International News

Inspired by Indonesian Unitarians

IMG_0029_2

The Unitarians of Indonesia are an inspiring part of our global faith with tremendous commitment, good organization, an evangelical attitude, and a strong focus on ministry with youth and young adults. It was a pleasure to visit with them for 4 days in April 2013.

IMG_0019_2

Gereja Jemaat Allah Global Indonesia (JAGI) - the Unitarian Christian Church of Indonesia, was founded in the mid-1990’s by Rev. Aryanto Nugroho and currently has around 500 members.  Rev. Nugroho has published highly regarded theological books, and is very well connected in interfaith circles and with national leaders.

IMG_0006_2

JAGI is headquartered in Semarang, where the church owns and operates a large building that houses the sanctuary, classrooms, offices, a library, and space for a future NGO. A maternity clinic – Bhaki Ibu – operated by the wife of the founder of the church sits across the street from the church building; Mrs. Nugroho estimates that she has been a midwife at more than 200,000 births.

JAGI is administered by a National Leaders Board that includes a Council which supervises a Board of Elders and an Executive Board (responsible for daily operations).  JAGI has 8 ordained ministers and an executive director. It consists of 4 Churches (Semarang, Jakarta, Solo and Sukorejo-Pasuruan) and 3 Mission Areas/Fellowships (Yogyakarta, Surabaya and Klaten). Semarang is the most established congregation and at the center of JAGI. (more…)

Posted by:

Indonesia, International News, International Resources, U/U Judicatories

Be the first to comment

New Khasi Unitarian Hymnal Published

Great news from Rev. Khlur Mukhim!  May the music be a blessing.

Dear friends,

Being a member of the standing Hymnal Revision Committee (HRC), I feel lucky I could attend yesterday the special meeting of UUNEI officials and some other church members at Jowai.  Graced by the President and the General Secretary of the Union, the occasion was led by Mr R Pariat and Mr L.Laloo (the Chairman & the Secretary of the HRC respectively) in which Rev Carleywell Lyngdoh, Seniormost Minister of the Union released the newly edited Khasi Unitarian Hymnal.  I cannot think of any better time to have this much awaited edition completed and released now before we wind up our Quasquicentennial celebrations next month during our Annual General Conference.  This edition has come after a long time and only few old copies are available in most churches.  Our organizers should take note and be careful to avoid stampede in our hymnal counters when all our churches and fellowships meet at Jowai next month! (more…)

Posted by:

India, International News

3 comments

Typhoon Pablo impacts UU Church of the Philippines

Yesterday evening the UUA received news that Typhoon Pablo had impacted the UU Church of the Philippines headquarters in Dumaguette City.  News from the UU congregations throughout Negros Island is still coming in, but so far most of the damage reported by them is to agricultural projects such as rice, corn and banana trees.  In Siapo and Upper Nato some houses lost their roofs, and at least one UU family’s house, in Dumaguete, was wrecked.

Describing the situation, UUCP President Rev. Rebecca Sienes wrote: “There is so much damage in the city of Dumaguete.  The pier was greatly damaged; storm surged occurred in the pier area; some of the pine trees by the boulevard were uprooted, the roof of some of the shops by the boulevard were blown away by the wind; the boulevard was filled by ocean water up to knee high. The wind was very strong.”

UUCP headquarters staff have already been hard at work clearing damaged trees, and they are making plans for necessary repairs.

UUA President Peter Morales offered words of support: “My caring thoughts and prayers are with everyone who has been impacted by Typhoon Pablo, especially the leaders and members of our UU congregations in the Philippines. The UUA will partner with the UUCP in all recovery efforts.”

Further news will be posted as it arrives.  Please hold our UU brothers and sisters, and everyone effected by Typhoon Pablo, in your thoughts and prayers.

The International Council of Unitarians and Universalists (ICUU) is currently collecting donations to support recovery efforts:

  • Online donations can be made by credit card/bank account via PayPal by sending to treasurer [at] icuu [dot] net
  • Checks may be sent to the ICUU Finance Office, attn: Susan Greenberg, P.O. Box 300, Hastings on Hudson, NY 10706 USA
  • Be sure to indicate that your donation is for UUCP Pablo Relief

Update: The following UU congregations have reported that they were gladly not impacted by the typhoon:  Doldol, Malingin, Calapayan, Aquino, Caican, Samaka, and Bicutan.  News is still awaited from approximately 12 congregations.

Update 2:  The UUA and the UU Partner Church Council have agreed to cover the costs of repair to the UUCP headquarters.

Update 3:  Congregational impact -

  • Kalomoyan congregation – All’s well
  • Cansauro congregation – Some damage to member’s houses and agriculture
  • Nagbinlod congregation – Lost electricity, but UU families are fine and no building damage.  The UU Mango farm has suffered.
  • Culipapa congregation: All’s well.
  • Samoyao congregation: Some damage to member’s houses, and agriculture damage.
  • Nataban, Bagong Silan, and Ulay congregations are doing fine.

Update 4: Banaybanay congregation - The congregation was hit severely. Seven (7) UU families evacuated to UU church to seek refuge. Their fruit trees were uprooted, banana plants were down, roofs & walls of several houses were blown away and GI sheets could not be retrieved.  One house is no longer habitable. The Barangay/Village gave financial assistance at 500.00 ($12.50) to each family affected. About 20 UU families were affected by Pablo  It was the strongest typhoon that they had experienced.

Photos from Dumaguete City and the UUCP headquarters:

Posted by:

International News, Philippines

Be the first to comment

Faithful International Partnering – Proceeding Carefully and Intentionally

 

A Memo: Connecting with Unitarians and UU’s Around the World, CAREFULLY

To: UUA Ministers and Religious Leaders

From:  Eric Cherry, UUA International Office
Cathy Cordes, UU Partner Church Council
Jill McAllister and Steve Dick, International Council of Unitarians and Universalists

Date: September 14, 2012

Dear Friends,

It is so exciting to see the many ways that our UU faith is connecting around the world – so many congregations and ministers are now making a variety of international connections! We are thrilled that UUA churches and individuals are looking beyond their own doors and even beyond their own geographic communities and connecting. The UUA, ICUU, the UUPCC and other organizations stand ready to support your outreach in a variety of ways. We invite you to contact us at any point where we can be helpful. We are writing today to offer some advice based on our joint experience working with UUs here and in other countries.

Much of this new activity is aided with new communication tools that make contact easier and keeping in touch possible. Social media programs such as Skype and Facebook make it easy to learn of possibilities and to meet people over the internet.

Our UU global community is growing both bigger and smaller! Bigger in the sense that people around the world continue to discover our liberal tradition and establish it in their own countries and regions, and smaller in the sense that it is so easy to connect with each other around the world. This gives us reason to both celebrate and pay close attention, for there are good ways to connect, not-so-good ways to connect, and ways to connect which can cause huge problems. (more…)

Posted by:

ICUU, International News, International Resources, Sharing Global Faith

1 comment

New Spiritual Integration and Organizational Unity of the Hungarian Unitarian Church

The new banner of the Magyar Unitarius Egyhaz – Hungarian Unitarian Church

The 1568 act of the parliament of Transylvania, called the Diet of the country, declared legal protection for the freedom of conscience and religion in a way that was unknown before in the world. This declaration laid the foundation of the only religious denomination established on Hungarian land: the first Unitarian church in the world. At the same time, the law transformed Transylvania into a home for the religious freedom and tolerance of its times.

After being persecuted throughout four hundred years for believing differently, and finally being cut up in parts in its organization by the treaty of Trianon in 1920, the conditions of the European Union in the 21st century brought new possibilities for the structural unification of the Unitarians in the Carpathian basin.

Benefiting from these national and international chances, and being encouraged by the heritage of the 450 years of their history, the authorities of the Unitarian churches in both Transylvania (Romania) and Hungary decided to unify their organizations to recreate the institutional and spiritual unity of the Hungarian Unitarian Church. In this appellation, Hungarian is not a reference to a country, but rather the description of its members’ ethnicity, language and culture.

(more…)

Posted by:

Europe, International News, Transylvania

2 comments

An International Flower Communion – Celebrating the 90th Anniversary

Each year, the Prague Unitarian Congregation holds a traditional Flower Communion, a ceremony which was established by the founder of the religious society, Norbert Fabián Čapek. This year it was held on June 10th, at the occasion of the 90th anniversary of Czech Unitarianism. Thanks to this, several foreign hosts came – to be more exact, four official hosts. Specifically it was Rev. Eric Cherry (Director of International Resources at the Unitarian Universalist Association), Rev. Bill Darlison (Vice President of British Unitarians), Rev. Steve Dick (Executive Secretary at the International Council of Unitarians and Universalists) and Freya Bednarski-Stelling (Ambassador of German Unitarians).  The ceremony was lead by Rev. Petr Samojsky, minister of the Prague Unitarian Congregation, and Rev. Mark Shiels, minister of the English-speaking branch of the Prague Unitarian Congregation.

Because of the anniversary, which underlined the ceremony, special attention was given to the music. Throughout the ceremony we could hear the composition of the Czech organist and composer Karel Loula, created especially for this occasion, and performed by the combined strength of the Uni-Sono choir and the Church Choir of the Holy Spirit accompanied by the Orchestra di Spirito, including the recently acquired pipe organ.

(more…)

Posted by:

Europe, Flower Communion, International News, Prague

Be the first to comment

Doha Accord Passes, Clearing Path Towards International Debt Crisis Relief

In a major victory on the international debt crisis front, the Doha Accord has been passed, essentially securing a consensus-driven, strong mandate on debt and responsible lending and borrowing.
From Jubilee USA:

This United Nation’s consensus built accord, which means the work of the United Nations Committee on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) will be renewed for the next four years. UNCTAD has served a vital role in consensus building on debt relief initiatives such as HIPC and MDRI that have resulted in over 100 billion dollars in debt relief. Currently Jubilee USA serves as an expert to UNCTAD and has helped develop principles on responsible lending and borrowing – an actual solution to the international debt crisis.

The Doha Accord reaffirms the Accra Accord, which it says remains valid and relevant, and reiterates that UNCTAD remains the focal point for the UN for an integrated treatment of trade and development and interrelated issues of finance, technology, investment, and sustainable development.

Our Executive Director, Eric LeCompte, was hosted for the negotiations by UNCTAD to moderate a panel with 11 financial ministers and treasury heads from around the globe to speak in support of UNCTAD’s principles on Responsible Lending and Borrowing. Watch and hear the full panel discussion and read the UN press release on the panel; you may also learn more about Jubilee’s work to end the debt crisis in their March report. 

Related:
Jubilee USA’s thank-you letter to President Obama for supporting efforts to secure the Doha win

Posted by:

International News

Be the first to comment