"Congregational Record" Excerpts

Community Unitarian Universalist Congregation at White Plains
468 Rosedale Ave
White Plains, NY 10605

Excerpts from the "Congregational Record" prepared in late-2012 for the Ministerial Search that CUUC was then conducting.

Describe the character of the surrounding community: 

Community Unitarian Universalist Congregation at White Plains (CUUC) is located in the southern end of the City of White Plains, NY which has a population of approximately 57, 000. White Plains is the County seat of Westchester County, which comprises small cities, towns, villages and suburban areas adjacent to New York City. Westchester County has a population of just under 1,000,000, and is growing slightly faster than New York State as a whole.

Many Westchester residents work in New York City, which is easily accessible by Metro-North Railroad, commuter buses, and by car. New York City, Westchester County itself, and the areas of the nearby Historic Hudson Valley and the Long Island Sound offer a plethora of cultural, recreational and educational activities for Westchester residents.

Westchester County contains 48 public school districts, 118 private college-preparatory and parochial schools, and 14 colleges and universities.

The County is rich with religious diversity. The dominant religious affiliation is Catholic, followed by "unclaimed affiliation," "other" (which is predominantly a large Jewish population but includes UU), Mainline Protestants, Evangelical Protestants, and Orthodox Christian.

Westchester is home to some of the wealthiest areas in the nation, but also has a large middle and working class population, and pockets of poverty. More than 75% of the population of Westchester County is white, and that percentage is increasing. The Hispanic population is the fastest growing population segment. The Black and Asian populations, approximately 15% and 5% respectively, represent a decreasing percentage of the county population, although there are neighborhoods with significant concentrations of Blacks and Hispanics. Over 5% of the county population is younger than 5 years of age; more than 25% is younger than 18, and approximately 15% is over 65. Both the youth and elderly populations are growing.

The majority (60%) of the congregation's members and friends live less than 10 miles from the congergation. Within this radius of southern Westchester County, the cities of White Plains and New Rochelle have the greatest population diversity. However, that diversity is not reflected in our congregation..

Westchester has a busy, fast-moving environment compared to other parts of the country. We are a suburb of NYC and most of our lives are touched by the City. While we don't move at the pace of a "New York Minute," (which Johnny Carson defined as the time it takes between a Manhattan street light turning green and the guy behind you beeping his horn) our lives are very active with extensive obligations and opportunities. This is all the more reason we come to CUUC, for a time of pause, reflection and friendship.

Provide your profile of your congregation:

To truly understand CUUC, it is essential to appreciate the "beloved community" that CUUC is to its many members and friends. This sense of community - cohesive, sustaining, and enduring - is one of our primary strengths and values, and as important to any description of our congregation as demographics and statistics. CUUC is "our" congregation. We take pride in our century long history, and we even take pride in the fact that the community has successfully navigated periods of strife and disruption.

The members of CUUC, as is true of many UU congregations in the Northeast, are primarily well-educated, well-off and (non-Hispanic) white. Despite our demographic homogeneity, we are committed to diversity. We embrace people from all racial, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds. CUUC was one of the first "welcoming congregations" for the LGBT community in the area. Although African-Americans, Asians and Latinos are represented in the congregation and the congregation as a whole aspires to greater diversity, we are not sure how to "get there" and will look to our new minister to help us accomplish this goal.

The most important reason most congregants cite for attending CUUC is Sunday "worship services." We value Sunday services because they provide intellectually stimulating and challenging sermons, celebrate our common values, and offer an opportunity for an uplifting emotional experience that includes personal reflection and meditation. The sermon is the most significant element of the worship service for us. Music, including our regular pianist, our choir and guest performers, is also an essential and integral part of our worship experience.

Along with Sunday services, our children's RE program has always been a vital, and, for many, the most important part of our congregational life. In fact, RE is the reason most families initially attend CUUC. We are challenged to "bridge the gap" between RE and the general congregation program, as the RE program engages a core group of committed volunteers who are less involved in overall congregational life, while few members without children in the RE program participate in that aspect of our community. However, the congregation enthusiastically welcomes children's participation in regular services, as well as services led by the Youth Group, and Coming of Age ceremonies.

Congregants describe CUUC as "a family," always to be relied on to do what needs to be done for members and friends of CUUC and in the service of others. Our concern for individuals encompasses those nearby and far: for example, we have partnered with other local churches to shelter homeless persons in our building and, in the 1980's, we "took in" a Laotian refugee family. The "larger purpose" - social action - has been and continues to be among our core values. We have steadfastly worked throughout our history for racial justice, an end to war, and on issues of poverty and homelessness, frequently joining with other congregations and civic groups to effect policy and initiate programs in the White Plains area. Our commitment to racial justice dates from the 1950's, when Whitney Young was a member of our congregation. Currently, we are supporting an African-American family whose father was shot in an encounter with the White Plains police.

We recognize that there are challenges to putting our values into practice. As welcoming as we try to be, we do not always effectively engage newcomers in a way that offers them a role and function in our congregation. There is a sense that a relative few perform most key lay leadership functions. Although social action is one of our core values, we lack a coherent mission statement to focus and guide our social action activities. We have not recently launched a social action project that engages a significant number of our members, and our Social Action Committee is less active than formerly.

In the past few years, we have experienced a decrease in membership and financial support. Almost all of us want the congregation to grow, both to stabilize our finances and to inject more diversity and energy into the congregation. Implicit is a recognition that we are at a point where we must move beyond our "comfort zone" as our beloved community may need to change how we are organized and how we function. We are devising a plan for strategic growth, knowing that the alternative is to stagnate, but also acknowledging that we want to maintain the strong personal relationships that have historically characterized this community.

Our beloved community has weathered storms in the past, and we approach this new phase of our congregational life with both a bit of trepidation and abiding faith in the future with our new minister and our dedicated congregants.

What role do the congregation and its leaders expect the minister to play in relation to the other paid staff? 

Currently all staff report directly to the minister, with the exception of nursery/pre-school teachers reporting to the DRE and the piano accompanist reporting to the choir director. Moving forward, we don't consider the administrative skills of the minister to be one of the top priorities. Our goal is to allow the minister to lead us in worship, vision, and congregational growth. We want the minister to have a close working relationship with the DRE, while allowing the DRE to develop his/her own projects and ideas. The music staff is eager to maintain a close relationship with those involved in Sunday Services, whether that be the minister, a worship committee, or a committee on ministries. Given our small staff, there will be day-to-day administrative decisions that might involve the minister, and oversight of the Congregational Administrator will continue to be the Minister's responsibility. However, with additional training of staff and lay leaders, we hope there would be a shift to less administrative involvement on the part of the minister. A separate personnel committee is one example where the minister could be supported by lay leaders.

Congregational history:
How and when was the congregation founded? 

Our congregation was founded as All Souls Church of White Plains, New York, in April 1909. Two years earlier several families had begun meeting together in their homes while one of the mothers led a liberal Sunday School for their children - one of whom had been having nightmares about being chased by the Holy Ghost, a concept he'd learned in a traditional Sunday School. These parents went on to develop the idea of starting a liberal church in White Plains, and circulated a prospectus stating its purpose and principles. The text of the original prospectus began: "This Church is founded in the belief that men have as yet learned but a small part of full religious truth...[its members] do not expect agreement in word or thought; but...they endeavor to uphold one another in the effort to live according to their beliefs, and to make a wise service of mankind the witness of their faith." The founders were encouraged by the local field representative of the American Unitarian Association, who arranged for several Unitarian ministers in the New York metropolitan area to support the early services of the fledgling congregation.

Note the three or four most important events in the congregation's history: 

The founding of CUUC in 1909, as described above, was the first important event.

Significantly, providing liberal religious education was a key motivation for the founding of this congregation, and continues as a core value.

The construction of the congregation's current building on Rosedale Ave. in White Plains is perhaps the most significant historical event for this congregation. An increase in membership had resulted in over-crowded worship and religious education services in the Maple Avenue building, which had been constructed in 1921 and was CUUC's first meetinghouse. In 1956 the congregation overwhelmingly approved a long-range planning committee's recommendation to approve the acquisition of land purchased "on the spur of the moment" by a few individual members, and to construct a new building. Jules Gregory, the architect chosen to design the church, was credited with "restor[ing] to architects a sense of responsibility" to listen to the ideas and nuances of "local citizens," and the CUUC congregation found his design for the new church "electrifying." The Rosedale Ave. church was dedicated in May 1959. Our beautiful church and grounds are described further herein.

Another event with continuing importance for CUUC is the Openhym bequest. Wilfred Openhym was an attorney who had served as a trustee of the church and who, as secretary, signed the minutes of the 1942 congregational meeting that called Clifford Vessey to be our minister. Not having come to CUUC for some time, Openhym was not well known to most members in 1974 when it became known that he had left the church a bequest that eventually totaled almost $500,000. It has been the basic policy of the Board of Trustees to use the income of the Openhym fund to help pay for current expenses while preserving the principal of the fund, which is now over $1 million. During downturns in total pledge receipts, increased usage of the Openhym fund allowed CUUC to maintain its activities. This was true in the late seventies and also in the past few years.

Past Clergy 

Current minister, settled: Rev. Meredith Garmon. 2013-present.

Interim: Rev. Benjamin Maucere 2011-2013

Settled: Rev. Carol Huston. 2001-2011. Resignation. In May 2010, Rev. Huston announced in a letter to the congregation that her "ministry at CUC will end next year, in June 2011." The letter cited a recent congregational assessment by the UU District Office, undertaken at the request of the Board of Trustees, and noted the many positive aspects of the assessment as well as recent "difficult years," adding that "the only question about this ministry seems to be the worship services." Rev. Huston concluded that, in her final year, she hoped to see "the beginnings of our revitalization as a congregation."

Interim: Rev. John Nichols 2000-2001

Interim: Rev. Harry Green 1998-2000

Settled: Rev. Shannon Bernard. 1985-1998. Death. Late in 1995, Rev. Bernard was diagnosed with breast cancer. She announced her resignation in the Order of Service for April 5, 1998, effective in mid-June. She preached her last sermon on May 24. Her last formal appearance in the church was a celebration of her ministry on June 14. She died in White Plains on Aug. 29, 1998.

Interim: Rev. Paul. H. Bicknell 1983-1985

Settled: Rev. Peter H. Samson. 1965-1983. Resignation. In 1980 the Board of Trustees, in planning for the church's future, asked Rev. Samson (then age 66) about his retirement plans. Discussions between the minister and the Board culminated in a 1982 letter from Rev. Samson to the Board, announcing his resignation effective September 1983. He delivered his final sermon in May 1983.

Settled: Rev. Clifford H. Vessey. 1942-1964. Resignation. Rev. Vessey resigned in a letter to the congregation dated October 1, 1964, effective December 31, 1964. The Board of Trustees explained in a letter to the congregation dated October 9, that, as Rev. Vessey's personal problems had recently increased, affecting his ability to fulfill his responsibilities to the church, the Board could not recommend the salary increase he had requested, and that Rev. Vessey decided to resign.

Earlier Minister of Great Importance: Rev. Elizabeth H. Baker. 1961-1985. Initially the director of religious education, Rev. "Betty" Baker was named associate minister and received an honorary doctorate. Her ministry focused on the development of a structured Sunday School program, but her commitment was to "the total life of the church," and was characterized by her warm personal connections with members both within and beyond the religious education program. During the ministry of Peter Samson, responsibility for home and hospital calls, counseling, attending committee meetings, and working with community and UU district groups fell largely on her.

Membership, Attendance, and Pledging

Abbreviations:
Mems=Adult Members.
AASA=Average Adult Sunday Attendance.
CYE=Children & Youth Enrollment.
ACYA=Average Children & Youth Attendance
PU=Pledge Units
TOP=Total Operating Pledges


Mems
AASA
CYE
ACYA
PU
TOP
2012
233
181
114
57
149
$304K
2011
273
169
144
60
159
$303K
2010
275
179
157
60
169
$319K
2009
327
182
169
75
161
$333K
2008
330
208
189
83
173
$346K
2004
308

204

223
$321K
2000
240

132

192
$227K
1995
263

119

236
$159K
1990
311
150
140

239
$143K
1985
428

90

200
$100K
1980
440

140

260
$60K
1975
460

200

310
$65K

Congregational strengths: 

1. Our Religious Education program, which has high attendance and a large group of committed volunteers, coordinated through an effective RE council.

2. Our sense of our congregation as an engaged community whose members support and sustain each other.

3. Our efforts to be a welcoming and inclusive congregation, committed to nurturing a diversity of backgrounds, interests and abilities among our members and friends.

4. Our commitment to social justice, and our long and proud history of engaging in social action activities on the congregational, local, national and even international levels.

5. Our high level of volunteer participation with a cadre of strong lay leaders.

6. Our beautiful buildings and grounds, located in the NYC metropolitan region.

7. Our music program, including a pianist, choir director and choir, and guest performers, with music as an important part of every Sunday service.

Congregational challenges: 

1. We need to grow as a congregation to reach a new level of participation. We need to specifically focus on marketing our congregation to attract and retain younger members from more diverse backgrounds.

2. We need to improve our interpersonal connections; specifically, develop ways to engage new members, cultivate lay leadership, provide more opportunities for small group participation and activities and spiritual growth beyond Sunday worship, and better integrate the RE program into the overall congregation community.

3. We need to re-examine and refine our congregational governance and succession plans.

4. We need to increase financial support to sustain our strong programs, support an excellent staff, grow other programs, and maintain our 50 year old building.

What congregational issues are likely to be most pressing over the next ten years:

1. We need to determine to what extent we will invest in repair/re-modeling/expansion (if possible) of our building.

2. To the extent we successfully grow our congregation, we need to determine how to accommodate increasing numbers: Additional staff, such as an associate minister or assistant RE Director or administrative help? Two services? Two Sunday School sessions?

3. With a cadre of aging members, the congregation needs to address how to maintain their involvement when they may no longer be able to come to Sunday services. We also need to ensure that their pastoral needs are effectively met.

4. We are challenged to engage youth beyond Coming of Age, and to increase the population of young adults in the congregation. We need to find ways to keep families involved when children finish RE.

What congregational issues may never be resolved?

1. Despite our commitment to diversity, CUUC may never be fully representative of the ethnic, racial and cultural diversity of the communities of Westchester County.

2. Because of our location, we will always struggle with attracting visitors who do not have cars. And when we do reach full capacity in the sanctuary and the Sunday School rooms, parking will become a challenge.

To what degree does the congregation posses a dominant theology?

The congregation can best be described as non-theistic. Humanism and Buddhism are as important as Christianity and Judaism in shaping our religious/spiritual beliefs and practices, which also honor family and community rituals and traditions. Most of us believe in the interdependence and interconnectedness of all things and that people live on only in memory and accomplishments. Very few of us were raised as UUs; our most common prior religious affiliations include Roman Catholic, Protestant and Jewish.

Describe the role of music and the arts in the life of the congregation:

Our music program is an integral part of our Sunday worship services. We have a pianist, choir director, and accompanist on staff for regular Sunday Services and for a regular concert series. Both Music Director Adam Kent and Choir Director Lisa Meyer are highly respected and accomplished musicians. A $25,000 bequest allows additional outside professional musicians to perform for a few Sunday Services a year. For example, close to Yom Kippur this year, Adam Kent arranged music for the Kol Nidre, using the bequest to provide a guest cellist. The choir is volunteer with occasional addition of paid professional voices and instrumentalists. On occasion children and youth perform on their own or with other adults. The concert series ranges from Adam as soloist, to Adam with an ensemble, a Cabaret Night, and Choir events including large choral works such as Handel's Messiah. Despite the extremely high quality of the concert series, we have to work hard to attract a large audience and to keep concert expenses in line with ticket sales income. Even with that challenge, the congregation places great value on its music program and recognizes the musicians' talents we enjoy each week.

Describe the religious education programs for children, youth and adults:


Our RE program begins with a vibrant and wonderful nursery, in itself a magnet for young families. Weekly Pre-K through Youth Group classes are taught by a team of teachers from the congregation, who rotate teaching responsibilities. The curriculum includes Holidays and Holy Days, Neighboring Faiths, The Social Action Year, and Our Whole Lives ("OWL") in 2nd, 6th and 8th grades. The bi-annual Coming of Age ceremony is a source of pride for the entire congregation. The spring 2012 ceremony included 20 Coming of Age youth! Maintaining participation in the Youth Group can be a challenge, however. At this point we have an acting Director of RE on board, and the development of the relationship between the new minister and the permanent Director of RE s/he selects will be key. A RE Council plans and coordinates our RE program. Although there is no formal Adult RE program, we do have offerings that range from discussion groups such as "Science and Spirituality" and "In The Spirit of Truth" to a play reading group and conversational Spanish classes. In the past there have been classes/groups such as Building Your Own Theology, Bible Study, a women's group, and Intro. To UU classes.

Lay leadership
In practice, are responsibilities for governance widely shared or confined among relatively few members? Give some examples:

Similar to many churches, we have a core group of volunteers who provide most of the lay leadership. However, that group is fairly large, and volunteers, once involved, are highly committed to communicating with one another and moving forward on projects as needed. Our main governance committees are filled with dedicated volunteers, and those committees have a specific membership rotation plan. Those core committees are: Board of Trustees, RE Council, and Nominating Committee. The finance committee, music committee, and worship committee, to name a few, do not have a specified succession plan for members or chairs.

What is the condition of the church buildings, and what funds may need to be raised in the future? 

Since our church was built in 1959, members, friends and visitors to CUUC have experienced its evocative power, with its sweeping glass expanses, vaulted ceiling, and natural materials. The church building makes the most of its 8.5 acre wooded site, designed to follow the highs and lows of the site's topography, with multiple levels and several wings. It is also a marvel of geometry, with no right angles permitted.

However, this lovely church was built in an era when fuel efficiency was not an issue, the phrase "going green" was not yet coined, the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA") had not yet been implemented, and asbestos was not known to be toxic. Today, the building poses many challenges, both in managing day-to-day operating costs and in developing a long-range renovation plan to bring it into the 21st century with an eye on the environment and accessibility as well as to finances. For example, we need to update many systems and fixtures for energy efficiency and safety, add or better design space in certain areas to allow for growth and more rental opportunities, and make the building fully accessible (an outside ramp and one accessible bathroom currently meet minimum ADA requirements).

A promising capital campaign initiated in 2008 as part of a comprehensive planning process was derailed by the general economic downturn. Over the past four years, capital projects have been categorized as "can't wait" or "shouldn't wait." In the first category, our antiquated boilers have recently been replaced with a rooftop system. In the second category, members of the congregation independently began raising funds to fully renovate our kitchen. The initiative was a complete success, raising just over $100,000 over a two-week period; the balance of the funds was drawn from a bequest targeted to capital improvements. Notably, capital projects are typically funded through our operating budget and building fund, with significant expenditures subject to congregational vote. We have never carried a loan for capital projects.

Planning and prioritizing future renovations, and carefully including capital funding into the budget, will be a critical challenge for CUUC - and our new minister - over the next several years.

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