Author: Mary Bennett

June is Pride Month

For June the UCV Genders and Sexualities Alliance will have an information table in the courtyard every Sunday after the service including information of the many Pride flags. We will also be recording videos for using in the services highlighting some of the flags.

Members of the Genders and Sexualities Alliance will be present to answer any questions you may have.

For more info, search the website for GSA or Welcoming congregation.

Curious? Read more here: https://queerintheworld.com/different-lgbtq-flags-and-meaning/

President’s Column: the Ministerial Search process

 “plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose “ 

the more things change, the more they stay the same…

 Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr 

 

Oh, my! The memories. I’ve called  it my “initiation” into Unitarian organizational life. I’d only been a member for two years but had gotten what a friend called “aggressively involved” at UCV.  The announcement to invite nominations to the search for the next minister had been made and at coffee hour, one of our elders (Sheilah Thompson by name) approached me at coffee hour. 

“Mary, you’ve got to put your name forward. The only people who have volunteered so far are all my age!”  Ahem. Yes, that was 30 years ago, so I am now that age! 

Then, as now, a majority of search committee members are elected by the congregation and then the board looks at “who’s missing”.  So although I was not one of those “first past the post” I was appointed, because I was new. (Just as an aside now it’s recommended that the board simply announce the full slate and not identify who was voted in and who appointed.)

Much has changed since Rev. Phillip Hewett retired! Technology has made some of the tasks much easier, such as creating a survey, sending “packets” and receiving information. A lot of that is now done through a website or pdf documents in a dropbox folder. 

So I share this to say, even if you’re pretty new (or if you’ve been around for a very long time), consider putting your hat in the ring.  From (likely) a group of 7, there’s a need for many perspectives and experience.  

During the time I was serving on the committee, a friend remarked, “That’s a committee designed for conflict.” Don’t get scared! All that means is when you intentionally bring seven people together for a very important task with a high degree of diversity, there will be, by design, a need to have excellent communication and teamwork skills.  

So here am I, with a nod to Sheilah, saying: Please consider this opportunity to serve our congregation by offering to take on the admittedly heavy responsibility to serve on a ministerial search committee.  

Some of the things that have not changed are:

  • You’d be expected to give up any other organizational “jobs” – sing in the choir, garden, attend Sunday services, but no committee or team work
  • You will be under a very high bar for confidentiality. Only one candidate will ultimately be presented to the congregation and you will go to your grave mum about the names of any other ministers who expressed interest
  • You will get to know your fellow committee members deeply (I’m crying as I write this) and it could be your initiation rite to lifelong commitment to our religion.

Fondly,

Mary

PS – There will be many opportunities over the next while to learn more and to nominate people, including yourself. Stay tuned!

Click here for information about the upcoming Board Forum on Sunday, March 13.

To see who’s on the board and a list of recent posts, go to ucv.im/board

 

The Butterflyway Project

June 9, 2022 – Native plants in bloom on labyrinth:

Lupins are in full bloom and buzzing with bees. Blue camas is blooming. 3 tender dwarf native red columbines are near the Butterflyway sign in the labyrinth. Just planted two pearly everlasting plants (native plants).

Thank you, Patti, for weed-whacking and edging the labyrinth. Volunteers needed to pull up the grass that crept into the garden beds. Also, yes, there’s still buttercups.

I’d love to share with you what’s growing and have you help with taking out what’s not supposed to be growing!

We are starting on June 18, with taking out periwinkle. It’ll be a multi-year project. here’s information from the Invasive Species Council of BC. The good thing is that it’s all contained in areas that have borders, so we’re starting with the patch around the big arbutus tree.

Common periwinkle

May 25, 2022 – Shade Garden Native Plants

We have some shade garden native plants including bunchberry and kinnickanick needing a crew to help plant.

Bunchberry

https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=ARUV

If you can help, please contact Mary – we can meet up or I can show you the project and you can do at your own time!

UPCOMING OPPORTUNITIES

Wednesday June 1 – Pollinator Workshop plus optional potluck/foraging/socializing 5:30pm on

Pollinator Workshop

Saturday June 18 – 12 noon – Join youth from Invasive Species Council of BC to pull out periwinkle and plant native species

Pollinator Pathway and Workshop

Needed: If you have property with native plants that spread, we’d greatly appreciate donations of any of the following: kinnickanick, bleeding heart, heart-leaved arnica, salal, pearly everlasting, trillium. Contact UnitarianMary@gmail.com to arrange.

 

PREVIOUS UPDATES AND EVENTS

Saturday, May 21 – Bee Day at Maplewood Flats/Wild Bird Trust Email if you’d like to meet up. You need to book a ticket

https://www.eventbrite.ca/o/wild-bird-trust-of-british-columbia-15382019658

APRIL 22 – JUNE 6, 2022  Coast Salish Plant Exhibition: Celebrating Indigenous Ecosystems at Maplewood Flats

April 27, 2022 — Thank you to the Enviro team for allocating $100 for 20 native plants grown by Environmental Youth Alliance and to John Boyle and Ron Gibson for arranging reservation of the garden bundles.

May 7 from 10am-12noon, we hope to plant these native plants. All worker bees welcome. Karen Theroux will be coordinating use of tools etc. so just show up. If you like to wear gardening gloves, bring your own.

 

April 9, 2022 — Working with Patti of Buildings and Grounds, two areas (as well as the labyrinth) have been identified as #butterflyway pollinator pathways:

  1. Under the apple trees on northwest side of property. This is fairly sunny and has a watering system for summer. We plan to plant at least 50% native plants that need some sun, as well as some spring bulbs. Cathy will be at the 3rd Saturday grounds crew work party – Come along and lend a hand!
  2. The area between the parking lot and sanctuary where the daffodils are blooming right now has a lot of periwinkle (an invasive species). We’ll be removing the periwinkle and planting native plants that like a shaded or semi-shaded spot.
  3. Some plants will be added to the labyrinth – It’s already pollinator-friendly with lupin, yarrow and many other plants

Want to contribute to this project? Fill out this form, and we’ll contact you. https://forms.gle/EdDehWweb1AUKgNa7

If you’re on facebook, follow this page for news. We want to connect with our neighbours to encourage more butterfly pollinator gardens nearby.

Just search for Butterflyway – South Vancouver or click here: https://www.facebook.com/ButterflywaySouthVancouver

Save the dates

April 16, a couple of us are meeting up at Maplewood Flats/Wild Bird Trust Coast Salish plant nursery in North Vancouver at noon. Bring your bagged lunch.

On April 24 after the Earth Day worship service, there will be an information display about butterflies and native plants outdoors and then a workshop in Lindsey-Priestley. Native Plant workshop

February 23, 2022 by Cathy Sevcik

UCV has been officially accepted into the David Suzuki Foundation’s program – “The Butterfly Way Project”.  The goal of the program is to establish consistent habitat for our native bees and butterflies.  This program has been active since 2017 and is part of a larger movement of “Rewilding Communities”

Pollinators are essential for keeping our ecosystem healthy.  As part of this program, we are tasked with planting at least 12 pollinator patches.  Some of these will be on the UCV campus and our small group of volunteers will be looking for ways to spread these pollinator patches to neighbouring growing spaces.

Some of our group have already met with the organizer of the Balaclava Pollinator Pathway. We look forward to collaborating with this group in a variety of ways: such as sharing seeds, attending events and learning from each other.  This initiative has the potential to provide our members with means to making a difference in our ecosystem and making connections in our city.  We are aware that some UCV members are already butterfly rangers in different areas of the city and look forward to collaborating with them also.

In addition to sponsoring planting events, we hope to provide educational and social opportunities surrounding this initiative to the wider UCV community and our neighbourhood.  Stay tuned!

In the meantime, if you are interested in being involved in a hands-on manner, please complete a volunteer form on our website here: ucv.im/pollinatorpathway

from Cathy Sevcik and Mary Bennett, new Butterfly Rangers

 

UCV’s Enviro Team voted to support this project at the February 29, 2022, meeting.

Links:

Musqueam Artist Pollinator Plant Map

https://davidsuzuki.org/story/musqueam-artist-helped-create-the-first-indigenous-pollinator-plant-map/

Scroll down on that page to see posters of 8 native plants with the Musqueam names

Attract butterflies with native plants – Western Canada

https://davidsuzuki.org/what-you-can-do/attract-butterflies-with-native-plants-western-canada/

8 popular butterfly species in Metro Vancouver (from David Suzuki Foundation 2019 Butterfly Ranger tool kit).

Click to access DSF-8-Butterfly-illustrations-Lower-Mainland.pdf

Board Covenant

Here is the interim board covenant (to be improved over time).

We have started pasting it at the bottom of every agenda and allocating time at the end of our board meetings to look at how we used it during our meeting.

All groups are encouraged to develop their own covenant taking into consideration specifics that relate to our congregational Covenant of Healthy Relations.

 

Vancouver Unitarians Board Covenant

Summary

A. Be considerate toward one another.
B. Be open, honest and respectful.
C. Serve our role to the best of our ability.
D. Foster a spirit of patience and courage.
E. Speak with one voice.
F. Develop and promote genuine relationships.
G. Honour our Faith

We promise to each other that we will:

Covenant

A. Be considerate toward one another

We agree to:

  1. Follow through on our individual tasks,
  2. Ask for help when we need it,
  3. Be on time for meetings,
  4. Arrive prepared for meetings by having thoughtfully read materials in advance
  5. Be fully present for each meeting,
  6. Stay on schedule during the meetings so that they end on time.

B. Be open, honest and respectful

We agree to:

  1. Truly listen to one another,
  2. Consider ideas not our own,
  3. Be tolerant of other ideas so we all feel free to contribute,
  4. Admit our own mistakes,
  5. Bring disagreements or concerns directly to the people involved so that we can maintain a healthy working environment.

C. Serve our role to the best of our ability

We agree to:

  1.  Remember that we are working to fulfill the mission, not our personal desires,
  2.  Maintain focus on the priorities and goals of the Board,
  3.  Work only on issues that belong to the Board,
  4.  Push the bounds of creativity,
  5.  Be familiar with the Congregation’s bylaws, policies, tradition and finances.

D. Foster a spirit of patience and courage

We agree to:

  1. Acknowledge that we each bring unique skills and styles to the work of the Board,
  2. Be willing to disagree with respect.

E. Speak with one voice

We agree to:

  1. Remember that only the Board, as a whole, and not its individual members as such, has any power or authority except as explicitly delegated by policy.

F. Develop and promote genuine relationships

We agree to:

  1. Get to know each other well enough to build trust,
  2. Take time to have fun, relax and laugh with one another.

G. Honour our Faith 

We agree to:

  1. Always remember that as leaders we hold a special commission to live out our Unitarian Universalist principles and bring them to bear on our work and decisions.

Practising the Art of Inclusion – President’s Message February 2022

from Mary Bennett, UCV Board of Trustees President

“How can we get young people involved?” is where the conversation started at our board retreat. We decided to set up a task force!

After toying with names like “Beyond Boomers” or “Generational Transformation” the board settled on the simple term “Generational Inclusion” and charged the task force with exploring what practices are required to ensure that all generations feel invited to actively engage with the important religious and spiritual work of our community. Vice-President, Bruce McIvor and I are just getting started on this work and I hope members from all 7 “living generations” will engage in this conversation.

Currently the Canadian Unitarian Council are creating video recorded interviews and hosting forum discussions to help us welcome people from diverse relationships and families, people of all dis/abilities and people of all classes. I’ve watched the first series and they’re very enlightening. I encourage you to register.

The focus on anti-racism over the past years has resulted in our own very active IBPOC affinity group as well as “IPA” – IBPOC Plus Allies team – to plan initiatives that bring to our awareness the lived experiences, heritage and culture of people of colour within our congregation. 

With the leadership of board members, Diane Brown, Bruce McIvor and Jenny Malcolm the board is beginning a journey of “decolonizing our board.”  

In 1995 we were one of the first congregations in Canada to complete the Welcoming Congregation Program which focuses on welcoming to LGBTQ plus persons. 

It’s inspirational and moving to hear the stories of people who have different lives than our own, whether because of age, race, class, abilities, gender or sexual identity and there are, as well, some simple practices we can all use in practising the art of inclusion.  

Make space; take space is now the phrase used to remind us to notice who is in the room–whether literally or on our zoom screen–and find ways to include those who for whatever reason are not being heard. 

There are well-developed methods for encouraging all voices to be heard such as dynamic governance/sociocracy and convergent facilitation. There are also everyday opportunities to simply notice frequently how much space each of us is taking and then learning a few lines to even things out when they’re out of balance.  A study I read many years ago said people who spoke a lot in a group underestimated the amount of time they talked and those who talked relatively little overestimated the time they spoke.

Back to the generational inclusion focus, did you know that Gen Z (those between age 11 and 26) is “the most diverse group – in terms of not just race, but also gender. .. It’s the most likely group to have individuals who identify as nonbinary. They expect diversity to be a top priority. That means things like gender-neutral bathrooms, equal pay for equal work, and support for racial inclusion movements. ” (Deloitte study)

Seen on instagram recently: If you’re over 45 and don’t have an under-30 mentor (not mentee) then you’re going to miss fundamental shifts in thinking that are happening. 

If you are willing to experiment with some ways to get to know the “others” in our congregation, I’d love to hear your stories about making space and taking space. If you’re under 30 and willing to be a mentor to one of us who’s over 45, I’d especially love to hear from you. 

Send me a note to president@vancouverunitarians.ca and share with me how we at UCV can continue to develop our skills in the art of inclusion. Meet all the board members at ucv.im/board and review our Covenant of Healthy Relations here ucv.im/covenant

Reference:

Here’s a summary of the 7 living generations and an analysis of UCV’s data about generational distribution at UCV. It may not be what you think!

Thanks to Keith Wilkinson for preparing this document.

Generations Table 2022-01-24


16

Zero Waste Circle – New for 2022

Want support for reducing waste?

We’re starting a short, monthly, check-in and sharing of successes and challenges. Join us on the 3rd Sunday at 12:30 pm or fill out this form to suggest other ideas: https://ucv.im/Zero-waste-form

Zero Waste Circle

a monthly, fairly social, definitely supportive zero waste circle check-in. We usually meet in the Family Room and most people bring their lunch to munch as we share.
We *might* come up with initiatives but it would be mainly those of us wanting to share successes, ask for support and ideas to meet each other and learn more about reducing waste.

Plan for each session

  • opening reading
  • check in – less than 1 minute – introduce yourself with a “success” (even an ongoing success – e.g. I’m still getting to London Drugs regularly to recycle all my plastic bags or I’m still paying attention to food waste and improving in that regard.)
  • 2nd round – something you’ve been struggling with and would like feedback from others.
  • UCV Action Planning and/or Education/sharing: A focus on an educational piece by one of the members.
  • Summarize action decisions
  • closing: reminder of future meetings and events
Leadership roles of facilitation, zoom hosting, note-taking if needed will be rotated.
It might even be a “gateway drug” towards more involvement with UCV in general and Enviro team in particular.
More information: contact zerowasteucv@gmail.com
To join our email group, send a note to zero-waste-ucv+subscribe@googlegroups.com

Board Notes January 2022

The UCV Board met on Tuesday, January 18.
We confirmed a Generational Inclusion Task Force co-chaired by Mary Bennett and Bruce McIvor that will start by interviewing Millennials and Gen Z’s.
We ​will move toward the CUC’s recommended process of selecting delegates for a two-year term. Criteria and a selection process will be shared with the congregation by mid-February.
Diane Brown, Bruce McIvor and Ingrid Luters will be exploring and recommending ways to promote engagement with our Covenant of Healthy Relations. ucv.im/cohr2021
President, Mary Bennett, will be on Zoom this Sunday 12:30-1​ ​pm if you have questions or comments on these or other board matters. https://vancouverunitarians.ca/events/ama-president/
Meet the board and see recent posts at ucv.im/board

Being President/Being Present

by Mary Bennett, UCV Board of Trustees President, December 28, 2021

Come into this place of memory and let its history warm your soul,

Come into this place of prophecy and power and let its vision change your heart.

Singing the Living Tradition, #429 

Rev. William Schulz, Unitarian Universalist Association President 1978 to 1993

I’ve been indulging in nostalgia this month. Recalling past Decembers both with my own family and friends and at UCV.  As I sat at home visiting three congregations over youtube on Christmas Eve this year, I recalled my first Christmas Eve at UCV. In darkness to the singing of Silent Night, we lit each others’ candles. On leaving I was asked to put my candle in a basket. I did so reluctantly; I wanted to keep that candle. I got my courage up to head over to the hall where the minister was serving hot apple cider from a big punch bowl. 

Wind the film back to January 1989 and you’d find me making my annual New Year’s resolutions. That year I’d decided to make a resolution for each of the 8 aspects of the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator. I self-mockingly summarized my list as “to have matching towels and become spiritually developed.”  UCV was one of three spiritual groups I tried out. Once I gave up trying to figure out exactly what this religion was, I realized I’d found my people and so “signed the book.”   

As well as nostalgic memories, I have been studying our recent past: reading last year’s board meeting minutes, task force reports, by-laws, terms of reference and previous strategic plans. The board will be embarking on its “prophetic” role of developing a strategic plan. 

January, named for the Roman God Janus, the two-faced God looking both back and forward, is a good time to do this work.  

Meanwhile, we live in the present. What of UCV at this very moment, or at least this very month or year? 

Some of you have likely engaged in a “SWOT” analysis before. What are our Strengths? Weaknesses? Opportunities? Threats? 

As I consider these questions, I’m aware that every individual on the board brings their own history, perspective and hopes. We are something like the blind men encountering an elephant. You likely know the story. Since they can’t see the animal, they each describe it based on the part they touch whether the ear, the side, the tail or the tusk. The moral of the story is for everyone to share their knowledge in order to build up an understanding of what an elephant really is.

The first item under duties in the President’s job description exhorts me to “encourage everyone to engage”. This will be my Prime Directive for the coming year. I am genuinely curious to hear more of each board member’s perspective. Together we can build up a better idea of what this animal we know as UCV actually is and where it might want to be led. 

The board will continue with regular forums to invite congregational input into important decisions. As well, I’d like to try an occasional AMA – Ask Me Anything session.  Since I’ve asked you to treat me as “Just Mary” (not the board president) when you see me at UCV, it seemed fair to set up a way to make “President Mary” available. If it wasn’t Covid-times, I would book a room in Hewett Centre and invite you to bring your coffee and drop in. Join me on zoom through ucv.im/ucvpres on Sunday January 2nd and… ask me anything. We’ll see how that goes. 

Meet the board members and see past governance messages here ucv.im/board

Send a note to president@vancouverunitarians.ca if you have a question or comment for the board president.

Board President as Waitress or Jigsaw Puzzler

UCV President’s message December 2021

From: “Waitressing in the Sacred Kitchen” by Rev. Meg Barnhouse:

The most helpful thing I grasped while waitressing was that some tables are my responsibility and some are not. A waitress gets overwhelmed if they have too many tables and no one gets good service. …I would go nuts if I tried to take care of everyone, if I tried to make everybody do the right thing. If I went through my life without ever learning to say, “Sorry, that’s not my table, Hon,” I would burn out and be no good to anybody. 

I need to have a surly waitress inside myself that I can call on when it seems everyone in the world is waving an empty coffee cup in my direction. My Inner Waitress looks over at them, keeping her six plates balanced and her feet moving, and says, “Sorry, Hon, not my table.”

 from The Rock of Ages at the Taj Mahal: Unquiet Meditations

 

There is so much change in our congregation and our national organization right now, that the key thing I’ve been working since our AGM on November 21st is attempting to discern which are the tables that the board and board president are directly responsible for and, to extend the analogy, which tables are someone else’s responsibility. 

Another metaphor I’ve been using is that I have a large jigsaw puzzle, but not the cover picture. Nor am I 100% sure who has some of the pieces.  I will try to trust that all of us working together will take care of our own puzzle pieces and add them to the overall puzzle and together we will discover what the overall picture is. In my family, jigsaw puzzles started by 1. Finding the corner pieces; 2 putting the outside border together and 3. Assembling piles of pieces that look like they might fit together according to the background colour. That’s how I’m approaching this task. 

If you weren’t at the Annual General Meeting, here is a written (and expanded) version of what I said at that time.

Hello and thank you to all who have sent good wishes and congratulations my way. And to all of you who have thanked Diane Brown for her excellent leadership and service, let me add thank you but also gratitude: Diane is stepping back but not away. She will be an active past president and I look forward to working with her especially over the next couple of months as we move through the transition to the new board.  She holds such a wealth of information and experience. I am also so grateful that Gordon Gram is continuing as Treasurer. The Board Executive has three new members: President, Vice-President and Secretary which is not the usual way things work.

I had a long period of discernment before putting my hat in the ring for this role. There are many reasons why “yes” wound up as the answer. Key among the reasons is the great board that the nominating committee put together. UCV is undergoing such a high degree of change and transition, the fact that Leslie Hill, Catherine Ponsford, John Boyle and Jenny Malcolm are also continuing as members-at-large is a very welcome element of stability.  Knowing both Michael O’Neill and Carolyn Grant, I hope and suspect they will continue to find meaningful ways to contribute to our community and also ways to nourish themselves through our many offerings. Welcome to Louise Bunn and Ingrid Luters both of whom I’ve worked with in other groups: Pagan team and Communications respectively. 

I’m seeing this year as one of “living the plan”. There may well be other changes, and things will happen. However, a lot has been decided over the past months and now I see the board keeping our sights on staying the course while being experimental in finding ways to put into operation the various goals that have been set.  

When I was interviewed for the job of Executive Director of the Canadian Unitarian Council, John Slattery (whom some of you know) was asking questions about community and congregational engagement including managing conflict. He started by looking down at my resume and then at me and saying, “I see you’re no stranger to conflict.” My response was that I didn’t seek it out, but yes, I seem to have engaged with conflict, which at a very basic definition is just difference.  When I taught organizational behaviour at BCIT, one chapter talked about the “energizing possibilities of conflict.” I try to take a positive view towards differences and keep faith that if many voices are heard a new resolution can be found–one that none of us could have figured out on our own. That said, I usually introduced that lecture by saying, “If I was applying for a new job and someone said, “Oh that organization has lots of conflict,” I’m not sure I’d see it as a good thing.”

I believe I am relatively comfortable living with ambiguity and often even seek out change. William Bridges, author of Transitions, talks about the “Neutral zone” as being where we have let go of the old ways but aren’t yet ready to fully embrace the new. He urges us to not be too hasty to try to nail things down but live in what can be the “flow” while things begin to reveal themselves. That’s how I see the board’s work at this time: to move slowly but with deliberation and discernment as we learn to live the new organizational structure, follow up on the many task force reports and create ways of being together that embrace the new 8th Principle and live our commitment to anti-racism.

The board has always been the group tasked with strategy but the new organizational structure protects the board from getting immersed in administrative or ministry roles. Our Governance Implementation Task Force is working hard to create documents that will clarify what we currently are: who’s accountable to whom; what responsibilities and authority various individuals and groups have. 

I bring a fair bit of experience in being on a policy-level /strategic governance board. For six years I was Chair of Education and then Vice-Chair on the BCIT Board of Governors.

As Executive Director of the CUC from 2000 to 2008 I came on board after they had adopted the Carver Policy Governance model, but eventually kept some elements but not others.

Like UCV at this time, those years were high change including the CUC-UUA transition, major changes to the national lay chaplaincy program and developing a new staff and volunteer model for the CUC.  Once it was all decided came the implementation phase and communicating it out to our congregations and supporting them in being part of the new way. It’s well over a decade since I left the CUC, and it seems on the brink of inventing new processes again now.

In the bio circulated by the nominating committee, I noted that I intend to be a strong voice for inclusion, for IBPOC, for youth and young adults and any who don’t fit the traditional mold for Unitarians because of neurodiversity, or economic or educational background.  

This passion for welcoming people into our community comes from my personal experience. When I look back to when I first tentatively put my toe in the waters of this religious community, I realize I was perhaps hypersensitive but I’m not alone in having felt (unconsciously I believe) ignored, dismissed or even treated with suspicion as I tried to get involved.

I once shared my story of trying to find my way in, and  Rev. Mark Morrison-Reed laughed his huge laugh and said, “Oh, you must have been really hungry.”  And yes, I was. And I believe there are many hungry potential Unitarians out there ready for a welcome. 

While taking those initial tentative steps I had no idea I’d be here 30 years later and be so engaged with this community, locally and nationally and even internationally. I remain hungry for what UCV offers, which brings me to some comments I need to make about self-care for leaders in general and me in particular.

Participating in worship services, social gatherings and educational workshops as “Just Mary” – not the UCV Board President – will be the fuel that keeps me able to do what I anticipate will be challenging, time-consuming, but ultimately satisfying work on the board. I have some ideas for setting up ways you–any of you–can share your questions, ideas and concerns with me and the board, primarily continuing the highly consultative work of the recent board by having online board forums and welcoming observers to attend open board meetings. Past presidents have told me the meetings have always been open to observers, yet few have attended.

I’m already getting emails on a wide variety of topics, and I’ll be working with the recently launched “coordinating council” consisting of a board representative, our minister and congregational administrator to see how we can ensure people know who to go to for what. In the restaurant analogy, we all want you to know which server is best suited to your needs. It makes sense for us to help you know whether it’s the board, the staff or the minister who can best respond to any questions, concerns and ideas you have.  Some enquiries will be clear, and probably others will be less clear or touch on all three roles in different ways. Please be patient as we work to sort things out.  

Let’s do this. Together. 

 

Join a Women’s Group

There are two UCV women’s groups ready to welcome one or two additional participants. One meets monthly on Tuesday evenings and the other 2 Fridays per month in the afternoon. We now have several women’s writing groups and are about to start another one.

The Women’s Retreat on Saturday, October 23 was very inspiring and energizing.

Here are some of the comments:

  • A very informative and thought-provoking presentation by Jo-Anne.  I enjoyed learning about the latest waves – 4, 5, 6. It put issues into the perspective of an expanding feminism.  The small group discussions worked surprisingly well.  The questions worked well to make the thrust of the different waves hit home.
  • I enjoyed hearing about the women’s groups from past decades.  Quite amazing how many different kinds of groups there are at UCV.
  • The evening prose readings was a very moving session.  There was a general theme about death and remembrance which, of course, leads to some sadness and/or nostalgia – even anger.  However I was very impressed with the writing as well as the interesting content – all different but similar too.
  • This was my first time attending a retreat like this.  Very “Growth-ful”.

Just search our website for “women” and you’ll find other upcoming events and news.

Women’s Groups