President David Schafer
called the meeting to order.
Vice-president Sarah Oelberg
has worked with David on the nominating process in the absence of an official
nominating committee.
President David Schafer has
agreed to be re-nominated
Secretary Walter Wells has
agreed to be re-nominated
Carol Hepokoski has agreed to
serve a second term
Kendyl Gibbons has served the
maximum two terms permitted by the By-laws.
She has commitments to the Humanist Institute and her congregation that
will preclude her serving as an officer.
There is therefore an opening for someone to replace Kendyl, giving
consideration to balance in such factors as geography, gender, and the lay vs.
ministerial makeup (to be discussed later in this meeting).
Wendy Jerome, Humanist UU
Minister has been proposed. She is a
Minnesotan, is currently on study leave at the University of Minnesota. She is willing to be nominated.
The chair asked if there were
other nominations from the floor. There
were none, and the nominations were closed.
The vote for Wendy Jerome was unanimous.
B. Brief perspective on HUUmanists history
The first meeting of what is
now HUUmanists was an organizational meeting of the Fellowship of Religious
Humanists at the second General Assembly in Chicago. At that time it was mostly
made up of ministers. The major thrust of our reorganization a few years ago
was to expand and diversify the membership, with an extensive grassroots
representation of laymen and laywomen in addition to the Humanist UU clergy.
Our Treasurer William Miller
is unable to be with us at this meeting. Currently we have total funds on hand
of $13,897. Because of continuing
deficits and resulting lack of cash flow it became necessary in May 2005, about
the same time Bob Prestemon had to resign as Treasurer because of continuing
ill health, to end our longstanding contract with the American Humanist
Association to pay them $1,200 a month for office services.
For the past two years we
have not asked our members to renew their memberships as we have been working
to bring our journal publication up to schedule and to develop a more accurate
membership information base. As a gift
to our members, we recently mailed to our membership list 1000 complimentary
copies of Mason Olds’ classic book American Religious Humanism, long out
of print. Despite our efforts to
correct the mailing list, roughly 150 of these were returned as
undeliverable. The persons who are in
charge of maintaining our database and mailing list and publishing our journal
and newsletter understand what needs to be done. We are working with our members, new and old, to obtain accurate
information about surface mail and email addresses and phone numbers, and will
continue to do so until the problems are resolved.
A dues notice will come out
when and only when we are satisfied that we have reached a reasonable
expectation of meeting our commitments to our members.
The chair noted that the
HUUmanists structure is aimed at creating a grassworks network of UU members
and congregations within the twenty districts of the UUA. We have members in all of the twenty
districts. We want to make it easier
for our members in the same metropolitan area and within the same district to
connect with each other.
The chair pointed out that we
are working to bring the organization into full compliance with our
By-Laws. Our By-laws call for a
Nominating committee and two standing committees—Finance and Membership. Our biggest problem in achieving compliance
is that to do this we need more volunteers.
The chair asked whether any
of those present knew people who would be willing to serve on some of these
committees. Sarah Oelberg moved the names
of Kendyl Gibbons and Stefan Jonasson to serve as the Nominating Committee for
the coming year. Kendyl asked that her
name be removed from consideration for lack of time. Stefan would accept a place on the committee. David Schafer as president would serve on
committees ex officio. A discussion
ensued concerning the desirability of not placing Board members on the
Nominating Committee. There appeared to
be agreement that this overlap should be avoided. The chair asked Stefan to take charge of the nominating process,
receiving input from membership and seeking as broad geographical distribution
as possible.
The following names were put
forward: For the Finance Committee:
Ross Henry, Dale Handeen, Aaron Hamburger. For the Membership Committee: Jack Reich, Richard Bozian, and
Sarah Oelberg. All were elected
unanimously.
There followed a general
discussion of membership and other essential issues. It was suggested that we should have a connection to Canadian
Humanists. The chair agreed and encouraged Bill Main and Stefan to make such
contacts.
The chair read a passage from
the 2006 newsletter regarding plans to encourage formation of grassroots
organizations throughout the UUA, at congregational, regional, and district
levels. Sarah Oelberg pointed out that
there are already local Humanist groups.
Some of these are starting because they are feeling alienated but they
are joining AHA, and are not yet affiliating with HUUmanists.
Jack Reich suggested some
sort of affiliate or chapter status - nominal fee $75. Bill Main suggested affiliation with a
minimum number of members, sponsoring individuals nearby. Larger humanist groups could lend support to
other groups in the same area. Ross
said he had always assumed that HUUmanists were organized by chapters.
It was proposed that we try
to keep all options open as to how the local, metro, and regional groups are
structured. Sarah emphasized that it is
important that these groups all keep the word Humanist as a part of their name
so that the UUA will know that there are humanists among us. It was suggested that the Membership
Committee bring a concrete proposal back to the Board. The chair so directed the Membership Committee.
Charles Reynolds (UU,
Lafayette, Indiana) remarked that older persons are disaffected from church,
and asked, What about other younger folks?
Jack Reich asked for a copy
of the By-laws to be placed on the website.
Sarah noted that people are
looking for guidance in how to lead groups to frame issues in a religious
context. Working with these younger social activists and help them frame their
concern can be done in a humanist context.
Concern was expressed about
how the HUUmanists Association can lend a Humanist perspective to UU
discussions of “just war,” global warming, and other urgent issues. The chair remarked that one of the ways we
grow is by involving ourselves.
Louis Leedle told the group
that in 1965 someone had said to him “You sound like a humanist.” In 1980 he went to Columbus and joined the
AHA. He also joined the FRH, but wasn’t
a UUMA member and felt shut out. His
Humanist work these days is focused on Paul Kurtz’s secular humanism and
getting a book published. But he wants to be a HUUmanist member. Dale Handeen responded, Yes, we want to
attract younger people but don’t want to lose older members.
It was noted that there is a
need for HUUmanist literature for distribution throughout the denomination and
at local, district and cluster meetings.
The chair agreed and added that the Connecticut Humanists have had good
luck with meetings where individual members speak on why they are Humanists and
how they became Humanists. These
sessions can help local groups to form strong internal bonds.
Sarah moved that we adjourn
and Jack Reich seconded the motion. The
meeting was adjourned.
(Typed with minor editing
changes by David Schafer from a draft transmitted by Walter Wells; this version
approved by Walter Wells.)