I opened this email after finishing this issue's draft of WOMUUNWEB and sending it to Gretchen for formatting and publishing.
-- Helen Popenoe

Dear UU W&R,

My W&R colleague and friend in Florida, Gloria Marvin, sent this story of horror. (Gloria, past co-convener, FL and Continental W&R, worked in UUWF on membership growth, and led the vigils "Toward the Sunrise" after the UUA Board sunsetted the W&R movement -- how long ago now, 10 years? We both continue to stay in touch with the ongoing national W&R district strength.)

Again patriarchy is not good for anyone.
Light candles! Send greetings.
-- Betty Hoskins

-----original message-----
From: susan pendergraft
To: Gloria
Cc: Pamela
Sent: Sat, 15 Dec 2007 5:55 pm
Subject: Florida District Tragedy

Dear Gloria and Pam,
Gloria I know you read the local paper. I'm sure you didn't realize that today's headline was so closely linked with W & R. We will have a W & R ritual of healing but we've yet to come up with a date. This is the notice that I sent the national list serve. We are grieving in Pinellas.
-- Love, Susan P.

In the past few months the Florida district has become invigorated by a number of younger women. A few of these women had taken the helm and were beginning to reestablish connections and communication links between those of our district. The next step was to reestablish ties to the national committee. These two women were Jenn Davis (formerly Bernsdorff) and Andrea Pisanello.

I was deeply involved with Jenn, Andrea and a number of women in planning our last retreat on healing and peace. In reflection the memories of the peace rituals and healing space we created have become even more sacred after the events of Dec. 14th.

Women of the larger circle, your Clearwater sisters are in deep mourning. Today we lost both our co-chairs to domestic violence. They were both murdered by Jenn's former husband. He also killed Jenn's two children aged 2 and 4. He then took his own life.

Please send your healing thoughts and prayers to those who loved Jenn, Andrea, Olivia (age 4), and Magnus (age 2), and Oliver. This Saturday [Dec. 22] we will have a memorial service at the UU of Clearwater, FL.

As a community we will need time to process this loss and to create a memorial to their lives. As you might imagine we are trying to focus among the shock and the loss.

Additionally we must try to find two new co-chairs who can fulfill the commitments on the national level and local level.

The full article can be found online at the Saint Petersburg Times.

With great sadness, Susan Pendergraft, Past Florida Co-Chair

Then I scrolled down to find this from Susan:

Yesterday we held each other at the church. Megan, Andrea's former partner and the biological mother of their child, was held by the Women of W & R. We vowed to lead a ritual to honor the lives of all lost this week. Megan told us that W & R was very meaningful to Jenn and Andrea and that they had at last found their spiritual home in our circle. I don't know what we'll do but an idea is forming that we could create something that could be passed on to other circles or retreats. As for what could be done I'm thinking of something that could be done in ritual or added to; something that will return from the larger circle for Annie (age 5 who survived), Megan and/or Jenn's mother. We'll get together here and work on the details and I'll e-mail you.

I've included the e-mail we all received from Jenn this Wed. two days before they were taken from us.

Happy Holidays Sisters!

I hope that this festive season is bestowing on each of you much love, joy, & fellowship. I wanted to take this opportunity to write & express how blessed I feel to be serving you all as co-chair of the FL Women & Religion along with my partner, Andrea Pisanello. Only six months ago, I had never heard of W&R and now I feel connected in a very special way to so many of you - thank you from the bottom of my heart!

I believe that the coming year has many wonderful things in store for our group - opportunities for new women to be engaged in feminist process while growing spiritually & for the crones of our group to be honored for the heritage they have bestowed. Together, we share a rich connection & I'd love you to be a part of it by joining us for these activities:

• In January, the Clearwater UU congregation will begin the Cakes for the Queen of Heaven curriculum under the leadership of Diana Frasier. If you are interested in joining us, or in introducing this curriculum to your area, please contact Diana at 727-527-7648.
• We will be having our Spring retreat at Chinsegut from April 25-27. Zeynep Tufekci is eager to lead us into a deeper understanding of ourselves & the many Goddesses who bless us. Save the date - much more info will follow soon!
• Our Fall retreat is scheduled for October 10-12 - we are still looking for someone with a great idea to come forward to facilitate (its not as scary as it seems. :)
• Over this year, I hope to reinstate our relationship with the Florida District & to reach out to the many, many women within it who would feel enriched by W&R events - if only they knew about them! If you are interested in helping - either communicating with the district or spreading the word about W&R within your community - please let me know!
• Even with our two retreats and Cakes, there is always room for a conference! Maybe some inspired women on the East Coast want to volunteer their church? 2008 promises to be a very dynamic year for Florida W&R.

I thank you for being a part of it! If you ever have any questions or concerns (or just want to get more involved), please don't hesitate to contact me or Andrea. I look very forward to seeing you over this year!
Namaste -
Jenn Davis & Andrea Pisanello

Editor's Note -

May we all look very forward and use the strength of our anguish to free all women, children and men from the distorted view of the use of power and the skewed values about control that the system of patriarchy demands. Social change takes steadfast stick-to-it-tiveness as long as we live.

How sad it is to have this tragic example of this issue's theme. -- Helen Pop

Postlude

Heartfelt Gratitude
By Susan Pendergraft, Florida District W & R

It was Sunday, December 16th. The sun was warmly shining upon the small, peaceful pond we have located just next to our UU sanctuary in Clearwater Florida. This pond has always been a focal point for my daughter and me. We spend time there every time we come to service. This Sunday was different. We were there to mourn the tragic loss of five members of our congregation, two of which were new co-chairs of W & R. We settled ourselves in our favorite place. It was a warm sunny morning and the water seemed to dance in the sunshine. Tears and the occasional wail could be heard throughout the social hall and sanctuary that day. The shock had made our close knit congregation numb.

My 8 year old daughter, Savanna, has been raised in W & R circles since she was in the womb. She has attended retreats and rituals since an infant. I always knew how blessed she and I were to be surrounded by such powerful, whole, and dynamic women. All the loving circles she experienced over the years came full circle this day. Since Friday, December 14th, she witnessed her mother in tremendous grief. When I first found out about the murders and suicide I physically dropped to the floor. The pain was such a shock, - unbearable. My stomach rebelled. Savanna has always been an intuitive and empathic child, but what I didn't understand was how she had internalized healing rituals she had witnessed at W & R retreats.

This Sunday morning she touched my shoulder as we crouched underneath the palm trees in a small nook. This has always been our place to sit and contemplate the beauty of our small pond. The lily-pads, cattails, snails and fish draw all the children. In her hand was a tiny stem with five berries on it. I heard her tender voice say, "This is soothing to you." Then she paused and asked me to name someone. "Jenn", I said, and she plunked a berry into the pond. Again she waited and I said, "Andrea." In went another berry. She continued as we called out "Magnus", "Olivia", and "Oliver." In near- silence, she then constructed a small leaf and branch raft. Looking around I spied little white shells and used palm fronds to tie them to a larger structure. We chose five small shells, one for each person. After finding a shallow spot near the edge of the pond; Savanna set the funeral barque afloat and said, "This is to remember them." It was an amazing and tender moment; one that never would have happened without the transforming power of Women and Religion circles. I am so blessed as a mother, daughter, friend and member of the larger circle. Thank you all.

"They still don't get it. We have to stomp out patriarchy! What's so hard to understand?" asks Lucile Longview, the initiator of the UU Women and Religion movement with her authorship of the Women and Religion Resolution. Rosemary Matson, a longtime Women and Religion activist says, "The idea of the Resolution was not only to add women ministers, nonsexist language and feminist curricula and worship forms. It was to scrutinize and root out patriarchal forms and stories and transform our spirituality entirely. Our vision of a transformed and engaged spirituality has not come to pass."

There's hope for the future. It lies in our continuing commitment to the work of the UU Women and Religion (UUW&R) movement. We each are connected to this that is greater than our individual selves. This gives a sense of strength and peace. The Winter Solstice message is that the light of the sun is coming. The sunshine we embody shines on.

Unitarian Universalist women and other progressive women of faith are being summoned to Houston, February 27-March 2, 2009, to share and learn ways we can work together to improve women's lives around the world. This will be the first major gathering of UU women since WomanQuest in 1990, and the first ever gathering that specifically includes international UU women.

SouthWest UU Women are providing the major leadership for this unique event, which is supported by an initial grant from the Fund for International Unitarian Universalism. UU Women & Religion are co-sponsors, and many other UU organizations are represented on the Advisory Committee.

A Convocation is a gathering in response to a summons. The word comes from the Latin convocare "to call together," from com- "together" + vocare "to call," from vox "voice." We are being summoned to respond to a hurting world, to gather as women of faith to share and learn ways we can improve women's lives. We are coming together in recognition of the need for action.

The call we hear today is not unlike the one issued nearly a century and a half ago, by our Unitarian foremother Julia Ward Howe:

Arise all women who have hearts…
Say firmly: "We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies…
Let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let us meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let us then solemnly take counsel with each other as the means whereby the great human family can live in peace.

The goals of the Convocation are:
To take stock of challenges that lie before all women around the globe
To showcase programs that serve as models for achieving equal rights, opportunities and security
To explore and learn from women's accomplishments in the past and how their work has improved women's lives
To discover common interests, emergent ideas and priorities for the future
To worship together and connect spiritually with our individual and collective power, caring and humility
To adopt action plans that will engage individual women, UU congregations, and women's groups to form global partnerships and move forward together toward women's equality, social justice and world peace.

We are planning for 1000 women to attend the Convocation in Houston, but even if you are unable to come in person there are ways to participate in the Convocation process. We are developing a Global Literacy Program for congregations and women's groups, to help us consider what we need to know to be competent global citizens and to strengthen our UU global village network. The six sessions, which will feature profiles of UU women and progressive women of faith from around the world, will engage participants in learning about major issues in women's lives and how they are being and can be addressed, as well as outlining ways groups can become involved with the Convocation process. One of the key ways groups can support the Convocation is by raising money for travel funds and scholarships, particularly for international women.

You can learn more about the convocation and begin participating in the Convocation process by visiting the website at www.icuuw.com. Check back often as new information will be posted as it becomes available. Major events of the Convocation will be broadcast live and available as podcasts.

We hope those who participate in the Convocation process will benefit from new friendships and connections among women from different countries. We hope you will all join in creating and supporting new and strengthened global partnerships and a renewed commitment to action.

For more information and to make a donation, please contact Laura Nagel, Convocation Coordinator, at convener at icuuw.com Details are found at www.icuuw.com.

To UUWR and UUWF
From Rev. Elinor Artman

Twenty years ago, when Cakes was first published by the UUA, they anticipated the need for training in this radical curriculum. The UUA funded "Training the Trainers" on both the west coast and the east coast. Tracey Robinson-Harris and I were asked to be the training team -- a challenge and a privilege! At the first training, in Palo Alto I believe, I looked across the circle - and there was Shirley - coming to be "trained" in her own curriculum! What an honor. The idea was that we would train leaders from the Districts, and then they would return home and do District trainings. Since the UUA is not involved in the revision, the Districts might consider doing some training. Use your power, women, and ask for it!

-- Elinor

Grassroots Cakes Facilitators Organizing

Central Midwest District's two women's groups: UU Women's Connection (formerly CMwD UUWF) and CMwD Women and Religion Committee have begun to organize Cakes for the Queen of Heaven Train the Trainer sessions in their District.

Their goal is to be able to present at least three training sessions at widespread locations in CMwD starting Fall 2008. Eight women are on board so far, including at least three who facilitated the original events. Some are from CMwD WR, some from Women's Connection, some are UUWF members, and there is a liaison from Continental UUWR. One even has her copies of the handouts from the 1991 sessions to guide the group in putting together the program this time.

Additionally, they plan to offer the materials they develop to the Continental core group to pass along to other District W&R groups. The hope is that the methods and materials will be broad-based enough to also apply to the second section of Cakes when it's published. For more information, contact CakesTraining@uuwr.org

By Helen Popenoe

Who are the most vulnerable in Guatemala's political violence (militarily reinforced)? The native Indian women and children. In all, 200,000 suffered from the atrocities of the civil war and it continues though the war is officially ended. The powerlessness of the traditional Indian communities in civil society is changing due to beginnings of growth in their own economic power. Found in the history by Carol A. Smith with the assistance of UU W&R's Marilyn M. Moors, Guatemalan Indians and the State: 1540 to 1988 is a fact that appears true today, "What the state created by its changing but continuous use of coercion against them [the Indians] were the strongest institutions of civil society in Guatemala; the corporate Indian communities formed not in response to economic exploitation per se, but in response to state attempts to eliminate local political autonomy. … The corporate Indian community (together with a powerful socially formed sense of Indian identity) is not a historical survival [that has remained passively static], it is constantly formed and reformed political response to real, existing conditions, mostly political but also cultural and ideological." Eliza is aligning her work with this revolutionary power in "A Thread of Hope" (See below).

Greetings!

The BIG NEWS is that A Thread of Hope's ONLINE STORE WAS READY TO USE ON WED. DEC. 5! We will be sending along another announcement as soon as we are up and running. Everything from old favorites such as handwoven rayon chenille scarves to new fancy beaded jewelry!

Your purchases make a big difference to the Mayan women with whom we work in Guatemala, and to their families. By having steadier income, these women can make sure their children are well-nourished and in school. They can feel more empowered in their lives. They too pass along their thanks.

Best wishes --
Eliza Strode
A Thread of Hope, athreadofhope@yahoo.com
phone: 617-308-7026
web: http://www.athreadofhope.org

Central Midwest District Women and Religion
February 22-24, 2008
Winter Woman Spirit at NorthShore Unitarian Church, Deerfield, Illinois
"Dancing on the Threshold of Balance: 20 Years of WomanSpirit"
Keynote Speaker: Rev. Shirley Ranck, author of the 1986 "Cakes for the Queen of Heaven" curriculum and the new 2007 "Cakes...In Ancient Times."

Contact: Karin Janowski
http://www.womenandreligion.org

We of UUW&R are honored to announce the formal installation of our Co-Convener, Addae Watson, as the minister of First Universalist Church of Southold in New York.

Our online UUWR Store is rocking and rolling! Orders continue to come in. See the cool things at http://www.uuwr.org/store.htm

FEATURED UUWR STORE ITEM: The Re-Release of RISE UP AND CALL HER NAME A Woman-honoring Journey into Global Earth-based Spiritualities by Elizabeth Fisher Now available in DVD, CD, and PDF formats with spiral bound Leader's Guide and Sourcebook! Originally published by the UUWF in 1995, this multicultural and multimedia course has been experienced by thousands around the world. Many have been profoundly moved by its exciting exploration of sacred narratives that honor the cross cultural female divine, as well as the many diverse and creative activities included. This re-release contains all the original content but is more flexible. Easier-to-use formats give facilitators additional possibilities for programming. Components are sold as a complete kit or separately. See www.RiseUpandCallHerName.com for more detailed information. Complete Kit contains: Leader's Guide to 13 individual sessions, each running from 2-3 hours-with complete facilitation notes, orientation essays and group leadership guidelines; also suitable for solo use. Spiral bound. Two hour DVD of woman-honoring sacred art, both ancient and contemporary, that is sensitively narrated in 11 individual segments with full color menu. Music CD of chants, songs, stories, and instrumental selections which express the emotional essence of the journey. Selections playable in any order. 385 page Sourcebook in a PDF searchable file comprised of background and resources. It is recommended that each participant have a copy of this file or a printed version of this Sourcebook to use for home study. File can be shared with participants or additional copies of file on disk can be purchased. 385 page Sourcebook in spiral bound format, printed on recycled paper with a cover in black and white of the new Rise Up collage. Same content as the PDF file. Some participants may prefer the printed format. See Rise Up website for details. Complete Kit -- $100 Kit includes Sourcebook in both print form and disk form. Components individually: Leader's Guide - $25 DVD - $30 Music-CD - $20 Sourcebook on CD-ROM - $10   TO ORDER ONLINE USING PAYPAL OR CREDIT CARD, go to www.uuwr.org/store.htm. All prices include shipping and handling in the continental United States and Canada. Other locations please inquire by calling 510-236-9131, or by email to lizfisher@RiseUpandCallHerName.com

Remember to fill in the UU W&R survey, please.

W&R Herstory Survey

As a first step in the documentation of the effects of the 1977 Women & Religion Resolution, we invite you to share your experiences and reflections by completing a short survey. You can access the survey online at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=108723474835. Or you can contact Dorothy Emerson at RevEmerson@aol.com or 781-483-3133 and she will send the survey to you via email or snail mail.

HOORAY FOR US

By Nancy M. Wehrle

Time has changed us all,
Life with its years has polished us,
Scrubbed off some of our beliefs, conceptions and presumptions.
Looking back we see ourselves.
We were strong, confident, and innocent.
We've all been through changes, gradual and dramatic.
Births, deaths and crises have altered us.
And yet we have landed on our feet.
Hooray for us!
Hooray for our resiliency, our bravery and love.
We have looked the enemy in the face and discovered
It is a part of us.
And from this knowledge, we each are creating something new,
Grounded in experience but raised to a higher level.
Hooray for us!

By Misty Sheehan

And the Future?

Where do we go from here? What are most essential as tasks for us as women within our religion? What is our vision for the future?

In my reading recently on religion in the global context, I came across some questions that I think we should all ask ourselves as a preliminary to the Convocation which is coming up 2009. I don't have many answers for them but they have caused me to think seriously. They are:

How is religion to be understood in a post-colonial and post-Cold War world?
Who gets to name groups or movements as religious or relegate them to political movements?
Who has the authority to speak for or about religions?
What categories are appropriate for inter-diversity of religious traditions?
How do we understand diversities within traditions and differences across traditions?
How do we understand that religions differ in different ways?
How do we hear the voices of critics or dissenters within religious traditions?
How do we understand the roles religions are playing globally in the resisting of the continued incursion of Western political, economic, and social values?
How do religions relate both locally and globally to their political and social reality?
How do they connect to issues of ethnic and national identity?
How do they intersect with political violence?
What role do they play in social change or resistance to social change?