Denominational Action

The Denominational Action Committee works to integrate UUA social witness and social action items into our lives at First Parish as well as support our links with regional and national UUA groups.

Click on each name in red to reach their web site for more information.

Each year at the UUA General Assembly (GA), delegates vote on social justice issues that become study items or items of immediate witness. The Committee works to educate the congregation about these items and encourages members and friends to participate. First Parish is part of the Mass Bay District of UUA congregations. The Mass Bay District holds an annual meeting in the spring. Delegates are chosen annually for both General Assembly and the Mass Bay District meeting.
Photos from First Parish Members who attended GA in 2010.

Carol Agate, Wendy Brown, Barbara Ceconi, Ethan Contini-Field and Karin Lin and Susan Nye are our delegates to GA 2011. Andy Coate is our alternate delegate.
--

The UUA provides resources and offers consultations to local congregations, supports the development of
congregational leadership, creates religious education curricula, spurs social action efforts, expedites the settlement of professional religious leaders, supports Beacon Press, and produces the quarterly UU World.

The UUA has a wide variety of e-mail lists. The lists are organized by interests, by geographic area, by church size. To learn more visit their site. A particularly helpful list is uuworldWeekly which highlights weekly on-line articles and blogs.

The UUA is sponsoring Standing on the Side of Love, a public advocacy campaign that promotes respect for the inherent worth and dignity of each person. Individuals can join this public campaign at their website.First Parish has been a Welcoming Congregation since 2002 and voted in the spring of 2004 to conduct public witness in support of marriage equality. Efforts included media outreach, letter writing campaigns and marching as a faith community in the Pride Parade.

Support for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender rights are also part of the UUA Standing on the Side of Love, a public advocacy campaign that promotes respect for the inherent worth and dignity of each person. Individuals can join this public campaign of the UUA at
Standing on the Side of Love
Photos of First Parish members conducting public witness and Standing on the Side of Love

The Mass Bay District is the regional chapter of the UUA to which First Parish belongs. The MBD provides many learning and leadership development activities for the members of our region’s congregations.
Carol Agate, Wendy Brown and Nan Waldstein are the current delegates from First Parish to Mass Bay District.

First Parish members are also active in the UU Mass Action Network.

The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) supports programs and policies that empower women, defend the rights of children and support the struggles of workers, indigenous people and oppressed racial and ethnic groups.

Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office (UU-UNO)
UU United Nations Office seeks to strengthen the United Nations in its effortsto promote peace and to eliminate war, discrimination, poverty and disease, thus re-affirming the belief in the essential unity of the human family. For more information contact Susan Nye at UU-UNOEnvoy [at] firstparish [dot] org

First Parish in Cambridge along with other Massachusetts UU churches is a member of the UU Urban Ministry which is located in Roxbury. We traditionally donate our Christmas Eve offering to the UU Urban Ministry. They concentrate efforts primarily in out-of-school-time programming for at-risk youth and shelter for those fleeing domestic violence. UUUM also operate a program focused on providing support for men in transition, including those involved with the criminal justice system. Visit www.UUUM.org to see how you can support their work. Ann Daily, Helen Glikman and Marcia Butman are delegates from First Parish to the UUUM.