Looking Forward

(Continued from page 1)

Members of the UUPCC Board and staff during a break in their annual mid-Winter meeting, this year

are bringing on board a fund-raisingconsultant to help us design a plannedgiving effort, to find effective ways tothank those of you who so generouslysupport us. We will meet again atGeneral Assembly in Providence inJune, and you may expect to hearmore there as we gather for ourAnnual meeting.

thank you all for your support. ••

“Live with skillful nonchalance and ceaseless

concern.”

—Prajnaparamita Sutra

to reGIster for a call, send an email to

[email protected] or call the office 9–5 Eastern Time weekdays at 781-275-1710.

Include * your name * city/state * the topic/date of the call you willattend. You will be sent an email with the call-in information 2–3days before the call (please let the office know if you don’t haveaccess to email).

Feel free to submit questions to the speakers ahead of time byemail: [email protected].

2 Spring 2014 •• www.uupcc.org Partner Church News

Issn 1936-0517

Partner ChurCh news is the newsletter ofthe UU Partner Church Council, an independentaffiliate organization of the Unitarian UniversalistAssociation, started in 1993.This newsletter supports the mission and goals

of the Partner Church Council.

Editor: Nancy Daugherty

Publication Advisors: Cathy Cordes, EmeryLazar, Pat Rodgers, and Roger Corn.

Articles for the next newsletter may be mailed tothe editor at PO Box 88, Bedford, MA 01730; or emailed to [email protected].

The UU Partner Church Council is a 501(c)(3)charitable tax-exempt organization.

For information about membership, contactCathy Cordes in the UUPCC office,

PO Box 88, Bedford, MA 01730.

For any other information, contact

the UUPCC office at 781-275-1710, or

[email protected], or

PO Box 88, Bedford, MA 01730

Visit the web site at: www.uupcc.org

Next PCC Deadline:

September 5, 2014

(

(

Keep up to date on the latest partner church news without leaving home!

V I r t u a l c o n f e r e n c e c a l l s

Topic suggestions from UUPCC members are always welcome!

May 7 8:00PM eastern

call with uuPcc leadership

Please join us for our annual call with the UUPCC Leadership. We are pleased towelcome Rev. Gary Smith, PCC Board Chair and Cathy Cordes, PCC ExecutiveDirector. Each year, there are more and more stories to tell, exciting programs toshare. You will not want to miss out on being the most up to date regarding allthings Partner Church. There will also be opportunities to ask questions of ourleadership and you may even wish to send these in ahead of time to the PCCOffice. We look forward to hearing and speaking with you.

* Announcements of upcoming calls will be made on PCC-CHAT and on our

Facebook page—keep a lookout for dates and details!

Recordings of most previous conference calls are available. We routinely record our

Virtual Conferences and post them on the website about one week after the call. You can

go to the UUPCC conference call page (“MEDIA” tab, then “Virtual Conference Calls”)—

www.uupcc.org/media/virtual-conferences—and listen to them on your computer.

held at First Parish in Bedford, Massachusetts.Back row, left to right: Beverly Moore, Eileen Higgins, Ann Gary, Jennifer Emrich, Dick Van Duizend, Diane Rollert,

Margot Fleischman, Roger Bertschausen. Front row: Bruce Johnson, Cathy Cordes, and Gary Smith. (George

Davenport is missing from the picture; Kelly Crocker was on Skype.)

http://www.uupcc.org/media/virtual-conferenceshttp://www.uupcc.orgmailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]@uupcc.org

Please turn to page 8 to read abut the second and third partnerships.

PC Committee Chair Conference Calls

CAROl COOk, UUS OF SAn mAtEO

the Partner Church Council Com-munications Committee recentlyadded a new series of conference callsspecifically serving the needs of Part-ner Church committee chairs. thesecalls have been a goldmine of informa-tion for those of us seeking to revital-ize our committees, engage and ener-gize our congregations, plan trips, dealwith minister transitions and muchmore. Cathy Cordes has been moderat-ing these calls, with participants shar-ing questions, insights, ideas and expe-riences.

On the march 12, 2014 call, weshared much valuable information andlearned of the work of Rev. JenniferEmrich of First Universalist Church ofyarmouth, maine. her focus is on Part-nership with a capital P – Parity, notCharity, working together in partner-ship to make the world a better place.We will ask Rev. Emrich to share hervision with us on a future call this fall.

if you are a Committee Chair orleader interested in revitalizing yourpartnership, or in networking withother committee chairs, be sure to signup! We welcome your input on topics!Future calls will be announced on theUUPCC website and Facebook page,and broadcast to the PCC-chat emaillist.

Recordings of past calls are avail-able on the UUPCC website. Contact [email protected] for moreinformation. ••

www.uupcc.org/media/virtual-conferences

Partner Church News

Proofreader found!

Many thanks to Roger Corn, of theEast Shore Unitarian Church inBellevue, Washington for volunteer-ing his reading skills to thisnewsletter!

three new conGreGatIonal PartnershIPs

UUPCC is pleased to welcome three new partnerships this spring between

churches in the US and churches in the UK and a Unitarian Primary School in

the Khasi Hills of India.

We are excited about the connections between small British churches and small

American churches. We think the similar-sized congregations will have a lot in

common and will be able to share strategies and ideas as well as getting to

know one another and exchanging visits.

1The first new partnership is between the UUs of the Blue Ridge in Sperry-ville, VA and The Church of the Divine Unity in Newcastle upon Tyne. This

new church was chartered by the UUA in 2010 following start-up efforts begin-ning in 2008. The minister and some members of the congregation are nostrangers to congregational partnership. Rev. Russ Savage had experience at aprevious church with a partner in Transylvania and several members previouslyattended a church with a long-standing partner. So when the invitation came toconsider partnership with a small congregation in the UK they were the first inline to accept the call. They are looking forward to “opportunities for mutual sup-port and friendship… and look forward to the possibility of visiting and hostingvisitors.”

Their new partner is the Newcastle Unitarian Church—The Church of theDivine Unity. They trace their beginnings back to 1681 but have been in theircurrent location since 1939 in an art deco building. They do not have a residentminister, rather they are served by guest ministers and worship leaders. Theyare hoping for support and inspiration from a partner church where “Unitariansare thriving.” Several young people joined the church recently, and Helen Petti-grew, member of the management committee, says “We are committed to sav-ing our church for them.”

Notes on a Conference Call with the UUa international office

By linDA lU BURCiAGA

On march 31, 2014, a large numberof listeners welcomed Rev. EricCherry, Director of the UUA’s interna-tional Office, as our featured guest. inaddition, we were pleased to have himjoined by two Partner Church “ambas-sadors,” Rev. harold Babcock fortransylvania and Rev. mark morrison-Reed for four European congregations.

Eric updated us on the three pro-gram areas of the office, those beingResource, the United nations Officein new york, and the UU holdeenindia Program. these three compart-

Spring 2014 •• www.uupcc.org

ments tell the UU ‘Story’ which isbecoming more and more vital andexciting.

Our two ambassadors then updatedthe group on their specific areas ofinterest, with Rev. Cherry filling in forthe ambassadors who could not be onthe call. there was also a lively andinformative exchange among thecallers and guests which then providedfor a conference call not to be missed.Please feel free to download this call atyour convenience so that you mayshare this wealth of information withyour PCC committee or anyone elsewho might be interested. ••

3

http://www.uupcc.org/media/virtual-conferencesmailto:[email protected]

the Most radIcal thInG you can do Is

Introduce PeoPle to one another

By CAthy CORDES

We are really excited about thenew partnerships that have beencreated this year. the new partnershipsinclude churches that now have twopartners, churches new to partnershipsbut with church members or ministerswho have had prior church experiencewith partnership, and some churchesfor whom this is their first experiencewith partnership. Of particular note arethe new partnerships with small con-gregations here and small congrega-tions in the U.k. Rev. Gary Smith is onhis way to attend the British GeneralAssembly, and hopes to encourageeven more churches to consider part-nership.

the office staff and board havemade a concerted effort this fall andwinter to create new opportunities to beof service to partnerships. We created aseries of conference calls specificallyfor Partner Church committee chairsthat have been quite popular. thesecalls don’t have a pre-set agenda. Wetalk about whatever the committeechairs want to discuss. the calls aregreat because there are so many folkson the call with experience to share.topics covered on the first two of theseinclude ministerial transitions, keepingyour congregation engaged, travellogistics, fundraising and more. youcan listen to these calls anytime—theywere recorded—and are available onour website atwww.uupcc.org/media/virtual-confer-ences.

We have published a new guide fortrip coordinators of youth trips to tran-sylvania. We are working closely thissummer with the hungarian UnitarianChurch to develop opportunities tocombine service projects with travel,making the experience a meaningfulone for all. Send me an email if yourchurch might want to participate.

We have also published a new Welcome to Partnership Resource

Notebook for new partners. it will take

exeCUtive direCtor

Year in Review

4

the place of the Partnership Handbook.the 3-ring notebook will be easy toupdate and add to as additional materialis developed. the contents of the note-book will be posted on the website.Churches looking for ways to revitalizepartnerships are encouraged to take alook at it.

We were so excited about the suc-cess of the visit by the choir from theUU Congregation of Atlanta to thekhasi hills in india (see a photo-essayon page 10–11). For the UUnEi it wasa dream come true and they workedhard to make it a memorable experi-ence for choir members. the khasihills will continue to be one of the pil-grimages we offer each year. See theinformation about next year’s dates on


the travel pages of this newsletter andconsider the opportunity to connectwith the Unitarians there.

Do you have ideas of ways we canbetter serve partnerships? the Boardand staff want to hear from you. Pleasecontact any of us with your ideas. Ourcontact information is included in thisnewsletter (see page 19). Come see usat General Assembly in Providence ifyou are there. We’ll be at a worshipservice on thursday; the Annual meet-ing and luncheon is on Friday—and ofcourse we’ll be at the UUPCC Booth(#304) in the Exhibit hall.

And thank you for your continuedwork to keep our global communityconnected. ••

LoUis C. CorNish award

Lee Boeke Burke

Lee Boeke Burke has been chosen for the 2014

Louis C. Cornish “Living the Mission” Award. Lee’s

nomination rose to the top because of her pio-

neering work in developing partnerships in the

Philippines. Starting partnerships from scratch has

not been easy work for our congregations or UU

Church of the Philippines congregations. It’s hard

to imagine having anywhere near the number or

quality of partnerships without Lee’s tireless, determined, and passionate work.

She has managed to make the connection real not just for folks directly

involved in Philippines partnerships, but for everyone

in the UUPCC. We appreciate the work she has done

on the BUILD project, as well as marshalling

resources from North American UU congregations

when tragedies such as typhoons have struck our

Philippines partners. We also note Lee’s dedication to

her congregation’s partnership with a Transylvanian

church as well as a Philippines church. The Cornish

Award honors “someone who has worked tirelessly to

foster the mission of developing and sustaining mutu-

ally beneficial congregational partnerships between

Unitarians and Unitarian Universalists around the

world.” These words capture well Lee’s contribution to

fostering congregational partnerships. ••

2011: Lee in training for a

fund-raising swim in San

Francisco Bay for the

BUILD project.

Partner Church News

Thursday, June 26, 12:30–1:45 PM Room: RICC: 555-556

Worship: Love Reaches Out—Around the World Celebrate with a multicultural worship that includes Unitarian and Unitarian Universalist ministers from other countries and music from diverse cultures. Special elements of U*U worship in various cultures blend together, presenting a joy-ful worship celebrating the richness of our faith and the joys of worshipping

with our partners.

• Rev. Diane Rollert • Rev. Dávid Gyerő • Rev. Károly Vass • Beth Norton • Rev. Gary Smith

Friday, June 27, 12 noon–1:30 PM Biltmore Hotel, Garden Room

UUPCC Annual Meeting and Lunch Including the presentation of the Louis C. Cornish Award to Lee Boeke Burke, and the Steward of Partnership Awards.

On our informative and newly-redesignedwebsite you can:

• Find churches looking for partners.

• Browse our libraries of sermons and partner resources.

• See our introductory video.

• Explore UUPCC Pilgrimage opportunitiesto Transylvania, Hungary, the Philippines, and India.

• Learn about our Sponsor a Student program.

Unitarian Universalist Partner Church Council

Connecting U*Us and building world community.

Look for us at Booth #304

www.uupcc.org

Lunch tickets will be available

at the UUPCC booth through

Thursday at 5:00 PM

Stop by and learn more

about the Partner Church Council,

and meet our people!

2014 awards

Stewards of Partnership

the Board of the UU Partner ChurchCouncil is delighted to announce therecipients of the 2014 Steward of Part-nership awards. this award is givenannually to recognize those in our con-gregations who provide exceptionalcare for partnerships. We know thatlong-term partnerships do not automati-cally sustain themselves. it takes atten-tion, time and loving care to maintainlong distance connections and nurturefriendships. Often this work is not pub-licly recognized even though it is whatkeeps partnerships thriving and congre-gations involved.

the people being recognized thisyear have kept communication going,organized worship services, kept theircongregations engaged, made friends,shared stories—and their lives—with

Partner Church News

their partners in other countries. theyhave cooked and served and cleanedup at countless events. they have vis-ited their partners and helped theirpartners come here. many have organ-ized major programs that have foreveraffected their lives and the lives oftheir partners. We honor and treasureall they have done and continue to dofor Unitarians and UUs around theworld.

We are pleased to award the 2014Steward of Partnership award to thefollowing people:

• tom Darner, St John’s UnitarianUniversalist Church, Cincinnati, Ohio

• Bill lauman, East Shore UnitarianChurch, Bellevue, Washington


• Patricia leiby, First Parish in Bedford, UU, Bedford, massachusetts

• Rodger mattlage, First Parish inConcord, Concord. massachusetts

• kent Price, Unitarian UniversalistCongregation, Castine, maine

Congratulations to all. it is a joy to rec-ognize these people for the dedicationand commitment they have shown overthe years to keep their partnershipsstrong and thriving. We know there aremany more who deserve to be recog-nized, and we encourage you to submitnominations from your congregationfor next year’s award. nominationforms can be found on our website atwww.uupcc.org/awards/steward. ••

5

http://www.uupcc.org/awards/steward

uuPcc regional conference

6

See more photos on pages 7 and 9.

The Regional Conference last January in

Bedford, MA, included two workshops on

planning group pilgrimages that were very

well attended. John Dale, UUPCC travel

coordinator covered general information on

traveling there to visit partners. He also

talked about the visa process in Romania

and having partners visit congregations

here. John was joined by Beth Norton,

Director of Music at First Parish in Concord,

MA to talk about planning choir trips.

Rev. Jennifer Emrich, minister of First

Universalist in Yarmouth, ME and UUPCC

Board member, shared ideas and stories

from her experience with youth “service”

pilgrimages. Jennifer has written a new

guide for youth trip coordinators that is

available for download from our website

http://www.uupcc.org/pilgrimages/planning-

pilgrimage or by calling the office.

oPPortunItIes for youth GrouPs

Are you a youth group advisor or a RE Director looking for a life-changing expe-rience for your teens? We think these programs are worth some thought.

UUPCC is working with the Hungarian Unitarian Church (HUC) and theDávid Ferenc Youth Association (ODFIE) to provide opportunities for UU youthto participate or be junior counselors in summer camps. We are developing themodels this summer and will have more details by fall. We hope to pilot test thisconcept in July 2015.

The basic plan is that US churches could bring 5–6 youth and an adultchaperone. They would attend a camp organized by the HUC and/or ODFIE. Allof the camps are one week long and are in July. This could be augmented witha 3–4 day pilgrimage for the youth, either before or after the camp, to some ofthe Unitarian heritage sites with knowledgeable guides. Here are the basicdescriptions:

youth caMPs: These are for children up to age 13. They are typical sum-mer activities camp and would include a focus on learning English if there areAmerican youth there as junior counselors.

“MoVInG caMP”: This is for youth age 14–16. The camp will move from placeto place with an emphasis on learning religious heritage. American youth wouldparticipate as campers in this camp.

“helPInG hands” caMP: This is a work camp. The organizer of this campdescribes it this way: “During a whole week we're going to help those in need,mostly elderly, by working for them, painting houses, cleaning yards and so on.”

UUPCC will schedule a conference call in late September 2014 to outline thepossibilities for 2015. If you would like to be kept informed for travel next sum-mer and thereafter, please send an email to [email protected].


the UUA international Office andmeadville lombard theologicalSchool have joined forces to create amonth-long Global leadership Confer-ence (GlC) for the next generation ofleaders of international Unitarian andUU churches. the first GlC will beheld this summer in north Carolinaand at the meadville lombard campusin Chicago, illinois.

the attendees at this first confer-ence will include:

• Alpár Bartha, theological student,kolozsvár/Cluj, (hungarian Unitarian Church in transylvania);

• Francisco Javier lagunes, lay-leader of the Free Unitarian Church of mexico City, mexico;

• Rev. tet Gallardo, minister, BicutanUU Church, manila, (UU Church of the Philippines);

• Rev. Darihun khriam, minister,Smit and kharang Unitarian Churches (Unitarian Union of north East india);

• Justine magara, lay-minister, kisiiUnitarian Church (UU Church of kenya);

• Rev. Sofia kucerova, Assistant minister, Prague Unitarian Church (Religious Society of Czech Unitarians)

• Arman Pedro, lay leader, DoldolUU Church (UU Church of the Philippines)

• Blaise ntakarutimana, lay-leader,(Assembly of Unitarian Christians of Burundi)

this conference is designed to supportthe professional development of globalU/U leaders, especially future leaders,in contexts where local theologicalstudy is challenging or impossible. the Conference will begin on June 29,2014 with a week of cultural orienta-tion for each student with a family innorth Carolina. Academic work will

Global Leadership Conference announced

Partner Church News


http://www.uupcc.org/pilgrimages/planning-pilgrimagehttp://www.uupcc.org/pilgrimages/planning-pilgrimagemailto:[email protected]

Global Leadership Conference



Rodger Mattlage, former

UUPCC Board member,

joined current Board

Member Rev. Jennifer

Emrich in discussing ways

to use social media to

enhance congregational

partnership.

Partner Church News Spring 2014 •• www.uupcc

As the snow fell outsideat the First Parish in Bedford, UUPCC

Board Co-Vice-Chairs Rev. Roger Bertschausen and Ann Gary led

a lively worship service to close the January Regional Conference.

The next Regional Conference will probably take place in or around Seattle, WA in late Januaryof 2015. More information will be available in our next newsletter and on our website.

begin at meadville lombard inChicago on monday, July 7 and con-tinue until Friday, July 25. During thefirst week and third week in Chicago,GlC participants will join withmeadville lombard students in twointensive courses. During the middleweek (July 14–19) the Conference willshift to a workshop-type learning environment focused on leadershipdevelopment needs identified by theparticipants.

“We hope this will be an annualconference,” said Rev. Eric Cherry,Director of the UUA internationalOffice. Rev. Cherry said, “the poten-tial here is to link these leaders to oneanother and to US students in a mean-ingful way that could have significantripple effects in future years.” Fundingfor the program is shared by meadvillelombard theological School, the Uni-tarian Universalist Association andGlC participants. if you are interestedin providing financial support for thisprogram in the future, please contactRev. Eric Cherry at the UUA inter-national Office. ••

annIe M. Barr chIldren’s VIllaGe: new socIal hall

.org

The Social Hall was inaugurated onMarch 26 at the Children’s Village(CV). Chaired by Bahun (OversightManagement Committee Secretary),the meeting was attended by both thePresident and the General Secretaryof the UUNEI. Catie Scudera was theChief Guest who graced the occasionwith her husband Cole; she also cutthe ribbon to open the main door ofthe Hall. Rev. D.P. Pariat unveiled thegranite tablet. The CV children pre-sented a nice song at the beginningof the program, and a Bollywooddance towards the end.

Other prominent friends of the CV included both the Chairman and the Secre-tary of the Education Committee, two medical doctors (Dr. D.K. Nongbri & Dr.Ms. Rica Lamar), the CV Administrator, the two CV Mothers, representatives of Kharang and Mawsynjri Unitarian congregations, et al. The Unitarian contractorwho built the Social Hall was perhaps the busiest person today because sheprepared a sumptuous lunch for all after the inauguration. —Khlur Mukhim

7

8

2The second partnership between British Unitariansand American UUs is between the Westgate Chapel in

Wakefield, West Yorkshire and the Unitarian UniversalistChurch in Wakefield, Massachusetts. The current WestgateChapel was built in 1750 and replaced the former chapelthat dated from the late 17th century. Kate Taylor writes,“What we are looking for in a partnership is mutual under-standing and support. We want to get to know you. Someof us just love biographies.” She goes on to say, “Visits arenot out of the question.”

This small congregation is now partnered with the UUChurch of Wakefield, Massachusetts. Rev. Maddie Sifantusserves this congregation part-time while also servinganother small congregation in Massachusetts. “We havealready been in touch. I follow them on Facebook andhave sent some materials from our Bicentennial Celebra-tion.” She went on to say, “I have a personal interest inknowing how music is used in their congregation.”

3The third is between First Parish in Bedford, UnitarianUniversalist in Bedford, Massachusetts and the Mar-

garet Barr Primary School in Lawsohtun, a section of Shil-long in the Khasi Hills. This is a second partnership for theBedford church; they also have a partner church in Transyl-vania and hope to find ways to include them in this newpartnership in India. The introductory letter Bedford sent toLawsohtun said, “First and foremost we want to get toknow you—we want to know the names of the studentsand teachers, and see your photos. We will send you pho-tos of the children and adults in our church. It is a rich

blessing to our church members to get to know about Uni-tarians in another country. We want to know about yourculture and your life. How are the students doing? Is thereanything special going on in the school this month? What are the students in the lower and upper primarystudying? What are your holidays? How do you celebratethose holidays?”

In their reply, the school wrote, “The students in our schoolare very active. Most of the students took interest in partici-pating in different activities organized by the school, liketree plantation, drawing competition, sports, social work (acleaning drive in and around the school campus) and otheractivities organized by the locality. We also have a MidtermExam (in the month of June) and after this exam, theschool gets holidays (Summer Vacation of about 10 daysduration which also gives time for teachers to evaluateanswer scripts). In November an Annual Examination startsand after the exam, the school often arranges an excursion(1st week December before Winter Vacation for about twomonths). On the second week of December the schooldeclares the result, followed by Winter Vacation. Theschool also celebrates the annual Children’s Day onNovember 14 by organizing different programs to entertainthe students.” We are pleased that this partnership seemsto be off to a good start!

We know you join us in welcoming these new partners

to the UU world community of partnered churches and

look forward to hearing about their activities in future

newsletters. ••

three new conGreGatIonal PartnershIPs (Continued from page 3)

Remembering Rita Lazar

By RiChARD vAn DUiZEnD,

With EmERy lAZAR

Rita lazar, a longtime member ofthe Partner Church Circle of theUU Congregation of Fairfax, vA, diedon march 18, 2014 after a more thantwo-year struggle with pancreatic cancer. Rita was instrumental in start-ing both of UUCF’s partnerships (withSzentgerice, transylvania and Puriang,india). more recently, she was themoving force behind the founding ofthe Unitarian Universalists of the BlueRidge (UUBRidge), located in Sperry-ville, vA. that new congregation is

now thrivingand willremain a last-ing legacy ofRita.

Rita lazarwas born in arefugee campin Austria fol-lowing WorldWar ii, of hungarian parents. Ritawas four years old when her parentsmigrated to the US with her in 1949.She grew up in new york City, where


as a teenager she loved todance traditional hungarianfolk dances as a member ofa folklore ensemble. Shegraduated with a BA inAccounting from QueensCollege, and in 1967 mar-ried Emery lazar, anotherhungarian immigrant. Ritais survived by her husband,Emery; their three sons,Zoltan, tibor and Arpad;and five grandchildren.

Our lives were enrichedand inspired by Rita’s energy, joyfulspirit, and determination. ••

Partner Church News

Partner Church News


Left: Past Board Chair Richard Van Duizend

discussed “Money and Partnership” at the January

Regional Conference. Co-Vice Chair Ann Gary

shared lots of ideas and examples in her workshop

“Keeping it Fresh, Passing It On.”

Right: During lunch at the January Regional Confer-

ence, Roger Mattlage shared a video of the recent

Rosia Montana Gold Mine protests in Transylvania

and led a discussion about the issue. For more info

see http://www.uupcc.org/media/news/transylvanian-partners-take-direct-action-support-locals-against-

gold-mine.

UUPCC Travel Grant Program

this month, the UUPCC travelGrant Committee awarded fivetravel grants totaling $2050 in supportof travel to benefit partnership. We hopeyou will be inspired by the followingexamples of the ways congregations areusing travel to enhance their partnershipexperience!

the travel Grant fund was estab-lished by the UUPCC Board to providesupport for travel that furthers the mis-sion and vision of the UUPCC. thepurpose of these grants is to serve as acatalyst for travel and programs thatwould otherwise not occur and whichwill make a difference in the lives of theindividuals and their congregationalpartnerships. Recipients are encouraged

to write, preach or otherwise broadcastto the wider community the benefits andvalue of the UU Partner Church move-ment.Donations to the travel Grantfund are gratefully accepted at any time.

the application process is open toall qualified individuals and congrega-tions both overseas and here in northAmerica. there are two funding roundsper year. Deadlines for proposals for thetwo cycles are march 15 and October15. Please fill out the application online (www.uupcc.org/pilgrimages/travel-grants)or print and mail toUUPCC, P.O. Box 88, Bedford mA01730. Applications must be post-marked or received by the deadline tobe considered.


Reviewers apply the following cri-teria to evaluate proposals:• First visits or very infrequent visitsbetween congregations, or first visitsone-way.• visits that coincide with a specialevent. (Example: church dedication,General Assembly, Community Capac-ity Building workshop, installation ofminister.)• trips that are organized tostrengthen the congregational partner-ship. (how much time will the person/sspend with the partner congregation? isthere a special religious serviceplanned during the visit?)• First-time travel grants for this partnership. ••

2014 Travel Grant AwardeesUUPCC is delighted to announce the following 2014 travel Grant awards:

Follen Church, lexington, mA—FelsöszentmihályGrant amount: $500 / ministerial visitThe grant is supporting plans to host 10 guests from Follen’s

Transylvanian partner church community this fall. The group

will include the minister and his wife, several lay leaders and

some of the younger parishioners.

River Road UU Congregation, Bethesda, mD—FiatfalvaGrant amount: $350 / ministerial visitThis grant is supporting travel by a Transylvanian minister to

visit his partner community during a trip to the US.

Unitarian Church of Summit, nJ—BarótGrant amount: $350 / youth travelThis grant is supporting a youth to travel to her partner con-

gregation in Transylvania, with the purpose of reinforcing the

bonds between the partners’ youth groups.

First Universalist Church of Yarmouth, mE—GyepesGrant Amount: $350 / youth travelThis grant is supporting a young adult to travel to her part-

ner congregation in Transylvania to participate in running

a summer camp for children and youth from her partner

community as well as from several other surrounding

villages.

Main Line Unitarian Church, Devon, PA—VárfalvaGrant Amount: $500 / First-time visit/ministerial visitThis grant is supporting a visit of a Transylvanian partner

minister as well as several members of the lay leadership to

their partner in the US. Over more than twenty years of

partnership, many visits to Transylvania have been made,

but this will be the first time that Transylvanian visitors

have come to Devon. ••

9

http://www.uupcc.org/media/news/transylvanian-partners-take-direct-action-support-locals-against-gold-mine.http://www.uupcc.org/media/news/transylvanian-partners-take-direct-action-support-locals-against-gold-mine.http://www.uupcc.org/pilgrimages/travel-grantshttp://www.uupcc.org/pilgrimages/travel-grants

1

R e p o r t s , N e w s & T r a v e l S t o r i e s

“The Atlanta Choir”—Northeast India Musical Pilgrimage

"And where's that?" was the usual question after friends

were told I was going to Meghalaya, India. Who knew that

this state in North East India has such a high percentage

of Unitarians? In some of the smaller Khasi Hills villages,

I saw chalices everywhere—on churches, of course, but

also on fences, homes, schools, and even outhouses.

0

“The” Choir photo! Taken at Monolith Park near Jowai

photo by David Hinderer

Jowai Unitarian church, oldest in NE India.

Photo by Paula Watson

Chalices: photo montage by Paula Watson

My husband, Rick Irwin, and I, along with Pat Lampert, members of UUMAN,

the Unitarian Universalist Metro Atlanta North congregation, joined 21 other

singers on the first western choir tour of NE India. This wonderful choir (directed

on our trip by Donald Milton III) included members of UUCA, the Unitarian Uni-

versalist Congregation of Atlanta, in what came to be known as "The Atlanta

Choir"—singers were also from churches in Portland, OR; Baltimore, MD; and

Washington, DC. As Linda Arata from Portland said about her decision to go,

"Singing and Unitarians—what more could you want?"

Plans for a 2015 trip are afoot, and I'm hoping that we will

be able to encourage others at UUMAN to go as well.

—Paula Watson

Spring 2014 •• www.uupcc.org Partner Church News

, India;

P

OUR church—Mawsynjri; photo by Paula Watson

Rick, Pat, and I had another key reason for

choosing this choir tour—a chance to meet

members of our partner church in person, at

their church, in the small village of Mawsynjri.

We had been partnered with this tiny church

for several years, but difficulties with commu-

nication made developing a meaningful rela-

tionship challenging. Now we have spent

days in the company of church leaders talk-

ing about common concerns, and an enlight-

ening evening asking and answering ques-

tions with congregation members. We have

eaten in their homes, hugged their children,

and talked for hours on end. We are no

longer strangers reaching out across half the

world: we are truly friends.

artner Church News Sprin

School morning the day Rick and I taught at Nangroi's school near Ma

photo byPaula Watson

Mawsynjri church with bus in background; photo by Paula Watson

"What are some surprises?" I'm trying to convey the sense of con-

nection Paula and I experienced with the congregation in the long,

amazing question-and-answer session we had . . .

We were particularly touched by the conversation we had with the

Mawsynjri congregation. To put this in perspective, imagine that you

live in a big city and have cousins who work on a small family farm in

rural Tennessee. You can imagine the strengths and difficulties this

relationship might have. Then consider how the relationship would

be even more complicated if the farm had very limited access to

electricity, no internet, and they spoke another language. Bridging

this cultural gap could be difficult.

While Bari and Nangroi led the conversation and served as interpreters, the nature of

participation from the congregation was deeply involved, specific, and intriguing.

The feeling of friendship and desire to get to know one another better was strong, and

the conversation lasted for hours. —Rick Irwin ••

g 2014 •• www.uupcc.org 11

wsynjri;School girls in Mawsynjri; photo by Paula Watson

The Reverend Morgan McLean presenting her sermon, and being recorded by Duna TV.

devoN, Pa/várfaLva

400 Years as Unitarians

By JOnAthAn BASS, mAin linE UnitARiAn

ChURCh, DEvOn, PA

in 1613 the followers of Dávid Fe-renc in the transylvanian village ofvárfalva dedicated their church as Uni-tarian. theirs was the first church in theworld to use the word “Unitarian,” andthe building has been in continuous useas a Unitarian church ever since.

in 1992 the várfalva churchbecame partners with main line Uni-tarian Church in Devon, PA. lastAugust, Associate minister morganmclean led a group of 14 pilgrims továrfalva for its celebration of the 400thanniversary of the dedication. One ofthe pilgrims also visited his PartnerChurch in nearby Sinfalva.

A memorable day was Saturday the17th, when we joined our partners atthe first summer festival of Unitarianchurches in the kolozsvár-torda dis-trict. Several hundred Unitarians from12 churches gathered at a park neartorda Gorge. the formal programopened with a sermon. then came folk-

12

Jon Bass of Main Line and Ernő Kolozsi of Várfalva.

singing groups, youth folk-dancinggroups, and finally a brass band. Else-where on the grounds were tents withactivities for children, and crafts andsouvenirs on exhibit and for sale. Eachcongregation prepared a large kettle ofgulyás for lunch. A committee of“impartial” tasters sampled every kettleand declared that várfalva had the best-tasting stew.

A few minutes before 2 p.m. onSunday, August 18, the village churchbell began ringing, signaling that theanniversary celebration was about tobegin. the church filled with congrega-tion members and visitors. Staff mem-bers of Duna tv, the hungarian publictelevision network, were present torecord the ceremony. A procession ofministers, led by Rev. lászló nagy,vice-bishop of the hungarian UnitarianChurch, strolled along the main lineWalkway-Sétány (dedicated two nightsearlier) to enter the church.

the service began with a hymn,followed by Rev. nagy’s keynote ser-mon. Rev. mclean talked about ourpartnership. Rev. Zsolt Barabás, theminister of várfalva, told the history of the church. After several morespeakers, a youth group from the con-gregation recited poetry and presenteda dramatization of a scene from “Egy az isten,” a novel that portraysthe struggles of nineteenth-century


transylvanian Unitarians.the service concluded with an

exchange of gifts between the two con-gregations. the várfalva church pre-sented an oak plaque commemoratingthe 400th anniversary, and main linepresented a photo album documentingour many years of partnership. the cele-bration concluded with a festive dinner.

On the day after our arrival in thevillage our hosts treated us to a tradi-tional hungarian dinner at the Commu-nity hall and told us a surprise was instore for us. After dinner we all gath-ered in the church courtyard where apost stood wrapped in cloth. With greatceremony the cloth was removed,revealing a hand-carved oak sign forthe main line Walkway-Sétány honor-ing the partnership between várfalvaand main line.

throughout our visit, we werecharmed by our hosts’ warm hospitality.most of us made new friends, and thosewho had visited várfalva previouslystrengthened their friendships. Weshared our joys and discussed chal-lenges we face. We and our hostsgained insights into how Unitarianismis practiced in each other’s country—the similarities and the differences. Ourpilgrimage strengthened our faith andmade us realize how essential our part-nership is to the missions of our ownchurch and Unitarian Universalism. ••

Partner Church News

Reports, News & Travel Stories



morristowN, NJ/siNfaLva

feathers, flames, flying,fun—and GulyásBy GABOR kiSS, mORRiStOWn UnitARiAn

FEllOWShiP

Introduction

i discovered early in 2013 that theDevon, PA congregation was going tovisit their partner, várfalva, in August.Since várfalva is right next door to ourpartner, Sinfalva, i invited myselfalong. in fact the minister in Sinfalva,Rev. Dénes Pálfi, was born in várfalvaand his mother still lives right acrossthe street from the várfalva church.(Jonathan Bass has an article about theexperiences of the Devon group on theprevious page.) the attraction from mypoint of view was that it was a JohnDale-organized trip. in other words,everything would go smoothly and all iwould have to do is sit back, relax, andenjoy.

Feathers and Flames and Bicycles

i wanted to bring an interesting andunique gift to our partner. i hit on theidea of asking norman lowery of theDrew University music Departmentand also the Dover, nJ Friends meetingto create one of his Singing masks forthe occasion. in the end he adapted anexisting mask he had called Jewel Bird,and we renamed it Feathers andFlames because it incorporates ele-ments of both the transylvanian (feath-ers = dove) and American (flame =chalice) Unitarian traditions. Beforeleaving on my trip i asked members of

Partner Church News

the mUF congregation to pose wearingthe mask, which i then assembled intoa collage. Symmetrically, after present-ing the mask to Rev. Pálfi, members ofthe Sinfalva congregation posed withthe mask, and Csongor Pálfi assembledthat into a collage as well (see below).

i had asked Dénes if there wasanything special he would like as a giftand he emailed something about abicycle for a congregant who was hav-ing medical problems and needed tobuild strength. it was only when westarted looking for it online in Sinfalvathat it emerged that he meant an exer-cycle or szoba bicikli. We found a goodone, used, on the internet, for deliveryfrom Bucharest. Csongor got a biglaugh when i asked when it would bedelivered. he said, “well, they plan toride it here ....”

Torda Gorge and Gulyás

A highlight of the trip for me was thefirst Unitarian Gathering of the kolozs-tordai District, at torda Gorge (tordaihasadék) on Saturday, August 17. thiswas intended to emulate the success ofthe one which has been going on forseveral years outside of Székely-udvarhely. they rented a large field justat the north entrance of the Gorge, aneasy walk into the Gorge itself, which ihad never seen from that end. theevent was nothing short of a spectacu-lar success. the weather was absolutelyideal, quite warm but not direct sun formost of the day. it was great to meet upwith old acquaintances like DávidGyerő and Zoltán koppándi, and to puta face to online acquaintances likeZsofia Sztranyiczki of the iCUUW.

the day started with an outdoor


Posing with the

“Feathers and

Flames” mask—

Morristown

Unitarian Fellow-

ship on left,

Sinfalva Unitarians

on the right.

service conducted by Botond koppándi(Zoltán’s brother) which featured anexcellent sermon. After that there weremany other events such as folk dancingby kids aged 5 and up, and folk singingincluding a tour-de-force unaccompa-nied solo by an elderly lady who reallybelted it out. there was a tent with pre-sentations by a number of ministers ona variety of topics. there was anarchery demonstration, including“archery skeet” (a target was throwninto the air). there are photos athttps://mufphotos.shutterfly.com/partnerchurch/88.

But the best part, in my humbleopinion, was the gulyás contest.Gulyás, of course is a thick soup—nOt a stew—cooked over an open firein a cast iron pot called an üst. (Easy toremember: add an ‘F’ to get füst =smoke). this is similar in concept to achili cook-off. One interesting finepoint was that each participant villagewas given 5 kg of meat, so everyonestarted off in the same way, and thenwas free to add whatever ingredientsthey liked. Sinfalva was ably repre-sented by Csongor Pálfi, and the win-ner in the end was várfalva. (i’m notsure i agreed with the judges....)

400 Year Celebration

the next day, Sunday, August 18 wasthe big event at várfalva. Jon Bass haswritten about it in detail, so i will con-fine myself to two episodes.

much of the event was translatedinto English for the benefit of theDover group. likewise, Jon’s and morgan’s words were translated intohungarian. in addition to my interest in

13

https://mufphotos.shutterfly.com/partnerchurch/88https://mufphotos.shutterfly.com/partnerchurch/88

Reports, News & Travel Stories


Partner Church

on YouTube!

The UUPCC has a new YouTube

account—and we need YOU to

add the content!

what was being said, i was interestedto follow both sides of the translation.hats off to the translator, who was alsoa Unitarian minister, i think, not a pro-fessional translator. he had a hard job,and executed it admirably. One tinyquibble, though. At one point he wastranslating the words of várfalva’sminister—who was talking about therenovation of the church steeple madepossible by a donation from Dover—and his words were translated as“thanks also to András vernes, respon-sible for the lightning of the steeple.” imentioned to the translator afterwardsthat i think he may have meant “light-ing.”

the other episode was during thecelebration service inside the church,the numbers of the hymns were postedon a board. As we got to the last one,number 321, i started leafing throughthe hymnal. Huh? the last hymn was320! i leafed back and forth, looked inthe index, etc., and didn’t find it, so igave up. But i thought i heard somelaughter behind me... it turns out thathymn 321 is the hungarian nationalAnthem, and in the past it was forbid-den to publish it. So, old hymnals, likethe one i had, stopped at 320, buteveryone knew what 321 meant,namely it was time to sing the hungar-ian Anthem. An interesting tidbit andinsight, i thought.

14

Déva from the air—not a view most pilgrims see!

Flying in Transylvania

One of my favorite artists is a Roman-ian named Constantin Brancusi, espe-cially a statue called “the kiss” whichis in the Philadelphia Art museum. ifound out that he has an outdoor sculp-ture ensemble called The Endless Col-umn (and two other works) in the cityof tirgu Jiu, about 100 km south ofDéva. Since Déva was one of the stops(incidentally, the melite Guest houseis a wonderful place) i thought maybei could take a side trip to see the stat-ues. John Dale kindly provided busand rail websites. Well, there aremountains in the way, and the 100kmof switchbacks takes several hours, andin the end it would have been 10 hoursof travel for just two hours of lookingat statues. then i had a brainstorm—maybe there is a flying club in Dévaand someone could fly me there in 45minutes. Sure enough, i made contactwith Simi Campean and we had it allset up. it turns out that the club has afield a few miles from the castle athunedoara (vajdahunyad) which wason the itinerary, so after visiting thecastle, the bus dropped me off at agrass strip in the middle of nowhere. ifound Simi, and we decided that in factthe weather over the mountains wasstormy, so we would go in the otherdirection, do some aerial sightseeing,and end up in torda, where the groupwas headed anyway.


Szekler Jokes (Székely Viccek)

the folks in Erdély (transylvania) loveto tell jokes about the Szeklers(Székely) who are famously taciturn.my favorite is the one about the hitch-hiker going to háromszék. he asks thedriver once, twice, three times “is it farto háromszék?” and each time gets aone-word answer, “no”. Finally thefourth time he asks, the driver responds“it is now!”

i had great success with the follow-ing Silent Cal joke in a similar vein.Cal Coolidge comes home to the Whitehouse from church one Sunday, and hiswife asks “what was the sermon about,dear?” “Sin” “And what did the minis-ter say?” “he’s against it.”

the Erdély hungarians love word-play and colorful, clever phrases. Oneminister, bidding us a good night, said“i’m off to praise the lord horizon-tally.” it’s very funny in hungarian. ••

Partner Church News

BE THE FIRST to include your short(5 minutes or less) partner church-themed videos!

RWhen you travel—take videosof your Partner’s minister, children

singing, and/or shared activities

R At home—take videos of yourPartner Church events and celebra-

tions, or your presentation of the

Steward of Partnership Award

R Be creative!

Send your video or linkto [email protected].

Thank you!

mailto:[email protected]

P i l g r i m a g e P o s t i n g s

By Ann GARy, UUPCC BOARD mEmBER AnD ChAiR OF thE tRAvEl COmmittEE

First Group Choir Trip to the Khasi Hills a Success

Thanks to the Great Organization and Encouragement

of the Unitarian Union of North East India Leadership

Some “Greater Atlanta” choir members in India.

Our sincere thanks go out to theleadership of the Unitarian Unionof north East india whose able guid-ance and organization helped theAtlanta Choir trip of more than 20people truly “sing the song” to our Uni-tarian brothers and sisters in the khasihills. During five concerts organized inhalls, in churches and on an outdoorstage built for the occasion (!) in Jowai,the group was joined by local youthand adult music groups to perform insolidarity to great acclaim. the presswas there, the crowds were there, andthere was joyful music. But the con-certs were not the only place where theUUnEi made its mark. the hospitality

Partner Church News

twenty years of Partners

The UUPCC has a new 5-minute video abwas shown last year at General Assemblycongregational partnerships and shows thon US and Canadian churches.

This makes a great introduction to partnercomputer when you have a display duringchurch committee meeting. You can use italso be used at the beginning of a Partner

The video can be viewed directly from theinternet, or you can download it to your coHOW TO DOWNLOAD OR SHARE A VIDThis is a link to a printable pdf version of t

http://www.uupcc.org/sites/uupcc.org/files/video

We hope you enjoy the video. If you haveto tell, we want to hear from you. Please cyour story.

of dinners and home stays and the openwelcome extended to the members ofthe group was extraordinary. it was sowonderful that you were able to shareyour homeland with the group. Wethank you!

••

There is a great video of the choir singing “Nearer My God to Thee” in the Khasilanguage. Rev. Helpme Morhmen posted it to our Facebook page after theconcert. To see the video—login to Facebook and search on Partner ChurchCouncil. OR go to www.uupcc.org under MEDIA/News.


hIP VIdeo

out congregational partnership that. This video celebrates 20 years ofe effects those partnerships have had

ship and can be shown on a laptop coffee hour, or for your next partner at a regional or district meeting. It has Church Sunday worship service.

website if you are connected to themputer or disk. Helpful instructions forEO are on our website under MEDIA,

he file:

/download_or_share_a_youtube_video.pdf

a great congregational impact story ontact us at [email protected] with

Looking ahead to the 2014

travel season

Are you traveling to visit your partnerthis summer? Whether you are travel-ing with the UUPCC or by yourselves,you might benefit from reading ourupdated travel resource guide to tran-sylvania which is available on theUUPCC website. Go towww.uupcc.org/pilgrimages, thenselect “Planning a Pilgrimage” andscroll down to “Download the currentTravel Guide for Transylvania (inRomania).”

We always like to hear from youafter your trips. if you have a greatphoto or two that you would like toshare with us for possible inclusion onour website, newsletter, or other mate-rials—please send them our way([email protected]). We are especiallyinterested in connections you makewith those in your partner church.these connections are what it is allabout. Strike forth and enjoy! Our part-ners are waiting to see us.

15

share the News...

We encourage you to share UUPCC

News articles with your church.

Churches have permission to duplicate

and circulate this newsletter and/or to

reprint portions of it in their own

newsletters. If you are reprinting an

excerpt, please credit the UU Partner

Church News and include our website

address (www.uupcc.org) for those

who might want more information.

http://www.uupcc.org/media/news/uu-congregation-atlanta-choir-sings-khasi-hills-videomailto:[email protected]://www.uupcc.org/sites/uupcc.org/files/video/download_or_share_a_youtube_video.pdfmailto:[email protected]://www.uupcc.org/pilgrimageshttp://www.uupcc.org

U U P C C T r a v e l S e r v i c e s & R e s o u r c e s

International Travel

UU transylvania Pilgrimage (on a budget) fall of 2014 aNd spring 2015

two life-changing weeks in transylvania for under $1,150—plus pre- and post-trip extensions

Unitarian heritage and Partner Pilgrimage

september 20–october 2, 2014 & april 18–30, 2015

13 days/12 nights from $1,140/person

Due to the growing popularity of our Spring “budget” pilgrimage (the

May 2013 trip sold out) the UUPCC Pilgrimage Service will add a

mirror image tour beginning in the Fall of 2014. This tour visits all of

the major Unitarian heritage sites in Transylvania as well as a num-

ber of tourist destinations and UNESCO World Heritage sites. A

perfect itinerary for first time visitors! This is the same quality Unitar-

ian pilgrimage experience the UUPCC has been facilitating for

almost 20 years, but at 60% of the price. We have simply replaced

hotels with B&Bs and guest houses, substituted village meals for

restaurants, eliminated the long van ride from Budapest, and taken

advantage of shoulder-season rates. There is an accommodation

upgrade option for travelers who would like the creature comforts of

3&4 star hotels.

16 Spring 2014 •• w

w w w . u u p c c . o r g

U U P C C P i l g r i m a g e s : B r

For registration and complete itinerary visit our website, www.uupcc

Budapest extension 4 days/3 nights — $500 doubles, $595 singles

In addition to the base pilgrimage there are also available pre-tripextensions (Sept. 17–20; April 15–18) to Budapest, one of Europe’smost captivating capital cities.

wooden Churches & Painted monasteries

6 days/5 nights — $950 doubles, $1100 singles

This post-tour extension to the famous wooden churches of Mara-mures and the painted monasteries of Bucovina (Oct 2–6, April 30–May 5).

If you participate in the base pilgrimage there is no additional regis-tration fee to sign up for one or both of the extensions. To registerfor the extensions simply indicate your preference in the notes sec-tion of your registration. For more information and registration mate-rials, visit the UUPCC website at www.uupcc.org and click on “Pilgrimages”.

(Continued on next page)

i n g i n g P e o p l e T o g e t h e r

.org/pilgrimages/pilgrimage-opportunities or call (781) 275-1710.

For almost two decades the UUPCC Pilgrimage Service has helped to cement the bonds between North American UUs andtheir partners overseas. We provide multiple and varied pilgrimage opportunities for Unitarian Universalists of all ages. Formore details on any of the following services or to begin planning your pilgrimage opportunities contact our travel coordinator,John Dale, at [email protected] visit our website at www.uupcc.org/pilgrimages .

Congregational Pilgrimages–Travelwith us on a life-changing visit to your part-

ner church in Eastern Europe, India, Africa,

or the Philippines. Low-cost all-inclusive

land packages include ground transporta-

tion, meals, lodging, guide(s), interpreter(s),

and entry fees. Our in-country experts will

work with groups of 4-50 to develop a cus-

tomized itinerary that fits your interests,

budget and time frame.

Concert tours for Choirs and musical Groups–Looking to expand thehorizons of your music program? The

UUPCC Pilgrimage Service has 10 years of

experience facilitating international concert

tours for UU choirs and a variety of other

musical groups. Buses, performance ven-

ues, advertizing, musical instruments, hotel

arrangements and side tours are all part of

our large-group portfolio.

Youth service trips–Bring your youthgroup on a low-cost/high-return pilgrimage

to Transylvania. They can follow in Francis

David’s footsteps in Torda, Kolozsvár and

Déva, perform a service project in your

partner village, cement your partnership for

years, and come back better people.

Group tours for individuals and“space available” travel— We knowthat not every UU congregation is capable

of organizing their own travel group. For

small churches, churches without partners,

and interested individuals we offer each

year several public trips to Eastern and

Central Europe, India, and the Philippines.

ww.uupcc.org

/ p i l g r i m a g e s

The itineraries for these are posted on the

main travel page of the UUPCC website at

www.uupcc.org/pilgrimages/pilgrimage-

opportunities. If the dates or destinations of

these public trips do not fit your needs we

often place individuals with one of the many

congregational pilgrimages that has space

available. Contact John Dale for a list and

short description of the current opportunities.

À la Carte services for individualsand independent travelers include:

Guides & Interpreters, Car rentals or Car &

Driver, Airport—village—airport van/car

transfer (Budapest BUD, Bucharest OTP

& BAN, Kolozsvár CLJ, Marosvásárhely

TGM) Hotels, B&Bs, Unitarian Guest

Houses and home stay accommodations.

Partner Church News

http://www.uupcc.org/pilgrimages/pilgrimage-opportunitieshttp://www.uupcc.org/pilgrimagesmailto:[email protected]://www.uupcc.org/pilgrimageshttp://www.uupcc.org/pilgrimages/pilgrimage-opportunitieshttp://www.uupcc.org/pilgrimages/pilgrimage-opportunitieshttp://www.uupcc.org

U U P C C T r a v e l S e r v i c e s

Ne india & Khasi hills Pilgrimage

march 8–17, 2015

10 days/9 nights from $1489/person

(fee includes domestic airfare from Guwahati to Delhi)

Experience first-hand this unique outpost of Unitarianism! If youhave a partner church in NE India, are considering a partnership, orjust want to learn more about this branch of our denomination—thisis your opportunity to travel with other UUs on an intimateencounter with our coreligionists. Based in Shillong, the trip will alsospend one night in Jowai and two nights in the CherrepungeeNational Park.

Partner Church News Spring 2014 •• w

Join PCC-chat!

need help with a partnership question?Want to share some news with otherpartners? the UUPCC has an e-maillist service that will keep you in touchwith the partner church community.Every church that has a congregationalpartnership and individuals, groupsand congregations sponsoring studentsis eligible to join.

At least one member of every part-ner church committee should be onPCC Chat. it’s easy to join. Just sendan email request to [email protected] you will be added to the member-ship of the list service. it’s a great wayto stay in touch! ••

•

optional “Golden triangle” extension: delhi, agra,Jaipur

march 2–8, 2015

7 day/6 nights from $1,495/person (fee includes domestic airfare from Jaipur to

Guwahati). Ten person minimum group size.

Old Delhi, New Delhi, the Taj Mahal, Red Fort, Qutub Minar, JamaMasjid, Raj Ghat, Agra Fort, Fatehpur Sikri, an elephant ride intothe Amber Fort—this 6-day tour of Northern India checks all theboxes for first time visitors. 3 nights in Delhi, 1 in Agra, and 2 inJaipur in 4-star accommodations.

Philippines Journeys with UUPCC—march 2015Pricing has not been completed by publication date. For more information visit our

website at www.uupcc.org and click on “Pilgrimages.”

Pre-trip: manila

Enjoy the warm hospitality and lively culture of Manila. Visit one ofthe newest congregations of UUs in the Philippines. Learn aboutthe history of this amazing country that has seen so much—fromthe Spanish who colonized it to the Japanese who invaded duringWW II and the Americans who rebuilt the city after the war. You willexplore the unique heritage and architecture of Manila and get toknow the energetic, young UU presence in Manila for an experi-ence you won’t soon forget.

Negros island: heartland of UUism

Travel to Negros Island from Manila to the heartland of UnitarianUniversalism in the Philippines. Here you will learn how UnitarianUniversalism developed and meet the courageous UUs who areworking very hard to grow their faith and the welfare and hope intheir communities. Enjoy the warmth of this beautiful country and

•

the amazing hospitality of your hosts. We will visit with many congregations—some of which need partners—and also enjoy thebeautiful tropical environment of these lovely islands. Some of theoldest coral reefs in the world lie just off the shore. Dumaguete,home of the headquarters of the UU Church of the Philippines(UUCP), is a college town known as the friendliest city in the Philip-pines. Our hosts from UUCP welcome us with open arms and smil-ing faces. You will have the opportunity to make friends to last for alifetime.

If you have a partner church in the Philippines, sponsor a student,are considering partnership, or would just like to know more aboutthe Unitarian Universalist faith in this culture, join us for this memorable pilgrimage.

Post-trip: village visits or beaches (can be extended as desired)

Extend your visit with an opportunity to spend a few days in yourpartner village or to explore the beauty of the Islands, home tosome of the world’s most beautiful beaches and premier dive sites.

words for worshIP froM transylVanIan unItarIans

UUPCC is pleased to offer a new book called “Humble in Front of God” from theHungarian Unitarian Ministers Associationand the International Council of Unitariansand Universalists. The book is a collection ofprayers and sermons from Transylvanian Unitarian ministers translated into English.

This volume would make great reading as a small group exercise, or the basis of an RE class for adults, as prayers that canbe shared during a worship service, or read purely for enjoyment and your own edification.

You can order your copy today in the“store” on our website: www.uupcc.org. Clickon VISIT STORE at the very top right-handcorner of the homepage. Or call the office at781-275-1710. The cost is $15 and includesshipping via the U.S. Post Office. Order yourstoday—we only have a few copies in stock.

ww.uupcc.org 17

http://www.uupcc.orghttp://www.uupcc.orgmailto:[email protected]

P a r t N e r C h U r C h t r a N s f e r f o r mFOR TRANSFER OF FUNDS THROUGH THE U U PARTNER CHURCH COUNCIL

Please fill out and enclose a form with each check for funds to be transferred. Please type or print clearly.

Note: Funds transmission is a benefit of institutional membership in the UU Partner Church Council

Make check payable to: UUPCC Mail to: UU Partner Church Council, PO Box 88, Bedford, MA 01730

donor Information: Date____________________

Name of Church____________________________________________________________ Phone (____)_________________________

Address ___________________________________________________ City/State/Zip_________________________________________

Contact Person____________________________________________________ E-Mail ________________________________________

transfer amount enclosed: US$t_______________ Check #______________

recipient Information: Country (Please check one) o Transylvania o India o Philippines

Name of Church _______________________________________________________________________________________________________

City/Town/Village ______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Contact Person at Church _______________________________________________________________________________________________

Purposes: Specify amount and purpose of contribution (required)

Amount(s) designated for congregation: ___________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Purpose(s) of contribution to congregation: _________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

DownloaD the transfer form from our web s ite or use the form below.

Transfer Process: How to Send Money

the UUPCC offers a transfer service tochurches wishing to send funds to theiroverseas partners. Please use a com-mercial service if you are an individualtransferring money overseas. moreinformation is on our website atwww.uupcc.org/transfer-funds-other-countries.

• Checks, payable in US dollars, mustarrive at the office at least one weekbefore the transfer date.

• Please round off amounts to wholedollars. We do not transfer cents.

• Please include the transfer Form,along with the check—made payableto “UUPCC”—and send to UUPCC,PO Box 88, Bedford mA 01730-0088.

18

iNdia • UUPCC will process checksas they come in; the actual transferswill be done every three months. theschedule in 2014 is for the ends of January, April, July and October.

the PhiLiPPiNes • the regularschedule for transfers is February, may, August and november. Pleasemake sure checks and forms are mailedby the first of the month so that we cantransfer on the 10th of the month.

traNsYLvaNia • transfers aredone monthly from the UUPCC officebetween the 26th and 30th of eachmonth. transferred funds are wired


from headquarters directly into thelocal church bank account.

Note: the form is for use by theoffice staff in preparing information forheadquarters in the various countries.the bank transfer is done electroni-cally; paper copies of the forms are notsent. therefore, please make sure thatyou contact someone in your partner

village to let them know that the money

is coming. transfers take as long as5–7 business days for the transfer toarrive at church headquarters in tran-sylvania, sometimes as long as twoweeks in other countries.

Partner Church News

http://www.uupcc.org/transfer-funds-other-countrieshttp://www.uupcc.org/transfer-funds-other-countries

Partner Church News Spring 2014 •• www.uupcc.org 19

U U P a r t n e r C h u r c h C o u n c i l

Board of Directors

Rev. Gary Smith, Chair Term to 2015Belmont, mA [email protected]

Rev. Roger Bertschausen, Co-vice-Chair Term to 2014

Appleton, Wi [email protected]

Ann Gary, Co-vice-Chair Term to 2016Upton, mA [email protected]

Beverly moore, Secretary Term to 2015louisville, [email protected]

George Davenport, treasurer Term to 2014tulsa, [email protected]

Rev. kelly Crocker, Term to 2015madison, Wi [email protected]

Rev. Jennifer Emrich, Term to 2016yarmouth, [email protected]

Eileen higgins, Term to 2016miami, [email protected]

Rev. Bruce Johnson, Term to 2016Duluth, [email protected]

Rev. Diane Rollert, Term to 2015montreal, [email protected]

Richard van Duizend, Term to 2014Falls Church, [email protected]

Staff

Cathy Cordes, Executive DirectorP.O. Box 88 • Bedford, mA 01730781-275-1710 fax: 781-275-7008 [email protected]

margot Fleischman, Program [email protected]

John Dale and Csilla kolcsár, Travel [email protected]

libby hanna, [email protected]

Volunteer Staff

nancy Daugherty, Newsletter [email protected]

Richard Ford and Eileen higgins, Community Capacity Building Trainers/Advisors

[email protected]

Pat Rodgers, Membership Database, Matching,and PCC-Chat

[email protected]

Clare Shawcross, [email protected]

If you or a friend wish to receive this newsletter three times a year and to support and participate in

Unitarian Universalist Partner Church Council programs and goals, please fill out this form to join us.

DATE: _________________________ —o n e y e a r M e M B e r s h I P s— ¨ New Membership ¨ Renewal

¨ $30* Individual Membership ¨ $50* family** Membership ¨ $_______ Individual or family Membership PlUs giftfor UUPCC program support

Name: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Telephone _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Address _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

City/State/Province _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Zip/Postal Code _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

E-Mail _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Church Affiliation _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

o Please add my email address to the PCC-Chat list so I can keep up to date on the latest UUPCC news! ****

o Please send my/our newsletter to the above email address.

¨ $50 congregational*** (under 100 members) ¨ $150 congregational*** (over 100 members)

UUA Church Name/City _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

* Canadian members please send $28 for an individual membership or $47 for a family membership

in U.S. funds by check or USD money order to the UUPCC address below.

** A family membership consists of two adults residing at the same address (receiving one newsletter).

*** A “congregational subscription” provides you with up to four newsletters mailed to the church.

**** Your contact information will be used solely by the UUPCC and will not be shared with other organizations.

Make your tax-deductible check payable to Mail your invitation and check to: uu Partner church council UU Partner Church Council / P.O. Box 88 / Bedford, MA 01730-0088

I n v i t a t i o n t o M e m b e r s h i p

BuIldInGGloBal coMMunIty

one PartnershIPat a tIMe!

ENTER ADDRESS ABOVE, WITH MINISTER’S NAME OR PCC CONTACT’S NAME

mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]

Partner Church NewsPUBLISHED 3 TIMES A YEAR

P.O. Box 88

Bedford, MA 01730-0088 USA

Vision:

We envision a worldwide Unitarian and Unitarian Universalist community that promotes peace, justice,and liberty for all, supported by partnerships that areintegral to congregational life.

Mission:

the mission of the Unitarian Universalist PartnerCouncil is to foster and support partner relationshipsbetween UU congregations and individuals in theUnited States and Canada with Unitarian and UnitarianUniversalist congregations, orphanages, schools andstudents in all other countries where partnering issought and welcomed. these will be mutually beneficial, responsibly sustained, and linkedby joint and mutual covenants.

We will:

• BE a bridge that connects congregations around theworld;

• REACh across boundaries to collaborate with oldand new partners;

• CREAtE transformational opportunities for pilgrim-age and hospitality, for learning and for service;

• ChAllEnGE ourselves theologically and openourselves to changed values and behaviors;

• initiAtE partnerships that promote global friend-ships, international awareness, human rights, and abetter world; and

• SUStAin this global vision, enlarging and renewingit as new occasions teach new duties.

ADOPtED At thEAnnUAl mEEtinG OF thE UUPCC

JUnE 26, 2010

U U P a r t n e r C h u r c h C o u n c i l V i s i o n & M i s s i o n S t a t e m e n t

Letter from the Board ChairVirtual conference callsPC Committee Chair Conference CallsNotes on a Conference Call with the UUa international officeTHREE NEW CONGREGATIONAL PARTNERSHIPSExecutive Director: Year in ReviewLouis C. Cornish Award: Lee Boeke BurkeStewards of Partnership 2014 AwardsOPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUTH GROUPSUUPCC Regional ConferenceGlobal Leadership Conference announcedAnnIe M. Barr ChIldren’s VIllage: new socIal hallUUPCC regional conferenceRemembering Rita LazarUUPCC Travel Grant Program2014 Travel Grant AwardeesUUPCC regional conference“The Atlanta Choir”—North East India Musical Pilgrimage400 Years as UnitariansFeathers, Flames, Flying, Fun—and GulyásPartner Church on YouTube!P i l g r i m a g e P o s t i n g sTwenty Years of Partnership VIdeoInternational TravelWords for Worship from TransylVanIan UnItarIansPartner Church Transfer FormTransfer Process: How to Send MoneyInvitation to MembershipUUPCC Contact InformationUUPCC Vision & Mission Statement

partner church news, spring 2014 v21n1 · 2020. 1. 1. · 8

Documents