The New Massachusetts Universalist Convention

Speakers Bureau

Looking for someone to talk about Universalist topics?  Several people are available to speak on a variety of Universalist topics at church suppers or discussion groups or even to give a sermon on Sunday morning.  The topics are in italics.

• Various topics
• Specially qualified to speak on the work of Universalist women
• "Interpretation" of the life of Rev. Olympia Brown, a 35-55 minute monologue in costume, plus questions and discussion afterward if desired

Rev. Janet Bowering was ordained to the Universalist ministry in 1955. She has served churches in Watertown, NY; Kinston, NC; Tyngsborough, MA; and Haverhill, MA. She has served as Board Chair of the UU Women’s Heritage Society, President of the UU Historical Society, and Chair of the Clara Barton Birthplace Committee.

• • "The Thrill of the Polls!"
  What's it like to work for a good cause for over half a century and to win at last?
  Listen in on a conversation between two determined women--Rev. Olympia Brown (Universalist), aged 85, and Rev. Antoinette Blackwell (Unitarian), aged 95, as they remember and rejoice. Some if it is bittersweet, some humorous, some lamentable. They have survived to cast their vote at last--in the presidential election of 1920. Be with them in their exultation.
  This is a fictional dialogue of about 50 minutes between two elderly fighters--in costume--which will inform and inspire and, we hope, prompt questions.
  Olympia and Antoinette, represented by two of our retired ministers, will share the almost forgotten struggle for a major women's rights victory.

After many years' experience working with women's issues, in community theatre, and in broadcasting, Rev. Dorothy Boroush was ordained to the Unitarian Universalist ministry in 1980. She has served churches in Troy, MI, Groton and Hudson, MA, and New Haven, CT, and as District Executive of the Ballou Channing District of the UUA. She has served on the Board of the UU Women's Heritage Society and edited their annual calendar for five years.

• Olympia Brown and Universalist Women in America
• Our Universalist Legacy
• Universalist Theology and Its Evolution

Rev. Kelly Murphy-Mason is a former Trustee of the Universalist National Memorial Church in Washington, DC, a former Trustee of Murray Grove Conference Center in Lanoka Harbor, NJ, and former Vice-President of the UU Christian Fellowship.

• "Olympia Brown"
• "Women's Choices, Women's Rights"
• "Indomitable Women: Olympia Brown, Isabella Beecher Hooker and Victoria Woodhull"
• Women ministers in the Universalist church

Laurie Carter Noble has done extensive research on Olympia Brown, one of the first women ministers ordained in the United States and a suffragist and peace activist. A founding member of the UU Women’s Heritage Society, Laurie has written on women’s history for UU World and other publications. She is a member of First & Second Church in Boston.

• “Universalism and the Problem of Evil”
• "Universalism and Punishment"
• "Universalism and the Death Penalty"
• "Universalism and Process Theology"

Rev. Edmund Robinson was raised an Episcopalian in South Carolina, but saw the light and became a UU in 1978. He practiced law for 20 years and, with his first wife, raised two children before coming to Harvard Divinity School in the mid-90s. After being ordained, he served the UU Church of Wakefield, MA for five years while practicing law part-time, and in 2004 was called to serve the First Church in Belmont (MA), UU. He is on the boards of the New Massachusetts Universalist Convention and the Institute for Religion in an Age of Science. He is married to Jacqueline Schwab, a folk pianist.

• “Judith Sargent Murray:  Her Life and Her Legacy”

Bonnie Hurd Smith is Director of the Judith Sargent Murray Society, and from 1992 to 1996 was President of the Sargent House Museum in Gloucester, MA. Her book of Judith Sargent Murray's letters, From Gloucester to Philadelphia in 1790, appeared in 1998. Her most recent book is Letter Book 10: The Judith Sargent Murray Papers (Curious Traveller Press, 2005). She is a public relations and organizational management professional who is currently serving as the executive director of the Ipswich Historical Society.

• “The Other 'U'”
• "Universalist 'Miracle': the Story of John Murray”
• “The Tragedy, and the Glory, of Christianity”
• "The Gospel Code: Political Messages in the Stories About Jesus"

Rev. Richard Trudeau is minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Weymouth, MA and for ten years edited the newsletter of the New Massachusetts Universalist Convention.

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This page was last updated on 09/05/2010.
For questions about this Web Site, contact Susan O'Connor at info@nmuc.org.