Committee Meetings this Month
Special Congregational Meeting
A special congregational meeting will be held after church on Sunday, Feb. 24, to vote on ordaining Jan Johnson, and consider other matters. Watch for a special mailing.
Committee Budget Requests
Committee Budget Requests must be submitted to Treasurer Julie Neuman no later than Feb. 3.
Annual Meeting
This year's annual meeting will be held after church on the third Sunday in May -- May 19. All members and friends are encouraged to attend. To vote on a matter before the congregation, a member must have signed the membership book at least 90 days before the meeting and made a minimum $50 contribution of record within the previous year.
Rev. Nina Grey's Hours
I will be in the office as follows and by appointment: Tuesday, 1 to 5 p.m., Wednesday, 2 to 6 p.m., and Friday, 10 to 2 p.m. Thursday is my time for study and sermon preparation. Monday is my day off. I can be reached at church, at 324-4100, or at home, at 288-0348. I welcome your calls, including calls on Monday in emergencies. If I am away from these phones, I regularly check my voice mails. You may also reach me by email at ngrey@uuma.org. The office will also know how to reach me.
Rev. Marlene's office hours.
My office hours are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 1:00 - 5:00 pm. Monday continues as my day off and Friday is my day for reading and preparation, which I mostly do at home. I am also available at other times by appointment. I am often in the office at other times as well and at church in the evenings for various meetings. I can be reached by phone either at church or at home (773-955-1607) Please feel free to call me at home even on Mondays if it is urgent. Another good way to reach me is by e-mail and my new e-mail address is mwalker@uuma.org.
Lifespan Religious Education
Rev. Marlene Walker, Minister for Religious Education
The Garden Room has been a busy and exciting place this past month! January was our Church School Winter Intersession and our focus was on social justice and the theme of hunger. Each Sunday at 10:00 AM all children and youth gathered in the Garden Room worship area for an opening Children's Chapel. Each worship service addressed the theme of hunger; who is hungry, why people are hungry, and how we, even children, can work to help those who are hungry. Following worship there were many activities that further developed the themes expressed during worship. We began with a virtual hunger banquet, based on the model of the Oxfam Hunger Banquet, that divided our class in the same proportion of those who in the world who have access to food. It was quite a visual awareness for even our youngest children. Most of us, 55%, carefully pasted our 10 grains of rice into our small bowls as we sat on the floor, 30% sat at a bare table and were able to fill their small bowls with rice, and only 15% of us sat at a covered table and were able to fill our much larger plates with pictures of food from a banquet basket full of wonderful things. We have also been busy making all kind of bowls most importantly glazing ceramic rice bowls under the guidance of Harley from Brush Strokes on 53rd Street (thank you Harley and Brush Strokes!). These bowls are being fired at Brush Strokes and on February 3rd the congregation is invited to join us in Hull Chapel for an Empty Bowls Soup Lunch. We have made Stone Soup (i.e.; vegetable soup), will also be providing other kinds of soup and bread and the beautiful ceramic bowls will be available for purchase filled with soup for a minimum sliding donation of $15-20. All proceeds will be donated to the Hyde Park Kenwood Interfaith Council Food Pantry to help those who are hungry in our own neighborhood. I hope you will join us. Our Winter Intersession ended on January 27th and the Church School Spring Term begins on February 3rd. Children and youth will once again join the congregation at Sunday Worship each week and the Time For All Ages will return. We will return having learned that we can make a difference, whatever our ages, in working for social justice and ending hunger.
Some Hunger Facts
World harvest of wheat, corn, rice and other grains
produce enough to meet the minimum nutritional
requirements for every child, woman and man in
the world. Despite this, hunger continues to plague
an estimated 841 million people around the world,
including 30 million in the United States.
World Watch Institute
Hunger kills. Every day, 34,000 children under five
die of hunger or preventable diseases resulting
from hunger.
Bread for the World
One in twelve people worldwide is malnourished,
including 160 million children under the age of
5.
United Nations Food and Agriculture
The Indian subcontinent has nearly half the world's
hungry people. Africa and the rest of Asia
together have approximately 40%, and the
remaining hungry people are found in Latin
America and other parts of the world.
Hunger in
Global Economy
Around the world the most vulnerable to hunger
are: children, pregnant and nursing women, single
mothers, the elderly, the homeless, the
unemployed, ethnic and racial minorities, and the
working poor.
United Nations World Food
Program
Poverty is the main cause of hunger. Poor people
often lack access to land to grow food or
inadequate income to buy food. Nearly one in four
people, 1.3 billion - a majority of humanity - live
on less than $1 per day, while the world's 358
billionaires have assets exceeding the combined
annual incomes of countries with 45 percent of the
world's people.
UNICEF
Seventy percent of the world's poor are female.
UNICEF
100 million people are homeless and 2.5 billion
people have no access to proper sanitation.
UNICEF
Often it takes just a few simple resources for
impoverished people to be able to become
self-sufficient. These resources include quality
seeds, appropriate tools, and access to water. Small
improvements in farming techniques and food
storage are also helpful.
OXFAM
A 1995 study by Tufts University estimates that 20 to 30 million Americans are too poor to meet their monthly expenses and buy enough food to live healthy, productive lives.
In 1994 the Urban Institute in Washington DC estimated that one out of 6 elderly people in the U.S. has an inadequate diet.
In 1993, U.S. Citizens spent about the same amount on cruise ships and theme parks as the Federal Government spent on AFDC. The problem, in fact, is not a lack of money, but a series of decisions on how money gets spent. Enough money is available to end worse case poverty in a few years and enough food to provide everyone in the world with a minimally nutritious diet right now.
Childhood hunger in the United States:
In July 1999, the National Center for Children in Poverty issued a report. Following are some of their findings:
Young children are more likely to be poor than any other age group, and that disparity is growing. The poverty rate for children under age three was well over double the rate for adults or the elderly in 1995.
Young children in the United States have about a 50-50 chance of escaping the risks of poverty or near poverty.
The problem of young child poverty extends far beyond the stereotypical image of the poor minority child in an urban setting. The fact that nearly half of all young children live in poverty or near poverty demonstrates that young child poverty is a mainstream problem, affecting children from all racial and ethnic backgrounds, from all types of residential areas, and from all regions of the United States.
The rate of poverty for children under age three living in suburban areas grew by 61 percent between the late 1970s and early 1990s, whereas the rates of poverty for children in the same age group in urban and rural areas rose by 37 and 47 percent respectively.
The poverty rate for children under age three has grown twice as fast among whites as among blacks. Although the incidence of young child poverty among whites is relatively low (15 percent) compared to blacks (52 percent), the rate of white children living under age three in poverty grew twice as fast as among blacks (36 percent versus 17 percent) between the late 1970s and the early 1990s.
The rate of poverty among Hispanic children under age three is high (44 percent) and increasing more rapidly than among other racial and ethnic groups. It has risen by 48 percent since the late 1970s.
Children make up almost half of the population living below the Federal Poverty Line. More than 21 Percent of U.S. children under age 18, and 25 percent of children under age 6, are poor.
Sixty-four percent of children under 6, who live in female-headed, single parent families are poor.
The infant mortality rate is closely linked to inadequate nutrition among pregnant women. The U.S. ranks 23rd among industrial nations in infant mortality. African-American infants die at nearly twice the rate of white infants.
A child living in a wealthy U.S. family is on average, better off financially than the typical wealthy child in any other country. At the same time, the average child in a low-income U.S. family is worse off than the average poor child in 15 other industrialized countries.
One out of every eight children under the age of twelve in the U.S. goes to bed hungry every night.
In the U.S. hunger and race are related. In 1991 46% of African-American children were chronically hungry, and 40% of Latino children were chronically hungry compared to 16% of white children.
Among Us
Our warmest wishes for a good recovery to Arnita Boswell, who is recovering after surgery, and staying with her daughter, Bonnie, during this time.
We are delighted to welcome into membership, Linn Orear, who comes to us from some years of membership in First Parish of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Linn signed the book in January.
Our deepest sympathy to Paul Ricker on the death of his grandmother, on January 19.
We continue to hold Robert Chenoweth in our minds and hearts.
We also continue to keep Michael Donner in our minds and hearts.
We are thinking of David Pusczkiewicz, who is recovering from respiratory illness.
We are glad to report that Clinton Velandia's parents are recovering from their automobile accident and Clinton has returned from visiting them, to be with us again. Clinton is the Instrumental Director of Music.
We are thinking of Norman Hines, whose brother is suffering from illness.
We continue to hold Devon Moss and his family in our minds and hearts.
Program Council
Attention Program Council Members! The next meeting of the Program Council is scheduled for March 5 from 7:00-9:00 p.m. Please note there is no meeting scheduled in February.
Thanks to Volunteers
The Church Administrator would like to offer heartfelt thanks to volunteers who made significant contributions to keeping the Church Office working smoothly in 2001. "Office Angels" for 2001 include Dotty Barron, Richard Blough, Arnita Boswell, Joe Cherry, Lia McCoo, Polly McCoo, Madeiria Myrieckes, Julie Neuman, Marge Saphir, Bette Sikes, Patty Stark, and Vi Stark.
Our Ministers' Personal Advisory Committees
Rev. Nina Grey and Rev. Marlene Walker both have Personal Advisory Committees. Do you know what the functions of a Personal Advisory Committee are?
A Personal Advisory Committee is a sounding board, listens to the Minister and offers advice and counsel, should the Minister have some concerns, both personal and professional. It also can bring issues to the attention of the Minister, to help the Minister become more aware of the concerns of the congregation.
Shama Blaney, Winston Kennedy, John Saphir and Evelyn Johnson are currently on Rev. Nina's Personal Advisory committee. Margaret Huyck, Cynthia Oakes, and Ivan Lappin currently are on Rev. Marlene's Personal Advisory committee and a fourth member will soon be added.
We encourage you to talk directly with a minister if you have a particular concern you would like to communicate. If you have any concerns that you are not comfortable talking directly to a minister about, you may speak to a member of that minister's Personal Advisory Committee, who can bring your concern to the Minister and Personal Advisory Committee for some reflection together.
The goal of Personal Advisory Committees is to strengthen the ministry of our Ministers and enhance the relationships between Ministers and the Congregation.
Personal Advisory Committee meetings and discussions are confidential in nature. The Personal Advisory Committees are sub-committees of the Committee on Ministry, and there are times when topics and themes of discussion are also brought to the Committee on Ministry.
Folk Music Concert
Joe Hickerson will be appearing at a concert on Saturday, February 9, at 7:30 p.m. in the main sanctuary. Lia McCoo, a noted performer and daughter of our own Polly McCoo, will perform a guest set. Admission is $7.00 at the door ($5.00 for students and senior citizens). Refreshments will be available for an additional charge. Joe has an enormous repertoire of folk songs, ballads, popular songs of the past, and other goodies that have come to his attention as singer, folklore scholar, and Head of the Archive of Folk Culture of the Library of Congress for many years. He has three solo albums on Folk-Legacy and has appeared live on the Midnight Special, most recently on WFMT's 50th anniversary. He is skilled at teaching songs and getting everyone to join in.
September 11 Issues
The Social Justice Council is sponsoring a study/discussion group to explore issues emerging after September 11. Our first meeting will take place Feb. 10 at 7 p.m. at the Campbells (5222 S. Dorchester). Call (773) 752-4019 for more information.
Central Midwest District Annual Meeting
The CmwD annual meeting will be Friday, April 12 through April 14, at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Columbia, Missouri. The keynote speaker will be Rev. Forrest Church, minister of the Unitarian Church of All Souls in New York City and stimulating author. He will comment in part on the challenges we face in these difficult times. The Annual Assembly provides an opportunity to meet and network with other U.U.'s, in addition to a chance to hear Rev. Church's provocative keynote address. There will also be a variety of interesting workshops, worship services, the Annual Bridging Ceremony and the CmwD Annual Business Meeting.
Interested in being a delegate from First Church? Notify our Denominational Affairs Coordinator Bette Sikes by March 16.
Forums and Adult Education in February
Economic Globalization: How it affects those in the professions and service industries
First Forum, Sunday, February 3, 11:45 a.m. The session will look at how economic globalization has affected those in professions and service industries. The speaker will be Jessica Tulloch of the American Friends Service Committee's Economic Praxis Project. The forum will include a presentation, followed by discussion.
Shortly before the forum, at about 11:30 a.m., there will be a soup luncheon. Bowls made by the church's youth during January will be sold, with proceeds going to the Hyde Park and Kenwood Interfaith Council's Food Pantry. All are invited to come for the soup lunch, followed by the forum.
Living in the Interdependent Web
First Forum, Sunday, February 10 at 11:45 a.m. Based on the 7th Principle, "Living in the Interdependent Web." Led by Ellen LaRue, long-time friend and member of First Church, and even longer a part of the interdependent web of all existence (although I didn't previously know it). We often have deep personal and emotional relationship to the natural world, but could we have a communal or even a covenantal relationship? What would that look like?
Economic Globalization: Possible Actions
First Forum, Sunday, February 17, 11:45 a.m. The Social Justice Council invites you to join us for the February 17 First Forum, entitled Economic Globalization: What Actions Should U.U.s Endorse and Take? (a brainstorming session). The UUA's Study/Action Issue for this church year is Economic Globalization. We are asked to submit, by March 1, our ideas as to what ACTIONS the UUA should endorse and encourage its Faith in Action Department, the UU Just Economic Community, its congregations and individual U.U.s to engage in on this issue.
How to Design and Live a Successful Life on Your Terms
Tuesdays Feb 5 and 12,7:30-9:30 p.m. Facilitator: Ioanna Karamitsou. This two-session workshop is designed to help you identify what success means to you, and to help you come up with a long-term vision, a plan, and the accountability structures to get there.
It's Not What You Say, But How You Say It
Sunday March 3,1-3 p.m. Facilitator: Ioanna Karamitsou. You will learn basic negotiation skills that you can apply in your everyday life, with your kids, your partner, or in your place of business. You will also explore what gets in "your" way of getting what you want.
Great Books
The Great Books Discussion Group will meet on Sunday, February 10, at 11:30 a.m. in the choir room. The literary work that will be discussed is: One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, which tells the story of the rise and fall, birth and death of a mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendoa family. All the page references for questions on the syllabus relate to the first printing of the Harper's Perennial Edition, [1991] .We look forward to your participation in our discussion group. For further information contact: Gloria Gnatz (773) 643-9436 or Kennie James (773) 238-1833.
How to Reach Out
Sunday, February 3 at 1:00 p.m.. Sponsored by the Caring Committee. Rev. Nina Grey and Rev. Marlene Walker will help us in developing our caring skills. We believe that "Caring is Us." Our congregation can only be strengthened if we learn to be aware of the needs of others and practice positive methods of reaching out. During the workshop we will review the goals of the committee. We will also participate in role playing and learn the resources available to meet various needs. We will practice listening as well as explore how to ask for help.
Forums and Adult Education in February
Parenting Group
Sunday, February 17, at 12:00 p.m. This group will meet monthly on the third Sunday through June. All parents are invited to join us. The first four sessions will be an exploration of the Spirituality of children using a variety of resources. The final two sessions will be focused on the Lion and Lamb Project, a program that raises the awareness of violence in the media (video, video games, movies, TV etc.) and it's effect on children. Child care will be provided. Facilitators: Rev. Marlene Walker, Ann Ploum.
Rise Up and Call Her Name
Friday, February 1, at 6:30 p.m., and continuing on subsequent Friday evenings through February and March. Rev. Marlene Walker, facilitator. A Woman Honoring Journey into Global Earth-based Spiritualities, the course provides a unique format for learning about goddesses from a variety of traditions, hearing and telling personal stories, creating your own sacred art, participating in creative rituals, dialoguing about questions key to feminist spirituality, and engaging in personal discovery. Both women and men are encouraged to participate in this journey. Materials fee of $10. Please call the office to register.
The Bible Workbench
Sunday, February 10, at 6:30 p.m. Facilitator: Rev. Marlene Walker. A UU friendly bible study program that explores the scriptures of our Jewish and Christian heritage in an exciting format that includes contemporary literature, experiential exercises and reflections. If you have never studied the Bible, or have but want to see it in a new way, come join us. Enrollment limited: see Marlene.
Neighboring Faiths for Adults
Wednesday, February 20 at 7:30 p.m. and continuing on subsequent Wednesday evenings (excluding first Wednesdays). Facilitator: Rev. Nina Grey. In a ten session course, we will learn about and visit religious groups in a variety of traditions. We will think about what is religious, and learn about western and eastern religious traditions as well as nature based religions. Dates for visiting congregations to be determined.
The Nature of Racism
Sunday, February 3, at 9:00 a.m. Facilitator: Dr. Finley C. Campbell. The topic will be "Racist Ideology in the Movies." This is a part of the general theme for this year's course: the way that the arts have been used to promulgate racist ideology and racist feelings. We will look specifically at scenes from the notorious Birth of a (Racist) Nation, especially its Aryanistic elements.
UU's View the News
Friday, February 8, at 7:30 p.m. Facilitators are Dr. Finley C. Campbell and Kennie James. Presentation and discussions; subjects based on general interest. In light of the absence of a humanist-ethical framework in which to view the news, it is important that we U.U.s develop our own way of systematically analyzing the news which filters through the media screen. In light of this, we offer an opportunity to share informed opinions on the news events of our time.
Sweet Heart Raffle
Drawings for prizes in the Sweet Heart Raffle will take place during the social hour on Sunday, February 10. Proceeds of the raffle benefit the programs of the Religious Education Council. Tickets cost $1 each, or 6 for $5.
Grand Prize is a Chicago Cubs Dream Day, which consists of 4 terrace reserve tickets to a 2002 Cubs regular season home game, a pre-game photo on the Cubs' on deck circle, welcome on the Wrigley Field message board during the game, and personalized "name in lights" photo on the Wrigley Field Marquee.
Other prizes include a 90 minute massage by Gloria Perez, nationally certified massage therapist, dinner for two at the Quadrangle Club, a $30 gift certificate for Artisans' 21, a $25 gift certificate from Toys Etc., Bill Hageman's book "Baseball between Wars," an "Evening Out" basket, a box of Godiva Chocolates, a gift certificate from the Hyde Park Florist, and a bottle of wine.
Prepare for the Annual Talent Auction
The Annual Talent Auction is Sunday, March 3. We have a marvelously talented group of folks associated with First Church, and the special time for appreciating those talents is coming soon! You can be a donor -- with talents to share: computer classes? Dog walking? Dinner by candlelight, Texas chili, lakeside picnic? An excursion to the special museum or shop that you have discovered? Special foods to share? Service (like "staffing" a dinner party)? You can also donate special items for the Silent Auction: antiques you no longer want to store, new toys that never got used, works of art you now can part with. You can also be an appreciator -- come bid on the events, expertise, and treasures. This is a wonderful opportunity to get to know others in the church community, to discover new places and new friends. The Talent Auction is an annual fund-raising event, and it's coming soon!
Here's the schedule. Bring items for the Silent Auction to church by February 15, so we can preview all the items by February 27. The Talent Auction is Sunday, March 3. We start with a lovely quick lunch. First, sign the sheets for the silent auction items you want; keep checking back to make sure you get your choices! Then, we take our seats and bit for the trips, events and happenings that will fill out our whole calendar.
You can help make this year's Auction a success. First put it on your calendar, and set aside part of your budget for this opportunity! Second decide what talents you will offer, and let us know by February 15. Third, call Madeiria Myrieckes (312-461-9832) or Pauline McCoo (773-768-8535) to offer your talents, help with organizing, or work during the event. Many hands make light work and lots of fun!
The Land of the Talent Auction Follow-Up
by Dr. Finley C. Campbell
Prologue: How often I have "bidded" on auction items, contributing a goodly sum of money to our church's coffers, but then not followed up on the activities themselves. This year, however, my wife, Bobbi Lammers Campbell gave me an ultimatum: no follow up, no bidding. Okay, okay, I said. I am glad I did the follow up: the following are brief recountals of my adventures in the Land of the Talent Auction Follow up From a Bog to a Mountain. Several of us (Chuck Staples, Ellen La Rue, Carrie Hedges, Bobbi Lammers Campbell) went out to Pinhook Bog, a small corner of wetland reality over in Indiana: the sunlight falling like a benediction, very odd trees like the Larch, which is a transition between evergreen type trees, and autumn leave type trees, with running commentary by Bobbi, Charles, and a knowledgeable young guide, away from the hustle and bustle of our city life: the humming of dragonflies, the singing of birds, the contradictory nature of pitcher plant and sundew. But that was not the end of it: we then went over to Mt Baldy State Park, for a delicious lunch and a climb up the mountain, the largest sand dune in the Indiana Dune Area. At the top, a breathtaking view of the power station, Lake Michigan like a blue blessing, where the curvature of the earth could actually be discerned. At the top, Dr. Lammers- Campbell gave us a lecture of how sand dunes were formed. And all around us fellow workers (black, Latin, white) interacting in an environment of nature, humanity, and law.
Gemeinschaft. "Gemeinschaft" is defined as "interpersonal relationships based on organic relationship, as distinct from Gesellschaft, which is based on mechanical relationships," (Prof. Carrie Chivers, Dept of Sociology, Morehouse College). This was the expression which myself, the Huycks, and the Jamisons experienced on this particular Talent Auction Bid: a day with the Jamisons. We went to the Notebart Nature Center, where we witnessed the Butterfly museum: like flying flowers, like winged colors of red and green and orange, black and white stripes -- it was beautiful. This was followed by a tasty lunch on the lakefront at a new/old restaurant there, with the sun dimmed by clouds but glowing. And then the piece de resistance: going to the Stephen Sondheim play, INTO THE WOODS, a marvelous reworking of the original olde Grim(m) fairy tales. Out of all this emerged a more organic relationship with each other, based on shared, enriching experiences
Ship Ahoy. The last in these specific series was the boat trip out on Lake Michigan with Admiral Richard Snow. After two delays, we decided to go out and enjoy a water journey. And what I thought was going to be a simple cruise, with Captain Snow "driving" the "boat" and I and my fellow passengers (Pheifer Browne and Carrie Hedges) drinking our mint juleps under a cloud-scudding, bright, sunshiny day, turned into a working cruise, where I got some sea legs. Commodore Dick and I had to get the dinghy (a small row boat) out to the Chris Craft, get on the boat from the dinghy, unmoor the ship, and then head in to pick up our passengers. The "channel crossing"; i.e., going out the channel, was smooth: sky like gauzy turquoise filled with white clouds, God's sole concession to the mountainous heavens, the lake itself choppy, but not seeming dangerous. And then we hit the lake: Whomp: down we went; whomp again, up we went; thump thump, the waves were playing with us like a volley ball. Down I went, crawling into the cabin. Carrie was excited like being on a roller coaster. You know what? It was fun. We decided to call it a day since even fun can get complicated. We returned back to the channel, our marina, where I was called upon to moor the ship. O boy: but I did it, with Commodore Snow's expert maneuvering and help. Lunch, nappy poo for me and Carrie, and then back to shore. Naturally, I am ready for more.
My overall evaluation? Taking part in the financial AND SOCIAL aspects of the Talent Auction enriches both the church's coffers and our own souls. Certainly, all these activities confirmed in my communal soul the bright joy of multiracial unity as the key aspect of our interdependence.
MOUNTAIN RETREAT - SOMETIMES A GOOD NOTION
By Cindy Pardo
Sometimes a good idea proves to have come at the wrong time. It appears that this is true of the plan to hold a congregational retreat at The Mountain in North Carolina. As the committee got well into its planning, it became clear that there were several obstacles to a successful week. At the suggestion of this committee chair, the Executive Committee concluded that it is inadvisable for us to continue to work on this retreat at this time. There are several reasons for this.
The first is financial. The cost for the week, per adult, is at least $502, with costs for children ranging from $275 to $162. This does not include any transportation or miscellaneous expenses, such as whitewater rafting trips. We know that economic conditions are tight for many people - and for the church - right now. It seems inadvisable to ask members to come up with that kind of money for an expense which is not absolutely necessary right now.
In addition, the purpose of this retreat was originally conceived as a wonderful way to further our vision, mission and covenanting process. While we are working toward this end as a congregation, we are not in a place where this elaborate an activity would further our efforts. To go to The Mountain as a congregation without a purpose makes little sense. We have more work to do before we are ready to make this kind of financial and time commitment.
There have been some funds raised for scholarships for this retreat. At this time there have been no decisions made about the dispersal of these funds, so any suggestions you have would be appreciated. You will be informed when a decision has been made.
I know there will be many of you who are disappointed with this decision. I hope that you will turn that disappointment into participation in whatever activities arise out of our vision, mission and covenanting process. My thanks for much hard work go to Vi Stark, Nancy Harlan, Grace Williams and Rev. Grey, who have formed the committee. We hope to have a good reason to go to the Mountain in a few years.
From the Board
By Joan Pederson
Congregation President
Like the other congregations in the Unitarian Universalist Association, we exercise congregational polity: deciding our own priorities, using our finances and property as we see fit, selecting our own leaders, and ordaining people into the Unitarian Universalist ministry. Plenty of examples are coming up. Please participate: "we" is diminished without every possible "you."
Leadership: The Nominating Committee has begun its work to identify prospective trustees, alternates, council chairs and members, the next nominating committee, and the next President-elect. Offer suggestions via the committee's box in the office. If the committee asks that you serve, ask all the questions you need to, think it over carefully, discuss it with your family, and say yes if you possibly can.
Finances: Save Sunday, April 7, and plan to attend this year's Canvass Luncheon immediately after church. This is the time when we learn about plans, needs, and hopes for the program and ministry of First Unitarian in the year ahead, ponder them carefully, and each as individuals or as households pledge our financial support to be paid over the course of next church year. More later, but save the date now. And if your council or committee has a budget request, remember that it is due to our treasurer, Julie Neuman, no later than Feb. 3.
Ordination and Other Considerations: Save Sunday, February 24, too. Jan Johnson, long a member of this church and for the past few years a student at Starr King School for the Ministry, will graduate this May and has received the top-level rating from the UUA Ministerial Fellowship Committee. I am pleased to announce that Jan has asked that this congregation ordain her, that all three of our ministers have endorsed that request, and the Board has scheduled a special congregational meeting after church on Feb. 24 to give you the chance to choose to ordain her. You will get more information about Jan and about ordination in the call to the meeting, which will be mailed separately.
At that meeting our other order of business will be an information session about an important matter that will require congregational decisions in the foreseeable future. I will say more about it in the call to the meeting. No decisions about the matter will be made at the Feb. 24 meeting, but that meeting will offer an important opportunity to get facts and ask questions.
At its December 21 meeting, the Board of Trustees
At its January 19 meeting, the Board of Trustees
Holiday Family Project
By Diana Gray
Criminal Justice Task Force Chair
The Criminal Justice Task Force (CJTF) and the Social Justice Council extend their appreciation to the congregation for its heart felt support of our holiday family project. We delivered seven large boxes of gifts, grocery staples, and personal supplies to the Cathedral Shelter for our adopted family. Your generosity was overwhelming. We certainly made this a happier holiday season for Juanita and her children.
Some cash donations arrived too late for us to convert to additional groceries for the family. The CJTF would like to hold the unused funds to seed a similar project next holiday season. If you prefer First Unitarian to use your cash gift another way, please specify this in writing to our congregational treasurer Julianne Neuman.
The Old Girls Network
If, by any chance, you consider yourself an "old girl" and might consider the possibility of forming an "Old Girls Network" (no, we're not competing with OWL [The Older Women's League!]), how about joining us for lunch in Hyde Park on either Tues. Wed., or Friday, February 19, 20 or 22. We'd like to determine what else we might have in common besides a faulty memory and creaking bones. Being retired helps, because we'll probably try and get together during the day on a week day.
Call Joanne Kent at 643-2188 or Kay Mann at 324-0209 and let us know if you'd care to join us and which day is best for you. Who knows what we might discover about each other!"
Storage Work Group Forming
Tired of bumping into odd objects left in odd places around the church? Wish you knew where to find materials used last year for an event coming up again? Got ideas for categorizing and storing the many physical manifestations of church life we keep on hand? Please join President Joan Pederson, Church Administrator Rick Brown and others who want to design a solution to the storage situation around the church. Our first meeting is 7:30-9:00 p.m. Tuesday February 19, and all are welcome.
Report: Racial Justice Task Force
By Dr. Finley C. Campbell
The RJT of the Social Justice Council pronounced finis to the Wagner project, which was a modest success in raising consciousness about his contributions to modern racism. An audio tape of a lecture given on December 7th is available upon request, with a donation to the SJC. A proposal approved at the January meeting of the Task Force to create a booklet on the controversy was approved. A proposal for a new task was then submitted, dealing with anti-Arab racism, especially in light of the fact that the majority of people still held in detention, subject to immediate deportation, and presently incarcerated under questionable conditions in Cuba are Arabs. And the people most profiled at airports are members of this ethnic group. There will be future discussions on this proposal before it is put to a vote. Our next meeting will be on Sunday, February 17th, at 1:00 pm in VOV.
Item from our History
From the Church History and Archives
Committee Marion Talbot's name is in the Parish List for the First Unitarian Society of 1898. Marion Talbot served as dean of women during the first three decades of the University of Chicago. She was one of the founders and early officers of the organization which became the American Association of University Women. Read more about her in the 7 pound edition of Women Building Chicago 1790-1990.
Parents in Prison
By Diana Gray
Criminal Justice Task Force Chair
The Task Force recently received the donation of a book that is a compilation of articles by professionals and scholars concerning the dilemma of the increasing numbers of children whose parents are in prison. Entitled Children with Parents in Prison: Child Welfare Policy, Program & Practice Issues by Cynthia Seymour and Creasie Finney Hairston, editors, published by the Child Welfare League of America, Inc. it notes that:
From 1986 to 1991, the number of women in prison increased 432% while the number of men increased 200%. In the case of incarcerated mothers, many are the sole caregivers of their youngsters. Increased incarceration of women is primarily due to increased incarceration for nonviolent drug or drug-related offenses. One in five children witness their mother's arrest.
Estimates are that there are 1.6 million children with an incarcerated parent. Because no agency routinely collects this data, the true scope is masked. Most children with incarcerated parents live in poverty before, during, and after the parents' incarceration. Children of color are disproportionately affected - 42% African-American, 25% Latino, and 22% Caucasian
About half of children of incarcerated mothers live with grandparents, 1/4 live with father, and remaining 1/4 is in out-of-home care (estimated 7%) or with other relatives. In 29% of the cases, siblings are separated and disbursed among relatives because they do not have income sufficient to care for all the children. Under welfare reform (P.L.104-193) -TANF (temporary assistance to needy families) the relatives providing care to children with incarcerated parents are made subject to the same rules of employment and time limitations as parents, which in most cases provides a limit of 60 months of benefits. When a parent is released and attempts to resume care of her children, TANF rules prohibit persons who have violated probation or parole from receiving benefits or food stamps and prohibit those convicted of certain drug felonies from receiving benefits or food stamps for the rest of their lives.
Child welfare agencies, correctional agencies, law enforcement, and child protective services more often than not fail to collaborate. These agencies routinely fail to provide information and support for caregivers on how to manage problematic behaviors and access services for children with problems. Caregivers also find it difficult to obtain information from correctional centers on the status of the incarcerated parent, when release will occur, how to visit, and how to obtain transportation to the facility to visit. Approximately half of incarcerated parents do not receive visits from their children; those that do have only infrequent visitation. Prison visitation for the most part is inimical to visitation due to the distance, inhospitable visiting rooms, no contact rules, etc.
Finally, incarcerated parents are at risk of losing their parental rights solely for being imprisoned. The Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 (ASFA) requires a state to file a petition to terminate parental rights when a child "has been in foster care under the responsibility of the State for 15 of the most recent 22 months." Ninety percent of incarcerated women spend 18 months in prison and 50% spend three or more years. This book is available in the R.E. library in the Resource Room.
An Open Letter to Governor Ryan
[Letter sent to Governor Ryan by the Social Justice Council, and published in the Hyde Park Herald]
We, the members of the Social Justice Council of the First Unitarian Society of Chicago, have discussed the recent passage of the Illinois anti-terrorism legislation by the state legislature, and are hereby conveying our concerns about it to you. Our assumption is that at this time you have not yet signed that bill into law, and therefore we are writing you to offer our hope that you will veto this legislation
We base our recommendations on three of the commonly held principles of our church:
First, the respect for the interdependent web of all people -- Muslim, Jew, Gentile; black and non-black; white and non-white -- forming the fabric of our humanity. This belief shapes the way we view things that tear at that interdependence. Racism and terrorism of the kind that was inflicted on our country by the dastardly and cowardly attack on September 11 fits into that category and we deplore it, denounce it, and oppose it with all our hearts.
Another principle that influences our views is the idea of the responsible search for truth. We expect that those accused of the crime of terrorism should, under the laws of the United States of America and its Constitution, be brought to swift but fair justice. We also believe that the truth is more likely to be served by the open trials guaranteed to all persons by the U. S. Constitution than by the secrecy of tribunals. Even the Nazis at Nuremberg were afforded these safeguards, including the right of counsel and open proceedings.
The third principle deals with justice, mercy, and equity: equity would ensure that all accused are given equal treatment before the law.
We are concerned that the Illinois anti-terrorism legislation is broadly written and very vague. For example, defining terrorist acts based on an "intent to intimidate or coerce a significant portion of a civilian population" leaves much to the imagination as to what is SIGNIFICANT and WHICH population is being referred to. Making "disabling or destroying the usefulness of any communication system" a class X offense, would make the offense nonprobational and could put a computer "hacker" in prison for twenty years to natural life with no probation. Furthermore, adding another set of aggravating circumstances which permit a death penalty seems unwarranted given our state's history, which we know you are concerned about, of misusing of the death penalty.
One of the assumptions in the Illinois anti-terrorist act is that it will be used against only our "enemies." We all know the definition of enemy has shifted many times: Native Americans and Blacks have been designated as enemies, as well as abolitionists, Republicans, liberals, radicals, conservatives, Germans, Japanese. We do not need any new concept of enemies. In order to stand truly united, let us not demonize people because of their race, background, ethnic or religious origins, for therein lies legalized terrorism. Existing law, in our opinion, is stringent and draconian enough; some people argue it is too much so. But be that as it may, we do not need to have attacks on our basic constitutional rights, our Bill of Rights, because of fear generated by the attack upon our country or in order to avenge ourselves against the terrorists or to seem more "patriotic" than the next state. We believe the best way to get "revenge" against the terrorists and to build the community around us, is not only to maintain the consumer side of our society but its civic, legal, and jurisprudence side as well. Indeed, if the USA PATRIOT act, the proposed military tribunals, and now the Illinois anti-terrorist act are fully implemented, then the terrorists would not only have won an ideological victory but a moral and political one as well.
Sincerely yours,
Roberta Campbell, for the Social Justice Council
The Emancipation Proclamation Day Service
By Dr. Finley C. Campbell
This year's program was a successful experiment, presented as a dress rehearsal, with new musical elements and a shortened format, yet with new elements such as Abraham Lincoln, played by Richard Snow, giving the Gettysburg address, to symbolize one of the practical results of the emancipation document: the new birth of freedom. We finally made it to the Hyde Park Herald. We want to offer a special thanks to Sisters M. Myrieckes, G. Williams, and B. Lammers- Campbell for their wonderful Freedom Luncheon, held before the event. All this points to the development of new traditions for our annual event.
One last point: there was a statement on the advertisement for the event passed out at the church service which should have had the following proviso: "The concepts expressed in the above statement reflects only the sentiments of those who support them and does not represent the position of the First Unitarian Church of Chicago." I apologize for leaving that statement off.
A Sleighride Through Church History
Second Edition
The second edition of "A Sleighride Through Church History," will take place on Friday, March 1, 2002 beginning at 7:30 p.m. All 2001 Talent Auction Bidders and all others with a $25.00 donation may come join the fun!! This presentation is being given by Viola Moore (the location: 5759 South Harper Avenue)with Swedish refreshments for your enjoyment. Please call Viola Moore (773)955-2193 to RSVP.