The Board Of Trustees Of The Unitarian Universalist Ministers' Association Officially Thanks The Emerson Avenger For His Electonic Communications With Them And The World. . .
But don't take *my* word for it U*Us. . .
Take the word of the Board of Trustees of the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association itself, as expressed in this official UUMA Board letter responding to the two electronic communications that I sent to the UUMA Board of Trustees on Thanksgiving Day 2019, and Friday the 13th of December 2019. Although this electronic communication from the UUMA Board of Trustees is dated December 20th, just one week after my Friday the 13th electronic communication, which was a follow-up to my Thanksgiving Day communication about the UUMA Board's problematic letter of apology for clergy sexual misconduct of June 3rd, 2019, I only received it as a PDF attachment to an email sent to me by Janette Lallier today i.e. January 13th, 2020.
I have not yet decided how to respond to this official response of the UUMA Board of Trustees to my sharing of my concerns about the UUMA Board's seriously flawed letter of apology for clergy sexual misconduct, but I do intend to respond to it in a manner that will hopefully lead towards some justice for not only victims of "historic" clergy sexual misconduct committed by UUA clergy, but also justice for victims of non-sexual clergy misconduct.
I am more than open to hearing other people's thoughts about this electronic communication from the UUMA Board that I somewhat belatedly received today because, due to the intervening winter holidays and some other matters, the UUMA's Director of Operations Janette Lallier was unable to send it to me earlier.
December 20, 2019
Dear Mr. Edgar,
Thank you for taking the time to communicate to us- and to the world, via your blog- your thoughts on our apology letter with regards to clergy misconduct. We hear that for you, our actions were not nearly enough to address the harm experienced by victims of misconduct, and we agree. The harm done is so great, no action and certainly no words could be adequate.
With regards to your specific suggestions, please know that we are limited by the nature of our association and our polity. We are also limited when it comes to resources, including time and energy. Our priority right now is creating structures of healthier accountability to attempt to prevent or at least decrease the amount of harm currently being done by misconductors.
In addition to the strengthening of our guidelines and the updates to our accountability process currently under discussion by our membership, we are working to create an independent ethics board. This work is collaborative, and inclusive of the UUA and other professional organizations. We have hopes that this independent body will be able to establish clear ethical guidelines and enforce them uniformly and with more rigor than our institutions have historically.
We are also working to establish continuing education expectations, including a regular class on healthy boundaries and power dynamics. We are also seeking to add additional opportunities for our members to learn about trauma-informed care. This is in addition to the workshops and classes we already offer to equip current ministers to address the impact of clergy misconduct.
Organizationally, we do need to let you know that our slice of the accountability pie is fairly narrow. We deal exclusively with colleague to colleague misconduct. This means that you will need to work with the UUA office of Ethics and Safety to address your experiences. We thank you in advance for respecting the limitations of our capacity and our responsibility and bringing further concerns there.
The trauma of clergy misconduct lingers in individuals as well in systems. We do hope you are getting the support and care you need to heal in the wake of your personal experiences. Trust, once shattered, is difficult if not impossible to repair. However, people can and do find depths of resilience and opportunities for healing, even in the wake of misconduct. We hope that one day you will count yourself among them.
Sincerely,
UUMA Board of Trustees
Take the word of the Board of Trustees of the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association itself, as expressed in this official UUMA Board letter responding to the two electronic communications that I sent to the UUMA Board of Trustees on Thanksgiving Day 2019, and Friday the 13th of December 2019. Although this electronic communication from the UUMA Board of Trustees is dated December 20th, just one week after my Friday the 13th electronic communication, which was a follow-up to my Thanksgiving Day communication about the UUMA Board's problematic letter of apology for clergy sexual misconduct of June 3rd, 2019, I only received it as a PDF attachment to an email sent to me by Janette Lallier today i.e. January 13th, 2020.
I have not yet decided how to respond to this official response of the UUMA Board of Trustees to my sharing of my concerns about the UUMA Board's seriously flawed letter of apology for clergy sexual misconduct, but I do intend to respond to it in a manner that will hopefully lead towards some justice for not only victims of "historic" clergy sexual misconduct committed by UUA clergy, but also justice for victims of non-sexual clergy misconduct.
I am more than open to hearing other people's thoughts about this electronic communication from the UUMA Board that I somewhat belatedly received today because, due to the intervening winter holidays and some other matters, the UUMA's Director of Operations Janette Lallier was unable to send it to me earlier.
December 20, 2019
Dear Mr. Edgar,
Thank you for taking the time to communicate to us- and to the world, via your blog- your thoughts on our apology letter with regards to clergy misconduct. We hear that for you, our actions were not nearly enough to address the harm experienced by victims of misconduct, and we agree. The harm done is so great, no action and certainly no words could be adequate.
With regards to your specific suggestions, please know that we are limited by the nature of our association and our polity. We are also limited when it comes to resources, including time and energy. Our priority right now is creating structures of healthier accountability to attempt to prevent or at least decrease the amount of harm currently being done by misconductors.
In addition to the strengthening of our guidelines and the updates to our accountability process currently under discussion by our membership, we are working to create an independent ethics board. This work is collaborative, and inclusive of the UUA and other professional organizations. We have hopes that this independent body will be able to establish clear ethical guidelines and enforce them uniformly and with more rigor than our institutions have historically.
We are also working to establish continuing education expectations, including a regular class on healthy boundaries and power dynamics. We are also seeking to add additional opportunities for our members to learn about trauma-informed care. This is in addition to the workshops and classes we already offer to equip current ministers to address the impact of clergy misconduct.
Organizationally, we do need to let you know that our slice of the accountability pie is fairly narrow. We deal exclusively with colleague to colleague misconduct. This means that you will need to work with the UUA office of Ethics and Safety to address your experiences. We thank you in advance for respecting the limitations of our capacity and our responsibility and bringing further concerns there.
The trauma of clergy misconduct lingers in individuals as well in systems. We do hope you are getting the support and care you need to heal in the wake of your personal experiences. Trust, once shattered, is difficult if not impossible to repair. However, people can and do find depths of resilience and opportunities for healing, even in the wake of misconduct. We hope that one day you will count yourself among them.
Sincerely,
UUMA Board of Trustees
Comments
Hey Robin, I read the letter.
I feel it is a blow off!
I don’t see much concern or compassion in it and as they say they are limited in what they can do. I don’t think there should be any limits on what they should and can do. This is a real problem for children who look up to authority and who also fear it.
I am glad that at least they seem to be taking some responsibility but maybe a public apology and statement would be a more worthy gesture.