When Will U*Us Stand On The Side Of Love For Victims Of U*U Clergy Misconduct?
The following blog post was just submitted as a comment on the 'Impressings from a long day' blog post on Rev. Christine Robinson's iminister blog in which she reports about yesterday's events at the UUA's 'Excellence In Ministry' "summit" that is currently taking place at University Unitarian Church in Seattle, Washington. I suggest reading the comment by Diptherio for the "context" of my comment -
"Gotta love it all, no?"
No. . . Not at all.
I happen to very much like Ovid's saying -
If you want to be loved, be lovable. . .
It has much broader application like -
If you want to be respected, be respectable.
If you want to be honoured, be honourable.
If you want to be perceived as excellent, *be* excellent. . .
"But dwelling on a bad experience for a decade isn't a good thing, either."
Tell that to anyone else who has fought for justice for themselves and other people for a decade, or even two or three decades. . . As your own comment here makes clear, I am by no means the only victim of the anti-religious intolerance and bigotry of the Atheist Supremacist subset of U*U "Humanists" that pervades and degrades the U*U World. I am by no means the only person who has been verbally abused and repeatedly slandered by U*U clergy. I have not suffered any sexual misconduct at the hands of U*U clergy but I know people who have, and I know that the UUA still fails, and apparently even refuses. . . to provide genuine restorative justice to them. I am not a Republican, not even a political conservative, but the anti-Republican intolerance and bigotry expressed by U*Us, including U*U clergy, concerns me and I intend to continue to share my concerns with U*Us until such time as they make a serious and *effective* effort to clean up their act.
I am dealing with egregious institutional stonewalling and denial on the part of the UUA and MFC and one extremely hypocritical U*U "church", as are most other victims of U*U clergy misconduct or other U*U injustices and abuses. The whole point of institutional stonewalling and denial is to delay justice in order to deny justice. The UUA uses this tactic precisely because they want the people that U*U clergy have victimized to give up and let it go. I warned U*Us at the beginning of this conflict that such delaying tactics would not work in my case, that I would fight for justice for myself and other people for as long as U*Us chose to drag out this conflict. Do you really expect me to "let go" after fighting for more than a decade?
If what UUA President Bill Sinkford once rightly referred to as my "obviously deep concerns" are not responsibly dealt with on his watch, and he would be very well advised to see to it that the UUA addresses and redresses my personal grievances and other "deep concerns" before he steps down if he does not want to leave a legacy of being an outrageous hypocrite who talks about "waging peace" and "standing of the side of love" while abjectly failing, and apparently even obstinately refusing, to practice what he preaches with me and other victims of U*U injustices, the next President of the UUA will have to deal with them. In fact I am giving President Bill Sinkford until February 14th, 2009, the thirteenth anniversary of my formal complaint about Rev. Ray Drennan's anti-religious intolerance and bigotry, to actually stand on the side of love. If he fails or refuses to do so his legacy as a hypocrite (at least with respect to his negligent and effectively complicit response to my "obviously deep concerns") will be sealed, because I will formally share my obviously deep concerns with Rev. Laurel Hallman and Rev. Peter Morales after that date. President Sinkford has not been formally notified of this looming deadline yet but he will be put on notice shortly. Anyone reading this comment is free to give him a heads up.
Rev. Robinson,
Yes, I have made my point(s), and I once again express my genuine appreciation for you allowing me to do so and not censoring and suppressing my critical comments like so many of your *fellowshipped* colleagues would do, indeed have repeatedly done in the past. I have probably made my point many hundreds of times over the last rather less than "lucky" thirteen years. When the UUA and MFC finally get around to acting appropriately in response to the "obviously deep concerns" that I share in my "points" I will no longer feel obliged to make them, but, until then, I will be making my points whenever opportunities to do so present themselves.
My points, as expressed here, are very much "on topic" to the subject of this blog post and your statement expressing skepticism about concrete results coming out of the 'Excellence In Ministry' seminar that I responded to. Responsibly dealing with the "shadow" of excellence is part and parcel of promoting excellence in ministry.
When will the UUA and Ministerial Fellowship Committee, to say nothing of implicated U*U churches, finally get around to providing "soul-satisfying ministry" to the victims of U*U clergy misconduct, to say nothing of other U*U injustices and abuses? From where I stand stand, and from what I can see, the UUA has abjectly failed, and even obstinately refused, to honour its "pledge" to "bend towards justice" rather than leaving victims of clergy misconduct, even victims of clergy sexual misconduct, "lonely, confused, afraid, angry and betrayed. Un-ministered to. . ."
What I have posted here has everything to do with -
Surprise (from a lay person) at lack of accountability structures/support/supervision for ministers in final fellowship.
To say nothing a lay person's surprise at the very real, tangible, and shameful *support* that the UUA and MFC provide to some transgressive U*U clerics whose "less than excellent" unbecoming conduct, or even worse clergy misconduct, harms not only their direct victims but the U*U congregations that they serve and the greater U*U religious community in numerous ways.
I skeptically look forward to the day when I no longer feel so obliged to make such points since, in light of the well documented track record of the UUA and MFC, to say nothing of that of President Bill Sinkford, it is hard for me to imagine that this will be any day soon. In fact, based on my past direct experience with President Bill Sinkford I have "reasonable grounds to believe", aka fully expect. . . that his response to my upcoming suggestion that he actually stand on the side of love towards me and other victims of injustices and abuses perpetrated by U*U clergy will be love as in zero, nothing, nada, aka further complicit silence.
"Gotta love it all, no?"
No. . . Not at all.
I happen to very much like Ovid's saying -
If you want to be loved, be lovable. . .
It has much broader application like -
If you want to be respected, be respectable.
If you want to be honoured, be honourable.
If you want to be perceived as excellent, *be* excellent. . .
"But dwelling on a bad experience for a decade isn't a good thing, either."
Tell that to anyone else who has fought for justice for themselves and other people for a decade, or even two or three decades. . . As your own comment here makes clear, I am by no means the only victim of the anti-religious intolerance and bigotry of the Atheist Supremacist subset of U*U "Humanists" that pervades and degrades the U*U World. I am by no means the only person who has been verbally abused and repeatedly slandered by U*U clergy. I have not suffered any sexual misconduct at the hands of U*U clergy but I know people who have, and I know that the UUA still fails, and apparently even refuses. . . to provide genuine restorative justice to them. I am not a Republican, not even a political conservative, but the anti-Republican intolerance and bigotry expressed by U*Us, including U*U clergy, concerns me and I intend to continue to share my concerns with U*Us until such time as they make a serious and *effective* effort to clean up their act.
I am dealing with egregious institutional stonewalling and denial on the part of the UUA and MFC and one extremely hypocritical U*U "church", as are most other victims of U*U clergy misconduct or other U*U injustices and abuses. The whole point of institutional stonewalling and denial is to delay justice in order to deny justice. The UUA uses this tactic precisely because they want the people that U*U clergy have victimized to give up and let it go. I warned U*Us at the beginning of this conflict that such delaying tactics would not work in my case, that I would fight for justice for myself and other people for as long as U*Us chose to drag out this conflict. Do you really expect me to "let go" after fighting for more than a decade?
If what UUA President Bill Sinkford once rightly referred to as my "obviously deep concerns" are not responsibly dealt with on his watch, and he would be very well advised to see to it that the UUA addresses and redresses my personal grievances and other "deep concerns" before he steps down if he does not want to leave a legacy of being an outrageous hypocrite who talks about "waging peace" and "standing of the side of love" while abjectly failing, and apparently even obstinately refusing, to practice what he preaches with me and other victims of U*U injustices, the next President of the UUA will have to deal with them. In fact I am giving President Bill Sinkford until February 14th, 2009, the thirteenth anniversary of my formal complaint about Rev. Ray Drennan's anti-religious intolerance and bigotry, to actually stand on the side of love. If he fails or refuses to do so his legacy as a hypocrite (at least with respect to his negligent and effectively complicit response to my "obviously deep concerns") will be sealed, because I will formally share my obviously deep concerns with Rev. Laurel Hallman and Rev. Peter Morales after that date. President Sinkford has not been formally notified of this looming deadline yet but he will be put on notice shortly. Anyone reading this comment is free to give him a heads up.
Rev. Robinson,
Yes, I have made my point(s), and I once again express my genuine appreciation for you allowing me to do so and not censoring and suppressing my critical comments like so many of your *fellowshipped* colleagues would do, indeed have repeatedly done in the past. I have probably made my point many hundreds of times over the last rather less than "lucky" thirteen years. When the UUA and MFC finally get around to acting appropriately in response to the "obviously deep concerns" that I share in my "points" I will no longer feel obliged to make them, but, until then, I will be making my points whenever opportunities to do so present themselves.
My points, as expressed here, are very much "on topic" to the subject of this blog post and your statement expressing skepticism about concrete results coming out of the 'Excellence In Ministry' seminar that I responded to. Responsibly dealing with the "shadow" of excellence is part and parcel of promoting excellence in ministry.
When will the UUA and Ministerial Fellowship Committee, to say nothing of implicated U*U churches, finally get around to providing "soul-satisfying ministry" to the victims of U*U clergy misconduct, to say nothing of other U*U injustices and abuses? From where I stand stand, and from what I can see, the UUA has abjectly failed, and even obstinately refused, to honour its "pledge" to "bend towards justice" rather than leaving victims of clergy misconduct, even victims of clergy sexual misconduct, "lonely, confused, afraid, angry and betrayed. Un-ministered to. . ."
What I have posted here has everything to do with -
Surprise (from a lay person) at lack of accountability structures/support/supervision for ministers in final fellowship.
To say nothing a lay person's surprise at the very real, tangible, and shameful *support* that the UUA and MFC provide to some transgressive U*U clerics whose "less than excellent" unbecoming conduct, or even worse clergy misconduct, harms not only their direct victims but the U*U congregations that they serve and the greater U*U religious community in numerous ways.
I skeptically look forward to the day when I no longer feel so obliged to make such points since, in light of the well documented track record of the UUA and MFC, to say nothing of that of President Bill Sinkford, it is hard for me to imagine that this will be any day soon. In fact, based on my past direct experience with President Bill Sinkford I have "reasonable grounds to believe", aka fully expect. . . that his response to my upcoming suggestion that he actually stand on the side of love towards me and other victims of injustices and abuses perpetrated by U*U clergy will be love as in zero, nothing, nada, aka further complicit silence.
Comments