Sunday Meeting, March 28
Sunday School - Ethics for Children - 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Room 507
We the Kids… The World is in Our Hands! Everyday Leaders Making a Difference in the World
Sunday Meeting - 11:15 a.m. Auditorium
"New York’s Other Environmental History: The Impacts Of Class, Gender, and Race in the History of Keeping It Green"
Curt Collier, Leader
New York lawmakers have been passing environmental laws since the 1680s. Over the years, as American perceptions of the environment changed, movements to establish city parks and green spaces have had varying impacts on the design of the city. However, that history is usually slanted towards recording the efforts of rich white males. Today’s talk will explore another reading of environmental history, one that highlights the efforts of women and people of color to improve their neighborhoods, and why this story never gets told. Understanding this cultural bias is helpful in understanding why a deeper reading of history is necessary if we want to bring about truly effective environmental restoration.
Social Hour and LaCite Knitting Circle Project - 12:30 p.m. - Social Hall
Afternoon Activities - 1:45 p.m. - Room 508
Ethics in the News. Mary Ellen Goodman presides.
2:00 p.m. - Ceremonial Hall
A reading of the play Lillian Wald: At Home on Henry Street written and performed by Clare Coss.
Lillian D. Wald, pioneering public health nurse, social reformer, peace activist, and active member of the Ethical Culture Society, founded the Henry Street Settlement, Visiting Nurse Service, Neighborhood Playhouse, public playgrounds, school lunches, and countless other visionary ‘firsts’. The play is set at dawn, May 8, 1916, in Wald’s office/sitting room at the Settlement, as she prepares to lead a delegation to the White House, where she hopes to convince President Woodrow Wilson to keep the U.S. from entering the war and call for a conference of neutral nations to end it.
Q & A to follow the reading with Clare Coss and Blanche Wiesen Cook.
Clare Coss is a playwright, psychotherapist, and activist convinced that we have it in our power to create a just and safe world.
Suggested donation $5 to benefit the Homeless Women's Shelter at NYSEC. More about our Building Centennial
Sunday Meeting, April 4
Early Sunday Morning - 10:00 a.m. - Room 507
Singing Practice. Pat Debrovner and Jerry Ranck preside.
Early Sunday Morning - 10:30 a.m. - Room 514
Parenting Issues. Leader Dr. Anne Klaeysen presides.
No Ethics for Children program today
Sunday Meeting - 11:15 a.m. - Ceremonial Hall
"The Ethics of Taxation"
Dr. Anne Klaeysen, Leader, and Glenn Newman
Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once observed, “Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society.” Even if the price sometimes seems too high and our society isn’t always civilized, taxes must still be paid. With Tax Day, April 15, just around the corner and the Tea Party Movement kicking into high gear, it’s time to seek a better understanding of the role taxation plays in our lives. Dr. Anne Klaeysen interviews tax expert Glenn Newman on the ethics of taxation.
Glenn Newman is the first person to head the two agencies that handle property and business tax appeals in the City of New York. Until his appointment by Mayor Bloomberg as President of the Tax Commission and the Tax Appeals Tribunal, Glenn was a partner in a law firm concentrating on taxation, where he handled tax planning and matters of controversy involving state and local taxes including personal income tax, corporate tax, sales tax, and real property transfer taxes. Prior to that, Glenn was a Deputy Commissioner, New York City Department of Finance, and previously was chief of the Tax and Bankruptcy Division of the Office of the Corporation Counsel, where he drafted legislation and regulations and litigated matters involving both city and state taxes, and represented the city in federal courts, including the U.S. Bankruptcy Courts..
LaCite Knitting Circle Project - 12:30 p.m. - Social Hall
Sunday Brunch - 12:45 p.m. - Social Hall
Afternoon Activities - 1:45 p.m. - Ceremonial Hall
Ethics in Action: Update on Haiti with Lisel Burns, Leader Emerita, Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture. The Brooklyn Society has worked with the Haitian community in Brooklyn and on the ground in Haiti for decades. The late Charles Horwitz dedicated his last years to Fonkoze, “Haiti’s Alternative Bank for the Organized Poor, ” a microfinance institution serving more than 55,000 women borrowers, most of whom live and work in the countryside, and more than 175,000 savers. Lisel has made two trips to Haiti since the earthquake working with Fonkoze and Leogane, a school started by BSEC member Marie Yoleine. She will share her experience with us and talk about how to work with grassroots partners.
Sunday Meeting, April 11
Early Sunday Morning - 10:00 a.m. - Room 408
Colloquy: Creative Aging. Irena Polkowska-Rutenberg presides.
Sunday School - Ethics for Children - 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Room 507
We the Kids… The World is in Our Hands! Everyday Leaders Making a Difference in the World
Sunday Meeting - 11:15 a.m. - Ceremonial Hall
"Work and Worth: The Crisis of Joblessness"
Dr. Joseph Chuman, Leader
Few things we do are more important to our identities and our self-esteem as our commitment to work. Yet American society is facing an unemployment crisis unprecedented since the Great Depression. What are the effects of prolonged joblessness on individual lives and on communities? How can we find a way out? These will be some of the issues I will explore in my April address.
LaCite Knitting Circle Project - 12:30 p.m. - Social Hall
Sunday Brunch - 12:45 p.m. - Social Hall
Afternoon Activities - 1:45 p.m.
Yom Hashoah Holocaust Remembrance and Genocide Prevention with Leader Dr. Anne Klaeysen. April is Genocide Prevention Month, and April 11 is Yom Hashoah, a day set apart by Israel as Holocaust Remembrance Day. Join Leader Dr. Anne Klaeysen for a solemn remembrance of genocide world-wide and an advocacy workshop to prevent future genocide.
Afternoon Activities - 2:00 p.m. - Ceremonial Hall
Teen Ethical Leadership Program. For more
Sunday Meeting, April 11
Early Sunday Morning - 10:00 a.m. - Room 507
Singing Practice. Pat Debrovner and Jerry Ranck preside
Early Sunday Morning - 10:00 a.m. - Room 408
Poetry Reading - We welcome everyone to join us as we all bring some of our favorite poems to read aloud. Cheryl Gross presides.
Sunday School - Ethics for Children - 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Room 507
We the Kids… The World is in Our Hands! Everyday Leaders Making a Difference in the World
Sunday Meeting - 11:15 a.m. - Ceremonial Hall
"Hurrah for the Intransitive Verb!"
Rev. Ann Fuller
Language can be a source of anxiety for secular humanists and other nontheists. Those of us who were raised in religious households may wrestle with words we find personally meaningful and helpful, but have traditional and commonly accepted definitions that no longer seem appropriate. Some of us reject religious language entirely, but that isn’t the only option. We can reclaim religious language if we so desire. As a religious humanist, Rev. Ann Fuller engages in worship. As we explore this word and reclaim it, the concept of worship for nontheists may not be as odd as it sounds.
Rev. Fuller is an ordained minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Brevard (UUCB) in West Melbourne, FL, and teaches adult religious education courses, specializing in comparative religion and mythology. She is also a Certified Marriage Educator with the National Marriage Centers and facilitates marriage preparation classes. She operates an independent ritual ministry for secular and interfaith families, performing independent weddings, commitment ceremonies, child dedications, and memorial services in addition to her part-time congregational duties.
In August Rev. Fuller will complete a three-year program of study in humanist leadership with the Humanist Institute.
LaCite Knitting Circle Project - 12:30 p.m. - Social Hall
Sunday Brunch - 12:45 p.m. - Social Hall
Afternoon Activities - 1:45 p.m. - Ceremonial Hall
Life with Health. Topic: TBD.
2:00 p.m. - Social Hall
Teen Ethical Leadership Program. For more
Sunday Meeting, April 25
Sunday School - Ethics for Children - 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Room 507
We the Kids… The World is in Our Hands! Everyday Leaders Making a Difference in the World
Sunday Meeting - 11:15 a.m. Auditorium
"Spring Festival"
Curt Collier, Leader
Join us for a celebration of spring. The program will include music and a presentation by children from our Sunday School.
