Welcome!
This is where you'll find information about our congregation, beliefs, programs, and events. If you have any questions about anything you see or read here, please call us at (914) 271-4283. Additional contact information and directions to the fellowship are available by following the links under General Information.
Two services are held each Sunday from September through mid-June. The first service begins at 9 a.m. and the second at 11 a.m. Sunday school runs concurrently with the second service at 11 a.m. Babysitting is only available at the 11 a.m. service. See the Services schedule for detailed service information. See the The Loop for the latest in Religious Education.
Who Are We?
One of the more common comments we hear from visitors who attend our services is: “I wish I had known about you before now! I think I’ve been a Unitarian Universalist all along and didn’t know it.”
Our Mission
We are an open, inclusive religious Fellowship, striving to build a beloved community that fosters the search for personal truth, social justice and spiritual growth.
We are committed to nurturing the connections that draw us together.
We are committed to a liberal religious education based on the
respectful exchange of ideas.
And we are committed to reaching out to help build a more just and compassionate world.
What makes us different from most other religious faiths is that we are non-creedal, which means that we seek religious truth through personal experience, conscience and reason—not from any book or religious authority that we are told to believe. This doesn’t mean that whatever anyone believes is fine, since some beliefs are good for us and others are not. We regard the highest values to be integrity, caring, compassion, social justice, truth, personal peace and harmony. Advancing these values is a major purpose of our congregation. Instead of being absorbed by salvation for an “afterlife,” we are more concerned about living responsibly and deeply, here and now.
Another way of saying this is that we are primarily concerned with how we should live, individually and collectively, so that we might become better people, partners, parents and citizens. And we are concerned with exploring our spiritual nature, the part of us that is connected to something larger than ourselves.
More information about What We Believe…
Currently at UUBCO:
Ministerial Search Committee
Dear Friends:
As the UUA’s Transitions Office puts it:
No choice is more important to the future of a Unitarian Universalist congregation than its call of a minister. A thorough, uncorrupted, and mutually respectful search process is the essential first step in the hoped-for partnership of lay and ordained leaders. For both minister and congregation, the process is strenuous, exciting, and informative. It can also be frustrating and discouraging. But generations of lay leaders and ministers testify that such a process, followed well, richly repays the time and effort it requires.
UUA Settlement Handbook Having hired Orlanda Brugnola as Interim Minister and arranging to have the Beyond Categorical Thinking workshop at the Fellowship on January 22, our transition towards calling a new minister in 2013 already is underway. But as described in our January Newsletter, the next and crucial step in the process is selecting a Ministerial Search Committee. The following job description link outlines the expectations and qualifications for members of the Search Committee: Ministerial Search Committee Description. Anyone interested also needs to be familiar with the description of the search process found in the UUA Settlement Handbook and in the UUA Resource Guide for Ministerial Search Committees
The Board of Trustees has formed a task force to oversee the process of selecting the members of the Search Committee. The task force members - Gerry Peet, Teri Lukin, Janet Englund, Daria Gregg, Pete Connolly and Rob Malionek - discussed this process in depth at the Mid-Year Meeting on January 8, and will make themselves available for questions and to help get the word out about the process.
Generally, the process for selecting the members of the Search Committee will be as follows:
1. Interested members of the Fellowship should review the job description and the materials referenced above, and make sure they understand the commitment required to serve on the Search Committee.
2. The task force will accept applications until February 5, 2012 from members who wish to become candidates for the Search Committee. Click on Application. Please include a picture of yourself with your application. You can submit your application by leaving it in Rob Malionek’s mailbox or e-mailing it to robert.malionek@lw.com.
3. The task force will review the applications to ensure that they are in order, and speak with potential candidates.
4. The names of all candidates will be published to the Fellowship, and the candidates’ applications will be made available. Members of the congregation will be encouraged to get to know any candidates with whom they are not familiar.
5. In late February/early March 2012, the task force will hold an election open to all members of the Fellowship. The seven candidates with the most votes will be elected to serve on the Search Committee. (Caveat: This number may change, depending on the number of candidates.)
We hope that the entire Fellowship will take an active interest in the election of the Search Committee. As the Settlement Handbook explains, the Search Committee members will invest hundreds of hours in their task, working together as a group on behalf of the entire Fellowship, “so they can make the best choice not for themselves as individuals but for all. No wonder search committee members often become lifelong friends!”
Robert J. Malionek
Posted on: January 19th, 2012
Fundraising COFFEE HOUSE Event
Saturday March 10, 7:30 p.m.
The Fundraising Committee (and some friends!) is busily working on planning for a Coffee House which will be 2012’s big fundraising event for the Fellowship. Be sure to SAVE THE DATE!
General information: The event will start at 7:30 p.m. with coffee house style entertainment, followed by a reception with refreshments. During the reception, we will hold drawings for a variety of raffle items, and we will also have a live auction. Tickets for the event will be available starting in early February - please look for more information in the coming weeks. Raffle tickets will also be available in advance of the event.
Raffle and Live Auction: Please contact Bethany Swanson (bethanyq@yahoo.com/914-293-7858) to donate items and services for the Live Auction and Raffle to be held after the Coffee House. While this is a smaller scale event than our biennial auction, with fewer items, we expect to have an exciting variety of items to appeal to all tastes!
Successful live auction items from previous years include: weekend getaways, sporting event or theater tickets, and personal services (some ideas: offer to make h’or d’oeuvres for a cocktail party at a mutually agreed date, provide transportation to a local airport, or give lessons or be a personal trainer!). Other ideas are always welcome! Raffle items in the past have included handmade items and artwork or themed baskets (Italian gourmet items, a pre-made picnic basket, or breakfast goodies, for example). You might even donate together with another member of the congregation. Bethany would be happy to discuss any ideas you may have. Donations will be needed by Sunday, February 19.
Our Coffee House will be brewing! Get ready for an evening of music, poetry and great fun, including favorites from the past as well as a few surprises. We still have a couple of performance spots open. If you wish to participate by singing or reading poetry please contact: Betsy Turner, bhturner@optonline.net, by January 31.
Posted on: January 19th, 2012
Fellowship January 2012 Newsletter
Click on January Newsletter to view the Fellowship most recent Newsletter.
Posted on: January 1st, 2012
“Split the Plate at UUFBCO”
The Board has approved the SAC suggestion that there be one offering collection each Sunday with half of the non-pledge offering monies to be donated to a specific non-profit organization on a monthly basis. During the month of January, SAC will “split the plate” with the Sienna Project, an organization originally suggested by Ginny Stillman. The Sienna Project envisions building schools in the small indigenous mountain villages of the Highlands of Guatemala, where there may not be enough classrooms or no classrooms at all. The national government pays teacher salaries, but does not provide funds for school buildings. In many indigenous villages children may never go to school.
This project is intended as a living memorial to Sienna Lavanhar, the daughter of the Reverend Marlin and Anitra Lavanhar who died suddenly and unexpectedly three days after her third birthday. The project was initiated by her grandfather, Marlin Lavanhar and uncle, Derek Lavanhar, who have established non profit organizations (NGOs) in both the US and Guatemala to make it happen.
Marlin Lavanhar and his wife Caroline, are seeking volunteers to help build schools in Guatemala through the Sienna Project which UUFBCO has been supporting for several years now through 2nd collections. This year, the trip is scheduled for February 25 through March 3. Marlin will be speaking at the January 15 Sunday Service. where he will be presenting a slide show from past Sienna Project projects, providing informational brochures and telling you about this year’s trip. Ginny Stillman and Jane Hackenburg have both volunteered in years past and can talk more with anyone who is interested.
Read more about this project at http://www.siennaproject.com
The Split the Plate Program is one way the UUFBCO affirms and supports the Unitarian Universalist Principles which calls for us to outreach and generously serve our local, as well as our international communities.
Thank you, Bearni Croft and the Social Action Committee
Posted on: December 31st, 2011
UUBCO Native Garden Website
Thanks to Susie Dugaw, the Fellowship now has a Native Garden website. There you will find photographs of each native plant in the UUBCO garden, along with information about each plant. There are also links to where to buy the plants and seeds and links to container gardening, composting and native lawns. To access the Native Garden website, please click on UUBCOnativegarden.wikispaces.com.
Posted on: June 29th, 2009
Cortlandt/Croton Food Bank Support
For nearly 20 years, our Fellowship has supported the Cortlandt/Croton Food Bank with weekly collections of food and other items. It started as a Girl Scout Project and has been carried on by SAC ever since.
Thank you for your continued support of this vital community resource. Thank you, Bearni Croft and Bob Hudson
Posted on: September 1st, 2008
