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Thirty Years of ONA
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The thirtieth anniversary of the passage of ONA (open and affirming) via resolution during the MACUCC's 1984 Annual Meeting - an action that created the UCC's ONA movement nationwide - was recognized at this year's Annual Meeting with a celebratory service. An anniversary video featuring LGBT people and allies from the Massachusetts Conference was specially crafted for the occasion. View this video here.
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ONA Started Here: Massachusetts Conference
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Continuing the anniversary observance, a worship celebration, "Never Turning Back", will take place Nov. 8, 2014, at the United Church of Christ in Boxborough. Find more information here.
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| Resolution on Mass Incarceration |
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 Christ's Community Church, Chicopee has presented a Resolution on Actions to End Mass Incarceration in Massachusetts, to be introduced to the 216th Annual Meeting of the Mass. Conference. This draft resolution has been endorsed by the Innocence Commission Task Team, and will be the subject of a workshop at Super Saturday in October. Christ's Community Church and the Innocence Commission Task Team are eager to work with others who are interested in this issue. Please contact Jon Tetherly, chair of the Innocence Commission Task Team of the MACUCC.
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| Time is Running Out for Homeless Youth | |  For thousands of young people across the state, time is running out; July 31 - the day when the House Ways and Means Committee decides whether or not House Bill 135 "An Act Providing Housing and Support Services for Unaccompanied Homeless Youth" is moved to the Senate Ways and Means - is quickly approaching.
In Massachusetts, here are over 6,000 teens and young adults who are experiencing homelessness without the care of a parent or guardian. In the city of Boston, there are fewer than 25 beds reserved for people under the age of 18 experiencing homeless-ness. Besides the lack of appropriate housing, there is also a lack of services helping this population.
Take action and support the efforts of Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless to achieve the passage of House bill 135 "An Act Providing Housing and Support Services to Unaccompanied Homeless Youth". If this bill is approved, teens and young adults who are currently homeless in Massachusetts would have access to housing, and services - such as job training, education and other services - that will help them develop the skills they need to stand on their feet and work for a better life.
Click here for more information and how to contact your state legislators.
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Chilean Pastor, Pastoras Visit MACUCC
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 From March 26 until April 15, the Chile Partnership Committee of the Massachusetts Conference was pleased to host a delegation of three members of the Pentecostal Church of Chile (IPC), our long-time ecumenical partner. Pastor Christian Hidalgo and his wife Pastora Susana Sepulveda, together with Pastora Ada Chavez, travelled the length of commonwealth from Newburyport to Sheffield.
The delegation had two primary objectives: to strengthen the ecumenical partnership that has existed between the Mass Conference and the IPC for nearly 30 years and to support the Sister Church relationships that have recently formed among several of our churches. Pastoras Susana and Ada also attended the Women's Celebration conference in Portland Maine.
Together, the group participated in a healing service in West Brookfield, jazz worship at Old South-Boston, Sunday worship at Edwards-Framingham, Central-Newburyport, and Sheffield.
Read more here
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UCC Response to the Crisis of Unaccompanied Minors from Central America
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 From the UCC Immigration Task Force
We are facing an escalating humanitarian crisis with the increase of migrant children crossing the United States/Mexico border at an alarming rate. Doubling every year since 2011, more than 47,000 children have already attempted the journey so far in 2014. The face of the child migrant has inundated the news cycle, with the Departments of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services unable to handle the number of children who, by law, are required to be processed to determine the safest option for each child. This often means waiting in the U.S. with a family member or foster parent for an immigration court case.
It is because of dire circumstances that a child chooses to migrate thousands of miles. A report from the United Nations High Commission on Refugees shows that many of these children are fleeing violence, conscription into gangs, and threats to their personal safety, including gender- and sexual-based violence.
Read more here and learn ways to respond
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Former LGBT Asylum Seeker Becomes Citizen
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Linford Cunningham and Pastor Judy Hanlon of Hadwen Park Church
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by Connie N. Larkman, United Church of Christ
A phone call in 2008 changed his life and her church forever. Linford Cunningham, a gay man from Jamaica who came to the United States seeking asylum and a better life was linked with Pastor Judy Hanlon at Hadwen Park Congregational United Church of Christ in Worcester, Mass. Now Cunningham, the first UCC asylum seeker, is an American citizen, and Hanlon's church and the LGBT Asylum Support Task Force (lgbtasylum.org) it created to help people like him, has saved the lives of 83 people from 15 countries.
"The church through its leadership and the wider ministry has done so much for me that words alone cannot express," said Cunningham. "To find myself in a country with no family, the church was there to fill that void. The church was able to rally around me and offered me so much support -- including financial support -- but most importantly emotional support to ensure that my path and that of many others towards citizenship and freedom was not as difficult."
Read the entire article here
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Al Filipov Peace & Justice Forum
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Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2014 ~ 7-9 p.m.
Trinitarian Congregational Church, Concord
 Dr. Jim O'Connell, founding physician and president of Boston Home Care for the Homeless Program, which brings dignified, skilled and compassionate care to those experiencing homelessness, will be honored with the fourth annual Al Filipov Award during the ceremony on Sept. 10.
O'Connell's remarks will follow, entitled, "Lessons from the Streets: Caring for Boston's Rough Sleepers."
For a flyer, click here.
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Integrating Ecology, Justice & Peace
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Save the Date: Saturday, October 4, 2014
10 a.m.-4 p.m. (brown bag lunch and dinner)
2062 Greenwich Road, Ware, MA
One of the greatest discoveries of the last century is that we humans are part of a vast, sacred universe that has given rise to life. Yet at the same time, humans are imperiling this life by unraveling the ecosystems that support the Earth community. To speak in this context, then, about peace, justice, and the integrity of creation, would be to speak for the continuity of life in all its forms.
A program on this topic will be presented by John Grim and Mary Evelyn Tucker, co-directors of the Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale University and executive producers of "Journey of the Universe", which will be shown during the program.
A youth panel of 350 and climate activists, environmental groups and peace and justice groups will join in a discussion about the need for inter-group dialogue on action for climate change and related planetary concerns.
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