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Class: Presentation and Discussion of the Commission on Appraisal’s New Topic

General Assembly 2014 Event 235

This event, sponsored by the Commission on Appraisal, is scheduled to occur on Thursday, June 26, 2014; 12:30 - 1:45 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, in Rhode Island Convention Center Room 554.

Program Description

The Commission on Appraisal will present its chosen area of study for the next four years. Please come hear about it and help guide us. We need your questions and advice to do our work well. What’s most important to the future of our faith and institutions? Come tell us!

Speakers

Members of the Commission on Appraisal:

  • Rev. Nathan Alan Hollister
  • Rev. Nana’ Kratochvil
  • Myriam Renaud
  • John Hawkins

Class: The Next Study Topic for the UUA Commission on Appraisal

The Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) Commission on Appraisal (COA) is excited to announce that our next study topic will be "Class." We hope to increase understanding of how class structures in our society impact us as we build Beloved Community.

Over the next 3 years, we will examine how class affects our movement, with emphasis on intersectionality, inclusion, congregational culture, and how different class roles can aid our work for justice and liberation. We will explore our theologies of class, and examine how classism and structures of class privilege might create barriers to our depth of faith.

We believe this work is ongoing, and should be carried on and extended when our work as a Commission is done. We chose this topic because of its importance to our congregations and our movement, recognizing that it has not been studied in depth by official Association bodies.

We will engage Unitarian Universalists (UUs) across the spectrum to find success stories, examine how assumptions compare with realities, and share our learnings in an ongoing conversation. We will report to the General Assembly in 2017; but before then we will engage with UUs and share our progress using both traditional and new communication channels.

What questions should we be asking? What assumptions do we need to examine? With this study, how can we best benefit both our movement and the world? We look forward to our dialogue, in covenant with you all and with our vision of a just, peaceful, and compassionate world.

The UUA Commission on Appraisal

Nana' Kratochvil, John Cullinan, Erica Baron, Megan Dowdell, Lynne Garner, John Hawkins, Myriam Renaud, and Nathan Alan Hollister

The Commission on Appraisal is elected by the General Assembly; we are charged to independently review and study activities and issues of importance to the Unitarian Universalist Association, and to report findings to the General Assembly at least every four years.

Workshop Agenda

  1. Introduction (10 mins)
  2. Reflect on how class has intersected with or helped to form your identity (writing and discussion). (20 mins)
  3. How does class matter to us as UUs?
    1. How do we relate to others in our larger community? (10 mins)
    2. How do we relate to each other in our congregations? (10 mins)
    3. What grounds you in how you think about class? (10 mins)
  4. What are the most important questions about class that the COA could explore? (10 mins)
  5. Thank you and goodbye (5 mins)

Send us reading suggestions or other contributions: coa@uua.org.

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