2002 Friday Morning Worship
Planning Committee

Worship Participants

Rev. Ray Drennan

Montreal Minister Officiates at Friday Morning Worship Service

(Quebec City, QUE - June 21, 2002) The Rev. Ray Drennan, minister of the Unitarian Church of Montreal, Quebec, officiated at Friday morning's worship service at the 41st General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association. Drennan's congregation, located 150 miles from Quebec City, is the closest UU congregation to the GA site. The service's musical selections were accompanied by Sandra Hunt, Music Director of the Unitarian Church of Montreal.

Drennan was costumed as Sebastien Castillion, a theologian of the French Reformation who was born in 1615 in France. Castillion, so forgotten now that a Google web search brought only a single hit, is noteworthy for his ideas-honoring unity and diversity-which were far ahead of his time. Castillion lost his job as a teacher because John Calvin labeled him a heretic for daring to speak out against Calvin's murder of Michael Servetus. Castillion stated that to kill in the defense of ideas was still just killing. He also saw that the majority of people accepted official pronouncements as final and irrevocable, while only a few saw them as invitations for further thought and discussion. Had Castillion not died early, he, too, likely would have died at the stake where Calvin sought to suppress ideas different from his own.

Our roots truly are more diverse than we know, and Drennan reminded us of this through his recreation of Castillion, a clear thinking proto-Unitarian.

• Order of Service for this event
• Sermon by the Rev. Ray Drennan

Reporter Robert Hurst with Deborah Weiner, Editor Lisa Presley; Web Designer Julie Albanese

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