Social Justice Committee

The mission of the Partner Church Sub-Committee is to foster our relationship with our Unitarian Partner Church in Ikland, Romania. We believe that through partnering, we will expand our awareness of the roots of liberal religion and establish an opportunity to live out our ideals for social justice, global ethics and the understanding of those of our somewhat self-focused culture.

In May of 2002, we, as a community, voted to become a Partner Church with a Unitarian church in the small village of Ikland in eastern Romania (in the ethnic Hungarian area know as Transylvania ). We began our relationship with our Ikland partners when a former Director of Religious Education visited the Minister and congregation of the Ikland church as part of her summer trip to Hungary. The Ikland church was presented with letters from the Minister and our church and with a rainbow photograph of our congregation celebrating our status as a Welcoming Congregation. The Ikland church gave us a hand carved wood plaque depicting hands folded in prayer. That plaque is on display at the front of our sanctuary, just to the right of the lectern.

The Unitarian Universalist Association formed the Partner Church Council in 1993 to coordinate a large grassroots effort by UUA congregations to connect with Unitarian Churches in central Europe after the fall of Communism. Since then 200 partnerships have been created between North American UU churches and Unitarians and Universalist's in Transylvania , Hungary , the Czech Republic , India , the Philippines and Poland .

The UUA Partner Church Council states that the mission of the Unitarian Universalist Partner Church Council is to foster and support partner church relationships between North American congregations and congregations in all other countries where partnering is sought and welcomed. This includes countries where partners are already active, such as Romania , Hungary , and the Czech Republic , as well as other countries where new partnerships are now beginning, such as the Philippines , India , and Poland .

The Vision of the UU Partner Church Council is that partner relationships between North American congregations and churches around the globe will be forged and sustained wherever they are desired -- and that all of these relationships will be of high quality, firmly based, mutually beneficial, responsibly sustained, and linked by a joint and mutual covenant:

• We believe that partnering is effective because it is a grassroots effort, sensitive to and sustained by the local needs and interests of both partners.
• We believe that partnering and related international exchange opportunities are effective forces for expanding the awareness and appreciation of the historical roots and many flowerings of liberal religion.
• We believe that partnering can be a significant force for social justice and international understanding.
• We believe that partnering can be a central aspect of a reinvigorated North American Unitarian Universalism and a means of infusing congregational life with pragmatic global ethics and one-to-one commitments.