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President's  Message
Hello Muddah, Whoever You Are
In my family, we refer to it as a "Hallmark Holiday". That is probably some kind of snobbery, because fact is, every single mother in my family, including me, my own mother, and my three daughters, all of whom are moms, would probably be totally insulted if none of our progeny remembered our existence with a card or flowers or something, on the second Sunday in May. But we do call it, with a certain degree of contempt, a "Hallmark Holiday", simply because all of us agree (and perhaps many of you do, too) that it is somehow a little bit much if we have to have a special day designated where people remember their mothers. We are somehow of the opinion that maybe it is a little overblown to make it a "holiday", and feel that doing so is somehow empowerment of the kind of neglect and "taking for granted" that is the usual way many of us regard our mothers. We tell ourselves, my own family, and perhaps your family too, that we don't need a day on which we buy lots of greeting cards and over-priced flowers and restaurant meals in order to remember and appreciate our mothers. We tell ourselves that we do that, every day.
But . . . without that day . . . do we? Do we remember and value the amazing and practically effortless sacrifices that have been made for us by those who have, in any context, given us life? Do we even recognize, many times, whom we should actually recognize for "mothering" us?
Here are some ideas about that: Click here to read the rest of the article on the CUUPS website |
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General Assembly Update
We have scheduled our CUUPS Summer Solstice Ritual for the Saturday of GA, on Ft. Lauderdale Beach at 12 noon, facilitated by Ft. Lauderdale's CUUPS Chapter, MoonPath CUUPS. Our Annual Meeting will be held after the Ritual, at 3 PM, on the same site. This will be an outdoor meeting, and we have scheduled it with a break between the ritual and the meeting, so that people may go to one of the shoreline bistros and pick up lunch to bring back to the meeting. Our plans for these two events have been specifically made in the light of the security and attendance requirements for events to be held on the site of GA. We hope our having these two events offsite will not only encourage attendance by those who cannot afford to attend General Assembly, but will be a more fitting way to honor the cycle of the seasons and the beauty of our Mother Earth.
We will, however, be very actively present at the Exposition Hall at General Assembly. The CUUPS Booth will feature "A Taste Of Paganism", including mini-rituals, discussion circles, and some instruction on Pagan basics such as altars, God and Goddess, what's a ritual, etc. We hope some of you can join us there. If you know you are coming to GA and would like to help with the booth, write to me at president@cuups.org and we will get you set up. In addition, I am hoping we can have something like a Coffee CUUPS meeting one, or several, of the nights of GA. Just getting together to chat and get to know one another. I want to find out what your MUDitation was about, remember? And what does this all have to do with the Web Site Update? Well, of course, this front page is where the latest info about CUUPS at GA will be posted. So keep your eye on us in the coming months, and we'll do our best to keep you informed. |
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CUUPS Bulletin is a publication of the Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans, Inc.
The CUUPS Bulletin is available for free to anyone interested in UU-Paganism. To subscribe visit the CUUPS website and fill in the form at the top of the webpage.
Corporate Officers:
Pres. - Maureen Duffy-Boose,
Vice Pres - David Pollard,
Secretary - Rev. Bonnie Dlott,
Treasurer - Dick Merritt
At large Boardmembers: Rev. Adam Robersmith, Steve, Storm, Niko Tarini and Michael Walker.
Readership:
May 2008 - 2,309
Apr. 2008 - 2,263
Mar. 2008 - 2,112
Feb. 2008 - 2,028
Jan. 2008 - 1,720
Dec. 2007 - 1,408 | |
| Greetings!
A German twist on Celtic Beltane practices involve an old custom to plant a "tree of May" to honor someone. Often young men set up an adorned birch in front of their girlfriend's house in the night before May 1.
In Japan, there is a so-called 'May sickness', where new students or workers start to be tired of their new schoolwork or jobs. (In Japan schoolyears and fiscal years start on April 1st.)
In any given year, no other month starts on the same day of the week as May. The same is true for June.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May
Welcome to the sixth issue of CUUPS Bulletin where Aisling talks about having and being a"Mud-dah", we get an invitation to get academic with the UU scholars of Collegium, receive an invitation to go to the Midwest for "Cakes" facilitator training, and find out a bit more about CUUPS presence at General Assembly. Also, we continue our Bylaw Review by pondering over whether CUUPS Chapters are really the best way to get UU-Pagans together on a regular basis.
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Collegium Calls for Papers
UU network of religious scholars seeks papers from a variety of spiritual perspectives
For the past 32 years, Collegium has been holding annual conferences to discuss questions of UU theology, ethics, and history in an interdisciplinary forum. This fall, the conference will be in Chicago. The conferences are open to laity and clergy who are pursuing UU research. Rev. Rudra Vilius Dundzila, who at the 2007 GA gave the presentation on UU-Paganism is now the Junior Co-Chair of the executive committee of Collegium: An Association for Liberal Religious Studies. He would like to extend an invitation to CUUPS for inclusion in the upcoming conference this fall. Inspired by the UUA Commission on Appraisal report Engaging Our Theological Diversity, Rev. Dundzile is seeking to establish an on-going dialog between the various UU theological groups.
Collegium is delighted to invite proposals for our fall 2008 conference. We will be gathering on October 30-November 1 at the Cenacle Retreat and Conference Center in Chicago. Distinguished Scholar Mark Morrison-Reed will lead us in a wide-ranging discussion of the Black experience in Unitarian Universalism, the relation between the Canadian Unitarian Council and the Unitarian Universalist Association, and other themes drawn from his long career in ministry. We welcome presentations on any topic related to liberal religion, but especially on themes connected to the work of Dr. Morrison-Reed. It is our hope that everyone who attends the conference will also make a presentation.
Collegium presentations may follow a variety of formats. A formal paper follows the usual academic style, and should usually take about 20 minutes to present. A response reacts to some work of scholarship significant for liberal religion, ordinarily by a scholar who will not be present at Collegium. A work in progress briefly describes a project not yet completed and invites feedback from other scholars. Regardless of format, each presenter will be given 30 minutes of conference time and will have the freedom to organize that time as appropriate.
Presenters should submit an abstract of 300-500 words to the appropriate section chair via e-mail by April 1, 2008. Proposals that do not fit readily into one of the existing sections may be sent to the program chair. The abstract must specify which of the three formats will be used (or propose an alternative) and provide an overview of the presentation's content. It should also include one or two sentences of biographical information about the presenter. Section chairs will inform presenters of whether or not their proposals have been accepted by May 1, 2008. All presenters will then be asked to submit some written material for posting on the Collegium website by October 1, 2008. Depending on the nature of the presentation, this material might range from 2-20 pages. Conference participants are expected to read this material in advance of the conference, so presenters will not need to repeat what they have submitted!
As you make plans for participation in Collegium, please know that the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion will be held in Chicago on the days immediately following Collegium-November 1-4. A gathering of Unitarian Universalist scholars will be held in conjunction with that conference, and Collegium members are warmly invited to participate. For more information on the American Academy of Religion, please see www.aarweb.org.
We look forward to seeing you in Chicago!
Dan McKanan-Program Chair (dmckanan@csbsju.edu)
Betty Hoskins-Ethics, Public Policy and Social Justice Section Chair (BBHsybil@aol.com)
David Johnson-History Section Chair (revdjohnson@netzero.net)
David Tarbell-Theology Section Chair (dwtarbell@optonline.net) Click here to link Collegium's Website |
 "Cakes" Facilitator Trainings Announced for the Midwest US
The revised Cakes for the Queen of Heaven: In Ancient Times curriculum is now available! Are you in the midwest? Are you thinking about leading this workshop series in your congregation? Would you like more information on how to be an effective facilitator for this series?
Come join us for a Cakes - Train-the-Trainer Workshop! The CMwD Women & Religion Committee and the CMwD UU Women's Connection are jointly presenting five facilitator training workshops throughout the district during the spring and fall.
For more information on these upcoming events, visit our website ttp://cakesforthequeenofheaven.org/blog/or email us at: CakesTraining@uuwr.org
DATE - Location - Site
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Bylaw Review: Chapters
Are Chapters the Best Way to get UU-Pagans Together?
This month we're going to look at only one topics, but it's one near and dear to the hearts of many in CUUPS, chapters.
The section of the CUUPS regulations which deal with CUUPS Chapters is Section 16.3. It is essentially a list of rules for forming a chapter that says things like each chapter must have three members who are both members of CUUPS and a UU congregation, CUUPS can require chapter dues from chapters, stuff like that.
But perhaps the most important statement is:
"A Chapter of CUUPS shall be organized as an auxiliary of a Unitarian Universalist congregation, or in such other institutional affinity with Unitarian Universalism as may meet with the approval of the CUUPS Board."
This links a chapter to a congregation, not as an outside group - like a coven which rents the facilities or even a community group like a PFLAG chapter that might use the church, but as an auxiliary - like the chior or the RE teachers . . . an integral part of the congregation. For many, if not most chapters - this works out great. However, if over time the chapter drifts away from seeing themselves as a part of the congregation - almost invariably problems crop up. Also, there are many congregations which would love to have more Earth-centered members and their practices represented in their congregation, but are deeply wary of having elements of "outside" organizations formally established within their churches - even if those "outside" groups have UU in the middle of their names.
Another important fact to keep in mind is that the idea of CUUPS chapters was born in the late 1980's. Since then, a whole movement of "small group ministries" often called Covenant Groups has taken off in hundreds of UU congregations.
Unlike CUUPS chapters which are generally open membership in nature, once covenant groups are initially started, they often are closed to new members. Should CUUPS be directing people to UU congregations that are interested in establishing Earth-Centered Spirituality covenant groups, even if those groups do not meet the requirements to become chapters?
Another way to get UU-Pagans together are thru intentionally Earth-centered UU Congregations. Todate there's only been a handful across the country. If we look at the impact that other schools of thought have had within the history of the Unitarian and Universalist churches by the time such movements as Humanism had been active there were a broad array of primarily Humanist congregations within the UUism. By focusing on chapters (which are charged to integrate themselves within existing UU Congregations) have we short-changed ourselves and the broader UU and Pagans communities in not intentionally developing Earth-centered Congregations?
These are all difficult questions, whose answers many change over the years as both the UU and UU-Pagan movements continue to develop. If you would like to comment on these issues, send an email to: cuups-bylaws@yahoogroups.com
Bright Blessings,
David Pollard
CUUPS VP | |
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