All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church of Braintree, MA, USA

Upcoming Events

Sunday, February 5	Newcomer's MeetUp and Talk Back- 12:15
Tuesday, February 7	Women's Caring Circle - Noon - Bring a bag lunch
Wednesday, February 8	Our UU Journey - 7:30 pm
Thursday, February 9	Yoga - 6:30 to 7:30 PM
Thursday, February 9	Gay Men's Discussion Group - 7:30 pm
Saturday, February 11	Gourmet Chocolate Night and Purely Vocals - 7 PM
Tuesday, February 14	Women's Caring Circle - Noon - Bring a bag lunch
Thursday, February 16	Gay Men's Discussion Group - 7:30 pm
Thursday, February 16	Yoga - 6:30 to 7:30 PM
Sunday, February 19	Lesbian Support Group - 12:00
Monday, February 20	Singing Meditation - 7:00 to 8:00 pm
Tuesday, February 21	Women's Caring Circle - Noon - Bring a bag lunch
Thursday, February 23	Yoga - 6:30 to 7:30 PM
Thursday, February 23	Gay Men's Discussion Group - 7:30 pm
Saturday, February 25	LGBT Senior Brunch - 10 AM Sponsored by South Shore Elder Services
Saturday, February 25	Monthly Pot Luck Supper - 6 pm Bring a dish to share
Tuesday, February 28	Women's Caring Circle - Noon - Bring a bag lunch
Tuesday, February 28	Monthly Book Discussion Group - 7:30 PM - Minister's Study - Discussing Tina Fey's *Bossy Pants*
Tuesday, February 28	Buddhist Reflections - 7 pm - Elliott Room - Meditation and Discussion
Thursday, March 1	Gay Men's Discussion Group - 7:30 pm

More ways to stay informed

Printed Newsletter: Our monthly newsletter, The Chimes, is posted on this website by the first day of each month during the regular church calendar year which runs from September through June. At your request, the church administrator can mail a hard copy of the Chimes to your home. You can access the current issue by following the link on the left sidebar of this page or visiting our blogand click on "Chimes Newsletter". Visit All Souls Church on Facebook

The deadline to submit articles is mid-month with the exact date listed in the previous issue.

Weekly E-mail List: A list of members and friends of All Souls is used to send weekend updates and other timely announcements. To be added to the list, please give the office your email address with your full name.

Calendar of Events

See The Chimes - Our Church Newsletter. You can access the current church newsletter by following the link on the left sidebar of this page. Click here and click on the CALENDAR button to access the most current version of our calendar.

POT LUCK SUPPERS

Pot Luck Suppers build the church community as we share food and fellowship. Bring a friend and a dish to share. Pot lucks are scheduled for the last Saturday evening of each month at 6:00 PM. All are welcome! Upcoming pot luck suppers are scheduled for February 25, March 31 (a special talent night pot luck), April 28, and May 26th, 2012.

All Souls Partners with South Shore Elder Services to host and serve LGBT Senior Citizens

South Shore Elder Services is pleased to continue its monthly Saturday brunch program for the older lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. The brunches are held on the last Saturday of the month at 10:00 am at 196 Elm Street in Braintree in the social hall of the All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church. An optional donation of $2 is suggested for guests 60 years old and up. Please call 781-848-3939 x 325 or e-mail South Shore Elder Services for more information or to make a reservation. Upcoming brunches in 2012 are scheduled for: February 25, March 31, April 28, May 26 and June 30.

All Souls Social Action Forums

This lecture/film series is presented by All Souls Church to inform and educate the general public about vital social and environmental issues.

The December 2011 Forum was co-sponsored by South Shore Elder Services and focused on The Gay Rebellion in America: Stonewall. David V. Bermudez, a veteran of the Stonewall protests, discussed the birth of the Gay Movement in America, and an excerpt from the film, "Before Stonewall" was shown.

Our April 2011 Forum, "Moral Voices in the Economic Wilderness: A Forum on Jobs, Real Justice, and the Economy" featured Jonathan Currie of Interfaith Worker Justice and Chuck Collins, author and senior scholar for the Institute for Policy Studies. They spoke about the nature of jobs, taxes, morality and the economy. The Patriot Ledger published a "Speak Out" written by a member of the Social Action/Environmental Committee of All Souls Church.

The first of our 2011 Community Forums was held in January. Jay Wexler, author of Holy Hullabaloos, a lighthearted, but thought-provoking book on religion and politics, was the guest speaker at this forum. The next forum will be held on Saturday, March 26 and will feature Reverend Irene Monroe, nationally known writer, motivational speaker, theologian and local activist. She will speak about Race, Religion, and LGBT issues.

All Souls Community Forum -- Bankers, Brokers, Bubbles & Bailouts: An Economic Crisis Workshop was presented by Jeannette Huezo of United for a Fair Economyin April, 2010. This workshop was designed to help us understand the policies and practices that led to last year's financial meltdown. It explored what has gone wrong, illustrating and demystifying our underlying economic structures. It identified the steps that led to the housing bubble and its collapse, reviewed the impact of the crisis on jobs, families and communities, and explored strategies for building power through a broad-based social movement for economic justice. Our towns, states, and nation must construct an economy that is more equitable for everyone.

In March 2010, we screened "The People Speak", the new tribute to Howard Zinn, a documentary based on his groundbreaking books, A People's History of the United States and Voices of a People's History of the United States. The film shows the rich history of dissent in our history, and explores why it is so relevant and urgent today. The likes of Matt Damon, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Penn, Don Cheadle and others pay tribute to a Boston Great.

The March 2009 Forum featured All Souls' Interim Minister, Rev. Dr. Robert R.N. Ross, co-author of Walking to New Orleans: Reconstruction and Social Responsibility after Hurricane Katrina. His presentation included photographs and personal accounts that led to his book, co-authored with Deanne E.B. Ross, More information about the book can be viewed on Amazon.com and on the publisher's website. View the press release here.

The first forum of the year, Help for the Homeless, took place in January 2009. Joe Finn, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance, and Tom Washington, Director of Community Relations of Father Bills & MainSpring described the work of their agencies to insure that homelessness does not become a permanent part of the social landscape even as they struggle to address the burgeoning numbers of newly homeless individuals. MHSA advocacy has resulted in more than 300 homeless men and women being placed into permanent, supportive housing through Home & Healthy for Good, a statewide Housing First Initiative. Participants generously donated toiletries, blankets and towels for shelter residents. Read the press release.

Chalice Circles

These faciliated small groups meet twice monthly to discuss a variety of spiritual issues and those matters closest to your heart. They require an on-going commitment. The scheduled meetings of All Souls Chalice Circles are generally as follows:

Mark's circle:
Second and Fourth Sunday of each month, from 6:30 to 8:00 pm

Don's circle:
First and Third Wednesday of each month: 7:30 - 9:00 pm

Sustainable Braintree

Sustainable Braintree's fourth annual Green Gala Fundraiser will be held on Saturday, March 3rd, 2012. This elegant community event is open to all who want to support Sustainable Braintree's work. The drawing of the winning raffle ticket for a Vacation Getaway for two to St. John USVI (value of $7,000) will be held at the Green Gala

After a year of careful nurturing, All Souls' Social Action/Environmental Committee successfully launched Sustainable Braintree into the wider community in the fall of 2008. Sustainable Braintree's Farmers Market Task Force has created a thriving Farmers Market in Braintree. Its Community Garden Task Force has organized a community garden at Perkins Park. Its Recycling Task Force is promoting recycling in the community. Its Energy Task Force is working collaboratively with BELD to promote energy conservation and the use of alternative energy. It has completed the first calculation of Braintree's carbon footprint.

Find out more about the Cool Mass Campaign to make energy-saving changes, with a COOL MASS Eco-Team.

The Braintree Farmers' Market hosted by Sustainable Braintree is held at Braintree Town Hall Mall at One JFK Memorial Drive from June through October. The market has become a treasured resource for the community, providing locally grown and made products such as vegetables and fruits, locally raised, hormone-free beef & pork, fresh local seafood, gourmet pies, granola, plants, flowers, herbs, gourmet cupcakes, and much more. For more information go to Sustainable Braintree's Farmers Market pageor e-mail us here.

Volunteers from All Souls Church sell fair trade Equal Exchange products at the Braintree Farmers Market. Making these products available (the coffee is roasted locally) allows us to raise public awareness about fair trade and issues of global economic justice.

Events in the Wider Community

In Braintree, South Shore Habitat for Humanity has monthly meetings where you can find out about other volunteer opportunities. Attend a "Ways to Help" session, on the third Wednesday of each month at 20 Mathewson Drive in Weymouth. The session starts at 6:30 PM and ends by 7:30. For more information, please contact their Community Relations Manager or call 781-337-7744 ext 10.

Rev. Steve represents All Souls Church at Braintree's Interfaith National Day of Prayer at Sunset Lake June 2, 2011.

Dickens Holiday Festival - Saturday Nov 19th

The 17th annual Dickens Holiday Festival showcased All Souls Hospitality along with a wide array of amazing home-baked goods, Pies by Guys, Roast Turkey Dinner sandwiches, Christmas Attic Treasures and craft vendors. Costumed characters, Father Christmas, Ebenezer Scrooge and Tiny Tim, roamed the halls and were joined by carolers singing traditional Christmas carols. Learn more here.

Quilts for Kids Workshop

All Souls members and friends gathered on April 22 and 23, 2011 for an Earth Day Quilting Bee.

An old fashioned Quilting Bee? Yes!
On Saturday, October 10, 2009, about 15 generation-spanning women and girls gathered in the Parish Hall of All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church in Braintree, thread, thimbles and scissors in hand. They came to make Quilts For Kids from materials assembled by the non-profit group of the same name. Mary Ann O'Neill, the group's coordinator, planned the event with Marge Kearns and All Souls' Social Action & Environmental Committee. Sewing machines and long tables framing the large room were ready and waiting. As kits, each containing colorful fabric squares for a quilt were presented, it was explained to the needlewomen that the materials were excess and discontinued fabrics from textile factories, collected and assembled by the Quilts For Kids organization, thus keeping thousands of pounds of material out of landfills. Knowing that the material is used to make Quilts For Kids, many of whom have never owned anything, makes the program even more worthwhile and exciting.

So it began -- pinning, un-pinning, aligning, basting, stitching on a sewing machine! Some of the attendees shared their wealth of experience with the novices, as it was a first time experience for a number of the young girls. Expressions of "oops, aha, look, see?!" erupted and blended into the legendary hum of the Bee. And at last, ten kits became ten quilts for ten kids we care about.

We left with new knowledge and new friends and it was so much fun (we even shared a delicious lunch), we will do it again during school vacation week on Thursday, April 22 and Friday, April 24, from 10 am to 4 pm.

All Souls Serves in Brockton Soup Kitchen

Members and friends from All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church of Braintree gathered on July 4, 2009 to prepare and serve a traditional Fourth of July luncheon, complete with hot dogs, baked beans, watermelon, and cupcakes decorated with American flags at St. Paul's Table, a soup kitchen that serves homeless people and others in need in Brockton. We will be serving again on
Saturday, October 2, 2010 and will gather at All Souls on Friday evening, October 1 to prepare our meal in advance.

The following article describes our first experience at the Soup Kitchen in August, 2008.

Members and friends from All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church of Braintree gathered in early August to prepare and serve a meal at St. Paul's Table. The All Souls Community donated pasta, tuna, mayonnaise, carrots and frozen peas over a three week period. On Friday, we cooked the pasta, chopped the carrots, drained the tuna and assembled trays of pasta salad to serve the next day. The church kitchen was hot on the first night in August, even with a bank of fans running. On Saturday, fourteen All Souls volunteers arrived at St. Paul's Episcopal Church. We prepared for the diners, rolled napkins around silverware, washed and shredded lettuce, made lemonade and iced tea, and tried to anticipate what we would need to do once the diners arrived. Because this was our first time serving a meal here, many of us were anxious about the logistics and peppered Kathy with lots of questions. Should we serve the salad in bowls? How many drinks should we offer? Who will put the cream in the coffee?

In the end, everything went smoothly and we served over sixty meals in two seatings. After announcements and grace (given by a volunteer among the diners), the serving of the food and beverages went quickly. The diners were polite and appreciative. The All Souls kitchen crew was kept busy filling trays and washing up. We were humbled to realize that a mid-day meal is served at this location six out of seven days a week, and the resources to run it are sparse. Donations of food and funds are needed, particularly in these difficult economic times.

Our day of service was definitely a team effort. We appreciate those who donated the ingredients, those who prepared the pasta salad on Friday night in unbelievable heat, and those who worked on Saturday. A special thanks to Bob, from the First Parish Duxbury UU Church, Rick, the Sexton at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, and Kathy, the Weekday Volunteer Coordinator at St. Paul's Table, and Mike, the Weekend Volunteer Coordinator at St. Paul's Table, all of whom lent their considerable expertise, experience and patience from the initial planning stages to the actual day we served our meal. We could not have accomplished this undertaking without their considerable help!

As one of our crew remarked afterwards, "It was a privilege to be able to serve people in this way." We realize that hard times can come to any of us. It was a great opportunity to give our time, talent and treasure in such a concrete way, and we hope to return several more times in the upcoming church year.

Faith In Action at All Souls Church

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OUR SOCIAL ACTION AND ENVIRONMENTAL MINISTRY

The Social Action/Environmental Committee seeks to serve the wider community outside the walls of the church, and to involve the members and friends of All Souls in this endeavor. The committee works in a variety of modes, incorporating social service projects, educational events, opportunities to witness for social and environmental justice, and advocating for legislative action in these areas.

SOCIAL SERVICE
Our annual social service projects include the donation of school supplies to fill backpacks for distribution to children-in-need at Braintree's Morrison School. We participate in Braintree's Make A Difference Day, collecting women's career clothing for the Career Closet at Quincy's Interfaith Social Services. During the holiday season, members and friends extend their care and concern to those outside their immediate circle and generously provide gifts for children served by the Braintree-based Dianne DeVanna Center, which works to prevent child abuse and neglect. We also organize a fundraiser in April (National Child Abuse Prevention Month) to benefit the Dianne DeVanna Center. Several times a year, we prepare and serve lunch to people in need at St. Paul's Table, a soup kitchen in Brockton.

EDUCATION
The committee is active in environmental issues, organizing educational opportunities for the community at-large. Working with Sustainable South Shore, it has mentored a Braintree-based environmental group, Sustainable Braintree. The committee has also presented a program on the Low Carbon Diet and is encouraging the formation of small groups to provide support for energy-saving lifestyle changes. Periodic meetings of "Peace and Pizza" (bring your own pizza) provide information and opportunities for discussion on a variety of timely issues, from health care (a screening of the film, Sicko) to the war in Iraq.

WITNESS
Members have demonstrated their concern for child laborers on cocoa farms in West Africa at Halloween. Participating in the national Reverse Trick-or-Treating initiative, they have given out fair trade mini-chocolate bars along with information about the unfair working conditions that characterize many cocoa plantations. All Souls Church supports growers around the world as it serves and sells Equal Exchange coffee at its coffee hour after Sunday worship. Fair trade tea and chocolate from Equal Exchange is also offered for sale at this time, providing an avenue for our members and friends to take concrete action in support of economic justice throughout the world. It also sells Equal Exchange products at the Braintree Farmers Market, educating the general public about fair trade.

ADVOCACY
Members have been active and vocal on issues of social justice, which resulted in All Souls Church being one of three south shore Unitarian Universalist congregations honored at the 2007 Annual Awards Ceremony of the Religious Coalition for the Freedom to Marry. The event was covered in UU World magazine. The committee continues to encourage members and friends to contact their legislators on important economic, social and environmental issues, and has worked collaboratively with the UU Mass Action Network the Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow, and the Gray Panthers.

MEMBERSHIP
Your participation in the Social Action/Environmental Committee is welcome. There is much that needs doing, and your interest and energy are needed. Meetings are generally held on the second Tuesday of the month at 7:30 P.M. Check the church newsletter for more specific information.