Europe

Dublin Unitarian Church: Walking the Talk

Currently located in Dublin, Ireland, Ron Campbell and his partner Vicky have been members of the UU Congregation of Princeton for over 34 years.  Below, Ron shares their moving experiences with the Dublin Unitarian Church.

I have thought of myself as a Unitarian Universalist (“UU”) ever since my college days over 50 years ago. In fact, I entered through the Unitarian door prior to our 1961 merger with Universalism. My wife Vicky and I were married in a Unitarian Church over 48 years ago in Detroit, MI.

dublinchurch4Thus it was that, when I was offered an assignment from my company to work in Dublin, Ireland, we were delighted to discover the Dublin Unitarian Church (“DUC”) on St. Stephen’s Green in the City Centre of Dublin. We were warmly welcomed when we went there the first time last November. Especially inspiring was witnessing the DUC’s strong and active leadership in the greater Dublin community, working to heal the wounds and scars of the decades-long religious and political difficulties, commonly referred to as “The Troubles.”

Not only were we welcomed, we immediately had the opportunity to attend a seminar recognizing Francis Hutcheson, a long overlooked native son of Ireland, who had spent several influential years in Dublin at the start of his prominent early 18th century career. This seminar was organized in large part by members of the DUC and involved the unveiling of a plaque honoring Hutcheson on a historic old church. Hutcheson seems to have been overlooked as one of our key pre-Unitarian forbearers, who had espoused and strongly influenced the free thinking egalitarian principles of our 18th century Unitarian founders and spiritual ancestors. (more…)

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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…)

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Europe, International News, Transylvania

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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…)

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See “The Minister’s War” at UUA General Assembly

In 1939, Waitstill and Martha Sharp left behind the safety of their home in Wellesley, Massachusetts and flew to war-torn Europe. In Nazi-occupied Prague and Paris, in the grim detention camps of Vichy France and on hidden trails through the Pyreenees, they risked their lives to help feed, shelter, and rescue thousands of refugees, including anti-Nazi dissidents and Jews.

Why did this Unitarian minister and his social worker wife undertake such a demanding mission? How did they help those in need, and what are their legacies today?

Director Artemis Joukowsky, the grandson of Rev. Waitstill and Martha Sharp, will be hosting screenings of “The Minister’s War” during General Assembly on June 22, 23 and 24, 2012 on The Kax Stage at the Herberger Theater Center (next door to the Phoenix Convention Center) at 6pm, 8pm and 10pm.

All are encouraged to see this inspiring, informative film  on how these Unitarian leaders risked their lives for the sake of refugees during WWII. Don’t miss it!

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Transylvanian Unitarians Celebrate the Proclamation of the Act on Religious Freedom

Please enjoy this exciting news from the Transylvania Unitarian Church:

On January 13, 2012 the Consistory of the Transylvanian Unitarian Church honors the 444th anniversary of the proclamation of the first law on freedom of belief and conscience, and religious tolerance. In January 1568, King Janos Zsigmond and his court preacher, David Ferenc had the Diet of Transylvania pass, at its session held in Torda, the Patent of Toleration, which stated:

In every place the preachers shall preach and explain the gospel each according to his understanding of it, and if the congregation like it, well; if not, no one shall compel them but they shall keep the preachers whose doctrine they approve. Therefore none of the Superintendents or others shall annoy or abuse the preachers on account of their religion, according to the previous constitutions, or allow any to be imprisoned or be punished by removal from his post on account of his teaching, for faith is the gift of God, this comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

The celebrations start in the morning in the Unitarian church of Torda with a worship service that includes a history lecture on the importance of the Act on Religious Freedom. Then, the congregation will walk over to the National Museum of Torda which was reopened in fall 2011 after many long years of restoration. The purpose of visit is to salute the new exhibition of the famous painting on the 1568 event, which was also restored over the past decade. The painting entitled The Proclamation of the Act on Religious Freedom at the 1568 Session of the Transylvanian Diet was painted by Aladár Körösfői Kriesch in 1896.

The celebrations will continue with an evening worship service in the Unitarian church of Kolozsvár, and a concert featuring the children’s choir of the Unitarian High School. The day will be closed with a reception at the residence of the Unitarian bishops, built in the 15th century, currently expecting the launching of a major restoration work.

The Consistory of the Transylvanian Unitarian Church thankfully acknowledges the contribution of the Unitarian and Unitarian Universalist international community to urging the completion of the restoration works at the museum in Torda. Among other things, it was due to the international campaign lead in 2009 and 2010 by the International Council of the Unitarians and Universalists (ICUU), the Unitarian Universalist Partner Church Council (UUPCC) and the International Relations Office of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) that the renovation works were speed up, and eventually finished. This way, the painting, a symbol of the struggle of our liberal faith for the recognition of the religious freedom, became accessible again for the public.

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Europe, ICUU, International Resources, Transylvania

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Servetus: Heretic and Hero

Cross-posted from Beyond Belief, UUA President Peter Morales’s blog.

Imagine that an unknown 20-year-old were to write a book today taking issue with some point of religious doctrine, basing his arguments on his interpretation of texts in Hebrew, Greek and Latin. I doubt anyone would notice.

Michael Servetus did that almost 500 years ago, and it caused a firestorm. He was instantly condemned as a heretic and was forced to live the rest of his life pretending to be someone else. His books were burned. Eventually he was burned at the stake in John Calvin’s Geneva.

His real crime, of course, was to think for himself. He challenged the authority of church and its hierarchy.

I write these words from Zaragoza, Spain, where I just attended a two-day congress commemorating the 500th anniversary of Servetus’s birth. The first day’s sessions were held in the art museum in Zaragoza. The second day was held an hour away in the small village he was born, Villanueva de Sigena.

What amazing change. Servetus, or Miguel Servet as he is called here, is now a cultural hero. Political leaders attended the opening and closing ceremonies. Spain, once a bastion of the most conservative Catholicism, now allows gays to marry. Thousands come to Villanueva every year and pay homage to Servetus. Yet when I was a young man Francisco Franco still led a Fascist government here.

I pray that all this progress is permanent. We too easily take our freedom for granted, and often forget the terrible price others have paid.

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Speaking of Servetus

Cross-posted from Beyond Belief, UUA President Peter Morales’s blog.

I have just arrived in Spain to participate in a conference in honor of the 500th anniversary of the birth of Michael Servetus (or, as the Spaniards name him, Miguel Servet). Organized by the Michael Servetus Institute, the conference is taking place in Zaragosa and in Villanueva de Sigena, the birthplace of Servetus.

When I was first asked if I would be a presenter, I replied that I am not a scholar of Servetus. I have done some reading and, like most UU ministers, I have preached about him, but that is hardly background for speaking at a conference like this.

I was assured that I was not expected to be a scholar. Rather, they wanted me to speak about Unitarianism (and Unitarian Universalism) today, with emphasis on the theme of liberalism and dogmatism. So tomorrow I will present a paper on that topic in Spanish to the assembled Servetus scholars.

This anniversary conference is an appropriate place to highlight the lasting influence of Servetus in liberal religion. Four years ago I passed through the small village of Villanueva where Servetus was born. The Servetus home is now a museum with archives for scholars. School children from the region often visit on field trips. Ironically, a statue of Servetus is now outside the entrance of the Catholic church. I couldn’t resist having my photo taken next to a heretical forebear. The Catholic church had condemned Servetus as a heretic and would have killed him if John Calvin had not done it first. Now he has a place of honor outside the church.  The ways of history can sometimes be very strange.

When I was preparing my presentation, I went from wondering if I had enough to fill the time to realizing that I had to leave out many things. There are so many possibilities for my topic: describing our movement in the U.S. and in other countries; highlighting the role of science, of a critical stance toward scripture, of antiauthoritarianism; briefly describing the state of liberal religion in Europe and in America (a very mixed bag, indeed); and noting the challenges that liberal religion faces now and in the future.

There is so much!

I’ll tell you more about the conference in my next post.

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EUU Fall Retreat

From October 29-31, the European Unitarian Universalists (EUU) held its Fall Retreat in Mittelwihr, located in the Alsace region of France. Hosted by the UU Fellowship of Paris, UUA President Rev. Peter Morales attended as the theme speaker.

Morales’ talk, entitled “Building a Religion Beyond Belief,” explored religion not as a set of beliefs but as what we love – including the role of religious community and the need to adapt to contexts. Text excerpts from the theme talk are available online.

President Morales shared the following reflections from his trip:

I had the pleasure of speaking at the fall retreat of European UU’s in Alsace, France. Although I knew there were UU’s in Europe, I never imagined that 140 would attend a retreat. People came from France, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Norway and beyond.

One thing was obvious from the start: these UU’s treasure these opportunities to come together. A number of them are isolated and not part of any fellowship. For them, these gatherings are a religious home. I was delighted with the energy at the workshop I led and the outpouring of spirit at our Sunday worship service. I came away inspired by their commitment and dedication.

The next EUU retreat will take place April 1-3, 2011, in Spa, Belgium.  Check the EUU website for updates on retreat details and registration.

EUU Retreat 2010
Photo credit: Rev. Dr. Richard Boeke

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