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March 18, 2011
Contents:
I. UUA/UUSC Japan Relief Fund
In the wake of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan this past Friday, the UUA has been in contact with our religious partners in Japan to express our concern and our willingness to partner with them in recovery efforts.
As the news from Japan worsens, President Morales sends his heartfelt sympathies to all those struggling to cope with this terrible disaster:
As soon as the UUA received word of the tragedies of Friday, March 11, we reached out to our religious partners in Japan: Rissho Kosei-kai, Tsubaki Grand Shrine, the Konko Church of Izuo, the Tokyo Dojin Church, and the Japan Chapter of the International Association for Religious Freedom. We have worked in close partnership with these outstanding organizations for many decades, and have been in contact with them since Friday. I can only imagine the overwhelming sadness and fear they are experiencing, even as they try to determine their next steps.
To this end, the UUA/Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) Japan Relief Fund has been established to support the recovery efforts of our religious partners in Japan, as they consider the specific efforts to take to support the work of recovery. I encourage anyone wishing to contribute to this crucial effort to read more about the UUA/UUSC Japan Relief Fund.
Read President Morales's statement on the tragedy in Japan and make a donation to the UUA/UUSC Japan Relief Fund today!
II. UUA Signs On to National Religious Campaign Against Torture Statement
The UUA joined with religious leaders throughout the U.S. in signing the National Religious Campaign Against Torture's (NRCAT) most recent advocacy effort, which calls on the U.S. to sign and ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT) as a means to provide safeguards so that torture never happens again.
As people of faith, we were horrified to learn of the abuses perpetrated by our government onthose detained as suspected terrorists in the years after the 9/11 attacks. Torture and abuse arecontrary to our belief in the fundamental dignity of each human being and violate U.S. law
One of the most promising international safeguards to prevent torture is OPCAT. This protocol builds upon the UN Convention Against Torture by requiring each signatory country to develop its own independent process of overseeing its detention facilities (including prisons, police stations, immigrant detentioncenters)to help ensure that cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, including torture, does notoccur anywhere in that country. It also requires each signatory country to make its detentionfacilities accessible to occasional review by an international panel.
As of October 2010, 74 nations have signed OPCAT, and 50 nations have ratified it. It is timefor the United States to do the same.
View NRCAT's statement and learn how your congregation can get involved in the effort to ratify OPCAT!
III. International Women’s Day: Ela Bhatt Counted Amongst “Women Deliver 100″
Ela Bhatt, founder of the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), a partner of the UU Holdeen India Program, is on the list of top 100 people working to advance women’s lives worldwide.
In line with 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day, which took place March 8th, advocacy organization Women Deliver has announced the “Women Deliver 100,” the group’s list of the hundred “most inspiring people who have delivered for girls and women.”
Continue reading about Women Deliver!
IV. UU-UNO Spring Seminar
The UU United Nations Office (UU-UNO) will be hosting its 2011 Spring Seminar April 28-30, 2011, in New York City.
The theme for this year's seminar is: Empower Women for a Better Tomorrow!
For more information, visit the UU-UNO's website!
V. Tsubaki Grand Shrine Scholarship
The Tsubaki Grand Shrine Scholarship is available to Unitarian Universalist (UU) seminarians (in candidate status) attending non-UU theological Schools who have an interest in international and interfaith engagement.
Scholarship recipients will be provided with expenses for travel to the Tsubaki Grand Shrine (TGS) in Suzuka, Japan, as well as room and board at the Shrine for two to three weeks. Starr King School for the Ministry has a similar program, and Meadville/Lombard is in the process of developing a similar program.
The deadline to apply for the Tsubaki Grand Shrine Scholarship is April 1, 2011.
Learn more about the Tsubaki Grand Shrine Scholarship and apply today!
VI. ICUUW Winter Newsletter Now Available
The Winter edition of the International Convocation of Unitarian Universalist Women's (ICUUW's) newsletter is currently available online.
In this edition are updates on:
New International Board Members; the upcoming Transylvanian Convocation; the UN Women’s Agency; conference call information; success stories from the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA); information about the African Rural
Schools Foundation; and more!
Read the ICUUW's Winter newsletter online!
VII. UUJME Human Rights Trip to Israel/Palestine
Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East (UUJME) will be hosting a trip to Israel/Palestine July 16 - 27, 2011.
Join the tour for an extraordinary and unforgettable experience!
- Meet with Palestinian and Israeli peace activists and political leaders, Israelis from both ends of the political spectrum, and members of Hamas and Fatah
- Visit one or more Jewish settlements
- View the separation wall/ fence and experience checkpoints
- Visit East Jerusalem, including the Old City and Western Wall, the Dome of the Rock, Al Aqsa Mosque, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
- Spend two nights in Palestinian homes and tour several West Bank cities as well as Jerusalem,
Tel Aviv, Haifa, Nazareth, and the Galilee area
Provide moral support for those working on the ground for a just peace, then return energized and informed to work more effectively for a just peace from here.
Learn more about the UUJME Human Rights Trip to Israel/Palestine!
VIII. Sustainability Research Internship in Mexico
June 30-August 1, 2011
Learn how NAFTA has been pushing campesinos off the land and driving them to El Norte. Observe how people are striving to make life sustainable in their communities.
The Center for Global Justice (GJC) presents its fourth annual, Summer Research Internship Program scheduled from June 30th through August 1st, in San Miguel de Allende, in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato.
This Research Internship Program is planned as a cross-cultural, cooperative learning experience for activists and college students (upper division undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate) who will study under the guidance of an outstanding international faculty.
Interns will examine and analyze the realities of corporate globalization through selected readings, lectures and on-site, faculty-supervised field investigations culminating in reports intended for publication on the Global Justice Center’s web site. The program is organized to acquaint interns with the social, economic and political realities influenced by US trade and foreign policy supporting corporate globalization over the past half century.
Read more about this internship opportunity!
IX. ICUU Global Chalice Lighting - March 2011
The International Council of Unitarians and Universalists announces the 91st in its monthly series of global chalice lighting readings. Congregations worldwide are invited to participate.
All ICUU-affiliated groups have been asked to submit brief chalice lightings for the project. Every month, a reading will be distributed to Unitarian and Universalist congregations around the world. We ask each congregation to use the reading for at least one worship service in the designated month, identifying it as the “Global Chalice Lighting” for that month and naming the group which submitted it. Readings will be circulated in English and, where different, in their original language.
It is hoped that the ICUU Global Chalice Lighting Project will enhance the worship experience in our congregations and raise awareness of the international dimensions of our religious movement.
This Global Chalice Lighting is submitted in German and English by the Unitarian Universalist Forum of Vienna, Austria. It is to be used during March 2011.
German
Wir leben in einer Zeit der Wissenschaft, wir versuchen angestrengt die Welt um uns herum zu verstehen und so das Rätsel an der Wurzel unserer Existenz zu lösen. Jetzt, wo die Menschheit nach den fernsten Sternen greift, sollten wir da nicht auch nach etwas greifen, das uns so nahe scheint und doch in unseren Leben oft ferner ist als der fernste Fleck am Firmament: nach den Herzen unserer Mitmenschen? Die Flamme, die wir nun entzünden, soll uns ein Leuchtfeuer sein in der Dunkelheit, die uns trennt. Es soll uns nicht nur unterstützen in der weltweiten Vereinigung der Unitarier und Universalisten sondern das wertvolle, wundervolle Band stärken, das alle Menschen von jeher verbindet.
English
We live in a time of science, we try very hard to understand the world around us and think that by doing so we can solve the miracle at the root of our existence. As humanity reaches out for the farthest stars should we not reach out as well for something very near and still in our life often farther than the farthest speck on the firmament: to the heart of our fellow human beings? The flame we are lighting now shall be a beacon in the darkness that separates us. It shall not only help us in uniting Unitarian-Universalists across the world but strengthen the treasured, miraculous bond between all people that exists since the beginning of time.
Andreas Bolhar-Nordenkampf
Unitarisch-Universalistisches Forum
X. Events
- April 1-3, 2011: "A Humanist's View of Spirituality: Paths to Understanding," European Unitarian Universalist (EUU) Spring Retreat, Spa, Belgium
- April 28-30, 2011: UU-UNO Intergenerational Spring Seminar, New York City
- May 14-26, 2011: UUPCC Pilgrimage to Transylvania
- July 16-27, 2011: UUJME Human Rights Trip to Israel/Palestine
- September 28-October 4, 2011: Spiritual Journey in Tierra de Fuego, Argentina
- November 4-6, 2011: European Unitarian Universalist (EUU) Fall Retreat, Oberwesel, Germany
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