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Metro NY Minute -
December 2011 |
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News From the
District
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The 2012 District
Annual Meeting will be held May 4-5, 2012, and
you are invited to submit a proposal to
facilitate a workshop. To submit a proposal,
click here. The deadline is January 15, 2012.
Presentation of the 2012
District
Awards and the 2012
District Scholarships and will be a
highlight of the 2012 District Annual Meeting May
4-5, 2012. You are invited to submit a nomination
for one or more of five awards, and to encourage
youth to apply for a scholarship. The nomination and
application deadline is March 1, 2012.
The 2012 Congregational Certification of Membership
is underway. The deadline for certifying is
February 1, 2012, at 8:00 pm Eastern Time.
Certifying membership allows a congregation to send
delegates to General Assembly and to the District
Annual Meeting. Membership numbers are used to
calculate the coming fiscal year's Fair Share and
Full Share amounts.
A new District Environmental Justice Council is
being organized by the Rev. Peggy Clark,
District Racial and Social Justice Consultant, and
Dr. Frances Sink, District Right Relations
Consultant. The primary purpose of this Council is
to educate UU leaders in global, regional, and local
environmental justice issues. The first meeting
of the Council will be January 21, 2012, at
the First Unitarian Society of Westchester
(Hastings-on-Hudson NY). Each District congregation
is encouraged to send at least one person.
Read more
 .
District young
adults are invited to participate in the
7th Annual Young Adult Winter Retreat,
February 17-20, 2012, at Frost Valley YMCA Camp in
Claryville NY. The cost of the retreat, including
lodging and meals, starts at $225 for the first 15
registrants and then increases to $285.
More Good Stuff to Check Out!
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 The
Fall 2011 Chalice Lighters Call is now underway to support the UU
Congregation of Somerset Hills (Somerville NJ). Funds collected
will be used to bring their building purchased in 2010 into
compliance with the American Disabilities Act by changing a wall
structure, installing an elevator, and building a
wheelchair-accessible bathroom. Currently, entrance and exit from
the 5,000 sq. ft. building require individuals to negotiate steep
steps in front and back as well as indoors, and none of the interior
spaces are accessible to people with mobility concerns. Ambassadors
from the congregation are making visits to congregations throughout
the District asking for support.
Link2Lead.com is a website for local congregational ministers and
lay leaders, available free of charge to congregations in the
Central East Regional Group (CERG). Through Link2Lead and its
various programs, you have access to the latest information about
your community, hands-on tools to better understand and develop your
own capabilities, and a variety of additional resources to assist
you in leading your congregation into the new world of opportunities
awaiting us in the 21st century.
View a
short introductory video highlighting some of the programs
available through Link2Lead. Then contact
Andrea Lerner to get started.
Webinars
On Demand from the Central East Regional Group are available
on your own time and schedule. Consider these possibilities:
Congregational Polity for the Indifferent Lay Leader; Drawing the
Line: Disruptive Behavior Policies and Procedures; Basic Safety
Policies & Tips; Creating Meetings That Matter; Rethinking the
Committee: "Doing Church" in the 21st Century; Committees on
Ministry: An Overview; Introducing a Multi-Site Church Model; and
Powerful Pathways to Membership.
Webinars at fixed times are also available, including
webinars on
Youth Ministry and
Passing the Torch, a new four-session webinar focusing on
creating a congregation’s leadership development team.
News From the
UUA 
 Standing
on the Side of Love has announced a new campaign, Thirty
Days of Love, beginning January 16, 2012 (Martin
Luther King, Jr, Day), and ending February 14, 2012
(Valentine’s Day). “As part of Thirty Days of Love, we
will bring you tools to engage in listening campaigns,
community connection, theological reflection, collective
sharing, community education, and direct action. We’ll
have tangible resources for you in the coming weeks . .
. To whet our appetites for Thirty Days of Love, we will
hold a webinar on Wednesday, December 7 at 7:30 pm to
share some ways that you can build on your
congregation’s social justice work.”
The General Assembly Youth Caucus is looking for
youth and adults to serve in a variety of capacities:
worship coordinator, connections coordinator, justice
liaison, chaplain, and sponsor coordinator/advisor. Each
position has a detailed description on the application,
including any requirements or desired experiences. Youth
Caucus applications are due December 15.
The Disability & Accessibility page of the UUA website
has been updated and now includes
Accessibility Guidelines for UU Congregations
,
a proposed policy document prepared by the Policy
Committee of
Equual Access, a volunteer UU organization that
promotes equality and access for UUs with disabilities.
At its November meeting,
the UUA Board drafted a statement saying that it should
explore alternatives to keeping the UUA headquarters on
Beacon Hill “to be good stewards of the
association.” The board asked the staff to analyze four
possible scenarios that the trustees can review at their
January meeting: staying in the current building and
investing in the necessary upgrades; exploring the
possibility of submitting another bid for the Hebrew
College site in Newton MA, which has not yet found a
buyer; moving to another location in central Boston;
moving to another location in the United States.
Read more.
The UUA
Bookstore is offering free shipping
for all online or phone orders through December 9. Through December
16, daily deals are offered each weekday, reducing 20-50% off the
price of selected products, including books, jewelry, posters, and
more. Visit the UUA Bookstore
Holiday Gift Guide.
 UUA
Witness Ministries Director Rev. Craig C. Roshaven has
announced a new resource to help interfaith teams
advocate for changes in local policy on Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer requests. This
toolkit provides information on how to organize advocacy
meetings with local officials, partner with immigrant rights
groups, and bring a faith-based message. “I am excited to
share with you a new way to help you stand on the side of
love with immigrant families. The Interfaith Immigration
Coalition, a national partnership of faith-based
organizations working for immigration reform and other fair
and humane immigration policies, has assembled a page of
resources including an Advocacy Toolkit that will help
equip interfaith teams to change how migrant families are
treated all across the country.”
Read more.
Being More Visible, Changing More Lives: A UU Campus
Ministry Group Handbook for Congregations
is now available from the
UUA Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministries. This
resource is intended for anyone in a congregation who wants
to start a campus and offers guidance on making campus
ministry vibrant and sustainable.
Multicultural Welcome: A Resource for Greeters in UU
Congregations
is a 12-page document created by the UUA’s Multicultural
Growth and Witness staff group to help congregational
greeters respond well to every person who comes through the
door on Sunday morning. The resource invites greeters to use
role play to think about what it would be like to be
welcoming to someone who is blind, uses a wheelchair, has a
strong foreign accent, didn’t complete high school or go to
college, wears a cross, or has an ambiguous gender identity.
This greeter resource grew out of a workshop at General
Assembly 2010 called Multicultural Membership Journey, which
explored what it means to welcome people of various
identities.
The UUA is partnering with the UU Service Committee (UUSC)
on the latest joint JustWorks volunteer service trip to
Haiti,
which started December 3. The trip will be documented by
leaders and participants on the UUA International Office's
blog,
Faith Without Borders, and on the
UUSC website.
The first post about this JustWorks experience is now live,
as trip leaders Nicole McConvery of the UUA and Evan Seitz
of the UUSC share their thoughts on the journey to help
rebuild the community and lives of earthquake survivors in
Haiti.
News From Congregations
Milestones and Transitions
The Rev. Peggy Clarke
will be installed at the
Unitarian Society of Westchester
(Hastings-on-Hudson NY) on March 25, 2012, at
5:00 pm.
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 The
Rev. Chris Antal, Consulting Minister at the UU Congregation at Rock
Tavern (NY) and a Military
Chaplain, is interviewed in a Dallas Voice story about the
ministering opportunities that the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
has given progressive chaplains.
Read the article.
Skylands UU Fellowship (Hackettstown NJ) is now recognized by the
UUA as a Welcoming Congregation, joining 39 other District
congregations with that distinction. Some 65% of all UU
congregations in the US are Welcoming Congregations.
The Welcoming Congregation Program is a program for UU
congregations that want to take intentional steps to become more
welcoming and inclusive of people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual,
and/or transgender.
The First UU Fellowship of Hunterdon County (Baptistown NJ)
is on a mission to collect a ton of food – literally – for the
hungry in the community during this holiday season. Every Sunday
after the service, congregants "Fill the Truck" and deliver to the
local food bank in an effort to take steps to end hunger.
The Morristown (NJ) Unitarian Fellowship wishes great joy to the
Rev. Alison Miller
who recently left on maternity leave. The Fellowship is
gearing up for many wonderful seasonal services, among them the
religious education holiday party, this year titled "Green
Holidays!" Visit the Fellowship’s
recently updated
website.
 The
Rev. Jude Geiger, Minister of Religious Education at the First
Unitarian Congregational Society in Brooklyn (NY), wrote a piece
about the Transgender Day of Remembrance for the Huffington Post.
“With Transgender Day of Remembrance on November 20th, we remember
all those lives who were brutalized or murdered for their
difference. Since this is literally a life and death matter, as a
religious people we ought to feel compelled to deepen our
understanding of the causes of such pain.”
Read more.
Bonney
Parker, president of the UU Ocean County Congregation (Toms
River NJ), attended the European UU Retreat in Oberwesel, Germany,
on November 4-6 as a guest of her niece, Tina Boggiano, and Tina's
partner, Matt Gilsenan. The Rev. Derek McCullough from Christchurch,
New Zealand, was the keynote speaker and minister for the services.
Participants, most of whom are ex-patriots from various countries
around the world, primarily from the United States, came from the
United Kingdom, Scandinavia, Italy, France, Belgium, Switzerland,
and the Netherlands. Bonney contributed a workshop on Dreaming at
the gathering.
The Junior Youth Group of the UU Congregation of
Monmouth County (Lincroft NJ) has challenged the
Rev. Virginia Jarocha-Ernst to dress like a chicken if they can
collect 5000 pounds of food between Thanksgiving and Easter for the
local food bank. Rev. Virginia has graciously accepted their
challenge.
Kirsten DeFur, youth advisor and OWL
Administrator at the First Unitarian Congregational Society in
Brooklyn (NY), is quoted (page 7) in an article on sex education
in the New York Times.
Read the article.
The UU Congregation of Somerset Hills
(Somerville NJ) and the Somerset County Cultural Diversity Coalition
joined together on November 21 to celebrate a Multi-Faith Service of
Gratitude. Representatives from the Gurukul Yoga Holistic Center,
the Muslim Center of Somerset County, the New Jersey Buddhist Vihara,
the Gurudwara Temple in Bridgewater, the Turkish Cultural Center in
Edison, and St. Luke’s Roman Catholic Church in Long Valley joined
together to celebrate an evening of giving thanks. Attendees enjoyed
potluck treats and conversation after the service.
Other Noteworthy Items
 The
UU Ministry for Earth has made available the new
Our Place in the Web of Life Module One curriculum to help
professional and lay leaders working with adult education, the Green
Sanctuary process, or other environmental activities in
congregations. This introductory module is a free download; a
contribution is requested to provide follow-up coaching to
congregations and volunteer facilitators as well as roll out other
modules.
The Joseph Priestley District is
sponsoring the
2012 Worship Arts Festival February 24-25, 2012, at the UU
Church of Rockville MD, and all UUs are invited to attend. The
festival features Carol Howard Merritt, author of
Tribal Church: Ministering to the Missing Generation and
Reframing Hope: Vital Ministry in a New Generation, a variety of
workshops, and a closing worship. Registration is $60.
The Universalist Convocation 2012 will be held May 18-20 at
the Murray Grove Retreat and Renewal Center, Lanoka Harbor NJ, May
18-20, 2012. The keynote speaker will be the Rev. Dick Gilbert.
Universalist
Convocations is an organization whose purpose is “to explore and
draw from the heritage of Universalist experience and faith to
inform Unitarian Universalism today and help light its way toward
the future."
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Upcoming Workshops and Meeting
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Visit the District
Calendar and the District Events
page for these and other events. You may also want to visit the
CERG Events
page. |
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Youth UU-UNO Justice Con:
December 9-11, First Unitarian Congregational Society in Brooklyn,
Brooklyn NY. For a flyer,
click here .
For more information, contact
Emma Kates-Shaw. |
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Long Island Leadership Institute Session 1:
January 7, 2012, UU Fellowship at Stony Brook, Stony Brook NY. For more
information, contact Chris Morris. |
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Youth Working Con:
January 20-22, 2012, First Unitarian Society in Westchester, Hastings-on-Hudson
NY. For more information, contact Emma
Kates-Shaw. |
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Women and Religion Luncheon
and Lecture: January 28, 2012, Community Church of New York UU, Manhattan,
sponsored by the District Women and Religion Committee. For registration and a
flyer,
click
here
. For more information,
contact Reena Kondo. |
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Long Island Leadership
Institute Session 2: February 4, 2012, UU Congregation at Shelter Rock,
Manhasset NY. For more information, contact
Chris Morris. |
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Young Adult Annual Winter
Retreat: February 17-20, Frost Valley YMCA, Claryville NY. For a flyer,
click here
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For complete information,
click here.
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Youth Social Con: March
2-4, 2012, Unitarian Church in Summit, Summit NJ. For more
information contact
Emma Kates-Shaw. |
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Long Island Leadership Institute Session 3:
March 3, 2012, South Nassau UU Congregation, Freeport NY. For more information,
contact Chris Morris. |
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