Category: Congregational News and Events

UUs in New Jersey

UU FaithAction NJ represents nineteen affiliated Unitarian Universalist congregations across the state of New Jersey. By working together, we are able to witness our UU values with a strong, united voice on issues of moral urgency in our state.

The local congregation is the building-block of our faith movement. We think global and act local. We gather locally for community, inspiration, and committed action.

Our congregations welcome people of all ages, backgrounds, genders and sexualities. YOU are welcome here. Consider visiting a UU congregation near you!

Registration Open for *Free* Public Protest/Upstander Training Nov. 18

by Rev. Rob Gregson

Public Protest/Upstander *Free Training*

Have you ever given thought to how *best* to prepare for taking part in public protest?  Wondered what you could possibly do to help someone being harassed?  Ever considered taking part in an act of civil disobedience?

Knowledge = Power.  Come to find answers to these questions and more at our FREE two-part workshop on how to become a (better) social activist.

Date: Saturday, November 18th, 10:00 am-2:00 pm

Time: Part 1: 10 am–12 noon = Upstander Training

Part 2: 12:00 pm–2 pm = Protest and Civil Disobedience Training

 Working Lunch (Bring your own lunch & snack to share!)

Place:  Central Unitarian Church 156 Forest Avenue, Paramus, New Jersey 07652.  Parking is available on site; please consider carpooling to save space and Go Green!

Register: Registration required – Please indicate which training(s) you will be attending.  Space is limited to 60 participants per training so register now!

Click Here to Register

A two part training–come to both or choose the one that fits you best!  (You will indicate your choices on registration)

Part 1 10-12: How to go from being a “bystander” to an UPSTANDER!

What do you do if you see hate-based harassment?  Learn to better predict incidents *before* they happen; how to align with potential targets; de-escalation; safe escape, and much more.

Part 2: 12-2 (Working Lunch, see details above) Veteran activists and newly involved neighbors are invited to participate in an interactive training on how to be an effective and safe person of conscience in today’s political environment.  Topics include: Safety, safety, safety!; Rules of engagement; Finding the types of actions that are right for you; All the what-ifs; and yes, How to get arrested.  (Also, how NOT to get arrested!)

Hosted by UU FaithAction NJ, Central Unitarian Church in Paramus, Hudson Civic Action and American Friends Service Committee. Facilitated by Elena Waldman of Artemis Defense (www.artemisdefense.org) . Free will donations taken at the event.

Vigils across NJ

by Rev. Rob Gregson

Many UU congregations are hosting vigils to honor the victims of the mass shooting in Las Vegas, to advocate for stricter gun laws and to call into question an ongoing culture of violence in the United States.

Cherry Hill UUs held one earlier this week, and Montclair and Beacon (Summit) UUs will be holding their own vigils tonight and Friday.  I hope UULMNJ supporters will turn out and continue to work through our Gun Violence Prevention Task Force to help break this vicious cycle of violence.

UULMNJ Fall Issues Conference: Register Today!

by Rev. Rob Gregson

Registration is now OPEN for the Oct. 14 Fall Issues Conference–only 3 weeks away!

REGISTER NOW

The Legislative Ministry’s Fall Issues Conference takes place on Saturday Oct. 14 from 12 noon until 6 p.m.  Hosted this year by our member congregation, the UU Congregation of Monmouth County in Lincroft www.uucmc.org, the conference features a keynote speaker, issues-related break out groups and a working lunch.  The Lincroft congregation is active in antiracism and immigration justice work and we are very pleased to partner together in support of a more just and hopeful New Jersey.

For those new to UULMNJ, the Fall Issues Conference is the premier opportunity for UUs from across the Garden State to learn, discuss, and become involved in the most pressing social justice concerns facing our state.  It is the time each year when our six volunteer Task Forces (listed below) decide on their advocacy, education and legislative priorities for the coming year.  We work on a collaborative model, so make sure to come help shape the UULMNJ agenda and the outcome of long-term policy and culture change in our home state.

We are very pleased to welcome our 2017 keynote speaker, Johanna Calle.  Johanna is Program Director of our partner organization, the NJ Alliance for Immigrant Justice, one of the most effective and vocal immigrant rights groups active in the state today www.njimmigrantjustice.org.

Ms. Calle will be joined by Rita Dentino, Executive Director of the Monmouth County immigrant rights organization, Casa Freehold www.casafreehold.org and a partner with the UU Congregation of Monmouth County.  Johanna and Rita will bring us up to date on the increasingly punitive Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detentions and deportations and what we can do to mitigate harm and call out for justice on the public stage. Johanna and Rita expect to be joined by a NJ undocumented resident or family member willing to speak out about current conditions in our state.

Ted Fetter, long time Immigration Reform Task Force chair, will give an update on our State Sanctuary Challenge initiative–our 6 month-long effort to involve all 21 UULMNJ member congregations in advocating for sensible and human immigration reform locally, and against the mass criminalization of undocumented people.

Additional speakers during the break-out groups include Lena Smith from Food and Water Watch, Dr. Dione Johnson, CEO of JARC: Juvenile and Adult Re-Entry Connections, and Andrea Long, long-time reproductive rights activist and clinic escort.

As if that were not enough, there will be six break out groups during the working lunch to cover the issues we advocate for in Trenton and our member congregations: Environmental, Criminal, Reproductive, Economic and Immigrant Justice and Gun Violence Prevention.

Come also for the official launch of the NEW NAME, mission and vision statements, and special presentation of the logo and website design. Thanks to a generous donation, we are retooling to better serve justice-making, congregational liveliness, and “soul growth” in 2018 and beyond.

Finally, we sure to add your name and concerns/hopes/dreams to an interactive art installation, “Wall of Anger/Wall of Hope” over the course of the conference.

Questions/concerns?  Please email the UULMNJ office at admin@uulmnj.org.  We will make every effort to accommodate accessibility/special needs but it is very, very helpful to know in advance, so please do reach out.

Be sure to join us, 12 to 6 p.m. for a day devoted to justice-making and spirit-reviving.  See you there!

REGISTER NOW

We will make every effort to accommodate accessibility/special needs but it is very, very helpful to know in advance, so please do reach out.

Be sure to join us, 12 to 6 p.m. for a day devoted to justice-making and spirit-reviving.  See you there!

Rev. Rob Gregson with former NJ Governor Jim Florio and UULMNJ Gun Violence Prevention Task Force chair, Jeannine Coyne

by UU FA Office

Honored to speak with former NJ Governor Jim Florio and UULMNJ Gun Violence Prevention Task Force chair, Jeannine Coyne at the UU Congregation of Cherry Hill on halting gun violence in our country. Gov. Florio was instrumental during his term at banning military style assault rifles in the Garden State–for which he deservedly got a standing ovation from the congregation. — at Unitarian Universalist Church in Cherry Hill. Sunday April 2nd, 2017

SUMMARY OF UULMNJ CONFERENCE AT UUCP FEBRUARY 26, 2017

by UU FA Office

SUMMARY OF
UULMNJ CONFERENCE AT UUCP
FEBRUARY 26, 2017

Overview:
Seventy-eight (78) people signed in and probably more participated without signing in. There were eleven tables of six or seven people and a few people sitting in chairs on the side.

Rev. Rob Gregson, the Director of UULMNJ, provided an inspirational overview of the six (6) UULMNJ Task Forces (in alphabetical order):
1. Criminal Justice Reform
2. Economic Justice
3. Environmental Protection
4. Gun Violence Prevention
5. Immigration Reform
6. Reproductive Justice

He mentioned that UULMNJ also provides direct resources to congregations and our coalition allies in the areas of Local Policing/Black Lives Matter Congregational Toolkits. This project is aimed at education local law enforcement and correctional communities about antiracist, violence-and bias reduction agenda.

He also discussed UULMNJ Legal Advocacy Project (LAP) to move legislation that reflects UU values through NJ Legislature such as the current bills to support confidentiality for women’s reproductive health care workers and clinicians. Another legislative effort from the Environmental task force is efforts to move through the Senate S-1707, the Renewable Energy Transition Act (RETA). RETA would by year 2050, require 80% of all electricity generated in the NJ to be from renewable energy sources: solar, wind, and methane gas from landfills.

Another newer initiative from the Immigration Reform Task Force is Sanctuary Congregations/cities project to educate UUs and allies to respond to harsh regulations on undocumented immigrants in NJ.

Purpose of the Conference:
The purpose of the conference was to solicit UUCP congregants’ ideas on the question: “In the age of Trump, what actions do you most want UULMNJ Task Forces to be prepared to take?” Clara S. Haignere helped direct this effort. Each of the participants was instructed to write down their ideas in response to this question on a 4X6 card without discussing it with others. Then each small group made a master list from their table’s ideas and selected the one action they designated as was most important and wrote that action area on one of the three white boards.

Issues Conference with Chris Crass

by UU FA Office

IssuesCon2016 Facebook timelineDownload the registration packet

REGISTRATION DEADLINE IS MONDAY, OCTOBER 10!

Turn your FAITH into ACTION!

Saturday, October 15, 2016  3:00 p.m.

Morristown Unitarian Fellowship, 21 Normandy Heights Rd, Morristown, NJ

Anyone interested in the work of Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of NJ is encouraged to attend. We will identify UULMNJ focus issues for the coming year for each of our task forces: economic justice, reproductive justice, criminal justice reform, immigration reform, environmental justice, and gun violence prevention. You will have an opportunity to meet with justice leaders from other New Jersey Congregations while learning how to mobilize UULMNJ in your home congregation!

This year we welcome a very special guest, Chris Crass, as our keynote speaker. Chris is a longtime organizer, educator, and writer working to build powerful working class-based, feminist, multiracial movements for collective liberation.  He gives talks and leads workshops on campuses and with communities and congregations around the U.S. and Canada, to help support grassroots activists efforts. He balances family with his public political work and believes they are deeply interconnected, as both are about working to bring our vision and values into the world. Chris is a Unitarian Universalist and works with faith-based communities to help build up the spiritual Left.

2016 issuescon buttonIn 2000 he was a co-founder of the Colours of Resistance network, which served as a think tank and clearinghouse of anti-racist feminist analysis and tools for activists in the U.S. and Canada.  After Sept. 11th, 2001, he helped to found the Heads Up Collective which brought together a cadre of white anti-racist organizers to build up the multiracial Left in the San Francisco, Bay Area through alliances between the majority white anti-war movement and locally-based economic and racial justice struggles in communities of color.  He was also a member of the Against Patriarchy Men’s Group that supported men in developing their feminist analysis and their feminist leadership.

He has written widely about anti-racist and social justice organizing, lessons from women of color feminism, and strategies to build visionary movements.  His essays have been translated into half a dozen languages, taught in hundreds of classrooms, and included in over a dozen anthologies including Globalize Liberation: How to Uproot the System and Build a Better World, On the Road to Healing: An Anthology for Men Ending Sexism, and We Have Not Been Moved: Resisting Racism and Militarism in 21st Century America. Towards Collective Liberation: Anti-Racist Organizing, Feminist Praxis, and Movement Building Strategy and his latest book, Towards the “Other America”: Anti-Racist Resources for White People Taking Action for Black Lives Matter, are available on Amazon.

 

 

A Message On the (Latest) Terrible Week

by UU FA Office

Dear fellow Unitarian Universalists and our friends:
I sent you all an email last week immediately following the all-too-familiar shooting deaths by the police of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, LA and Philando Castile outside St. Paul, MN.

I need to do the same now following the terrible violence against the police in Dallas last Thursday night, with five officers killed:  Brent Thompson, Patrick Zamarripa, Michael Krol, Lorne Ahrens, and Michael Smith.  We must also note that, according to news accounts, at least 3 other police officers were shot in alleged copy cat ambushes in Georgia, Tennessee and Missouri.  As of today, the officer in St. Louis MO is listed as being in critical but stable condition.

For now these events send us even deeper into mourning and a kind of national despair.

I hope you have had a chance to reflect and mourn–perhaps on Sunday in the embrace of your home congregation, or with those you love and can speak to about your deepest thoughts and fears.

I won’t reiterate what so many have said already, and better than I ever could.  I want instead to say we are here, we are doing the long-term work necessary in New Jersey to halt the abuse and neglect of people of color and people struggling to get by, economically and otherwise.

Below you will see specific actions you can take in New Jersey now to act on your deepest feelings and convictions around the terrible events of last week and the months (and years) before. I realize the turn around time is short, but perhaps some of you will be able to attend today’s rally and prayer vigil.  You would be very welcome to join our Racial Justice Task Force or Criminal Justice Task Force to push for longer-term gains.

For an excellent article on the uniquely American confluence of violence and guns I recommend this article by Adam Gopnik in the July 8 The New Yorker, The Horrific, Predictable Result of A Widely Armed Citizenry.

I believe it is disingenuous of us not to state, openly and without fear, how our national gun policy has facilitated not only racially-biased killings, but many preventable deaths across a range of groups.
I have another idea I would like to float and see where it might take our faith witness together in this state.

If you would be interested in joining with me to create an organized, well thought out approach to local and county-level police on the part of NJ UU congregations, please be in touch.

If we are to be both a gadfly AND support to our police–if we are to cry out against institutionalized racism as it affects policing as well as help those who stand on the front lines of violence and guns in American culture–then it seems to me, we have a special responsibility to engage with the police.  As Unitarian Universalists. Long term. Building relationships. Reaching out to a group we often think of in our progressive circles as “the other.” Not Us.

Spiritual work, always. Justice work, and hands on work too. I would like to hear from you if this idea appeals. Please see my contact information below. If you have other ideas, please let me know them as well. Meanwhile, we will remain in touch and we here at UULMNJ will continue to advocate on your behalf on bail reform, income inequality, criminal and reproductive and environmental justice, and how institutional racism intersects with them all. At least some of the reasons that a group like the UU Legislative Ministry matters.

I trust that you and your families and friends are well and keeping your spirits up.  We walk on together.

In faith and abiding hope,

Rev. Rob Gregson
Executive Director, UULMNJ
execdir@uulmnj.org

 

Upcoming Events

People’s Organization for Progress March & Rally

Monday July 11 at 4:30

465 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Newark
MLK Jr. Blvd. and Springfield Ave.

A Time to Pray: Prayer Service

Monday, July 11 at 7:30

St. Mark’s Methodist Church
51 Elm Street
Montclair, NJ 07042

Black Lives Matter Rally/Discussion Event

Tuesday, July 12 at 7:30

Bergen County Courthouse
10 Main St., Hackensack

West Orange March for Peace, Justice, Dignity, and Respect

Wednesday, July 13 at 6:30

66 Main Street, West Orange

Morris Area Interfaith Vigil for Peace & Justice

Wednesday, July 13 at 7:30

Morristown United Methodist Church
50 South Park Place, Morristown

 

 

2015 Fall Issues Conference

by UU FA Office

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REGISTRATION DEADLINE IS MONDAY, OCTOBER 12!

Join other people who want to make a difference by putting their FAITH into ACTION!

Saturday, October 17, 2015   9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Unitarian Church in Summit, 4 Waldron Ave, Summit, NJ

Anyone interested in the work of Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of NJ is encouraged to attend. We will identify UULMNJ focus issues for the coming year for each of our task forces: economic justice, reproductive justice, criminal justice reform, immigration reform, environmental justice, and gun violence prevention. You will have an opportunity to meet with justice leaders from other New Jersey Congregations while learning how to mobilize UULMNJ in your home congregation!

Special Guest, Keynote Speaker, Janice Marie Johnson, Multicultural Ministries and Leadership Director, UUA

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Janice Marie Johnson has served on the Ministerial Fellowship Committee Board of Review, as a trustee of The Mountain Retreat and Learning Center, as a trustee in our UU United Nations Office, on the Commission on Appraisal, and as president of DRUUMM (Diverse and Revolutionary Unitarian Universalist Multicultural Ministries). At UUA General Assembly 2006, Ms. Johnson was presented with the President’s Award for Volunteer Service.

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Check-in starts at 8:30am with coffee and bagels; the program will begin promptly at 9:00am.

There will be a working lunch provided. Donations will be collected at the conference to help cover costs.

Parking Notes from the Unitarian Church in Summit

We encourage our members, friends and visitors to use public transportation and city parking lots. When driving to UCS, please keep the following in mind:

  • Utilize Summit Downtown Parking sites as your first choice.
  • Be mindful of neighbors’ driveways when parking. Remember that we share this community and want to continue to be good neighbors.
  • Be mindful of others who also need to park. How much room do you actually need? Can another person park in front or behind you?

Police enforce parking regulations in Summit. If you block a driveway, you will get a ticket or get towed. There’s nothing we can do!

The Funeral Home next door spaces are not available for parking at any time. Unless otherwise noted by the UCS office, all unauthorized vehicles will be towed.

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Central Unitarian Church Social Action Film Series: May 15 Inequality for All

by UU FA Office

The Social Action Committee of the Central Unitarian Church in Paramus presents the film Inequality for All, on Friday evening, May 15 at 7:30.

This 2013 documentary follows former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich as he looks to raise awareness of the country’s widening economic gap. Directed by Jacob Kornbluth, the 89-minute film is rated PG.

Gordon MacInnes, President of New Jersey Policy Perspective, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that conducts research on public policy issues in New Jersey, introduces the film and leads the discussion following the film presentation.

Doors open at 7 p.m for refreshments. Donations are gratefully accepted.