June 2025 Board Meeting Highlights

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Santa Monica Board of Directors held its monthly meeting on Tuesday, June 10, via Zoom.

Board members attending included President Eileen McCormack, Vice President Vilma Ortiz, Treasurer Rebecca Crawford, Secretary Linda Van Ligten, and Board Members at Large Larry Weiner, Norm Richey, Trish Brassard, Audrey Erbes, Shanna Shaked, and Cassie Winters. Rev. Jeremiah Kalendae also attended, as did congregation member John Zinner, and church administrator Alfie Wilkerson.  Past President Barbara Kernochan was absent.

Call to Order and Spiritual Grounding

Eileen called the meeting to order at: 7:03 pm. Cassie lit the chalice and Eileen read the UU Value of Pluralism:

“We celebrate that we are all sacred beings, diverse in culture, experience, and Theology. We covenant to learn from one another in our free and responsible search for truth and meaning. We embrace our differences and commonalities with Love, curiosity, and respect.”

Cassie also provided a reading from Theology of Accompaniment by Janice Marie Johnson:

“I got an important glimpse into the spiritual practice of being in partnership when I learned about the theology of accompaniment. The term comes from Cuban-American theologian Roberto Goizueta in his book Camienemos con Jesus.

“Rev. Jackie Clements introduced me and many others to the concept in New Orleans at “Finding Our Way Home,” an annual gathering of Unitarian Universalist religious professionals of color. Clements described how the verb acompañar in Spanish differs in complexity, texture, and weight from the English to accompany, which can be used for something as mundane to going to the grocery store with someone. The Spanish word connotes something deeper. “It’s like being joined at the hip,” said a colleague at the retreat.

“In review of Goizueta’s work, professor and chaplain Fr. Kurt Messick notes that a theology of accompaniment “has many implications, including a recognition of the value of the importance of theological themes all through life: in the home, in the work-place, in the social arena. It is our task, regardless of our starting point, to walk with, or accompany, these people. To walk with the poor does not simply mean a geographic relocation. It means becoming intensely aware of their conditions- body, mind, spirit, hope, future- and how these things differ from mainstream Western culture. It is also a call to the development of interior life, as a means of strengthening the identity of those from whom culture often robs or ignores.

“When I think of partnership, I think of striving to empower the community and building bridges. I think of working collaboratively with various organizations and individuals- especially those who understand the profound difference between providing services to the disenfranchised and breaking bread with siblings. A theology of accompaniment calls us to move beyond “othering,” beyond tolerating, beyond embracing. It calls us to honor our siblings as the unique and precious beings that we all are- in spite of class, race, ethnicity, ability, and all else that would divide us. Accompaniment is a choice. One that can resonate profoundly as a spiritual practice of being in partnership.”

Attendees provided a personal check-in, and answered a question based on our monthly worship theme, “Living Love Through the Path of Freedom.”

Membership and Standing Monthly Reports

Norm reported that our current membership is 265. New members Kysa Christie, Elyse Hook, and Julia Payson were read into the membership roll.

The standing monthly reports were noted, and board members voted unanimously in favor of accepting the monthly reports and approving the May board meeting minutes.

Minister’s Report

In the introduction to his report to the board this month, Jeremiah quoted a passage from Scot Nakagawa:

“Truth is strategic, not just moral. But speaking truth isn’t enough. We need to disrupt disinformation systems, counter authoritarian narratives, and create spaces where truth can be heard and acted upon by us. But we must remember that while speaking truth is necessary, it is not sufficient. Truth must be strategically deployed, widely disseminated, and connected to collective action.”

And he said the June’s worship theme – freedom – “is certainly a topic worthy of our reflection in this cultural climate of emboldened intellectual oppression, white supremacy, bigotry, and fear.”

June is also Queer Pride Month, said Jeremiah, “which commemorates the Stonewall Riots that occurred on June 28, 1969 when transgender women of color and other queer people ignited the modern LGBTIAQ+ liberation movement,” and it includes the honoring of Juneteenth – the day when the last enslaved people in Texas learned of their freedom on June 19, 1865.

“Freedom is defined as “the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint”[1],” said Jeremiah.

“Unitarian Universalism is a liberal religion, also known as the “Free Church,” because we provide for an open-minded and open-hearted approach to the religious life grounded in centuries of humanistic thinking and critical questioning and investigation. Our UU Values include our promises to “to learn from one another in our free and responsible search for truth and meaning.” We know that with freedom comes responsibility and that freedom can only flourish in a society in which it is respected. The authoritarianism present in our society today is a direct threat to our religious freedom and those enshrined in the US Constitution and our way of life. May we continue to model the freedom and responsibility inherent in Unitarian Universalism within our own walls and to our wider community.”

Jeremiah also reported that:

• We have gathered for four Sunday Worship services since our last meeting. He offered the service Spiritual Discernment, which explored professional ministry, the ministerial search process, and discernment more broadly. Rev. Kikanza offered the theme-based service The Only Limitation, which considered what our imaginations need to thrive…and the next week, she also provided the Freedom to Seek the Truth, for which Building Your Own Theology class students shared their credos and led many of the liturgical elements of the service. Finally in the last month, Rev. James Ishmael Ford was back with our community during LA Pride and offered Spiritually at the End of Religion, which introduced his new book and the celebrations and holidays of this season, including Pentcost.

• On May 18, our congregation held a New Member Ceremony, at which we welcomed 14 new members to the community. Jeremiah thanked Gretchen Goetz, Eileen McCormack, the Membership Team, and all the new members for organizing and participating in this special event.

• The Worship Team met last month and will meet again this month to prepare for the summer schedule. The group will not meet in July or August.

• Summer Worship Planning is complete and we will have many familiar faces – and a few new ones – in our pulpit over the summer, providing what promises to be another season of excellent worship services from within and beyond our community.

• The Rev. Stefanie/Batya Etzbach-Dale will be our special guest minister on Sunday, August 24, and she will also offer a special Meditative Sound Journey from 6-9 pm on Saturday, August 23. In addition, we will celebrate the 20th anniversary of Rev. Stefanie/Batya’s ministerial internship and ordination at UUSM, so this will be a great chance to reconnect with her and enjoy her replenishing musical ministry. Spread the word!

• Our Pastoral Care Team and Pastoral Executive Team met last month and this month and tied up loose ends before taking a respite over the summer. Rev. Kikanza and Chaplain Michael Eselun have again graciously agreed to serve as professional pastoral resources and backups to the team.

• Jeremiah continues to offer Pastoral Meetings and Spiritual Counseling to members of the community as requested, which helps strengthen trust and healthy relations in our communal practice. The pastoral need has been high as of late.

• Jeremiah continues to hold weekly, biweekly, and/or monthly Ministry, Administrative, and Governance Meetings with our senior staff, president, executive committee, worship chair, consulting minister, pastoral co-chairs, UUA congregational life staff, and/or other congregational leaders as needed or requested.

• Following the board’s approval to endorse Jessica and provide UUA Ministerial Discernment Support in her pursuit of UU ministry, Jeremiah has drafted – with Jessica’s support – the required letter of recommendation from a credentialed UU minister. He will submit the letter soon.

• We hosted a very successful Special Meeting of the Congregation on May 18 2025, and elected the nominated slate for the Ministerial Search Team. A lot of work was required on the part of the Board, Leadership Development and Nominating Committee, and the Office, and Jeremiah extended congratulations to all on a job well done…with numerous additional meetings in the past month to plan the logistics of the meeting.  Also, he said Alfie did a wonderful job taking over many of the administrative aspects of the meeting from Nurit. Finally, Jeremiah thanked everyone who attended, and also those who served as the ballot counters, parliamentarian, and officers who created such a smooth and fast meeting.

• The Intersectional Anti-Racism and Anti-Oppression Commission (IARAO) continues its excellent work and is exploring the possibility of bringing in some outside facilitators to offer workshops, though no plans have been finalized yet.

• The Board Policies Review Team continues to make progress in its work, bringing this developmental goal closer and closer to realization each month.

• The Mission and Vision Team completed the mission and vision statement crafting phase and ran final drafts by our leadership teams, the UUA, and even the Santa Monica Area Interfaith Council. We received lots of positive feedback and the statements were placed on the agenda for adoption at the Annual Meeting. Jeremiah thanked the many folks who helped guide and shape this process over the past two years.

• We have accepted the proposal of the UU Animal Ministry and drafted a Study/Action Issue for consideration by the congregation over the next year. Jeremiah has been working with Jacinda V to see how we might put the process into operation, and she’s found an excellent small group ministry model from UUAM.

• Jeremiah attended the Building Your Own Theology rehearsal dinner with Rev. Kikanza. He got to hear class participants present their work, and offered some hopefully helpful suggestions on leading worship and speaking from the pulpit. Excellent food and conversation followed, and Jeremiah said he is deeply grateful to Rev. Kikanza for offering this course and service this year.

• Jeremiah said he’s thrilled to report we had 45 members and friends participate in our UUSM contingent of the 2025 LA Pride March. This year he and Jessica both had megaphones and seemed filled with the spirit of pride as they led thousands along the parade route in chants of hope, celebration, and resistance to facism and the oppression of queer, trans, refugee, immigrant, and disabled peoples. Jeremiah extended special thanks to Jacinda and Cassie and all those who helped create, market, and distribute beautiful new congregational T-shirts, which gave UUSM a unified presence in the march.  The shirts are still for sale if you’d like to get one, and they should come in handy for future social action activities.

• Barbara Kernochan authored a Special News Article honoring the recent achievements of Rev. Kikanza and Vilma Ortiz. Jeremiah thanked Barbara for writing such a beautiful tribute and the communications team for facilitating its publication.

• The Santa Monica Area Interfaith Council and Leadership Team held its annual luncheon meeting before taking the summer off. It was a very productive year and Jeremiah has agreed to remain as a Vice President through his last congregational year at UUSM.

• Jeremiah continues to meet monthly with the UCLA Medical Center Ethics Committee to help shape health care practice affecting the larger community and to engage in ethical learning, policy formation, and clinical discernment.

In conclusion, Jeremiah said, “It is good to be in community in times like these and even better to be a part of a prophetic spiritual community and tradition with a history that has withstood all sorts of tests and trials over centuries and remained steadfast in liberal faith and hope and love. Let us lean into community and the faith, hope, and love–the three jewels from our heritage–which it engenders. Congregations only exist because people show up in a spirit of commonality and affection and because leaders step forward to lead with faithfulness, wisdom, and skill. I am grateful to all of our congregational leaders, and especially those who serve on this board, on behalf of our beloved community. Thank you. May the Rainbow Blessings of Pride and Liberatory Blessings of Juneteenth be yours!”

Treasurer’s Report

Rebecca’s report this month covered 11 months of the fiscal year, through May 2025. She said our year-to-date income at this point is down by about $9K, with the main shortfall coming from Dining for Dollars. The budgeted income for D4$ was $26K. Not all of the income is in yet, but it looks like the total will be closer to $23K, about $3K short of the goal.  Rebecca also noted that D4$ income has been decreasing for the last two years.

Year-to-date expenses are up by $24K. Most of this is from the fact that we had two administrators during Alfie’s training, for an extra cost of $16K. Facilities maintenance is also up, by about $1K. RE is up by about $4K due to Jessica’s extra hours, but this has been leveled out by extra giving to the RE program. All told, said Rebecca, things look remarkably good…though there will be some sorting out at the beginning of the new fiscal year as pledges paid ahead are put into the appropriate fiscal year.

Rebecca also reported that our rental income is still lagging, though we have a new recurrent renter that will help. Meanwhile, she said, the recent budget town hall meeting had about 15 attendees, who asked a wider range of questions than usual. And our endowment fund, as of the end of May, now totals $411,000…so our total assets, including the endowment fund, are about $769,000.

Board members discussed the current deficit, and decided that 50% of the funds to cover the gap will come from our Contingency Reserves and 50% from Capital Building Reserves. They also noted that it would help the situation if the D4$ fundraiser and the Stewardship campaign were not held so close together.

Finally, board member Cassie Winters asked that she be named Board Liaison to Dining for Dollars, and the board approved her request.

Policy Update and Request for Approval

On behalf of the Board Policies Task Force, John Zimmer requested approval for the policy on Commissions, Task Forces, Committees and Activity Groups, which was approved unanimously.

John also presented a draft of the Implementation of Board Approved Policies proposal, which board members discussed and opted to hold for review by the next Board of Directors.

Director of Multi-Generational Religious Education Report

In her written report to the board this month, DMRE Jessica TenHave-Place said May 2025 was a great month for CYRE, as we continued to welcome new families visiting our community and saw continued participation from young families who started attending in the last couple of months.

Jessica also reported that we experimented with splitting our RE class into older and younger groups on the Sundays when we had large numbers, and it was definitely beneficial for the older kids to have time to engage in deeper questions and conversation about things like immigrant experiences, school bullying issues, and their thoughts about growing up with their peers. At the same time, Jessica said, the younger kids got to spend more time with hands-on activities, and got lots of attention from volunteers giving one-on-one guidance. And even with the split, she said, everyone still had time together as a large group at the beginning and end of class. Jessica said we will do a bit of trial and error over the summer to see what works best for the kids, and then – by fall – plan to have additional volunteers signed up each week, and a formalized routine for splitting up the two groups.

Jessica said we also had the opportunity this month, before breaking for the summer, to get our middle and high school students’ input on possible program changes to make for the fall. And they were in favor of meeting more often, to have more consistency, which was encouraging. We will have four fifth graders moving up into middle school in the fall as well, she said, so this summer will also give us time to plan the best programming to keep the middle grade students engaged.

Jessica reported that “Our big special event for this month, outside of our usual Sunday programming and the monthly All Ages game night, was the LA Pride Parade. Four kids and three youth joined us with their parents and other church members. We distributed candy to the parade goers with 500 small cards linking to our website as well as information for Peace Camp. It was a wonderful opportunity for our young people to witness community solidarity, as we cheered on not only queer rights, but rights for immigrants and freedom for Palestinians, reflecting our support back to the activists in the crowd. It was a powerful day of witnessing the people of LA standing strong together!”

Looking ahead to summer, Jessica said we’re looking forward to Peace Camp July 7-11, our Multigenerational Service on July 13, trying out anti-racism Mosaic curriculum from the UUA during Sunday morning RE, strategizing for the fall, and responding to the needs and concerns of our wider community as they evolve. She said she is also planning to attend the UUA General Assembly in Baltimore.  “I’m really looking forward to the opportunity to learn everything I can about children and youth RE there,” she said, “and the chance to connect with UUs from around the country. I’m grateful for the privilege to get better acquainted with the life and culture of Unitarian Universalism beyond our local congregation, and to share what we are learning and doing in Santa Monica with colleagues in other contexts.”

Finally, Jessica said that, “as always, everything we do has been made possible by the hard work and support of members and volunteers, who provide me with so much supportive encouragement, feedback, and moral support as well. This has been a great year, and I’m looking forward to what we will continue to do this summer and beyond!”

Jeremiah said he would follow up with Jessica about the final projected budget, and funding sources, for the RE program.

Annual Meeting

Planning for the Annual Meeting was nearly complete by the board meeting date, with planners saying they had combined some meeting support roles and were still looking for a  Parliamentarian.

Animal Ministry

The board unanimously approved the following Animal Ministry motion made by Jeremiah and seconded by Audrey:

“The Board moves to empower the UU Animal Ministry of UUSM, following their comprehensive and thoughtful proposal, to engage the congregation in an approximately year-long Study/Action Issue of the possibility of the congregation adopting a green, vegetarian, and/or vegan commitment at congregational events to institutionally advance environmental, animal, and climate wellbeing in concert with our UU values which call upon us “to protect Earth and all beings from exploitation.””

Summer Plans

There will be no board meetings in July and August. Kikanza and the Pastoral Care Associate will be available for pastoral care needs. There will also be opportunities for Social Action events with our community partners such as the Santa Monica Area Interfaith Coalition (SMAIC) and Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE).

Lifelong Learning (Adult RE Committee)

Larry reported that the Adult RE Committee has changed its name to the Lifelong Learning Commission, and is planning to schedule meetings to read and discuss the fiction book Search: A Novel, which is about a UU congregation’s search for a new minister. Attendees discussed this choice in light of our coming search for a new settled minister, and Jeremiah said he would follow up with the committee.

Board D4$ Pancake Breakfast

Cassie noted that the Board’s Dining for Dollars Pancake Breakfast will be held on July 26 at 11 a.m. in Forbes Hall.  She asked both old and new board members to let her know if they can help at the event.

Gratitude and Adjournment

Board members ended the meeting by thanking Eileen and Norm – who are both leaving the board after many years of service – for their contributions. Eileen started as a Member at Large and has been our President for the last three years. During his tenure, Norm has been Secretary and a Member at Large, while also chairing the Membership Committee. And both Eileen and Norm were on the Board during the COVID lockdowns and our most recent wildfires.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:11 p.m.

Draft minutes used to create this report were provided by Secretary Linda Van Ligten. Documents distributed and reviewed at the meeting can be found here.