Thursday, June 28, 2018

Post General Assembly 2018 Update - What's next for the FPP?


Dear First Principle Project Sponsoring Congregations and Interested Individuals,

The First Principle Project has now been in existence five years, starting after the 2013 General Assembly. Since that time we have reached with our programs and leadership every single UU congregation. Our goal of supporting life on this planet through encouraging conversations about how we respond to a multispecies existence has been partially achieved. There is still much work to be done.

As the facilitator of this project I am asking you what you need from this network of congregations and from the social capital that has been produced.  I am unsure of next steps, as it is up to you and your guidance about what we all do together.

If you are willing, please respond to this email and discuss with one another what we might do.

In the  meantime, here are some updates that might inform the discussion:

1. The UUA Board will not be forming a Study Commission on how we might change our principles to reflect the issues that the First Principle Project (FPP) raised, which also includes the 8th Principle Project which we supported during the 2017 General Assembly. Instead the Board will be guiding a conversation with Unitarian Universalists over the next year to see how "who we are" and "where we want to go" might be better reflected in our principles. Your congregation engaging in this process will continue the goals of the FPP.

2. Our efforts to support a Congregational Study Action Issue (CSAI) on multispecies aspects resulted in two congregations adapting the original template to one single one that was more oriented towards intersectionality with a multispecies emphasis. One congregation went forward with this CSAI to General Assembly. The delegates voted instead for another CSAI that concerned white supremacy and intersectionality. Your congregation engaging in this CSAI will continue the goals of the FPP.

3. The UU Animal Ministry continues its good work and would be a place to engage with others your continued multispecies ministries. Please visit them at www.uuam.org to see their resources and how you might get involved.

It may be that the FPP will not continue as it has been. If that is the case, I thank you for the honor and privilege of serving.

Yours in the hope for all beings,

Rev. LoraKim Joyner, DVM

1 comment:

  1. Our live style is still the main decider of where things go,vegetarian,vegan,omnivore or whatever we call our self is still secondary to how we obtain our resources .I can be meat eater and be much less violent in my investments than any other way.
    To work together,cultivating the culture of progress seems to be the real challenge
    At this point I feel like very bad cancer on this planet,waiting for chemotherapy to allow me keep going with the same view towards The Earth.Drunk native should be my Gage of how I am doing.

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