I'm happy to report that our proposal to create a means of providing ecclesiastical endorsement for qualified and credentialed lay leaders is meeting a good reception among Unitarian Universalist organizations beyond the Unitarian Universalist Society for Community Ministries. I'm not too surprised, as the need has been obvious for quite some time. The Unitarian Universalist community is the only mainline religious denomination that has no provision for providing some sort of endorsement for laity who seek certification as lay leaders to those institutions that prefer to employ laity in religious leadership positions. More details will be forthcoming as this process moves forward.
We've also been contacted by the Collegial Development Team of the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association. They are exploring if community ministers who are UUMA members are being underserved and have asked us to help them.
The request is that we ask 5-7 ordained community ministers who are members of UUSCM as well as of the UUMA to come forward to work on a project. Each of these ministers will be asked to recruit an additional 5-7 colleagues who are also community ministers and members of the UUMA to conduct a series of conference calls to explore how this constituency in the UUMA might be better served.
There is one caveat that you must bear in mind. UUSCM does not track which of our members are also members of the UUMA. That is why we are putting this request in general communication rather than a targeted email. This means that we cannot verify that your UUMA membership is in good standing (you will have to do that) nor can we help you recruit the team of 5-7 community minister colleagues, as we have no way of identifying them. If you are interested in this project, please
email me and we will get your contact information to the Collegial Development Team.
Apart from the above, as I said in my report to the Annual Meeting, I am engaged in the task of making myself irrelevant. My final term as President of UUSCM comes to an end in June and we have begun the work of transitioning leadership. Some of the work I've been having my personal staff do as a donation is now being shifted to the UUSCM Administrator. At our February Board meeting Cat Cox, our President Elect, will chair the meeting to help us debug any glitches in getting materials to Directors and facilitating the meeting itself. I have total confidence in Cat and think she will do a great job when she takes the gavel in June.
Winding up unfinished business from the UUA Financial Summit, the Directors discussed what recommendations we will make to the UUA about a more sustainable model for our denomination than the one we have now. With the cost of theological education putting candidates for our ordained ministry under great financial pressure and many of our congregations running on financial fumes, the future is not clear. I look forward to seeing how the UUA utilizes the information it solicited from the Financial Summit participants and I'm sure most of you are curious as well.
Finally, some of our legislative ministers who are used to legal writing and the language of law have identified a glitch in recent legislation that might affect some ordained members on the East Coast. We'll be passing that information to the UUA for its consideration.
In my personal life I am someone who celebrates Mardi Gras (which starts this month). I am in fact a member of one of the New Orleans Krewes that hosts a parade (there are many Krewes besides the Rex Krewe that hosts the final parade on Fat Tuesday). So in closing I lift up a spiritual handful of beads to all my colleagues in UUSCM and say to you all "Laissez les bons temps rouler!"
