News Articles

Unitarian Universalists for a Just Economic Community (UUJEC) showed appreciation to HUUC with a hand-written thank you note regarding our recent donation as part of our annual gift from the Social Justice Collaborative. The letter read as follows:

Dear Friends,

Thanks so much for your recent contribution of $150 to UUJEC. Your support means a lot to us.

With your help we’ve been able to continue developing and distributing resources for use in social justice work by UU congregations across the country.
We hope your members will visit our website at UUJEC.org and review some of our past webinars and book reviews. We also hope you stop by our booth at the Baltimore GA this summer. Our board members would enjoy meeting and speaking with your members about your social justice work.

Keep up the good work,

Jane Bannon, Treasurer, UUJEC
Jane Bannor
2701 W. Fitch Ave.
Chicago, IL 60645

UUJEC is one of the sponsors of one of the three Congregational Study Action Issues (CSAI) that will be voted on at the UU General Assembly in June 2025. According to UUA.org, CSAIs “are issues selected by Unitarian Universalist member congregations for three years of study, reflection and action. The purpose is to provide member congregations of the Association with an opportunity to mobilize energy, ideas and resources around a common issue. The end result will be a deeper understanding of our religious position on the issue, a clear statement of Association policy as expressed in a Statement of Conscience, and a greater capacity for congregations to take effective action.”
The proposed CSAIs for 2025 and their associated website links are as follows:

1. Abolition is Faith Formation – https://www.uua.org/action/process/abolition-faith-formation-2025-csai
2. Fat Liberation: Building Justice and Inclusion for Larger Bodies – https://www.uua.org/action/process/fat-liberation-building-justice-and-inclusion-larger-bodies
3. Housing: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion – https://www.uua.org/action/process/housing-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-2025-csai

For more information on UUJEC, check out their website at https://uujec.org/

Image source: https://tinyurl.com/2b8nd923

Rae Jane and Russ Araujo recently invited HUUC members and friends to sign postcards to elected officials. The postcards were pre-printed with a message and the addressees’ names and addresses, and the postage stamps were provided. This pre-printing helped. This effort was done as part of an informal group called “UU Our Senators,” made up of people from Ohio UU churches.

Image source: https://tinyurl.com/42e6jn6s

An overflowing crowd of well-wishers, a choir of over 20 voices, a team of ten religious professionals, Heritage Universalist Unitarian Church (HUUC), Unitarian Universalist Church of Lexington (UUCL), and dozens of online viewers participated in the ordination of Bill Lyon on Sunday, April 13, 2025 at HUUC, followed by a lavish reception in the Great Hall.

For those who missed it or who want to revisit the ceremony, here are links you may find interesting:

• Order of Service –
  https://tinyurl.com/LyonOrdinationProgram
• Video of the ceremony – (1.5 hours) –
  https://tinyurl.com/LyonOrdinationVideo
• Photo slideshow of the ceremony – (8 min) –
  https://tinyurl.com/LyonOrdinationSlideshow

The following group, composed of now colleagues from Bill’s road to the ministry, each conducted a different aspect of the ceremony.

• Rev. Bill Gupton – Heritage Universalist Unitarian Church Senior Minister- Welcome / Laying on of Hands
• Rev. Bruce Beisner – All Peoples Unitarian Universalist Congregation Senior Minister – Call to Worship
• Rev. Sharon Dittmar – UUA Congregational Life Consultant – Greetings from the UUA
• Laci Lee Adams – Heritage Universalist Unitarian Church Director of Lifespan Faith Development – Greetings from our Youth
• Rabbi Julie Schwartz – Clinical Pastorial Education Center Director at Jewish Hospital – Interfaith Prayer
• Rev. Angeline Jackson – UU Church of Davis, California – Call to Offering
• Rev. Dr. Lee Barker – President Emeritus of Meadville Lombard Theological School – Sermon
• Rev. Dr. Doak Mansfield – HUUC Minister Emeritus – Collegial Welcome
• Rev. Dr. Brian Chenowith – UUCL Senior Minister – Charge to Minister
• Rev. Mitra Jafarazadeh – St. John’s retired minister and consultant – Prayer & Silence

Thanks to all who made this a special occasion for Bill, his family and friends, and the two UU congregations.

Images source: Lisa Sullivan

The Heritage UU Church Board of Trustees met on April 14, 2025. The following summarizes their activities.

1. Please plan to attend an important town hall meeting on May 4, 2025 to discuss the church finances.
2. Through a combination of factors, we found ourselves behind on paying out our commitments to our weekly Sharing Our Abundance recipients. The Board voted to pay out our currently outstanding commitments as soon as possible, as well as instituted a policy of distributing any future Sharing Our Abundance funds within 15 days of the service in which the offering is collected. 

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HUUC Board of Trustee members
Front row: Jaime Castle, Rebecca Pace
Back row: Luke Walczewski, Antonio Ciolino, Garry Wilson, Susan Conley, Roger Miller

Image source: https://huuc.net/huuc-board-members/

You may have noticed recently some subtle and some obvious changes to the Heritage physical facility. These changes include new security cameras and new doors as part of our involvement in a nonprofit security grant program.

Sixteen high-resolution, motion-detecting cameras are now installed in and around our building with video back-up and real-time views available on a computer or cell phone. All the equipment and cabling is installed, vendors have been paid. We have submitted for $23k reimbursement from the Ohio EMA (Emergency Management Agency.)

 Many new, more secure, sturdy doors of hollow metal with tempered safety glass have been installed. We still have paint, final touches, and repairs to make, but the new doors, locks, and the key fob system have been installed and hooked back up to our existing alarms. There are now just three access points to the building. Classroom and Heritage Room doors are “exit only” and the sliding glass doors in the Sanctuary have been replaced with proper swinging exit doors. We paid a $49k down-payment in September 2024 for the new doors. We now owe approximately $70k. Once that is paid, we can apply for an Ohio EMA reimbursement.

Image source: https://tinyurl.com/yp6udjdt