A necessary starting place

Kimberly French reports on clergy sexual misconduct; Donald Skinner retires after a distinguished career.
By Christopher L. Walton
Winter 2014 11.1.14

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Kimberly French

Contributing editor Kimberly French writes about the complexities of safe congregations.

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The first Unitarian Universalist worship service I ever attended, back in 1991, featured a professor of women’s studies and an African American lawyer who discussed the Senate’s interrogation of Anita Hill and Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, who Hill said had sexually harassed her. I was thrilled to find a church that directly engaged contemporary issues like sexism and racism. Even better, the church gave a platform to women and people of color that I had never experienced in the much more conservative church I had grown up in.

Some problems don’t vanish simply because we’re more open to talking about them. The same year I discovered Unitarian Universalism—a liberal pro-feminist, anti-racist religion!—the UUA was reeling from press reports about the sexual misconduct of some UU ministers. But talking about problems is a necessary starting place, an often painful starting place that makes change and progress possible.

Contributing editor Kimberly French looks at the challenges of helping congregations become sexually healthy and safe communities. In part one of her special report (page 22), she explores a provocative question: Can we be in community with sex abuse victims and offenders at the same time? (Whether we realize it or not, almost all of us know people who are one or the other or both.) In part two, she describes resources that can help congregations be vigilant and welcoming in their ministries (page 27). And in part three, she reports on the unnerving problem of clergy misconduct and recent efforts, championed by the UUA Board of Trustees, to address the problem (page 30).

With this issue, we bid a grateful farewell to the longest-serving member of the magazine’s staff. Donald E. Skinner retired at the end of August after seventeen years with the UUA as a news reporter for UU World and as the editor of InterConnections, the how-to newsletter for congregational leaders. Don was a congregational leader himself, and his sympathy for lay leaders’ concerns and his admiration for their work animated all of his writing. He profiles a UUA Breakthrough Congregation in this issue (page 6). I have to suppress the urge to ask him to jump on a story almost daily, and I miss his counsel and dry Midwestern humor.

UUA budget cuts have brought InterConnections to an end, but its rich archive will remain an invaluable tool for leaders and a testament to Don’s commitment to our congregations.

This article appeared in the Winter 2014 issue of UU World (page 3). See sidebar for links to related resources.

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