Unitarian Church of Montreal

Lend Your Support to Occupy Montreal

This Saturday, November 19, the Unitarian Church of Montreal youth group and its adult allies will be making a field trip to the Occupy Montreal camp in Square Victoria, as part of their sleepover activities. Like everyone else, the youth are curious as to what it's all about, and this is a great opportunity to engage with this powerful and controversial movement.

The group will be taking along a few donations, and would like to offer the opportunity for other members of the congregation to contribute. Those camped in the square are more than happy to receive donations of food for their communal vegetarian kitchen (dry goods, produce, baked goods), as well as blankets and sleeping bags. The youth group will be attending the Bidnite Dinner that same evening; members of the congregation can bring donations to the church and the youth group will be glad deliver them on your behalf. If you have any questions, contact Curtis Murphy, youth program coordinator.

See you Saturday!

Sharing Concern and Solidarity

Over the weekend of January 15 and 16, four synagogues and one Jewish school were vandalised in Côte-Saint-Luc and Hampstead.  One of the congregations was Dorshei Emet, a community we have worked with for several years, gratefully sharing the planning and organization of Empty Bowls, an event to combat hunger in Montreal.

Tents and supplies headed for Haïti, thanks to you!

Thank you! Our Tents for Haïti drive was a great success.  Fourteen sites, including the Unitarian Church of Montreal, helped to gather 13 pallets of supplies. The staff at CECI (Centre d'étude et de coopération internationale) here in Montreal were absolutely amazed at the large volume of goods collected.  The pallets measuring 4'x4' included tents, tarps, camping supplies, backpacks and clothing. 

Unitarian Church of Montreal Collects Tents for Haiti

Thank you. Thank you.  Our March 26-28 drive to collect tents to ship to Haiti was a great success. UCM helped to gather 13 pallets of tents and other much needed supplies as a partner in Solid’Haiti, a newly formed coalition of faith communities, Haitian Montrealers and other citizens. 

UCM Raises More Than $6,000 for Haitian Relief

On Sunday, January 17, members and friends generously contributed $6,244.19, for relief in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12th.   These funds will be sent to Oxfam Quebec, since we have learned that Médecins sans frontières (our original choice) is becoming saturated with funds. 

Emergency Relief for Haiti

15 January 2010

Dear Members and Friends,

I, like you, am deeply saddened by the devastation that the people of Haiti are facing in the aftermath of Tuesday's earthquake. As a first step, we have determined that our offering this Sunday will be given to Médecins sans frontières Canada (Doctors without Borders). 

After speaking with members of our community who have strong connections to Haiti, we believe this will be the best way to quickly support efforts on the ground. Médecins sans frontières is among the organizations that will receive matching grants from the Canadian government for gifts given by individuals and certain groups.  As a church, we qualify as an organization whose gifts will be matched.

We still advise that you write your cheques to the Unitarian Church of Montreal, designating "Haiti" in the subject line.  In this way, we can provide tax receipts and remove that burden from Médecins sans frontières.

Recovery in Haiti will be long and hard.  If you are interested in participating in an ongoing effort to provide relief, please let me know.  Our Social and Environmental Concerns Committee will be meeting this week and will be considering future projects.

I am deeply grateful to all who have expressed care and concern to help.  My heart goes out to the people of Haiti and to all who are waiting to hear news of loved ones, colleagues and friends.  

With love,

Rev. Diane Rollert

Benefit Concert for Haiti

If you are a lover of Gospel music, you may wish to attend a benefit concert for Haiti Earthquake Relief on Sunday, January 17 at 4:00 p.m. at Imani Family and Full Gospel Church, 540 Richmond Street, corner of St. Jaques.  I will be there to offer a few words.

Rev. Diane Rollert

Candles for Change

 

Church members and friends held a vigil December 12 at the Durnford family residence to push politicians taking part in the Copenhagen climate-change summit to take action. Thanks to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Canada's image has been tarnished in the minds of environmentalists, scientists and other developed countries attending the gathering. The goal of the summit is to reach an agreement committing developed countries - Canada included - to substantial reductions in carbon emissions from 1990 levels. Problem is, Canada is refusing to play along, earning it such "awards" as fossil of the day.

Planting the Seeds of Survival - Here and Abroad

Numbers are not my friend. I like to deal in words. What’s more, I come from a background where there was little transparency about church finances. You put your money in the basket on Sunday and trusted it was well used. I wonder now at my own naïveté. I thought it was vulgar to talk about money in church. I guess I thought that churches just ran by themselves. Now I know better.  (Janine Cobb, Board Secretary of the Unitarian Church of Montreal, in an address to the congregation November 1, 2009)

The Phoenix Garden: a Gravel Lot is Transformed

   In a garden, transformation takes place on many levels –a seed, planted in the soil, transforms the energy from the sun, the moisture form the rain and the nutrients in the soil to produce a ripe tomato.

  Likewise, as they steward this process, the people who collectively tend the Phoenix Garden are transformed – they find new relationship to the earth, and with each other.

So, too, the people who pass by day to day, who stop and express their appreciation. Indeed this garden has prompted many a conversation and friendly “hello,”  “bonjour” which  the gravel lot did not.

Empty Bowls raises over $13,000 for Montreal's hungry

For the past two years, the Unitarian Church of Montreal has joined forces with Congregation Dorshei Emet to make Empty Bowls - a project to raise money for the hungry - a great success.  On April 18, $6,500 was raised at the Unitarian Church by people who bought a hand-crafted bowl, enjoyed some soup and bread and listened to some great jazz. The following weekend, Empty Bowls raised more than $7,000 at Congregation Dorshei Emet. All the money will be pooled to help six Montreal organizations that help the hungry.

Empty Bowls, a grass-roots effort to fight hunger and raise awareness for the issue in local communities, began in Michigan in 1990 as a high school fund-raising project. Since then, it has spread throughout the world and has raised millions to combat hunger.

Taking action in the world

The Social and Environmental Concerns Committee uses direct action, advocacy, and educational initiatives to promote social justice and environmental flourishing. It meets every third Sunday of the month at 12:15 pm.
Location: Thomas Room
Contact: Christina Duvander

Those interested are encouraged to attend our meetings and to participate in all activities, whether or not they choose to be regular members of SECC.