Spring Cleaning And Restorative Justice For ALL Victims Of U*U Clergy Misconduct - What's The Connection?
I had been meaning to remind UUA President Peter Morales that a full month had passed since I sent him my Groundhog Day email calling for President Morales to work towards ensuring that the UUA finally gets around to providing restorative justice for ALL victims of U*U clergy misconduct, and that he had not yet provided the slightest response to it (unless of course corpse-cold Unitarian stony silence *is* President Morales' official response to it. . .), so Ms. Kitty's somewhat serendipitous 'Cleaning Out Closets' blog post inspired me to send President Morales the following follow-up email minutes ago -
How Is Your Spring Cleaning Coming Along?
Friday, March 5, 2010 1:09 PM
From: "Robin Edgar" robinedgar59@yahoo.ca
To: pmorales@uua.org
Cc: president-assist@uua.org
Friday March 5, 2010
Dear President Morales,
I have not yet received so much as an acknowledgment of receipt for the emails copied below. I had hoped that I might have received a formal response by now from someone who claims to be "fully committed to taking action" on clergy misconduct, and who claims to believe that it is "a moral imperative" to do so. Or are you concerned only about responding to clergy sexual misconduct perpetrated by U*U ministers to the exclusion, and even marginalization, of victims of non-sexual forms of clergy misconduct?
I have hardly received an "immediate and compassionate response" from you or any other representative of the UUA have I? Could you not have at the very least delegated someone to respond in responsibility to the spirit and the letter of my serious grievances about the UUA's past and apparently ongoing negligent mishandling of clergy misconduct complaints?
Do you believe that seemingly totally ignoring all of my emails calling for the UUA to finally get around to providing restorative justice for ALL victims of clergy misconduct displays "best practices" on your part and that of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations?
How does totally ignoring my emails reflect upon your public declaration to be "absolutely committed to doing the right thing"? When will the UUA finally responsibly acknowledge that the UUA, along with its very aptly named Ministerial Fellowship Committee, have in fact "fallen far short" of genuinely honoring and upholding U*U principles and ideals in their human relations with me and other victims of U*U clergy misconduct in the past? When will I and other victims of non-sexual forms of clergy misconduct perpetrated by U*U ministers, and perpetuated for years and decades by UUA negligence, incompetence, and institutional stonewalling and denial, receive *our* own official apologies from the UUA and MFC? When will we receive even the slightest restorative justice from the UUA? Where is your own "pastoral and healing response" to me and other victims of ALL forms of clergy misconduct committed by "less than perfect" U*U ministers President Morales?
Do you really consider your total failure, if not your outright refusal, to so much as acknowledge receipt of my emails to be a "compassionate, timely and effective" response to my legitimate grievances about the UUA's negligent and effectively complicit mishandling of my own and other people's clergy misconduct complaints? Is egregious institutional stonewalling and denial the UUA's "well developed model" for responding to non-sexual forms of clergy misconduct? It certainly appears that way to me President Morales and I fully expect that other victims of U*U clergy misconduct, even some victims of clergy sexual misconduct, will concur.
Do you understand just how painful and damaging certain non-sexual forms of clergy misconduct can be to victims of such clergy misconduct? If not, I would be more than willing to provide you with the benefit of my own expertise regarding that "untended area" of the UUA. How does your (to date) total failure to respond to my emails addressed to you align with your public pronouncement that you are personally committed to making the Unitarian Universalist religious community "a safer and a more compassionate movement"?
How is your "careful analysis of best practices and the painful lessons we have learned from our own experience" progressing President Morales? And when do you intend to get around to responsibly acting upon that "careful analysis"? It seems to me that my suggested Lenten practice for you is fully compatible with engaging in such a "careful analysis", indeed entering into dialogue with me and other victims of U*U clergy misconduct should be an important part of your own free and responsible search for the truth and meaning of our serious grievances and the UUA's ongoing negligent and effectively complicit responses to our clergy misconduct complaints.
I hereby formally call upon you to break your silence and responsibly enter into meaningful dialogue with me and other victims of U*U clergy misconduct towards the end of achieving your claimed goal of making Unitarian*Universalism a genuinely "safer and a more compassionate movement." You may initiate that process by providing your own personal answers to the questions that I have posed to you in this email as well as the emails that I have previously sent to you which still await your official response. I look forward to seeing you and the UUA making some real effort, and achieving some measurable progress, towards the goal of the UUA finally providing some genuine and tangible restorative justice for ALL victims of U*U clergy misconduct by this coming Easter about a month from now and an official apology being delivered to victims of non-sexual forms of clergy misconduct by the 2010 UUA GA in Minneapolis.
Sincerely,
Robin Edgar
How Is Your Spring Cleaning Coming Along?
Friday, March 5, 2010 1:09 PM
From: "Robin Edgar" robinedgar59@yahoo.ca
To: pmorales@uua.org
Cc: president-assist@uua.org
Friday March 5, 2010
Dear President Morales,
I have not yet received so much as an acknowledgment of receipt for the emails copied below. I had hoped that I might have received a formal response by now from someone who claims to be "fully committed to taking action" on clergy misconduct, and who claims to believe that it is "a moral imperative" to do so. Or are you concerned only about responding to clergy sexual misconduct perpetrated by U*U ministers to the exclusion, and even marginalization, of victims of non-sexual forms of clergy misconduct?
I have hardly received an "immediate and compassionate response" from you or any other representative of the UUA have I? Could you not have at the very least delegated someone to respond in responsibility to the spirit and the letter of my serious grievances about the UUA's past and apparently ongoing negligent mishandling of clergy misconduct complaints?
Do you believe that seemingly totally ignoring all of my emails calling for the UUA to finally get around to providing restorative justice for ALL victims of clergy misconduct displays "best practices" on your part and that of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations?
How does totally ignoring my emails reflect upon your public declaration to be "absolutely committed to doing the right thing"? When will the UUA finally responsibly acknowledge that the UUA, along with its very aptly named Ministerial Fellowship Committee, have in fact "fallen far short" of genuinely honoring and upholding U*U principles and ideals in their human relations with me and other victims of U*U clergy misconduct in the past? When will I and other victims of non-sexual forms of clergy misconduct perpetrated by U*U ministers, and perpetuated for years and decades by UUA negligence, incompetence, and institutional stonewalling and denial, receive *our* own official apologies from the UUA and MFC? When will we receive even the slightest restorative justice from the UUA? Where is your own "pastoral and healing response" to me and other victims of ALL forms of clergy misconduct committed by "less than perfect" U*U ministers President Morales?
Do you really consider your total failure, if not your outright refusal, to so much as acknowledge receipt of my emails to be a "compassionate, timely and effective" response to my legitimate grievances about the UUA's negligent and effectively complicit mishandling of my own and other people's clergy misconduct complaints? Is egregious institutional stonewalling and denial the UUA's "well developed model" for responding to non-sexual forms of clergy misconduct? It certainly appears that way to me President Morales and I fully expect that other victims of U*U clergy misconduct, even some victims of clergy sexual misconduct, will concur.
Do you understand just how painful and damaging certain non-sexual forms of clergy misconduct can be to victims of such clergy misconduct? If not, I would be more than willing to provide you with the benefit of my own expertise regarding that "untended area" of the UUA. How does your (to date) total failure to respond to my emails addressed to you align with your public pronouncement that you are personally committed to making the Unitarian Universalist religious community "a safer and a more compassionate movement"?
How is your "careful analysis of best practices and the painful lessons we have learned from our own experience" progressing President Morales? And when do you intend to get around to responsibly acting upon that "careful analysis"? It seems to me that my suggested Lenten practice for you is fully compatible with engaging in such a "careful analysis", indeed entering into dialogue with me and other victims of U*U clergy misconduct should be an important part of your own free and responsible search for the truth and meaning of our serious grievances and the UUA's ongoing negligent and effectively complicit responses to our clergy misconduct complaints.
I hereby formally call upon you to break your silence and responsibly enter into meaningful dialogue with me and other victims of U*U clergy misconduct towards the end of achieving your claimed goal of making Unitarian*Universalism a genuinely "safer and a more compassionate movement." You may initiate that process by providing your own personal answers to the questions that I have posed to you in this email as well as the emails that I have previously sent to you which still await your official response. I look forward to seeing you and the UUA making some real effort, and achieving some measurable progress, towards the goal of the UUA finally providing some genuine and tangible restorative justice for ALL victims of U*U clergy misconduct by this coming Easter about a month from now and an official apology being delivered to victims of non-sexual forms of clergy misconduct by the 2010 UUA GA in Minneapolis.
Sincerely,
Robin Edgar
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