Got a phone call from M., a UU friend whom I’ve known for some years now. M. is a few years older than I, and we both grew up as Unitarian Universalists. M. and I haven’t talked in some time, so we talked about mutual friends. We were youth advisors together for awhile, and we both were a part of Liberal Religious Youth, or LRY, the old Unitarian Universalist youth movement — so needless to say, the conversation turned to the state of the Unitarian Universalist youth movement, past and present.
M. had a great experience in the old LRY. She was active in her local youth group, in district youth activities, and at the continental level. I was in LRY only a few years later, in the mid-to-late 1970’s. While I had a great experience in my local youth group, by the time I came along, LRY had pretty much imploded in my district. I remember two girls from our youth group went off to a district event, and came back swearing they’d never go again — some kid had brought a handgun to that district event, and that was just a little too scary. So we stuck with our local group, and ignored the rest of LRY.
We weren’t the only ones to have that kind of experience, and in the early 1980’s, LRY was gracefully laid to rest, and a new organization, Young Religious Unitarian Universalists (YRUU), was born. And YRUU did pretty well for some twenty years.
But recently concerns about YRUU have been arising. In particular, Bill Sinkford, current president of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), and Megan Dowdell, youth trustee on the UUA Board, held a meeting in February about the future of YRUU at the continental level. In particular, they have concerns that YRUU at the denominational level isn’t serving local youth groups as well as it could. You can read about this issue in the February, 2005, issue of the UU World magazine.
I asked M. if she knew anything more than was in that article. She didn’t know any more than I did. But as we talked, we realized we both had had some concerns about Unitarian Universalism’s ministry with youth. Nothing serious, like handguns, mind you — but somehow we both admitted that we’re not entirely satisfied with what we have seen going on in local youth groups.
Funny thing is, I’ve been hearing similar things from some youth, too. And I’ve been hearing a little more dissatisfaction from parents/guardians of youth. I’m not hearingcries of outrage — it’s not like it was when I was in LRY and the whole organization was falling apart. Just a sense that somehow things could be better. So I’m very curious to learn what conclusions Megan Dowdell and Bill Sinkford come to. Are they going to try something as big as the process that made the change from LRY to YRUU? Inquiring minds want to know.
And I realize, too, that it really matters to me. I had a great experience in my local LRY youth group. As a minister, I have come to believe that in many ways our ministry with youth should be at the center of all congregations. No pressure, Bill Sinkford and Megan Dowdell — no pressure at all, it’s just that what you’re doing is incredibly important.
I am also trying to make sense of this because of my 15 year old’s involvement with YRUU here in Gainesville. We’ve got a terrific youth program, much better than at the last UUF we attended, and I’d hate to see changes that would endanger this.
My daughter came home from youth group recently and said she heard from her youth leader that they were trying to “do away” with YRUU and to the youth cons (which we love) completely due to problems with “kids having sex at meetings and cons” – news to all of us, that’s for sure!
A quick response to smielysigh’s post —
I have not heard *anything* about doing away with YRUU because of sex. The main criticism I’ve heard has been that the national level of YRUU has been unable to provide adequate services to local congregations, in part because a huge percentage of national YRUU resources goes in to providing national programs that only serve a few hundred youth. This tallies with the report in “UU World” (see link in main post) — “In a separate interview, Dowdell said YRUU ‘s structure made it difficult for it to serve youth at the congregational level and thus is less inclusive than it might be.” Of course, individual districts and local congregations may have other problems, including sex — but that would be separate from what’s going on at the national level.
Obviously, in a democratic institution like the Unitarian Universalist Association, you and your daughter should communicate any concerns directly to Megan Dowdell and the UUA Board of Trustees, to Bill Sinkford, and or to the Youth Office at the UUA. I have already done so myself — although as my post above makes clear, I’m still trying to figure out what reform (if any) is needed.
All comments below forwarded from old blog.
Have you been following this on fuuse.com?
I’m trying to make sense of this issue with little knowledge of the history. My 13 year old is the only teen at the small fellowship I attend. He really only meets other UU teens at District Assembly.
jfieldnerd
Your blog entry led me to make time in my crazy schedule to track down more information about the changes being contemplated in the youth program and try and sort out what we’ve heard from the grapevine and what we’ve read on the web.
I’m not sure I’m clear yet but it’s making more sense to me! It appears as though an effort was made to get some youth in Florida “riled up” about the potential “loss” of their organization and “someone” thought telling them that it was due to an issue at a CON that has been mumured about (regarding sex between teens) was a good way to get their fires burning or keep the grapevine churning.
After reading and reading and reading and talking to a couple of RE directors I know, I’m not against an overhaul of the youth program as a whole. There’s nothing wrong with growth and change and there’s no reason why such growth or change would have to negatively effect our Fellowship’s youth program.
Thanks for assisting me in digging deeper with this!
–smielysigh