Poster's notes are in italics. Brackets that are not in italics are in the original.
Good evening to you all. My name is [Anonymous-2]. I am here tonight to encourage your affirmative response to the request of the petitioners, of whom I am one, for investigation of and assistance from the conflict management services available through the UUA Joseph Priestly District staff.
It is my hope that, by explaining why I signed the petition, I may be able to shed some light on what I feel is a fair and forward-looking response to the ebbing and flowing of concerns that have been present in our congregation over the past several years. There has been and continues to be a sense of disturbance within our community, which is an unwelcome undertow taking energy and people away from what we might accomplish together.
May I briefly quote from Dana McLean Greeley (last President of the American Unitarian Association and first president of the UUA), which essentially sums up the journey I have been on over the past 5 or 6 years:
"Tolerance is a virtue, but indifference is a vice."
I have tried to keep my own counsel and not become embroiled in any way in discussions concerning the issues that seem to be causing everything from disappointment to disagreement to dissension among our once redemptive community.
As Nancy Byrd has so clearly observed, many of these issues exist because we have "differences of memory"; those of us who have been here long enough (or who have been members or friends of other UU congregations) have experienced a rich tapestry of ideas and speakers, many arising initially as Concerns and Concerned Members from among the congregation, and are now finding constraints, whether imposed or simply accepted, on many aspects of our life together in this community.
I have tried to be tolerant of these changes. However, I have been deeply saddened to hear of instances where others with more gumption have been criticized or have felt reprimanded for exercising their "right of conscience" in questioning where we are going and some of the means that are being used to get there. This seeming lack of "compassion in human relations" is troubling in and of itself, but especially so if it is the cause of the moving on of some of our longtime members.
I ultimately could not be so callous as to exhibit outer indifference when inside I am as deeply affected as those who have been more vocal.
When the April 18 letter and petition arrived, I greeted it with a sense of "finally, something tangible, a common talking paper, that can be discussed openly" and used as a tool for better understanding. I was hopeful that more congregational discussion and sunshine on the areas noted would be forthcoming perhaps in a town meeting, optimistically even in response to the letter having been mailed.
I signed the petition with the hope that our Board will see this request for the consultation of a UUA-trained and UU-experienced listener as a way to bring the undercurrents of several years to the surface. A weekend to come together as a community to dialogue about the issues that are causing misunderstandings, divisions, and pain among us will be important to our long-term health. I invite our Board members to be active participants in this congregational dialogue process.
I have been asked to research the process of requesting conflict management support from the UUA and have received the attached statement dated 2 May 2000 from the outgoing Acting JPD District Executive, the Reverend John Burciaga, in response. (The incumbent Acting DE, the Reverend Richard Speck, will be available in September; however, the JPD staff is available now.) In response to my own sense of what I might be able to learn at General Assembly that would help with resolution of some of the matters brought up in the April 18 letter, I attended workshops on Congregational Review and renewal, and on the Committee on Ministry. I have brought three resources from these workshops that I hope may be of assistance to our congregation:
I thank you for your attention and invite your questions at any time in the future.
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[Note by Pat Moore: [Anonymous-2] is UUCF's Denominational Affairs Coordinator. [Anonomous-2] was a member of the Search Committee that chose Jim Nelson as the candidate for Senior Minister to be presented to the UUCF congregation.]