December 16, 2011
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The Unitarian Union of North East India (UUNEI) has just launched their new website, www.uunei.org!
The Official website of the Unitarian Union North East India (UUNEI) was launched December 10th by Rev. Derrick P. Pariat, President of the UUNEI. In his inaugural address, Rev. Pariat highlighted the need of having a website as a means to reach out to people who are not aware of the Khasi Unitarians, to reach out to fellow Unitarians around the globe who would like to know more about Khasi Unitarianism, and as a medium to reach out to Khasi Unitarians studying and residing outside the North East.
Have a look and join us in congratulating our friends in the Khasi Hills on their beautiful new web home!
In preparation for the UUA's 'Justice General Assembly' in Phoenix, AZ (June 20-24, 2012), the Faith Without Borders program and the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) have jointly organized three opportunities for service/learning trips to the U.S./Mexico border with our partner organization, BorderLinks.
Through education, meetings with partners, service opportunities, and theological reflection, participants will grow in understanding the human rights issues at stake on the U.S./Mexico border and return to their homes informed and inspired to be leaders for Immigration Justice. All Unitarian Universalists (over 16 years of age) are invited to attend one of the January, April, and May trips!
Learn more about how you can join one of the Borderlinks trips to Mexico in 2012!
The UUA and UUSC led another successful service learning trip to Haiti from December 3-10.
Throughout the trip participants blogged about their experiences in Port-au-Prince and the Central Plateau:
Our work has involved helping build a community center in the middle of the circle of homes. We have carried rock and cement by hand and, if we are lucky, by one of the two wheelbarrows in this community, although this was rare. We have poured cement, built a door, planted trees, and cleared vegetation. One of our members, Sally Beth, called on her experiences in Mali and Uganda, to teach village residents and volunteers alike how to construct and use a wood-burning stove far more efficient than the cooking facilities currently being used in the village. This will have a huge impact on the lives of these people.
Read reflections and view photos from the journey!
As the winter season approaches, the UUA's International Resources Office recommends consulting our Winter Holidays resource booklet for suggestions on ways to express commitment to our Sixth Principle: We Covenant to Affirm and Promote the Goal of World Community with Peace, Liberty and Justice for All.
View our resource guide of suggestions for celebrating the winter holidays!
Jan W. Dash, UU-UNO Climate Initiative Chair, blogs about the Durban Climate Change Conference:
Climate impacts are occurring now and are becoming more severe, but these impacts are only a faint rumbling of the much more severe impacts our grandchildren will experience if we do not hold greenhouse gases concentrations below the levels that science tells us are needed.
The goal of limiting global temperature rise to 2 degrees C adopted at Copenhagen and Cancun will probably not be possible with the voluntary efforts announced so far, and will be made much more problematic with delay. We are already seeing possible climate impacts with California wildfires, Texas drought, and increased hurricane intensity. Continue Reading
One year after legalizing gay marriage, the lower house of Argentina’s Congress passed a gender identity bill, which will give trans people in Argentina the right to gender recognition under the law.
This bill will also allow trans individuals to access proper health care, such as hormonal or surgical treatments, within the public health system. In order to become a law, the Senate will have to approve the bill in 2012. Continue Reading
The International Council of Unitarians and Universalists announces the 100th 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 by the Unitarian Union of North East India. It is to be used during December 2011.
We kindle the chalice flame, symbol of our gathered community, across faiths, across cultures, beyond borders. May it lead us from the shadows into the light, from ignorance to wisdom, from untruth to truth, from exclusiveness to inclusiveness from mortality to immortality. May the flame be a symbol of warmth, kinship, wisdom, truth and liberty. Khublei.
Rev. Derrick Pariat
Unitarian Union of North East India
- January 24-27, 2012: Borderlinks Trip to Mexico
- January 30-February 6, 2012: Culture, History, Partnership, and Women’s Livelihood, Philippines
- February 3-5, 2012: IARF US Chapter Conference: "Faith, Interfaith, and Freedom," Hilton Head, SC
- February 7-12, 2012: ICUU Gathering in the Philippines
- March 10-17, 2012: UUSC-UUA JustWorks Trip to Haiti
- March 13-21, 2012: UUPCC NE India & Khasi Hills Pilgrimage
- April 12-14, 2012: UU-UNO Spring Seminar, New York City
- April 14-26, 2012: UUPCC Transylvanian Pilgrimage
- April 20-22, 2012: European Unitarian Universalist (EUU) Spring Retreat, Rolduc, Netherlands
- April 20-23, 2012: Borderlinks Trip to Mexico
- April 28-May 5, 2012: UUSC-UUA JustWorks Trip to Haiti
- May 25-28, 2012: Borderlinks Trip to Mexico
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