Author: Heather Vickery

Lenten Reflection, Honduras

February 21, 2018 | Heather Vickery | Pastoral, Religious Professionals, Sanctuary and Solidarity

Praying the “stations of the cross” is a longstanding Lenten tradition all over the Christian world, during which believers are reminded of the last moments Jesus lived through as he carried his own cross to the crucifixion. Throughout Latin America, the Way of the Cross, or Via Crucis, is often an elaborate procession, during which […]

Letter From Susan Frederick-Gray to Religious Professionals

February 1, 2018 | Heather Vickery | Immigration, Religious Professionals, Sanctuary and Solidarity

Dear Colleagues, As we enter a new year, we are more determined than ever to mobilize our UU communities around the core justice values that make our faith so relevant to the current political moment. Among these core values is our commitment to the worth and dignity of each person, which leads us to resist […]

Carlos and the Guardians

January 31, 2018 | Heather Vickery | Environmental Justice, Nicaragua, Religious Professionals

Rev. Paul Langston-Daley is the Senior Program Leader for Justice Building at UUSC. In November 2016, he travelled to Nicaragua on UUCSJ’s Guardians of the River: Climate Justice for Theologians journey specifically for religious professionals (ministers, seminarians and religious educators). It had already been a difficult year, and then November came and with it, the election […]

Answering the Call for Solidarity and Action in Honduras

January 24, 2018 | Heather Vickery | Immigration, Pastoral, Religious Professionals, Sanctuary and Solidarity

In early January I received an email that began with these words: We are writing you on behalf of Padre Melo, the Jesuit priest who has accompanied the Honduran people for more than 20 years. He is appealing to the international community for an emergency delegation: “We need you to organize people who will accompany […]

Reflections for Martin Luther King Day

January 15, 2018 | Heather Vickery | Economic Justice, Pastoral, Racial Justice

Today we remember the leadership of Martin Luther King in his own chapter of the struggle for racial justice. But we’re living through our own chapter of that struggle today, in which the rise of overt white supremacy and the support it receives from the White House shows us just how far we still have […]

Summer Internships with UUCSJ

January 4, 2018 | Heather Vickery | Internship, Young Adult

For the seventh year, UUCSJ is thrilled to partner with organizations across the country to offer summer internships to individuals ages 18 to 25 who want to explore the relationship between social justice and their own spiritual development. Interns don’t just spend their summers learning the in’s and out’s of a grassroots justice organization – […]

Post Hurricane Harvey Houston Update

January 2, 2018 | Heather Vickery | Environmental Justice, Immigration, Racial Justice, Sanctuary and Solidarity, Volunteering

In early December, our Director, Kathleen McTigue, and UUSC consultant, Syma Mirza met with four grassroots groups in Houston, Texas: the Fe y Justicia Worker Justice Center, the Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services (TEJAS), and the Living Hope Wheelchair Association, as well as the local Houston organizer for RAICES. Kathleen also met with members of four area […]

A New Year’s Message

December 31, 2017 | Heather Vickery | Pastoral

As a new year dawns, everything is the same – The world bound into its history and struggles, as we ourselves are bound. Yet it’s also true that we stand at a threshold, the new year not yet shaped, leaving a great forming power in our hands: what shall we do with this great gift […]

Interning at Rural & Migrant Ministries

December 15, 2017 | Heather Vickery | Economic Justice, Immigration, Internship, Young Adult

Melissa Rodney was a summer 2017 intern with Rural & Migrant Ministry and is a graduate of American University (Class of 2017). If you are interested in interning with UUCSJ, fill out out 2018 Internship Interest Form. This summer I had the wonderful privilege to sit down and say, “If I could run a summer […]

The Momentary Awareness Brought By Gratitude

November 22, 2017 | Heather Vickery | Pastoral

UUCSJ’s Director, Rev. Kathleen McTigue, reflects on gratitude and hardship. In the midst of the devastating hurricane season this fall, the Boston area (where I live) was warned to brace for a possible hit from Hurricane Nate, before it spun off further east and out into the Atlantic. Folks in our area breathed a sigh […]