Minister’s abolishing torture talk a ‘Best of 2011’

The Rev. Karen Tse’s TED talk, “Abolishing Torture,” was selected as #3 in the “Best of TED 2011 Countdown” by TED and the Huffington Post. UU World profiled Tse, a UU community minister and director of International Bridges to Justice, in 2007.

UU activist named ‘person of the year’

Spanish-language paper Frontera named UU and immigrant rights activist Mar Cárdenas Person of the Year. Cárdenas, South Bay ministry team coordinator for the UU Church of San Diego, was arrested in Phoenix in 2010 during protests against Arizona’s anti-illegal immigration law SB1070. (Frontera – 12.20.11)

See also: 29 UUs arrested in Phoenix protest (uuworld.org – 8.2.10)

Fifty years in a manger, a Unitarian carol, and more

Member Billy Hobbs has performed in the Nativity play at First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church in Portland, Maine, for 50 consecutive years. (Press Herald – 12.17.11)

The carol “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear,” written by Unitarian minister the Rev. Edmund Hamilton Sears in Wayland, Mass., may have had its roots in his time spent in the town of Lancaster, Mass. (Sentinel and Enterprise – 12.19.11)

See also: It Came Upon a Unitarian Midnight Clear (UU World – November/December 2002)

Members of First Unitarian Church of Rochester, N.Y., are expected to donate between $50,000 and $80,000 to a juvenile delinquency prevention program. (Rochester Democrat and Chronicle – 12.18.11)

Since 2008, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Salem, Ore., has given about $10,000 to its Microfinance Project, but in 2012 it will add another $5,000. (Statesman Journal – 12.21.11)

This lengthy article about emergency homeless shelter system in Illinois’s McHenry County begins at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Woodstock. (Northwest Herald – 12.19.11)

The Rev. Jay Leach, of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Charlotte, N.C., joined other clergy at the Lowes Mooresville headquarters to talk to the company about reinstating their advertising on the TLC reality show All-American Muslim. Lowes pulled its advertising after receiving complaints from conservative groups. (Charlotte Observer – 12.21.11)

Members of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Brunswick, Maine, watched as the remains of their 126-year-old building, which was damaged by fire in June, were demolished. (WCSH-TV – 12.20.11)

Vandals targeted the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Eau Claire, Wisc., leaving six graffiti markings on its building. (WEAU-TV 13 – 12.20.11)

This article about pagans in British Columbia talks about the annual Yule celebrations at the Vancouver Unitarian Church. (Vancouver Sun – 12.18.11)

The UU Congregation of the South Fork in Bridgehampton, N.Y., and the First Universalist Church in Minneapolis, Minn., opened their doors to the community for their annual winter solstice celebrations. (The Sag Harbor Express, Minneapolis Star Tribune – 12.16.11)

Holiday break

Season’s greetings from UU World. Our offices will be closed for the holidays December 26 to January 3. UUs in the Media will return on January 6. See you next year!