Minister’s Blog

Dear Ones,

I wanted to be sure that everyone in our UCS community knew about something important that we are doing, albeit somewhat indirectly, by virtue of our membership in and support of our Unitarian Universalist Association. In coordination with the United Way of Mass. Bay, YMCA of Greater Boston, and the Black Refugee & Immigrant Community Coalition, one floor of our UUA headquarters in South Boston is serving as a temporary overnight shelter for 25 immigrant families at least through May 31. The commercial space on the sixth floor of our headquarters was vacant and is being offered free of charge to the shelter program. The need for emergency shelter sites such as this one is incredibly high right now. As our UUA’s Executive Vice President Carey McDonald said, “As a religious community headquartered in Boston, we consider it an act of faithful witness to use our facilities to do our part to support families in need, including migrant families who are simply seeking safety for their loved ones.” I am so proud our UUA is living its values in this way. Read more about this on the UU World site.

Here in Sharon, our efforts to support our asylum-seeking neighbors continue. There are still lots of volunteer opportunities: childcare help is needed while parents are in a weekly ESL class, and drivers are needed for various purposes. Please let me know if you would like to learn more about volunteering. And then there’s financial contributions! As noted in the Social Justice Committee’s section of this newsletter, we raised $2975 for our neighbors in February. This total includes the money you all donated in our weekly Brown Envelope collection and a generous donation from our Five Points Cluster in honor of Jim Mullin. I will put a large portion of these funds towards diapers and wipes, as there is a very high need for those items at this time. And I plan to keep some on hand to support food at the next social event and/or Know Your Rights Immigration Law workshop that may be scheduled. I will keep you posted!

We have had a lot of loss in our church community this year. I heard a request from some congregants to reflect on the spiritual, emotional, and practical aspects of death and dying – a suggestion which I agreed with wholeheartedly. I have invited my colleague and former coworker in the Spiritual Care Department at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Rev. Gary Strichartz, to help facilitate a four-part program called “Conversations at the Death Café.” The description is in the Upcoming Events section of this newsletter. An RSVP is not required to participate but it will help us plan so if you know you are interested or if you have any questions, please reach out.

Yours in faith,
Rev. Jolie