Moderator Denny Davidoff called the plenary to order at 12:45 pm. Following the lighting of the chalice by Elizabeth Martin and Brian Richichi; Youth Caucus Manager and Dean respectively, Davidoff called on the Rev. Wayne Arnason, Secretary of the Association, to make announcements.
Presentation of Actions of Immediate Witness
Davidoff called for presentation of Actions of Immediate Witness, which (by the bylaws) state that not more than six Actions may be admitted to the Agenda for possible final action, and that a two-thirds vote of the delegates must support admission of each one to the Agenda.
Davidoff invited sponsors of each Action to make a two minute presentation, following which there was a vote to determine which of the proposed Actions of Immediate Witness would be admitted to the Agenda.
The following proposed Actions of Immediate Witness were presented:
- Ballistic Missile Defense System — presented by Jeff Brown, Missisauga, ONT
- Campaign Finance Reform — presented by Ray Lewis, First Unitarian Church, Portland, OR
- End the Death Penalty — presented by Gail Sparr, 1st UU Church of Nashville, and Jan Carlson Bull, Kansas City, MO
- Handgun Legislation — presented by representatives of the UU Congregation of Atlanta, GA.
- Protest Against Racial Profiling — presented by Bobbie Campbell, 1st Unitarian Church, Chicago
- Support Tibet and the Dalai Lama — presented by Phil Rutledge, of the UU UNO office.
Action on Proposed Amendment to Bylaw Section 4.12
The next item concerned action on a proposed amendment to section 4.12 of the bylaws, concerning the process for adopting a UUA Statement of Conscience. The amendment would remove dedicated time status for mini-assemblies during GA.
Bob Martin, Chair of the Planning Committee, made the appropriate motion and it passed without debate.
Financial Advisor's Report:
Larry Ladd, Financial Advisor, gave his report. Ladd recognized the contributions of Schroeder Boulton, first UUA Financial Advisor, 1968-1973, and Edna Griffin, who was a civil rights activist and UUA Board member. Click here to download the Financial Advisor's Report as a PDF file. (Click here for PDF instructions.)
Report on Complaints Regarding Sexual Misconduct (Kay Montgomery)
Executive Vice President Kay Montgomery came to the stage to report for the fifth time on this subject, following a vote calling for annual reporting which was passed at the 1995 Spokane General Assembly. For the last two years, Montgomery said, there has been a panel which has met on the subject of safe congregations — and a final report is due this fall. Their charge was to recommend to the Association a UUA response and to survivors of sexual misconduct . Montgomery, commenting on the draft report, said, "It offers hope, rather than retributive justice. But for victims and survivors, the commitment of trust was often illusive and missing. Fulfilling our promise was a dream unfulfilled," she said. The Association, she said, "has largely failed the people most hurt by sexual misconduct in our congregation. Other denominations have done better than we have. The braved and the hurt have been left unministered to… I am profoundly sorry," she said, "…and I pledge that this gap, this failure, will be remedied. This last year, we have tried a nascent approach for victims and survivors. Based on this report, we will change and we will bend toward justice…(for) there is only us."
Montgomery also reported on the progress made on moving church staff compensation toward equitable levels. In 1992, then-President William F. Schulz called for a study of ministerial and church staff compensation. In 1995, guidelines were passed. It was finally found that how we treat our employees is a moral issue. The UU Congregation at Shelter Rock, she said, has provided $800,000/year to aid this effort, and a new compensation survey was completed this year. "We have made authentic progress," said Montgomery, "far beyond what the cost of living changes would get. I am proud of that, and still know that there is work to be done.
"So many people have been so committed," she said, "…but three have been unstinting. They are our President, John Buehrens, our Financial Advisor, Larry Ladd, and Ralph Mero, in our Office of Church Staff Finance. The assembly acknowledged their work with its applause. For the third year, Montgomery noted, Mero has been the person who introduces the offertory at the Service of the Living Tradition. Montgomery called Mero to the stage to announce that $56,632 in pledges and $61,281 in cash had been collected, for a total of $117,913, as compared to last year's $80,000 in 1999.
Following a song led by Reid Swanson, Davidoff called on John Buehrens and Clavin Dame to present this year's Distinguished Service Award. This year's selection committee, comprised of Buehrens, Dame, and Margaret Sanders, announced that the winner of the Association's highest honor was the Rev. Carl Scovel. The citation to Scovel, read by Buehrens, said, in part:
Guided by the great surmise that we are all loved, even before we learn to love, and showing us that love is not so much a way of feeling as a compassionate way of acting, Carl Scovel has ministered among us for more than four decades. Born in China, the son of missionaries, educated at Harvard….(Scovel served as) minister at Kings Chapel for 32 years… Carl Scovel has served us and the church universal as preacher, pastor, and spiritual director….he has been not only a pastor par excellence but a caring exemplar to clergy and laity of all persuasions. Utilizing story and spiritual autobiography to illustrate the work of the divine in all our lives, he has been true to UUism in all its paths…Loyal also to our UU institutions, maintaining a deep Christian faith even while seeing us become what he has called an institutional form of transcendentalism, Carl Scovel has served the UUA (in many ways)…with abiding gratitude, with great respect, and with enduring affection…the UUA hereby designates Carl R. Scovel as recipient of its highest honor…
In accepting the award, Scovel said:
John, thank you for words kinder than I deserve.
Members of the Board, thank you for an award greater than I deserve.
I accept with gratitude this sobering honor. I say "sobering" because the list of honorees includes such luminaries as John Haynes Holmes, Earl Morse Wilbur, A. Powell Davies, Anne Bowman, Conrad Wright, Margaret Barr, Dana Greeley and, my predecessor at King's Chapel, Joseph Barth, as well as colleagues, lay and clerical, here today.
I say "sobering" because I cannot help but think of colleagues, as yet unrecognized, who have labored for this Association and its member churches with an energy and dedication that overshadow mine.
I'm not proposing that we move to a committee of the whole and rescind the board's action. Rather, I accept this honor as an act of grace.
And I accept it in witness to those who were moved by God's spirit and suffered for it more than I:
I thank the Board for acknowledging the power of this spirit moving through and among our people.in witness to my brother and sister ministers who lost their pulpits because they were considered "too religious";
in witness to UU's, lay and clergy, who left us - more in sadness than in anger - for another religious household;
in witness to ministers and members who felt the frustration of all that was not said or sung within their churches, but did not leave, who stayed in faithfulness to friends and fellow members, the larger movement and the longer cause;
in witness to all who asked the hard questions, but did not deify their questions, but kept on asking and asked the even harder questions of themselves;
in witness to those at King's Chapel and First Parish, Sudbury, who taught me how to pray and see God's ways in the world;
in witness to those who have shown us that a small church or an unknown minister can show as much of grace and truth as the big church and the acclaimed success; in witness to those who have realized that tradition is a key, not a lock,
a door, not a wall,
a new world, not a prison cell.in witness to those who know that the radical change which this corrupt culture needs, will come from first changed hearts and then changed lives;
And finally I accept this award for all of you in pew or pulpit who live the life of God's spirit in small groups, renewed liturgies, faith-based public witness, in personal prayer and meditation and in the spiritual renaissance which has touched us along with many others.
Let me say something about my own journey.
I have carried the name of Christian through the four decades of my ministry.
What is it like, to be a Christian in this Association?
Well, if you have seen even one of the Pink Panther films, you'll understand when I say that it's a bit like Inspector Clouseau returning to his apartment at night, knowing that somewhere in the darkness Cato is waiting for him - ready to attack.
Please understand, however, that Cato intends not to disable Clouseau, but keep him on his toes, ready to respond to others, deft to defend himself.
My wife says that in the UUA we all play Cato to each other's Clouseau. We should celebrate adversarial fellowship as well as collegial.
Bless be the tie that binds.
But let me add, and any Buddhist, Muslim or Jewish UU will know that I mean, that it is easier to carry the teacher's name than trust the teacher's promises, to tell the teacher's teachings than follow them, to praise the teacher than to live the teacher's life. We must each be our teacher if others are to walk the teacher's way.
I've talked long enough. Again I thank you for this honor and award.
Ministerial Fellowship Committee Report (Rev. Eugene Pickett)
Davidoff called on the Rev. Eugene Pickett, Chair of the Ministerial Fellowship Committee, to report on the Committee's activities for the year. Pickett reported that 84 candidates interviewed, 2/3 of them women. Of that total, 41 came from non-UU theological schools. 60 were accepted into preliminary fellowship, 12 were encouraged to continue their studies but must return, 9 were discouraged from ministry, and 2 were denied fellowship.
The interview with the Fellowship Committee, said Pickett, is only one part of the decision making process. Each member of the committee reads 60-80 pp. Of background material on each candidate, including biographical materials, essays on why the candidate wants to be a UU minister, descriptions of course work, analyses of each candidate's strengths. There is a one-hour long interview which each candidate has with the MFC, which is anxiety producing for the candidate and can be anxiety producing for the MFC as well. Despite the different backgrounds of members of the committee, Pickett said, most decisions are reached by consensus.
The MFC also has the responsibility for following the career of each candidate admitted to preliminary fellowship for three years, a probationary period. Each year, they receive reports from the candidate and the congregation being served, and each year they grant a yearly renewal. This year, there were 122 renewals. The MFC is, said Pickett, developing a comprehensive renewal process, which they think will be helpful in this aspect of the MFC's work.
The MFC also investigates complaints re: misconduct. This is a slow and deliberate process which is designed to be as fair and just as possible, and which can consume much time and energy. This year, there were five such complaints. No cause to proceed was found in three. The total number of complaints, said Pickett, is low given the 1500 ministers the UUA has in fellowship.
The MFC has also examined how best to credential people in ministry. The MFC is proposing that preliminary fellowship be granted without regard to category, with the same requirements. The MFC is in discussion, said Pickett, as to the basis for conferring recognition of expertise in a particular category.
Finally, Pickett reported that six regional subcommittees of the MFC are now up and running. The subcommittee program increases and enhances the discernment process, allows for counseling, and increases effectiveness of the training program. All candidates must be interviewed by a regional subcommittee — this will ensure greater success in ministry and with the MFC.
Action on Statement of Conscience
Moderator Davidoff called for action on a proposed statement of conscience entitled, "Economic Injustice, Poverty, and Racism: We Can Make a Difference!" Barbara Child, Chair of the Commission on Social Witness, moved the action. Davidoff called for thirty minutes of debate on this issue. One person said, "We need a lot of growth and educating before we can vote on this with our heart, and action behind it…" Another speaker said, "I urge you to lead by voting for this statement of conscience today, not next year…it builds on two UUA resolutions, one for a just economic community, one for an anti-racist UUA."
Questions were raised re: whether the statement of conscience proposed needed to be carried over for another year. A suggestion was made to discuss the resolution as a committee of the whole. Davidoff called for a vote on a proposal to defer the vote on this issue for a year. The motion was defeated.
An Amendment, to make changes on line 51 so that it read, "We acknowledge that this may disturb our own comfort and broaden our interest to include the greater good of an economically just and compassionate community," passed.
Several other amendments also passed. During the discussion, debate was extended by 20 minutes.
The vote on the main motion as amended was called. The statement of conscience overwhelmingly affirmed. Read the official revised text of this SOC here.
Process Observations
Judi McGavin, Trustee from the Pacific Northwest District, delivered process observations regarding the proceeding as viewed through an anti-racist, anti-oppressive lens.
Announcements
The Rev. Wayne Arnason, Secretary of the Association, called representatives of youth caucus to the stage. The youth reported that a homeless man near the Sheraton hotel had almost died during the night, which deeply disturbed the youth. Phil Cochetti of Mainline UU Church, Devon, PA said, "The youth decided to do something about what is going on. We talk and talk and don't get anything done." He reported that the youth went to a mission for the homeless, and asked what they could do that would be helpful. They raised nearly $318 last night between 12:30 and 4:30 am, and with it, bought $290 worth of groceries which they brought to the homeless mission. Kristen Leigh Grassel of Cedar Lane Church, MD said, "The youth are accepting donations to help with this effort, to take more aid to the mission." They asked the plenary participants to donate more funds to increase the aid they were able to provide, and indicated that they could provide a status update at the next plenary.
Rev. Wayne Arnason said, regarding statistics of the plenary, that the Sunday Plenary count had indicated that there were 1011 delegates in the room.
Davidoff adjourned the plenary nearly thirty minutes early, declaring that it would stand in recess until 2:00 P.M. on Monday, June 26th, 2000.
