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SOCIAL JUSTICE The mission of the Social Justice Steering Committee is to address issues of social concern in the community in which the UUCinCH exists. This is done in a way that supports the values and integrity of the entire church by encouraging and supporting Task Forces in their hands-on activities. As the management overseers, the SJSC makes decisions and recommendations, makes policy, distributes funds, informs, educates and involves the congregation through the church newsletter. There are forum announcements and displays at the table at the back of the church. Upcoming social justice events are posted on our Schedule of Events page. For more information, you are invited to call the church office (856-667-3618) and ask to be put in touch with Leigh or Rohn. |
This task force provides information and avenues of expression on current legislative issues. We educate ourselves about the legislative process and the impact of proposed laws so that we can react appropriately. We communicate with legislators to inform them of our values on social justice. We react to positions and urge that decisions reflect our UU values.
Collecting food donations on Sunday morning has been a regular yearlong activity since the fall of 1991. The donations are delivered weekly to an emergency food services center and are gratefully received. From time to time a notice appears in the newsletter, indicating special food needs and reminding readers that this is an ongoing activity.
Donations are collected at each Sunday's service.
The Environmental Task Force serves as the church community’s forum for issues affecting our local and global environments. Education about our earth and our individual responsibilities towards the planet is provided for groups within and beyond the church. The task force cooperates with other organizations in addressing environmental issues and in promoting related activities. The task force also identifies and analyzes significant legislative issues.
This task force is currently working with the following organizations:
A. Metro Camden Habitat for Humanity rebuilds vacant houses. We spend a Saturday doing a variety of physical labor to make houses livable.
B. The Food Bank of South Jersey in connection with Second Harvest uses volunteers to sort surplus food for daycare centers, the homeless and women’s shelters. Needed money is collected from coupons in supermarkets.
C. Urban Promise, which offers after-school programs for inner city children; a summer camp staffed by college interns; local youth trained and paid as Street Leaders; a youth choir; and a T-shirt company.
To many of us coming to Unitarian Universalism from other backgrounds, it is a surprise to learn that 400 years ago, as an outgrowth of the Protestant Reformation, a Unitarian movement began in Transylvania and flourished briefly under King John Sigismund’s Edict of Religious Tolerance of 1568. Transylvania, formerly part of Hungary, is now an ethnic minority region in western Romania. There are about 170 Unitarian congregations in Transylvania today, mainly in small Hungarian-speaking villages.
In 1990, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) Partner Church Program was established to create a support network of North American churches to help congregations in Transylvania recover from decades of persecution. Ethnic relations in Romania are still strained. Unitarian ministers have meager salaries, their churches are in disrepair, and villages are very poor. The Unitarian seminary also needs resources. Support from abroad is vital in keeping alive the Unitarian faith in the land where it began.
UUCinCH is actively involved in its partner’s life. UUCinCH sent money to repair the Székelyderzs church roof and installed a furnace to heat the parsonage. A sunflower seed press was purchased to enable the people to produce their own cooking oil, saving about $30 a year per household, about a month’s income. A building to house the press is being refurbished and other uses for it are under consideration. UUCinCH bought handiwork from the village women and sold it here.
When the Rev. Rudolph Nemser learned that Gypsies are ostracized and their children attend school, UUCinCH began programs to prompt change. A-Fruit-a-Day provides a piece of fruit for every kindergartner who goes to school. Since fruit is scarce, more children, Gypsies included, started attending. Friday Fruit is for children in grades 1-8, who attend every day to get fruit on Friday. UUCinCH also sponsors English lessons for adult; the first class graduated 21. Now the advanced class is tutoring beginners.
Rev. Nemser has visited many times on one-month sabbaticals. Two UUCinCH groups have visited Székelyderzs, and their partner minister has come here. Rev. Nemser stresses that commitment and communication are important. “People are desperate over there. If one church gets a good response from its partner, a church in a neighboring village, equally needy, feels it is doing something wrong if it is not receiving help from its designated partner.”
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