|
UU WOMEN & RELIGION
CONTINENTAL NEWS
SHORT-TAKES FROM FORT WORTH’S GA ‘05
Women’s Rights Worldwide
While there
was strong support for this Study/Action Issue at General Assembly in Fort Worth, Texas,
it did not receive the majority vote in a runoff with S/A I-5 Moral Values for a Pluralistic Society. The issue, “What can UU’s do to secure
fundamental human rights for women?” was well publized by people wearing
bright orange logo t-shirts, handing out printed information and the
backing by of a number of UU affililiated and related groups including UU
Women & Religion. The sponsors
of this Issue, while disappointed that the issue did not pass, appreciate
the encouragement and support received and have talked about submitting it
again at next year’s GA in St. Louis.
Submitted by
Susan Eckert
UU W&R’S ANNUAL GATHERING
The segment of the UU
W&R Annual Gathering that related to what's on my mind the most (the GA
'06 Cakes Celebration) had this outcome from the discussion:
The theme is "Liberating UU's With
Feminist Ethics, Theologies and Voices" with the slogan "She
Changes". Those groups in the
Cakes Coalition for leading the celebration are UUWF (UU Women’s
Federation), MSUU (Ministerial Sisterhood-Unitarian Universalist), UU WHS
(UU Womens’s Heritage Society), CUUPS(Covenant of UU Pagans) and UU
W&R. Each will hold an event and
give recognition in their display booths honoring the Cakes 20th.
anniversary. We have stickers for
all passersby to put on their GA badges.
UU W&R will use one
of our program slots to hold a panel discussion led by Shirley Ranck. It's hoped that the 4 participants will
represent the 4 directions of the U.S. (to make for meaningful
ritual.) The topic will be a
reflection on the meaning of Cakes possibly titled "Being a Female
with Power."
To add to the beauty of
the ‘05 UU W&R Annual Gathering, Carole Eagleheart led us in song, one
of which was about offerings/gifts that would be appropriate for our GA '06
program slot's ritual.
Idea - Seek a GA Program
Committee grant for our panel discussion or a UUA sponsored feminist
speaker for the whole Assembly.
Idea - Plan an art
exhibit (in the Exhibit Hall?) of Cakes inspired art, maybe all in the form
of altars.
Idea - Cakes and other
spin-offs such as Wheel of the Year and Lunar groups across the Continent
to be asked to send pictures (with names) of their groups' participants to
display in our booth and for a one-page entry in a Cakes commemorative
album.
Idea - Though a group in
our Cakes Coalition would be specifically in charge of organizing one of
the aspects of the Cakes coordinated events, each event would be open to
others in the Cakes Coalition to participate in enacting the event. For instance, Dorothy Emerson is very
interested in working with CUUPS for the Cakes oriented Summer Solstice
service.
Decision - UU W&R
will be responsible for the re-publishing of the Cakes book (a shortened
version of the curriculum) to have for sale in the UU W&R ’06 booth.
Our new Co-conveners are
Dorothy Emerson and Misty Sheehan.
We have new tri-folds. If you
want one, notify me at hpop@verizon.net
P.S. If you feel inspired to work on any of
the ideas offered above, let me know! H. Pop
Notes from Dorothy and
Misty:
NOTES FROM THE
VISIONING PROCESS
W&R Annual
Gathering
June 2005
Big Dreams
*Make feminist paradigm integral to UU consciousness
Woman president of UUA
Work closer and collaborate with other UU women’s groups
Another Womanquest, with results
Adoption of Women’s Rights International as statement of
conscience
Revise and reissue Cakes
Establish a UUA process office (Roberta’s Rules)
Seminaries learn of W&R activities
Join 3rd (4th ?) wave of feminism
Retreat or conference with UU Men—dialog
Specific Plans
*Reimbursement form—Geri
*Republish Cakes book
*Web site
*Further work on WOMUUNWEB (editorial group)
*Publicize Gender Knot curriculum
*Cakes programming at GA 06
Thanks for donations notes
Build UU women’s organizations into programming
coalition
Apply for UUWF grant to build strong
organizational structure (for coalition work)
Apply for grant for GA 06 major
speaker—Margot Adler, Carol Christ, Asra Nomani, Wangari Maathai
Information on CDs—archives of
great UU feminist programs
Connect district websites
Newsletter
articles for Male Call (UU Men’s Network newsletter)
A LETTER
OF JOYS AND CONCERNS SENT BY SHIRLEY RANCK TO THE ORGANIZERS OF THE GA
SUNDAY SERVICE (REPRESENTING UU’S TO THE FT. WORTH PUBLIC AT LARGE)
A
basic tenet upon which the letter was built is Shirley’s saying, “I think
the loss of female identity is still oppressive in this society.”
Dear
Rev. Sinkford, Rev. Hardies, Rev. ten Hove, Ms. Gagne,
I
am writing to express some joys and some concerns about the Sunday morning
worship at General Assembly.
First
the joys!
1)
The
colorful stoles. They shouted
“celebration!” without a sound or a word and yet had great dignity.
2)
The music
was wonderful! I loved its
liveliness and the way choral and instrumental music were combined. And I appreciated very much the use of
inclusive language throughout.
Now,
alas, some serious concerns:
1)
I would
like to have seen the genders reversed in the Sufi story. Women are always sacrificing their
identities. Some people laughed as
if this were come cute cliché. But I
think the loss of female identity is still oppressive in this society, and
I was offended to see it made light of.
What if the wind were female and asked the male waters to lose their
identities in order to be part of the ongoing process of life? Especially since the other story was
called “Desert Fathers.” One father
figure is enough! And don’t tell me
that’s just how the Sufi story is.
You could have switched the genders and said it was based upon or
adapted from a Sufi story. Or is the
idea of males losing their identities just too shocking to contemplate?
2)
The term
“born again” perpetuates the same old denigration of the body (especially a
woman’s body) that has plagued Western religion and philosophy for
centuries. To compare the bodily and
spiritually transforming work of a woman as she carries a child within her
for nine months and then gives it birth and feeds it, to compare that
enormous physical and sacred process to brief moments of inspiration or
enlightenment is deeply insulting to every mother. It may be that nobody else in the arena
on Sunday noticed the insult, or dared to say so, but I need for you to
know that as a mother of four and as a UU minister of twenty-five years, I
was very hurt and offended by the “born again” theme.
Borrowing
the body-denigrating, woman-dismissing slogans of the religious right does
not serve well the cause of liberal religion. As Jesus himself said, “New wine must be
put into fresh wineskins.” (Luke 5:38)
Let us then create new verbal vessels for our transforming
experiences. And let us not forget
or disparage the truly life-changing experience of women bringing forth new
life from their own sacred bodies.
I
hope you will consider seriously both my joys and my concerns as you plan
for worship at future General Assemblies.
Sincerely,
(signature)
Rev.
Shirley A. Ranck
Interim
Minister
Williamsburg Unitarian Universalists
Williamsburg, VA
My Response to the above from Shirley is a “Right on,
Sister!”
I (Helen Popenoe) would add that I have an additional
worry with the term, “Born Again” being the centerpiece of the Sunday
service. This worry has to do with
the creeping tendency of the current UUA presidency’s use of the
“vocabulary of reverence”. Rev.
Sinkford says it’s for easier communication with other religions and
coalition building. I say that using
the language of the radical right with our own definition is a phoney
marketing grab for attention. Our UU
movement’s legacy of language is rich.
And because we are a creedless, evolving and changing faith
tradition, the use of specific terminology for present theological thought
is imperative. We must remain
authentically ourselves. Please,
let’s stick with our own naming.
Note:
Dear Reader,
To join this discussion, simply meet the Fall issue of
WOMUUNWEB’s deadline at the end of this issue.
JUNE, 2005 UUSC
(UU SERVICE COMMITTEE) ANNUAL REPORT EXCERPT
Latin America
In Guatemala,
UUSC funded grassroots organizations in their work to: 1) restore justice
in the wake of the civil war through programs that provide legal counsel
and efforts at reconciliation, 2) assist indigenous communities in their
quest for justice and equality, and 3) empower women politically.
Two UUSC delegations visited Guatemala
– one to monitor elections and another to draw attention to the trial of
the perpetrators of the Rio Negro
massacres of the 1980’s. When we learned of the imminent eviction of our
partner, the Center for Legal Action and Human Rights (CALDH), we provided
a mortgage which allowed them to purchase their own building. High lending rates in Guatemala previously prevented
CALDH from doing so. The CALDH
mortgage represents UUSC’s first Program Related Investment.
With support from UUSC, our partner, the Maya Achi
Association for the Integral Development of Victims of Violence (ADIVIMA),
offered a $5,000 reward for the capture of Captain Jose Antonio Solares
Conzales who is wanted for charges stemming from the Rio
Negro massacre.
|