for the Washington Post, which will allow her to be a
regular Washington Post/Newsweek blogger.
 The Rev. Susan
Karlson, Minister at the Unitarian Church of Staten Island
(NY), was among 56 people arrested and charged with
civil disobedience during a rally for immigration reform on June 1
in Manhattan. "People are torn from their jobs and families. This is
a moral issue. We can stand together in faith and take care of those
who are the most vulnerable and those who contribute to this society
who are treated like criminals," said the Rev. Karlson.
Read more.
The Rev. Ana Levy-Lyons, Acting Associate Minister
at the Unitarian Church of All Souls (Manhattan), is this
year's winner of the UU United Nations Office Dana McClean Greeley
Address Annual Competition. Rev. Levy-Lyons presented her address
at General Assembly 2010 in Minneapolis MN in June. Dana McClean
Greeley was the first president of the UUA.
Catherine Onyemelukwe, member of the Unitarian Church at Westport
(CT), was elected by the board of the UU United Nations Office (UU-UNO) as UU-UNO
president in April. Marilyn Mehr, outgoing
president, continues to serve on the board for another year.
The Rev Jef Gamblee, Interim
Minister at the First Unitarian Society of Westchester
(Hastings-on-Hudson NY), was interviewed by the Hastings-Dobbs Ferry
Patch for an article published June 27. "We are free to believe in
no God, one God, or many Gods. As a movement we are more concerned
with how God(s), or the universe, or just good ethics informs your
life and calls you to live in right relationship," said Rev. Gamblee.
Read more.
The
Morristown (NJ) Unitarian Fellowship sent a team of 24
youths and six adults to Matthews NC to build a home for a couple
who came to the US in 2001 seeking political asylum from the
Democratic Republic of Congo. Said Erin Luken, senior high school
student, "This experience has showed me how important it is for me
to do something. I'm building someone a house. We're helping to make
them a home." In addition to providing labor, youth raised about
$6000 to donate to the project. This is the 18th house the
fellowship has participated in building.
Read more.
Other Noteworthy Items
 Heritage
Week at Murray
Grove July 31-August 5 will feature workshops on UU
history and UU religious education history led by the Rev. Dr.
Elizabeth Strong with the Rev. Carol Haag
(pictured) and the Rev. Dr. Carol Taylor. For a flyer and
registration form,
click here . The
Drum and Dance Fest will be held August 13-15, and
Homecoming 2010 will be held September 24-26, featuring
Michael Dowd and a presentation of the intergenerational musical
Oh Jonah!
Meadville
Lombard and Andover Newton have agreed in principal to create a
new multi-faith theological university. The planning will
continue over the coming year with a final vote anticipated in June
2011. According to Meadville Lombard, the as yet un-named university
will enable Meadville Lombard to extend UU formation to a much
larger number of ministerial students who will be even better
prepared to lead with an increasingly pluralistic and multicultural
world.
Read more.
The New York State
Convention of Universalists will hold its 182nd Annual
Meeting on October 22-23 at the First UU Society of Syracuse. Gini
Courter, UUA Moderator, and Ruthie Rosauer, singing meditation
practitioner, are featured guests. The theme is Local Action --
Global Connection: 21st Century Universalism. For a flyer,
click here .
Starr King School for the Ministry
will offer an online course on Dynamic Youth Ministry this fall.
The course will feature guest presenters, peer interaction/support,
one-on-one consultation with instructors, print and video learning
resources, an action/reflection component, and more. For more
information or to register, contact
Betty-Jeanne Rueters-Ward,
Youth and Young Adult Programs Coordinator at the UU
Congregation at Shelter Rock (Manhasset NY).
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Upcoming Workshops and Meeting
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| Visit the District's Calendar and Events page for these and other events: |
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Junior/Senior OWL Training:
August 6-8, Murray Grove Retreat and Conference Center, Lanoka
Harbor NJ. For a flyer, click
here .
To register,
click here. For more information, contact
Andrea Lerner. |
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UU Leadership Team Institute By the Sea:
August 26-29, Ocean Grove Retreat Center, Ocean Grove NJ.
For a flyer, click here .
For track descriptions,
click here . To
register (wait list only),
click here. For more information, contact
Patricia Infante. |
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MetroUUYouth Covenant Building
Event: September 11, Community Church of New York UU. For
more information, contact Sara
Neiss. |
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Junior Youth Retreat:
September 25-26; Camp Ma-Kee-Ya, Harriman State Park, NY. For a
flyer, click here .
For a letter to DREs and RE committee chairs,
click here .
To register,
click here. For more information, contact
Peter Green. |
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Annual Leadership Day:
October 2, UU Congregation at Shelter Rock, Manhasset NY. For more
information, contact Andrea Lerner.
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UU Ministers Association
District Chapter Meeting: October 6, location to be
announced. For more information, contact the
Rev. Tony Johnson. |
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Elementary OWL Training: October 15-17, UU
Congregation at Shelter Rock, Manhasset NY. For more
information, contact Andrea
Lerner. |
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Youth Social Con:
October 29-31, UU Congregation at Shelter Rock, Manhasset NY.
For more information, contact
Sara Neiss. |
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Religious Professionals Day:
November 17, Community Church of New York UU, Manhattan. For more information,
contact the Rev. Susan Rak or
Robin Pugh. |
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