[cuc-uumoc] October message from Mary Bennett, CUC

[Mary Bennett]

May, 2007

 

Hello to our professional ministers in Canada

(and a “cc” to CUC board & staff).

This is a monthly update of news selected to be of interest to our
professional ministers, sent each month. I very much appreciate hearing back
from you as to what  topics are most relevant to you—and just feedback in
general.

 

You are welcome to forward this message to anyone you feel would be
interested. Information is geared to what I feel professional ministers
would be interested in, but it is not a confidential message.

 

MINISTERIAL TRANSITIONS

Welcome to:

Since my last message, these new ministers have joined us – Welcome!

Patricia (Trish) Schwartzberg – settled minister at South Fraser Unitarian
Congregation

Rev. Rick Koyle – interim minister with Lakehead Unitarian Fellowship,
Thunder Bay

Rev. Wendy Jerome – interim minister with First UU Church of Winnipeg

Rev. Alicia McNary-Forsey – sabbatical minister with First Unitarian Church
of Hamilton

Rev. Lauren (Laurie) Foster – interim minister at the Unitarian Fellowship
of London

 

Congratulations to:

Rev. Frances Deverell – installation at UU Fellowship of Ottawa

Rev. Laura Friedman – ordained by the Unitarian Church of Vancouver

The Vancouver Courier ran a front page, 3000-word story entitled: A Fool's
errand

Newly ordained Unitarian minister Laura Friedman is passionate about working
in the city's impoverished neighbourhoods. And she hopes she can be Fool-ish
enough to do the job.

By Cheryl Rossi, Vancouver Courier

Published: Wednesday, October 03, 2007

HYPERLINK
"http://www.canada.com/vancouvercourier/index.html"http://www.canada.com/van
couvercourier/index.html

 


More news


Marian Stewart who will be consulting minister for the coming year with
Nanaimo and Salt Spring Island in BC

Antonia Won who will be doing an intern ministry in Albuquerque, New Mexico,
in the new year. 

I notice from their newsletter columns, Stephen Atkinson, Shawn Newton and
Rev. Julie Stoneberg are settling in nicely with their new congregations
North Shore, Toronto First and Peterborough respectively.  

Opportunities

Saskatoon requested but have not been able to fill the position of full-time
interim minister.

Waterloo are searching for a settled minister for September/08. (Rev.
Felicia Urbanski continues in the second year of interim ministry).

Ottawa First will be looking for a second one-year interim ministry for next
year. 

Durham are looking for a half-time settled minister.

Winnipeg are in search for a full-time settled minister. 

 


CUC Annual Conference & Meeting


It seems fitting somehow that with all of the transition occurring in Canada
over the past year, that a congregation served by an interim minister is
hosting this year’s ACM. 

The host committee is in full-swing with CUC Past President Elizabeth Bowen
as chair. We will be at Algonquin College (a change from original plans) as
their facilities are larger for what we expect will be the largest ACM as
yet – possibly topping the almost-500 who attended last year. 

 


Involvement of Professional Ministers


The Confluence Lecture sponsored by UUMOC has quickly become an important
tradition. Many registrants look forward to it as well as other concurrent
sessions led by professional ministers. I encourage you to submit proposals
before the deadline of November 1. 

If there are other ways UUMOC as an organization, or the regional groups,
would like to be involved, I would very much appreciate hearing from you. As
we grow in numbers (triple the attendance of 10 years ago) and complexity
(almost 1/3 of registrants are involved in children or youth programming),
it becomes even more important to create a safe and supportive religious
community for these few days together as a national association.

At UUA General Assembly (with more than 10 times as many people), there are
a number of intentional processes that may serve us in the future:
chaplains; joys & sorrows; small group ministry and right relationships team
are some of the ones I noticed.

CUC Program staff and I have also been discussing whether professional
ministers would appreciate our setting some time aside during workshop
sessions where a CUC staff member is available to converse informally.  The
residences at Algonquin have a lounge on each floor and we book it for this
kind of session if there was interest.

 


A National Voice


We frequently hear Unitarians and Universalists in Canada wanting to have
more of a “national voice”. There is always more that we would like to do,
but I’ll say that I’m proud of the monitoring group structure and how the
various groups have been taking hold of their roles. Since taking on the
role of chair of the Racial, Religious and First Nations, Inuit and Metis
Equity and Justice Monitoring Group (abbreviated to “Diversity”) in May,
Jo-Anne Elder-Gomes has led the group in drafting several statements for
signature by CUC President, Jean Pfleiderer.  With much-appreciated
assistance from Rev. Wendy McNiven, the Environment Group has recently
endorsed Buy Nothing Day and is working with Ottawa members to develop a
plan to further “green the ACM”. The Peace Monitoring Group chaired by Colin
Read recently prepared a letter from the CUC related to the crisis in
Burma/Myanmar.  

These position statements are always posted at HYPERLINK
"http://www.cuc.ca/social_responsibility"www.cuc.ca/social_responsibility on
the page that relates to the particular issue. 

We also send them out through a “read-only” email list. Anyone can subscribe
by sending a blank email to HYPERLINK
"mailto:cuc-news-subscribe at yahoogroups.com"cuc-news-subscribe at yahoogroups.co
m.  There are between 1-3 messages per month usually.  

If you need assistance getting on or off an email group, just send a message
to HYPERLINK "mailto:email-groups at cuc.ca"email-groups at cuc.ca and it will
forward to an administrative staff member who can assist you. 

 


THANK YOU


As October is Clergy Appreciation Month – thank you to all of you for your
committed work with our congregations.  

 

 

Take care,

Mary

Mary Bennett

Executive Director

HYPERLINK "mailto:mary at cuc.ca"mary at cuc.ca

 

CANADIAN UNITARIAN COUNCIL – CONSEIL UNITARIEN DU CANADA

018-1179A King Street West, Toronto ON M6K 3C5   416-489-4121

1-888-568-5723  HYPERLINK "http://www.cuc.ca/"www.cuc.ca   fax: 416-489-9010

949 West 49th Avenue, Vancouver BC V5Z 2T1  604-264-0088

 

 
Take care,
 
Mary Bennett, Executive Director  HYPERLINK "mailto:mary at cuc.ca"mary at cuc.ca

CANADIAN UNITARIAN COUNCIL 
HYPERLINK "http://www.cuc.ca/"www.cuc.ca   Toll-free: 1-888-568-5723
Toronto: 416-489-4121 Vancouver: 604-264-0088 
 
CUC Annual Conference & Meeting 2008
The Web of Life--In Our Hands
La toile de la vie--Entre nos mains

May 16-19, 2008 -- Ottawa
SHARE YOUR TALENTS 
On-line session proposal form
It assists our planning committee greatly if you can use the on-line form,
so please do if it's at all possible.
HYPERLINK
"http://www.cuc.ca/conference/proposal.htm"http://www.cuc.ca/conference/prop
osal.htm
 

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