Unitarian Universalist Thanksgiving And UUMA Negligence Towards (And Thus Complicity In) Unitarian Universalist Clergy Sexual Misconduct - What's The Connection?
How about this "electronic communication" that I just sent out to the Board of Trustees of the Unitarian Universalist Ministers' Association aka the UUMA Board, as well as most UUMA staff, thanking the UUMA Board for its "less than honest", and thus "less than acceptable", institutional apology for the UUMA's "generations" worth of "collective and systematic failure" in (mis)handling Unitarian Universalist clergy sexual misconduct matters?
UUMA Board of Trustees
24 Farnsworth Street
Boston, MA 02210-1409
U.S.A.
Thursday aka Thor's Day November 28, 2019
Dear Members of the Board of Trustees of the Unitarian Universalist Ministers' Association,
On this American Thanksgiving Day of Thor's Day November 28th, 2019, I am quite thankful for the "Letter of Apology" for the "collective and systematic failure on the part of generations of UUMA leaders to take appropriate action arising from (sexual) misconduct" that the UUMA Board of Trustees emailed to members of the Unitarian Universalist Ministers' Association in early June of this year. I am thankful not because this "letter of apology" is an acceptable apology, because it is "less than acceptable" in more ways than one, but because this "less than adequate", if not "less than honest", UUMA Board apology for the UUMA's role in generations worth of collective and systematic failure of the Unitarian Universalist "religion" to respond in responsibility to hundreds, if not some thousands, of clergy sexual misconduct complaints brought against Unitarian Universalist ministers, paves the way for the UUMA Board of Trustees to deliver a "new and improved" official apology for the UUMA's role in decades worth of negligent, and effectively complicit, mishandling of clergy misconduct complaints by the Unitarian Universalist "church" during the UUMA's Ministry Days in June 2020, and also more publicly during the 2020 General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association.
I somewhat belatedly became aware of the UUMA Board's problematic "apology letter" on All Souls Day 2019, almost five months after the UUMA Board's letter of apology had been sent out to UUMA members, as a result of running a Google search for: Unitarian clergy abuse.
See: https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=Unitarian+clergy+abuse
I found the Prairie Unitarian Universalist Church's web page about your letter of apology towards the bottom of the second page of search results. When I searched for more information about your letter of apology by running a search for one of the sentences that was quoted on the PUUC web page, nothing came up. There was very little additional information about the UUMA's letter of apology publicly available on the interconnected web of the internet which would allow Unitarian Universaliststs (sic), or indeed concerned members of the non-UU public, to practice the 4th Principle of Unitarian Universalism by engaging in a free and responsible search for its truth and meaning, or dearth thereof for *that* matter. Which brings me to the "less than honest", or otherwise problematic, aspects of your "less than adequate", if not "less than sincere", letter of apology which I have made public in this The Emerson Avenger blog post which I published to "the web" on Tuesday November 19th, 2019.
See: http://emersonavenger.blogspot.com/2019/11/uuma-clergy-sexual-misconduct-apology.html
This is just my initial public response to the problems not only with the content of your "apology letter" itself, but with how this ostensible UUMA "apology" for the UUMA's minimization and mishandling of clergy sexual misconduct was delivered, or indeed apparently not delivered. . . to the actual victims-survivors of Unitarian Universalist clergy sexual misconduct, their families, and the Unitarian Universalist religious community more generally. It seems that the UUMA Board's "letter of apology" was sent only, and indeed *exclusively*, to members of the UUMA aka Unitarian Universalist ministers, some of whom are likely to be guilty of one form of clergy sexual misconduct or another. . . and thus it was apparently not even made known to actual victims-survivors of clergy sexual misconduct committed by UUMA members, or indeed those Unitarian Universalist ministers who were-are not members of the UUMA.
I am working on an expanded analysis of the "truth and meaning", or dearth thereof, of your "less than forthcoming" and "less than accurate" letter of apology, but I would highly recommend that you follow the above link to engage in a free and responsible search for the truth and meaning of the significant problems that I have identified and made public in that initial TEA blog post. I have decided not to reproduce what I said in that blog post in this initial "electronic communication" with you, but I do intend to email you my expanded analysis and critique of your "letter of apology" when I have completed it down the road a bit.
I do not want to be *too* hard on you, because I do want to encourage you to do better, and to sincerely and diligently work towards a new and improved apology that will not only be much more public than the current seriously flawed apology, but also much more honest, comprehensive, and thus more acceptable to victims of clergy sexual misconduct, and indeed people who are not direct victims of clergy sexual misconduct who have been affected by the "fall out" caused by negligent mishandling of clergy sexual abuse complaints. I am very open to working with not only the UUMA Board of Trustees, but also with the Rev. Dr. Susan Frederick-Gray led UUA administration and the current UUA Board of Trustees, to ensure that all three representative bodies of the Unitarian Universalist church offer "new and improved" official apologies for not only their negligent and complicit mishandling of UU clergy sex abuse matters, but also for the past, and indeed ongoing. . . negligent and complicit mishandling of complaints about non-sexual forms of clergy misconduct. I have often pointed out that some of the worse forms of non-sexual clergy misconduct are actually more harmful and damaging to the victims, and indeed the larger Unitarian Universalist religious community, than some of the less egregious forms of clergy sexual misconduct. I have long called for the UUA to properly and publicly apologize for both sexual clergy misconduct and non-sexual misconduct but, to date, I am not aware of any apology for non-sexual forms of clergy misconduct ever being delivered by any representative body of the Unitarian Universalist "church". Such an apology is long overdue, I thus expect both the UUA and the UUMA to work towards delivering such an apology to victims of non-sexual clergy misconduct during the upcoming 2020 Ministry Days and the 2020 General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association.
You clearly state that the UUMA Board is "sorry for our past inaction, and are committed to continue working for a transformation of the culture and values that allowed sexual misconduct to go unchecked." I call upon all of you to honour and uphold both the letter and the spirit of that declaration, and also to diligently work for a genuine transformation of the culture and (misplaced) values that allowed quite egregious non-sexual misconduct to go unchecked as well. As a victim of non-sexual clergy misconduct committed by multiple Unitarian Universalist ministers, some of it ongoing in my opinion. . . I am very well placed to assist the UUMA Board of Trustees in such transformative work. Please respond positively and appropriately to this offer to assist you in the transformative work that lies ahead of you and the larger Unitarian Universalist religious community within a reasonable time frame. Let's say by December 14th of this year at the latest.
Thank you,
Robin Edgar aka The Emerson Avenger
P.S. I do have some other matters that I wish to discuss with you in the near future, but I will address those matters, including the non-sexual clergy misconduct that I have been subjected to by multiple Unitarian Universalist ministers, in future emails.
In addition to sending this Thankgiving Day "electronic communication" via the Contact Us form provided on the UUMA's website, I also emailed this letter to all individual members of the UUMA Board of Trustees, and most UUMA staff members. I received two automated "out of office" replies to the emails I sent today, so you can be quite sure that they were sent successfully. I look forward to the UUMA Board's response to this initial contact regarding its problematic letter of apology.
UUMA Board of Trustees
24 Farnsworth Street
Boston, MA 02210-1409
U.S.A.
Thursday aka Thor's Day November 28, 2019
Dear Members of the Board of Trustees of the Unitarian Universalist Ministers' Association,
On this American Thanksgiving Day of Thor's Day November 28th, 2019, I am quite thankful for the "Letter of Apology" for the "collective and systematic failure on the part of generations of UUMA leaders to take appropriate action arising from (sexual) misconduct" that the UUMA Board of Trustees emailed to members of the Unitarian Universalist Ministers' Association in early June of this year. I am thankful not because this "letter of apology" is an acceptable apology, because it is "less than acceptable" in more ways than one, but because this "less than adequate", if not "less than honest", UUMA Board apology for the UUMA's role in generations worth of collective and systematic failure of the Unitarian Universalist "religion" to respond in responsibility to hundreds, if not some thousands, of clergy sexual misconduct complaints brought against Unitarian Universalist ministers, paves the way for the UUMA Board of Trustees to deliver a "new and improved" official apology for the UUMA's role in decades worth of negligent, and effectively complicit, mishandling of clergy misconduct complaints by the Unitarian Universalist "church" during the UUMA's Ministry Days in June 2020, and also more publicly during the 2020 General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association.
I somewhat belatedly became aware of the UUMA Board's problematic "apology letter" on All Souls Day 2019, almost five months after the UUMA Board's letter of apology had been sent out to UUMA members, as a result of running a Google search for: Unitarian clergy abuse.
See: https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=Unitarian+clergy+abuse
I found the Prairie Unitarian Universalist Church's web page about your letter of apology towards the bottom of the second page of search results. When I searched for more information about your letter of apology by running a search for one of the sentences that was quoted on the PUUC web page, nothing came up. There was very little additional information about the UUMA's letter of apology publicly available on the interconnected web of the internet which would allow Unitarian Universaliststs (sic), or indeed concerned members of the non-UU public, to practice the 4th Principle of Unitarian Universalism by engaging in a free and responsible search for its truth and meaning, or dearth thereof for *that* matter. Which brings me to the "less than honest", or otherwise problematic, aspects of your "less than adequate", if not "less than sincere", letter of apology which I have made public in this The Emerson Avenger blog post which I published to "the web" on Tuesday November 19th, 2019.
See: http://emersonavenger.blogspot.com/2019/11/uuma-clergy-sexual-misconduct-apology.html
This is just my initial public response to the problems not only with the content of your "apology letter" itself, but with how this ostensible UUMA "apology" for the UUMA's minimization and mishandling of clergy sexual misconduct was delivered, or indeed apparently not delivered. . . to the actual victims-survivors of Unitarian Universalist clergy sexual misconduct, their families, and the Unitarian Universalist religious community more generally. It seems that the UUMA Board's "letter of apology" was sent only, and indeed *exclusively*, to members of the UUMA aka Unitarian Universalist ministers, some of whom are likely to be guilty of one form of clergy sexual misconduct or another. . . and thus it was apparently not even made known to actual victims-survivors of clergy sexual misconduct committed by UUMA members, or indeed those Unitarian Universalist ministers who were-are not members of the UUMA.
I am working on an expanded analysis of the "truth and meaning", or dearth thereof, of your "less than forthcoming" and "less than accurate" letter of apology, but I would highly recommend that you follow the above link to engage in a free and responsible search for the truth and meaning of the significant problems that I have identified and made public in that initial TEA blog post. I have decided not to reproduce what I said in that blog post in this initial "electronic communication" with you, but I do intend to email you my expanded analysis and critique of your "letter of apology" when I have completed it down the road a bit.
I do not want to be *too* hard on you, because I do want to encourage you to do better, and to sincerely and diligently work towards a new and improved apology that will not only be much more public than the current seriously flawed apology, but also much more honest, comprehensive, and thus more acceptable to victims of clergy sexual misconduct, and indeed people who are not direct victims of clergy sexual misconduct who have been affected by the "fall out" caused by negligent mishandling of clergy sexual abuse complaints. I am very open to working with not only the UUMA Board of Trustees, but also with the Rev. Dr. Susan Frederick-Gray led UUA administration and the current UUA Board of Trustees, to ensure that all three representative bodies of the Unitarian Universalist church offer "new and improved" official apologies for not only their negligent and complicit mishandling of UU clergy sex abuse matters, but also for the past, and indeed ongoing. . . negligent and complicit mishandling of complaints about non-sexual forms of clergy misconduct. I have often pointed out that some of the worse forms of non-sexual clergy misconduct are actually more harmful and damaging to the victims, and indeed the larger Unitarian Universalist religious community, than some of the less egregious forms of clergy sexual misconduct. I have long called for the UUA to properly and publicly apologize for both sexual clergy misconduct and non-sexual misconduct but, to date, I am not aware of any apology for non-sexual forms of clergy misconduct ever being delivered by any representative body of the Unitarian Universalist "church". Such an apology is long overdue, I thus expect both the UUA and the UUMA to work towards delivering such an apology to victims of non-sexual clergy misconduct during the upcoming 2020 Ministry Days and the 2020 General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association.
You clearly state that the UUMA Board is "sorry for our past inaction, and are committed to continue working for a transformation of the culture and values that allowed sexual misconduct to go unchecked." I call upon all of you to honour and uphold both the letter and the spirit of that declaration, and also to diligently work for a genuine transformation of the culture and (misplaced) values that allowed quite egregious non-sexual misconduct to go unchecked as well. As a victim of non-sexual clergy misconduct committed by multiple Unitarian Universalist ministers, some of it ongoing in my opinion. . . I am very well placed to assist the UUMA Board of Trustees in such transformative work. Please respond positively and appropriately to this offer to assist you in the transformative work that lies ahead of you and the larger Unitarian Universalist religious community within a reasonable time frame. Let's say by December 14th of this year at the latest.
Thank you,
Robin Edgar aka The Emerson Avenger
P.S. I do have some other matters that I wish to discuss with you in the near future, but I will address those matters, including the non-sexual clergy misconduct that I have been subjected to by multiple Unitarian Universalist ministers, in future emails.
In addition to sending this Thankgiving Day "electronic communication" via the Contact Us form provided on the UUMA's website, I also emailed this letter to all individual members of the UUMA Board of Trustees, and most UUMA staff members. I received two automated "out of office" replies to the emails I sent today, so you can be quite sure that they were sent successfully. I look forward to the UUMA Board's response to this initial contact regarding its problematic letter of apology.
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