UCC News...

This page contains the following items:

• initiatives for which other Unitarian congregations have asked for our help or participation.
• news items from Canadian Unitarian Council (CUC).

The items are in reverse chronological order.

HIGHLIGHTS From the Canadian Unitarian Council Board MEETING SEPTEMBER 2008

Sustainability

The Board is committed to a CUC that operates with a sustainable staffing model, by which we mean that our paid staff are clear about what work they are being asked to do, that the amount of work being requested is reasonable, and that we treat our staff in accordance with our principles. In addition, we have to be realistic about the amount and kinds of work we can expect to accomplish through volunteer efforts. We are developing a budget proposal for 2009 that is part of a long-term commitment to balanced budgets. We do anticipate that this year’s budget will need to carry a deficit, but we are striving to make sure that the amount of the deficit will be less than it had to be last year. We are particularly pleased that Linda Thomson has agreed to serve as our Acting Executive Director at least to the end of this calendar year, and perhaps beyond, to assist us in developing a model that takes into account the current realities. ( While she serves in this capacity, we will contract for an assistant who will temporarily take on much of her work as DRS-East. A two-year interim Director of Lifespan Learning position is also currently being advertised, and we anticipate that it will be filled by the end of October. That job description also includes assisting in the development of our sustainable model.) We will provide information along the way and offer opportunities for regular dialogue, so that our membership becomes an integral part of the directions we choose to follow. We recognize, of course, that any final decisions will have to be made at the annual meeting.

Staying Oriented Towards our Mission.

It is this board’s perception that we are in a necessary and predictable transition, not a crisis. For many months we have had a team working on reviewing our board policies to more directly relate them to the CUC’s mission (Growing vital religious communities in Canada). In doing so, we can develop adequate monitoring systems to ensure we meet our goals on an on-going basis.

Going-4-ward

The Board continues to move forward with the short-term plan presented at the Annual Meeting in Ottawa. We will be offering opportunities for input through workshops at each of the regional fall gatherings. Highlights of where these initiatives stand are attached.

Covenantal Relationships

Within our CUC, we create religious communities wherever individual UUs come together to be nurtured, to grow, and to act. We are a community of communities”, and our communities include not only our congregations, but also our Youth, our Ministers, our Lay Chaplains, our Social Responsibility Groups, and other groups of UUs who gather for common purpose and shared values. By developing formal covenants between our communities we can have a clearer understanding of our relationships, how we work together towards our shared goals and our responsibilities to each other. For example, we are already well on the way to establishing a formal covenant with ministers through their professional organization, the Unitarian Universalist Ministers of Canada (UUMOC). We are also delighted to report that, at our meeting, the Board committed to create a covenant with the Canadian youth community (struggling in the wake of major changes in continental programming by the UUA) through a revitalized and re-mandated Canadian Advisory Youth/Adult Committee (CAYAC).

The Board re-affirms that there is no implied hierarchy in the relationship between the CUC and the member congregations. We are all in service together. The CUC is the creation of its member congregations, conceived as a way to act in concert to accomplish things that can’t be accomplished alone. We understand our role as trustees to be that we ensure that the communities within out midst coordinate, connect, and build coalitions.

The CUC Board is committed to dealing fairly and decisively with the current challenges facing the CUC.

By acknowledging the covenantal relationships between the communities that make up the CUC, we see its continued success will hinge upon a sense of shared ministry that must pervade our movement. The Board came away from this meeting electrified by the possibilities.

Board of Trustees, Canadian Unitarian Council

Jean Pfleiderer, President (Eastern Region)

Kalvin Drake, Vice President (Central Region)

John ("Mich") Michell, Treasurer (Western Region)

Ron Bulmer, Secretary (Eastern Region)

Peter Scales (BC Region)

Jan Greenwood (BC Region)

Jean Armstrong (Western Region)

Rev. Christine Hillman (Central Region)

Ex-officio: Linda Thomson, Acting Executive Director

UUMOC Observer: Rev. Carole Martignacco

Youth Observer: Sean Neil Barron