Congregational news

Brief congregational news items from the Winter 2012 issue.
By Allison Bennett
Winter 2012 11.1.12

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The Rev. Brian Covell (top left) gathers with winners of Third Unitarian Church’s scholarship program for Chicago students. (David Boulanger)

COMPANION ARTICLE

Sheltering the faith, Winter 2012 Brief news items about congregational building programs. Allison Bennett (Winter 2012)

RELATED RESOURCES

Third Unitarian Church of Chicago (thirdunitarianchurch.org)

Universalist Memorial Church in Winchester, N.H. (universalistheritage.org)

Eliot Unitarian Chapel (eliotchapel.org)

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Church awards $15K in scholarships

Continuing a 30-year tradition, the Third Unitarian Church of Chicago awarded 15 $1,000 scholarships in June to graduating seniors of Chicago high schools who have been accepted to accredited colleges.

The Rev. Donald H. Wheat and member Roberta Wilson, a teacher’s aide, started the awards three decades ago, with the scholarships worth $500. There is now a standing committee that raises the funds.

The church is a mostly white congregation in a primarily black community that is poorly served, particularly in education. Member Eleanor Lukazewski said, “It is heartwarming on Scholarship Sunday when the students and their families come to accept their awards and tell of their aspirations for the future.”

N.H. church celebrates 100th

In July, the Universalist Memorial Church in Winchester, N.H., celebrated the centennial of the laying of the cornerstone of its historic building. The current building replaced a structure that was destroyed by fire in 1909. In the original building, the “Winchester Profession of Belief” was signed in 1803, a declaration of faith that served Universalists for more than a century.

The anniversary service included a choir gathered from members of Universalist Memorial, along with singers from UU congregations in Brattleboro, Vt., and Nashua, Milford, Keene, and Peterborough, N.H. The service was followed by a town-wide celebration.

A Community Woven Together

Eliot Unitarian Chapel in Kirkwood, Mo., has celebrated its 50th anniversary. To mark the occasion, co-chairs Mary Quinn and Jan Erdman commissioned a wall weaving. They involved their members by selling strips of fabric ($5/person, $10/family), and the congregants wrote their hopes, dreams, and wishes for the chapel on the back. Quinn then wove the pieces together.

The weaving, which hangs in the sanctuary, shows five different blocks of color, one for each decade, and from the bottom fringe hang 50 pennies, one from each year.

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