General Assembly Blog

Responsive resolutions on Article II, Article XV, and African visas

2009-07-13T14:44:00.000-04:00

The final texts of the responsive resolutions adopted by the UUA General Assembly during the final plenary session June 28 are now online:

"Responsive Resolutions on Inclusion: Two resolutions introduced by members of Allies for Racial Equity endorsed the "Inclusion" section of the Commission on Appraisal's proposed revision of Article II (the "Principles and Purposes"), after delegates had earlier rejected the revision as a whole. The first resolution, jointly introduced by the Youth Caucus, urged the Board of Trustees to reintroduce the Inclusion section as an amendment to Article II as soon as feasible. The Inclusion section would replace the current "Non-Discrimination" section. The second resolution called on delegates to embrace the covenant in the proposed Inclusion section individually and in their congregations. Here's the text of the proposed Inclusion section:
Section C-2.4 Inclusion.

Systems of power, privilege, and oppression have traditionally created barriers for persons and groups with particular identities, ages, abilities, and histories. We pledge to do all we can to replace such barriers with ever-widening circles of solidarity and mutual respect. We strive to be an association of congregations that truly welcome all persons and commit to structuring congregational and associational life in ways that empower and enhance everyone’s participation.

Responsive Resolution on Article II: This resolution "strongly urges" the Board "to facilitate a continuation and further deepening of the discussion of the Principles and Purposes begun by the review conducted by the UUA Commission on Appraisal . . . throughout all levels of the Association, at least until such time as further revisions to Article II may be presented to a General Assembly."

Responsive Resolution on Article XV: This resolution grew out of frustration with the rules governing the General Assembly's consideration of the Commission on Appraisal's proposed revision of Article II and asks the Board to review Article XV, which governs the process for amending Article II.

Responsive Resolution on Barriers to Inclusion in Outreach to African UU and Other Progressive Religious Congregations, which addressed the inequitable way that U.S. visas were handled for UU men and women from Africa. UU women from Kenya applied for but were denied visas to attend the International Convocation of UU Women in Texas earlier this year, but UU men from three other African countries were granted visas to attend the General Assembly. The resolution asks the UUA staff to seek an explanation from the State Department or other appropriate agency.

Final texts of Actions of Immediate Witness now online

2009-07-07T15:39:00.000-04:00

The six social witness resolutions introduced by petition and adopted by the 2009 UUA General Assembly in Salt Lake City last month are now online:

Action of Immediate Witness 1: Advocate Pending Legislation Toward Clean, Honest, and Fair Elections in the United States

Action of Immediate Witness 2: U.S. Ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

Action of Immediate Witness 3: In Support of America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act

Action of Immediate Witness 4: Support Bolivian UUs Struggling for Justice and Human Rights

Action of Immediate Witness 5: U.S.-Sponsored Torture: A Call for a Commission of Inquiry

Action of Immediate Witness 6: Oppose Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity-Based Violence in Iraq

Gini Courter thanks all who took part in elections

2009-07-01T16:24:00.000-04:00

UUA Moderator Gini Courter, who was elected to a second full term at the General Assembly in Salt Lake City June 27, sent the following letter to the UUA's Election-L email list on June 29 expressing her gratitude for the candidates and everyone else who took part in denominational elections this year:

I'm thankful for...

the campaign teams , whose skills and dedication gave the candidates a presence in local congregations that was barely imaginable eight years ago

the supporters, whose contributions of time, money, and love informed and encouraged both candidates

thoughtful UUs who reviewed materials, visited web sites, attended forums, and asked challenging questions

the diligence and care shown by Paul Rickter, Secretary of the Association, while managing the election process

I'm grateful to....

Laurel Hallman and Peter Morales, who shared their visions for our faith broadly and passionately, and who allowed their visions to be shaped and refined by their interactions with us

our congregations, who elected the Reverend Peter Morales to serve as the eighth President of our Association

I promise to continue to...

lead transparently with integrity and passion,

always hold the needs and possibilities of our Association first in my thoughts and actions as Moderator,

work with Peter as we have already begun to work: with collaboration, candor, and joy.

In faith,
Gini Courter, Moderator
Unitarian Universalist Association

Official 2009 UUA election results

2009-07-01T16:17:00.000-04:00

Here's a PDF of the official final vote count in this year's UUA elections, showing vote totals by on-site and absentee ballots for all races.

Courter apologizes for missing post-election event

2009-06-30T10:02:00.000-04:00

UUA Moderator Gini Courter apologized to the General Assembly during her annual report Sunday afternoon for not attending a post-election celebration Saturday night. Some delegates had interpreted her absence as a slight on newly-elected President Peter Morales, since she had endorsed his opponent, the Rev. Dr. Laurel Hallman, but she told delegates that was not her intent.

Courter told the plenary session:

Being moderator is a great honor for me. The care that you entrust me with when I'm paying attention puts me in awe. So I want to begin with an apology for not being here with you last night. . . . My nights at GA are pretty short, so I got in the habit several years ago of not attending the Ware Lecture. I simply go and work on the things I'm doing today, and it's an evening I have off. . . .

So last night I came over for that wonderful worship service when the election results were announced, and then I scooted backstage and picked up my backpack and headed back to my hotel room and set up my computer and got some email and started typing and writing some things some things that you're going to hear later this evening, and then I went down to hotel lobby and somebody said, "There you are!" And I said, "Where did you expect me to be?" And they said, "Well, there were several thousand people waiting for you to show up with the other candidates afterwards." It is never my intention to no-show you, and it is so unlike me to do it at night. . . .

You have my deepest apologies for not being here with you yesterday evening. I wish I had been here for that celebration. (Flash video; Courter's report starts at 2:31:00)

She also posted an apology to her blog Monday evening.

(Full disclosure: This reporter had expected the candidates to speak during the 8:00 post-election worship service, and also didn't realize that the candidates were going to speak at 10:00. I had to run from the Electronic Communications Center to the convention center ballroom when someone close to one of the campaigns informed me that the candidates would be speaking.)

Trustees start awkwardly, but seek common vision

2009-06-29T11:41:00.001-04:00

After a mid-morning break, the UUA Board of Trustees—which is meeting for the first time with newly-elected UUA President Peter Morales—acknowledged that they started awkwardly this morning. "We started weird," Moderator Gini Courter said.

The Rev. Jeanne Pupke, a newly elected trustee-at-large, said she was concerned that a statement read by the Rev. Will Saunders at the start of this morning's meeting had seemed to say to Morales, "sit down and shut up." She added, "Our president was duly elected and has a lot of support." Although she had supported the Rev. Dr. Laurel Hallman's candidacy, Pupke said, she was eager to work with Morales and wanted to welcome him.

The Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt, the board's chaplain and trustee from the Metropolitan New York District, said that she had invited Saunders to offer a statement during this morning's meeting in order to focus the board on its need to embrace a common vision after the divisions of the campaign season. (About half of the trustees had endorsed each of the candidates for president, but Saunders had remained neutral in the race.) McNatt said she regretted not thinking more about when such a statement would have been most useful on today's agenda.

Morales said that he recognized that "that was not an attack on me." He added, "Having spent eleven years in journalism, I have a thicker skin than most people."

Courter said that she hadn't read Saunders's statement in advance and "was regretting where it ended up being positioned."

"We started weird," Courter observed. "Just because I don't know what to do with the elephant in the room doesn't mean you don't," she said to her colleagues. "This is a board with a very deep culture, and some of it will not be evident, and some of it has nothing to do with the current president of the UUA, or even with the previous president or the president before that. And I hear Peter saying that he knows it's not about him."

Board welcomes Morales, asks about new relationship

2009-06-29T11:09:00.006-04:00

After each trustee briefly introduced himself or herself at this morning Board of Trustees meeting in Salt Lake City, UUA Moderator Gini Courter said, "I don't know if you're as excited as I am, but please welcome our new president, Peter Morales." The trustees applauded and cheered.

Morales offered a few reflections on the campaign. "Happily," he said, "the discussion was not about competence nor was it really about personality. I'm delighted about that." He said he interpreted the election results as a mandate for ambitious action. Unitarian Universalists "really want us, as their leaders, to be ambitious about moving into the future."

Morales said he would be traveling to Boston next week to hold initial conversations with Executive Vice President Kay Montgomery, to look for an apartment, and to begin setting up a travel schedule. "My head's still spinning," he said, "but I'm anxious to shift gears and make this transition."

He then invited questions from the trustees.

David Friedman, the trustee from the St. Lawrence District, asked how Morales planned to respond to travel invitations. Morales replied that he hoped to be "as strategic about it as possible, looking for ways to move the vision forward." He said he would be accepting invitations from diverse regions and speak in "venues that have some leverage to them," but added that this would not restrict him to large congregations or gatherings.

Tom Loughrey, the new UUA secretary and trustee from the Pacific Southwest District*, asked about staff anxieties about a new administration. Morales said he would meet soon with the UUA's staff and Leadership Council. "I've been through this drill before," he said. "There's always some anxiety—and it's not all bad. There's a kind of anxiety that brings heightened awareness. My style is, I don't come in with a submachine gun and shoot the place up. But there will be some changes."

"I like to talk about the distinction between anxiety and panic," Morales continued. "A certain kind of urgency can be invigorating and healthy. I want to bring some of that atmosphere into the Association."

Executive Vice President Kay Montgomery said that the staff has been anxious on two fronts: feeling grief about former President William G. Sinkford's departure, and feeling relatively unfamiliar with either of the candidates for president. "I want to affirm Peter's comments that a certain amount of urgency and anxiety will be healthy," she added.

Linda Laskowski, trustee from the Pacific Central District, asked Morales what makes the relationship between a board and chief executive work well.

Morales replied that he saw no conflict between his and the board's values and goals. "I see Policy Governance as a means toward our ends, a way of achieving certain values."

He continued: "The values that appeal to me are real clarity about roles, transparency and accountability—I'm totally committed to that. I'm someone who believes that secrets are terrible things; one has to have a compelling reason for something to be confidential—personnel issues, litigation—and I am committed to this administration being as absolutely transparent as possible."

Morales said, "I don't believe there are any significant differences between the values I've been campaigning for and the values the board is focused on. I don't see any misalignment with the board." He added that, in general, "a lack of disagreement bothers me; I see it is not as a sign of health."

John Blevins, the trustee from the Prairie Star District, asked how Morales intended to begin a conversation about arriving at shared vision with the board. Morales replied, "One advantage we have is that Laurel and I have been [attending board meetings] for a while. I feel like I'm part of the board culture. I kind of know what you think already. Also, I don't pretend to have all the answers."

Nick Allen, the youth trustee, asked about Morales's plans to meet with UUA leaders. Morales said he and Kay Montgomery will sit down to talk next week. Courter said she and Morales will talk by phone next week as well.

Lew Phinney, trustee from the Mountain Desert District, responded to the Rev. Will Saunders's concern in his opening statement (mentioned in the preceding blog post) that the board was too invisible. "Unfortunately, we disagree. I see the role of the board as being largely invisible if everything is going well. If something is not going well, the board has dropped the ball or something has intervened and we have to get involved." He asked, "Should we be out there in front leading the parade, or sitting back and watching the parade we launched?"

Morales replied, "That's the board's to talk about and decide, not mine." He added as an observation that he knew who was the president of each college his children attended, but did not know who was on the board of either school. "I hope the board doesn't set a target that's unattainable."

Correction 7.1.09: As originally published, this blog entry left out part of the name of the district represented by trustee Tom Loughrey. Click here to return to the corrected paragraph.

UUA Board gathers with newly elected president

2009-06-29T08:54:00.001-04:00

The UUA Board of Trustees is meeting this morning with newly installed UUA President Peter Morales in Salt Lake City.

At the opening of this morning's meeting, the Rev. Will Saunders, the trustee from the New England District, told Morales that the UUA's governance was "at a crossroads." (The UUA begins operating under a modified form of Policy Governance on July 1.) Saunders lamented the "invisibility of the board" and said he looked forward to a unified board and administration with a single vision. "The president's vision is irrelevant unless it is also the board's vision," Saunders said.

The Rev. Elizabeth Greene, trustee from the Pacific Northwest District, responded to Saunders. "As an individual, I would have said different things. I would have said, Welcome! If you have a different vision than I have, let's talk about it and work together."

Moderator Gini Courter then said, "Yes, let's do the welcoming thing." Turning to Morales at her right, Courter said, "It's good to have you here."

Later in the meeting, the board will be talking about its new relationship with the president under the new governance system.

General Assembly is over, but our coverage continues

2009-06-28T19:49:00.000-04:00

With a benediction from President Peter Morales, the 2009 General Assembly has concluded—but UU World will continue to publish news related to the General Assembly here at the General Assembly blog and in our regular weekly news coverage. Watch for full reports on the presidential election and General Assembly business over the course of the next week at uuworld.org—and sign up for uuworld.org's weekly email newsletter.

The magazine's full coverage of General Assembly will appear in the Fall issue.

Peter Morales installed as UUA president

2009-06-28T19:40:00.000-04:00

The Rev. William G. Sinkford has given a charge to his successor as UUA president, the Rev. Peter Morales, quoting from each of his surviving predecessors in the office. Sinkford then took the stole he had been wearing and placed it on Peter. The Rev. Victoria Safford has led the General Assembly in laying hands on and blessing President Morales. He sits beside Sinkford, with his wife and daughter behind him, and the Board of Trustees and other leaders surrounding them. Moderator Gini Courter is now leading the congregation in a prayer with a sung response led by the choir.

Saying goodbye to Sinkford, welcoming new leaders

2009-06-28T19:14:00.000-04:00

During the closing ceremonies of the 2009 General Assembly, UUA Executive Vice President has just thanked the Rev. William G. Sinkford for his ministry as president of the Unitarian Universalist Association.

Newly elected trustees and members of elected committees and commissions are now making a covenant with the delegates in the plenary hall, effectively their oath of office. President-Elect Peter Morales will be formally installed shortly.

A few final figures from the 2009 General Assembly

2009-06-28T18:55:00.000-04:00

The General Assembly raised $29,726 in Sunday morning's collection for the Salt Lake City Pride Center.

UUA Secretary Paul Rickter reported Sunday afternoon that 1,991 delegates attended the General Assembly this year, including 1,545 member delegates, 416 ministerial delegates, and three credentialed religious educator delegates from 582 congregations. One hundred forty-five youth attended. The total registered attendance was 3,385.

Resolution calls for inquiry into African visa denials

2009-06-28T17:18:00.000-04:00

Dale Hill, from River Road UU Congregation in Bethesda, Md., proposed a responsive resolution in response to President Sinkford's report on his trip to Africa and his introduction of two African UU leaders. Hill observed that both African men had been granted visas by the U.S. government, but that eight African women who had applied for visas to attend the International Convocation of Unitarian Universalist Women were turned down. The resolution asks the UUA staff to make inquiries with the U.S. government about the reasons for rejecting the women's visas while granting the men's. The resolution passed.

(I'm posting this out of sequence; the General Assembly passed this resolution prior to the longer debate about the Mosaic Project.)

Assembly rejects proposal to delay Mosaic Project

2009-06-28T17:10:00.001-04:00

Finley C. Campbell, a member of First Unitarian Church of Chicago who called himself an "Old Black Dude, '34," offered a responsive resolution urging the UUA to delay implementation of the "Mosaic Project," an assessment of the ministry needs of youth and young adults of color. Campbell said that the Mosaic report calls for mandatory racial caucusing. His resolution also called for the UUA to declare itself a "multiracial" religion. A long line of opponents argued that the Mosaic report does not mandate racial segregation and that the report expresses the experiences and needs of people of color. The resolution failed by a wide margin.

G.A. responds to failed Article II revision

2009-06-28T16:50:00.000-04:00

Delegates brought a variety of responsive resolutions to the final plenary of the 2009 General Assembly in response to the Commission on Appraisal's proposed revision of Bylaw Article II (the "Principles and Purposes").

The Rev. Wendy von Zirpolo, president of UU Allies for Racial Equity and minister from Marblehead, Mass., and the Youth Caucus proposed a responsive resolution that asked the Board of Trustees to offer an amendment at the next possible General Assembly that would replace the current "Non Discrimination" clause (Section C-2.3) with the "Inclusion" clause (Section C-2.4) offered in the Commission on Appraisal's proposed revision of Article II. Delegates had voted down the Commission's full proposal, but expressed frustration that they couldn't vote on specific pieces of the proposal. This responsive resolution would urge the board to offer one of those pieces. The resolution passed.

The Rev. James A. Hobart, minister emeritus of the First Unitarian Church of Denver and a member of UU Allies for Racial Equity, proposed a second responsive resolution that committed delegates to act on the pledges in the Commission's proposed "Inclusion" clause (Section C-2.4) and to report on their congregations' actions before the next General Assembly. The resolution passed.

Elizabeth Yoss of the First Parish of Lexington, Mass, proposed a responsive resolution that asked the Board of Trustees to review Article XV C-15.1, the section of the bylaws that forbids the General Assembly to amend proposed revisions to Article II. The resolution passed.

The Rev. Robert Klein, minister from Little Rock, Ark., proposed a responsive resolution that asks the Board to encourage ongoing discussion about the Principles and Purposes "until such time as further revisions may be presented to the General Assembly." The resolution passed.

Amy Kelly, from First Unitarian Society of San Francisco, proposed a responsive resolution that commends an ad hoc volunteer group to the Board that wishes to continue revising the text that the Commission on Appraisal had offered. This resolution generated considerable conversation about whether an ad hoc volunteer group should be authorized to conduct work for the Association. The resolution failed.

G.A. opposes violence against sexual minorities in Iraq

2009-06-28T15:44:00.000-04:00

The General Assembly has adopted Action of Immediate Witness 6, "Oppose Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity-Based Violence in Iraq," which urges UUs to pressure the U.S. government to work with the United Nations to protect the rights of sexual minorities in Iraq.

Delegates call for commission of inquiry into U.S. torture

2009-06-28T15:20:00.001-04:00

Delegates to the UUA General Assembly have just adopted Action of Immediate Witness 5, "U.S.-Sponsored Torture: A Call for a Commission of Inquiry," which endorses the National Religious Campaign Against Torture's call for commission of inquiry.

Delegates support Bolivian UU human rights struggle

2009-06-28T14:53:00.000-04:00

Delegates are adopting Actions of Immediate Witness so quickly we're falling just a bit behind here in the blogging department!

The General Assembly adopted Action of Immediate Witness 4, "Support Bolivian UUs Struggling for Justice and Human Rights." The AIW expresses the General Assembly's support for Bolivian UU leader Olga Flores Bedregal, who has been calling on her government to provide information about victims of disappearance by the country's military government, and calls on UUs to write to the Bolivian ambassador urging the country to establish a truth commission to investigate human rights violations.

General Assembly supports Red Rock Wilderness Act

2009-06-28T14:50:00.000-04:00

The UUA General Assembly has just adopted Action of Immediate Witness 3, "In Support of America's Red Rock Wilderness Act," which calls for the passage of S 799/HR 1925 to protect Utah's "spectacular and irreplaceable wild lands."

Delegates urge ratification of nuclear test ban treaty

2009-06-28T14:44:00.001-04:00

Delegates to the UUA General Assembly have just adopted Action of Immediate Witness 2, "U.S. Ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty," which urges the United States Senate to ratify a treaty that the United States signed in 1996.

General Assembly supports fair elections legislation

2009-06-28T14:36:00.000-04:00

Delegates have just adopted Action of Immediate Witness 1, "Advocate Pending Legislation Toward Clean, Honest and Fair Elections in the United States." The AIW supports current bills—HR 2894, HR 1826, and S 751-752—and proposes nine amendments that would strengthen HR 2894.

Initial press coverage of Morales's victory

2009-06-28T11:02:00.000-04:00

The Salt Lake Tribune and Denver Post each report on the election of the Rev. Peter Morales as UUA president. The UUA General Assembly, where Morales was elected, is being held in Salt Lake City; Morales has been serving as senior minister of Jefferson Unitarian Church in Golden, Colo.

UUA elects Colorado pastor as president (Salt Lake Tribune, 6.27.09)

Unitarians elect golden [sic] pastor to presidency (Denver Post, 6.28.09)

President-Elect Morales address General Assembly

2009-06-28T10:56:00.000-04:00

UUA President-Elect Peter Morales addressed the General Assembly for the first time during an election celebration Saturday night at the General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association. A transcription of his remarks follows:

Mercifully, the election is over. [Laughter] Laurel and I joked—but there was much seriousness to it— the carbon footprint would have been less if we just took turns going to the forums, because we could deliver each other's stump speeches and answer any questions that came up on the campaign trail. [Laughter] And truly we spent, for some time, much more time with one another than we did with our families and loved ones. I thank her very much, and her supporters, who were spirited and gave, and may that be a source of strength for us all. [Applause]

My remarks are going to be brief tonight because I'm too delirious to be coherent for any length of time. [Laughter]

I believe firmly that religion is much more about what we love than about what we think. And all of us—all of us—love the same things: We love compassion, freedom, stewardship of the earth, religious community, spiritual depth—and therefore we have one religion.

In the nature of a campaign we try to highlight the differences, but the truth is that what unites us is so, so very much more important than anything that is dividing us.

We have a big challenge. I talked about it and put out a very ambitious kind of agenda. It's going to take all of us, all of us. This campaign is about and has been about taking our movement and realizing its potential, and that will happen when the commitment and the idealism and the energy of all of us, in over a thousand congregations, is unleashed. So it is time that we let our people go. [Applause]

The challenges are enormous—and we can do this. We are smart enough, and committed enough. We can make a tremendous difference. We can grow this faith, and be a far more powerful voice for all of those things that we care about.

So tonight I ask you to rededicate yourselves to this faith that we all love, and hand in hand—as I'm fond of saying, mano y mano—let us go forward together. Thank you very much. [Applause]

Morales: 'We have this amazing potential'

2009-06-28T10:39:00.000-04:00

In a brief conversation with UU World and members of the UUA's Communications staff shortly after he was named President-Elect on Saturday, June 27, the Rev. Peter Morales praised his opponent and identified some key goals of his administration.

Morales said, "To get to where we want to go requires all of us, and we need [the Rev. Dr. Laurel Hallman's supporters'] commitment, their enthusiasm, their passion, and their vision. I also particularly want to say that I fully appreciate Laurel's consistent emphasis on spiritual depth, on the creation of profound covenant in communities, and also her deep passion for retaining our youth and young adults."

Asked where he would like to take Unitarian Universalism in the next four to eight years, Morales said, "I want to grow our faith, to reach all those people who are looking for nondogmatic, liberal religious community. I look forward to working with partners in many other progressive and justice-seeking religious groups. There are tremendous issues that we'll be facing in the coming years and we're going to need one another." He pointed to Friday's interfaith rally for immigrant families as an example, which brought Mormon, Episcopal, Roman Catholic, and Unitarian Universalist leaders and laypeople together.

Morales described what Unitarian Universalism has to offer to the world. "The number of people who are already in agreement with us—not just in an intellectual sense, but in complete harmony with our core values—is enormous. The breadth of our message is very appealing, but we need to become more culturally diverse in our forms of expression in order to reach the millions of people who share our theology and values. We've tended, because of our particular history, to have a narrow range of expression. I so want to see our faith become much more multicultural and open to other ways of expressing the same fundamental values."

Did he expect to win? "I had no idea," he said. "We thought momentum was on our side," but he said the final vote count "really surprised me."

"We were underdogs for sure," Morales continued. "I started out a good year and a half after Laurel, and understood that she was very well funded, and also that four or five other people had considered it and declined to run. So it was a daunting undertaking, we had no illusions about that."

"I hope, and believe, that people resonated with the call to take our faith to a place it has not yet been, although we have this
amazing potential. The consistent message of our campaign was that we could be much, much more. We need to
make some adjustments because we live in a time of tremendous change. There's an enormous demographic shift going on."

Laurel Hallman's speech at election celebration

2009-06-27T23:46:00.001-04:00

The Rev. Dr. Laurel Hallman, who lost to the Rev. Peter Morales today in her bid to become president of the Unitarian Universalist Association, addressed the General Assembly Saturday night. Her comments are transcribed below:

Thank you. I congratulate Peter and his campaign staff for all they have done and for their success. I thank all of you who have paid attention to this election, participating in candidate forums all across the country—Peter and I are bonded forever: We have been to thirty-three of them—reading and commenting on Election-L and various blogs. I believe that you've heard what we've been saying, and that each campaign, in the appropriate process that is the democratic process, each campaign has been influenced by the other.

So we have each been forced through the implications of what we have been saying and what the other candidate was saying, and we are both different because of it. This can only be good for our beloved faith. [Applause]

Well, this campaign has mostly been a joyful journey. [Laughs] It has had some harrowing moments. But I will be happy to put it behind me now, to regather our liberal religious movement together from two hard-working campaigns back into one free faith, one association of free congregations, all of us united by our love for Unitarian Universalism. We are united by our determination to widen its reach and strengthen its impact, and by our wish for as many people as possible to experience the saving power of our free faith that has saved so many of us.

I am grateful to Peter for lifting up the issues he has, and for being good company as we've toured the country, all over, telling all of you our dreams for this faith that all of us love.

Many people have told us that they feel lucky that Unitarian Universalism had two people this year so dedicated to our faith that we were willing to campaign and possibly serve as president.

I am more grateful than I can say to the people of First Unitarian Church of Dallas that generously gave me time and space to do this campaign, and to all the colleagues and friends who encouraged me to seek the presidency and supported me every step of the way. I couldn't have done it without you, I have been enriched by the journey, and I thank you all.