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Opportunities for Connection
CER Update ~ May 2025 |
Featured Resource: Summer Institute
Get ready for an unforgettable week of community, music and learning! Summer Institute 2025 is returning to Oberlin College, OH.
In 2025, Summer Institute gathers July 6-12. Our theme speaker is Rev. Joanna Fontaine Crawford, speaking on the theme Live a Life on Fire: Change the World with Your Love. Youth theme speaker is Matt Meyers.
This year we are adding to the traditional Young Adult Weekend and opening it up to adults of any age. This offering is geared toward young adults and returning SI community members who can't get the whole week off. Registration for this includes only community programming and full details are available on the SI website.
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May Day and The Gathering by Side with Love on May 12 & 14
People of faith have always come together to resist injustice and build a better world. Now, it’s our time. Just like workers around the world who celebrate International Workers Day on May 1st, Unitarian Universalists are joining the tidal wave of every day people demanding a country that puts our families over billionaires’ fortunes—public schools over private profits, healthcare over hedge funds, prosperity over free market politics. From Tesla Takedowns, labor strikes, to BDS (Boycott Divestment Sanctions), economic interventions can be powerful.
Join The Gathering, Side With Love’s monthly virtual event to strengthen your spirit, make sense of the threats to democracy, and take meaningful action alongside others. This month at The Gathering, on May 12th, we will be anchored in the poetry of Julian Jamaica Soto and Side with Love’s Nicole Pressley will invite us into learning about strategy and what makes economic strategies like boycotts successful (or not!). RSVP for The Gathering.
And remember if you are a board member or staff at a congregation you can join Now What: The Gathering for Congregational staff and board members on Wednesday, May 14th at 1 pm ET. RSVP for Now What. |
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We invite you to join us for the 2025 UUA General Assembly in Baltimore and/or online from June 18-22—a chance to connect, reflect, and build a future that meets this moment with purpose and courage. This year’s theme, “Meet the Moment,” calls us to engage with the evolving challenges of our world, exploring fresh ways to deepen our faith and respond boldly to our mission. Across five days of powerful worship, insightful workshops, and community-building experiences, we’ll find inspiration together, reconnect with friends and colleagues, and return to our congregations renewed. Join us in person or online to be part of this transformative experience, where every voice matters and our shared vision grows stronger. GA Registration is still open for both online and in-person attendees.
You can find the program schedule, information about worship leaders and the Ware Lecture and workshop information at the GA website. |
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The UUA Election Campaign Practices Committee (ECPC) will sponsor a Moderator Candidates Forum on Sunday, May 18, 2025 at 7:00pm ET, featuring Natasha Walker, individual candidate for Moderator, and Rev. Kimberly Quinn Johnson and Bill Young, Moderator candidate team.
This forum will take place on Zoom and members of the ECPC will moderate. Attendees are strongly encouraged to submit questions for the candidates in advance of the forum by emailing elections@uua.org. Do note, registration is required. |
Actions of Immediate Witness (AIWs) Needed!
Are you ready to lead others in resistance, action, witness and power? Amplify our power through collective action! Actions of Immediate Witness (AIWs) are a tool for UU's across the nation to get support for critical, immediate concerns. By proposing an AIW at the 2025 General Assembly, you disseminate information and galvanize action from UU's everywhere. Learn about the AIW process.
The deadline for submissions is Friday, May 12th.
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Emerging adults across the Association! Are you looking for community and connection that your local congregation can’t quite provide (yet)? Are you looking for Pastoral Care or a small group ministry? A pen pal or leadership opportunity? How about news about young adult events and happenings from around the nation? If you answered “Yes” to any of these queries, please consider signing up for TEAM - The Emerging Adult Ministry. This community has all of the above and then some!
Big ups to the National Emerging Adult Task Force who makes this all possible. |
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Hello Central-East Region! The Annual Program Fund has some exciting news!
Every year at General Assembly, The Unitarian Universalist Association celebrates Leadership Congregations. Leadership Congregations are the top 50 most generous Honor Congregations across the Association. These are congregations who contribute the full amount requested to the Annual Program Fund (making them Honor Congregations) and are the most generous of all Honor Congregations.
This year, to broaden Regional recognition, we have expanded our definition of Leadership Congregations to also include the top 10 most generous Honor Congregations from each Region.
Please join us in lifting up and joyfully celebrating the following Leadership Congregations in your Region. On behalf of all the congregations across our Association, THANK YOU!
2025 Leadership Congregations in the Central-East Region
- Beacon UU Congregation in Summit. Summit, NJ
- First Unitarian Church of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh, PA
- First Unitarian Church of Rochester. Rochester, NY
- First Unitarian Church of Wilmington Delaware. Wilmington, DE
- First UU Society of Albany. Albany, NY
- Main Line Unitarian Church. Devon, PA
- Morristown UU Fellowship. Morristown, NJ
- Mt Vernon Unitarian Church. Alexandria, VA
- The UU Congregation of Montclair. Montclair, NJ
- UU Church of Annapolis. Annapolis, MD
- UU Congregation at Shelter Rock. Manhasset, NY
- UU Congregation of Princeton. Princeton, NJ
- UU Congregation of Rockville. Rockville, MD
- UU Society of Schenectady. Schenectady, NY
- West Shore UU Church. Rocky River, OH
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Side with Love has a number of events coming up. Be sure to check their website for new events near you. Get all the details at the event link.
Congregational Study/Action Issues Feedback Sessions
Join the UUA's Commission on Social Witness to offer your feedback on the proposed Congregational Study/Action Issues (CSAIs). All proposed CSAIs received the required “yes” votes in the Congregational Poll to be admitted to the agenda for UUA General Assembly 2025, where one will be selected for three years of study, reflection, and action. Register for any of the upcoming CSAI Feedback Sessions:
Resources from Side with Love
Upcoming Events
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You've Been Training for This
by Rev. Dr. Megan Foley
There have been three Truly Trying Times since I’ve been working with congregations through the UUA: The first Trump administration; the pandemic lockdown; and this, the second Trump administration. So I’m familiar with what happens when our congregations have been set back on their heels by world events.
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The following events sponsored by CER are upcoming in the region. For full details and a complete list visit the CER Calendar Page. Also, please note, if you are mailing a check to the regional office to pay for your registration, you must write the name and date of the event in the memo line. Otherwise we may not get it properly credited.
If you are looking for Sparks Modules for Religious Educators or Our Whole Lives Trainings, check the full calendar on the UUA website.
- CER Learning, Transformation and Networking Days ~ May 3, 2025, 10-4 ET, May Memorial UU Society, Syracuse, NY
- UUA Board Meeting ~ May 12, 2025, 7 pm ET
- The Gathering ~ May 12, 2025, 8 pm ET
- Taproot: A National BIPOC Gathering ~ May 14, 2025, 8-9:30 pm ET, online.
- General Assembly ~ June 18-22, 2025, Baltimore, MD and online.
- Summer Institute ~ July 6-12, 2025, Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH
If your congregation or cluster has an exciting project that could use funding from our Chalice Lighter Program, our next Intent to Apply deadline is August 1 for grants to be awarded in October 2025.
Congregational Events
- May 17, 2025 at 4pm, Singing For Joy. Join the BuxMont Free-Range Choir and the Nevilaires Chorus of the Blind in an afternoon of choral works celebrating the joy of community singing and inspiration. BuxMont UU Fellowship, Warrington, PA.
Congregations are hiring, check out the UU Job Board to see what is available. |
If your congregation is struggling with how to respond in this moment, please check out the UUA's Resilience Hub. This is a location where we are gathering resources to help congregations build strong, connected, and resilient communities.
The Spark RE and Music Leadership Professional Development Programs provide Unitarian Universalist Religious Professionals learning communities where they can easily access applicable skills and tools for religious leadership. Courses are also open to interested lay leaders. Check out the lists of classes, these are great resources!
The UUA has a Disaster Relief Fund for those who want to make a donation to help congregations who have faced losses due to tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, wildfires and more. Please donate if you can. Learn more about the work of the Disaster Relief Fund. We are Better Together.
New publications from the UUA - Skinner House is pleased to announce 2 children's books: Blue Boat Home by Peter Mayer and illustrated by Sue Todd is now available for order and Wind, Stop Blowing! by Laura Alary and illustrated by Sue Teodoro is available for pre-order. Check out the UUA bookstore for all Beacon Press and Skinner House books.
The UUA is hiring for several positions. Find job descriptions and application information at their Job Openings webpage. |
Central East Region
PO Box 425, St. Clairsville, OH 43950
Unitarian Universalist Association
24 Farnsworth Street, Boston, MA 02210-1409 |
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