The New Massachusetts Universalist Convention

Who We Are

The New Massachusetts Universalist Convention is an organization of individual Unitarian Universalists devoted to fanning the flame of Universalism in order to inform the Unitarian Universalist movement today and to help light the way toward the future.

WE WERE FORMED on May 16, 1998, when thirty-two UUs gathered at the First Parish in Waltham [MA], Universalist-Unitarian, in response to the following invitation from Richard Trudeau, minister of the UU Church of Weymouth, MA.

Dear Friends,

Soon after the UUA was formed in 1961, the Massachusetts Universalist Convention dissolved itself. One result has been that in our state Universalism has been almost completely forgotten.

I think this is unfortunate. With the loss of Universalist perspective, our combined Unitarian Universalist religious movement is being impoverished. Universalism was different from Unitarianism. It originated among laypeople, not clergy. It drew on the experience of a less privileged social class. Its message was more radical, its scope was larger, and its taproot went deeper into the heart.

A number of other state conventions--the most notable being New York, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina--chose not to dissolve. They exist still, enriching the cause of liberal religion in their states.

I would like to see Unitarian Universalists in Massachusetts form a new Universalist organization for our state. What I envision would be neither a Christian organization nor a secessionist group nor a historical society but rather an organization of individual UUs devoted to fanning the flame of Universalism in order to inform the Unitarian Universalist movement today and to help light the way toward the future.

If this sounds like something you might be interested in, please come on May 16th.

Subsequent Annual Meetings have been held at First Parish Universalist Church in Stoughton, MA (1999), The Unitarian Universalist Church of Weymouth, MA (2000), The Unitarian Universalist Church of Worcester, MA (2001), The First Universalist Society of Wakefield, MA (2002), The United Church of Winchester's Universalist Memorial Church, Winchester, NH (spring 2003), the Mendon, MA meetinghouse of The Unitarian Congregation of Mendon & Uxbridge (fall 2003), The Unitarian Universalist Church of Medford, MA (2004), King's Chapel Parish House, Boston, MA (2005), First Parish Church in Dorchester, MA (2006), and All Souls UU Church, Braintree (2007). No Annual Meeting has been held since.

We are a non-profit corporation under section 501 (c)(3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code.

The New Massachusetts Universalist Convention is an organization of individuals, not of churches. We come not only from Universalist-heritage churches, but from Unitarian-heritage churches as well.

Are we a Christian organization? Not specifically. Some of us do call ourselves “Christians.” Others, while not so identifying ourselves, have consciously incorporated into our UU faith elements drawn from Christianity. Still others do not view ourselves as Christian in any way. But one thing that unites us is a sadness that anti-Christianity seems to pervade so much of the UU movement. We would like to see the UU movement become truly as large and inclusive--as universal--as it aspires to be.

Are we a secessionist organization? Definitely not. We act out of love for the Unitarian Universalist movement, which is our spiritual home. We want to make it stronger.

Are we a historical society? No. But we feel we need to raise awareness among UUs of Universalist history, so we will sometimes give that impression.

We are an evangelical organization. We want to carry the good news of Universalism to UUs generally. We want to make new Universalists. We are here to draw a line in the sand. We are here to say that the drift toward oblivion of Universalism stops here.

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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.