This is the important question that we’ve been considering in a series of meetings and services during April and May. The last Sanctuary Congregation Discernment discussion groups will be held this Sunday, May 14. On May 21, we will vote on the resolution at our May 21 Annual Congregational Meeting.
To get more information:
- You can read the full text of the proposed Sanctuary Resolution below.
- You may wish to view the UUA congregational toolkit for UU congregations considering sanctuary.
- The webpage Sanctuary Congregation Project has working guidelines and tasks to complete before offering sanctuary.
- The webpage Sanctuary Congregation Basic Facts has concerns and answers to those concerns that have come up in cottage and town hall meetings.
Each Monday, until May 16, the Sanctuary Committee will meet at 6:30 pm in the Blue Room. The focus of the Committee is to work on ideas of offering UUCS as a sanctuary congregation for immigrants threatened with deportation. This will be a formal meeting centered on this issue. Please come with your ideas, thoughts and concerns. Reflection Question: What would be the UUCS response to someone who knocks at our door and asks for Sanctuary?
Cottage meetings (small meetings in Minister’s office) after the first service and Town Hall meetings (larger meetings in the Sanctuary) hosted by our Social Justice in Action Team after the second service on April 9 and 23 and on May 9 and 14. These meetings will be to talk about becoming a sanctuary congregation to protect fellow friends and neighbors in the community targeted with deportation.These gatherings will be a chance to learn more and ask questions.
Rev. Rick’s Sermon on April 23 was ” The Call of Conscience and Courage”. It presented Rick’s perspective on this question; “Are we called to offer sanctuary to some who live under threat of deportation? If so, how will we do this and what does it mean?”
At the May 7 service we will hear some moving testimonials from DACA students (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) who have lived in the U.S. for years but are undocumented.
At the second service on May 14 we will hear from Levi Herrera-Lopez from the Salem-based Mano a Mano organization.
May 21st Annual Meeting If ten percent of our congregation have signed the resolution, we will vote on it as a congregation during the meeting.
[pdf-embedder url=”https://uusalem.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Sanctuary-Congregation-Resolution-proposed-2017-3-31.pdf” title=”Sanctuary Congregation Resolution proposed 2017-3-31″]
Download proposed Sanctuary Congregation Resolution