Issue 8077

THE

INQUIRER £1 | Issue 8077 | 17 February 2024

Inside this issue…

Climate Justice gathering Cork Church burns It’s a Funny Old World

www.inquirer.org.uk

The voice of British and Irish Unitarians and Free Christians

Body image is a spiritual issue Helen Simpson and Saint Ananda on a persistent prejudice

THE

INQUIRER The Unitarian and Free Christian Paper Established in 1842, The Inquirer is the oldest nonconformist religious newspaper.

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Helen Simpson writes of faith, our bodies and one of the last acceptable prejudices

Images matter I decided to write about faith and body image when I was meditating in the Julian Chapel in Norwich. I looked up at a crucifix and I was completely taken aback. It wasn’t a spiritual moment – it was just that Jesus was so ripped.

He looked like he had a six-pack – a lean, muscular torso. I started wondering when did Jesus get a six-pack?

(Would Jesus have had a six-pack?)

Images of Jesus have changed over the years. In my children’s books he was shown looking very soft – and white, of course – and gentle. But overwhelmingly our images of Jesus are shirtless. I Googled ‘muscular Jesus’. It seems that at one point the images of Jesus (particularly in America) were made more masculine to encourage men to become Christians. I guess Jesus has always been manipulated to be acceptable – to be blonde, to be white, to be soft or hard, depending on whom religions wanted to attract. I’ve always found it interesting that conservative Christian faiths are all about denying the body’s cravings, and then fill their churches with images of a nearly naked man.

Images of the divine are important, though, in how we see ourselves. I see God as a benevolent, kind, comforting presence who guides me. So, when I am thinking about the way I talk to people, and the way I talk to myself, it is with this in mind – a divine loving presence. Jesus said love one another as yourself. Love your neighbour. And he emphasised that your neighbour was not just people you already like and hang out with. He spent a lot of time with people who would have been seen as outcasts – with sex workers, people with leprosy, even tax collectors!

He believed in people being treated fairly. He stopped a woman being stoned who was accused of adultery. He commanded members of the crowd to only throw a stone if they were without sin. (I always wonder where the man she committed adultery with was – perhaps a subject for another time.)

He told a parable about how you must not try to take a piece of wood out of someone’s eye when you have a Continued on page 5 >

Hold your applause Excerpt from a talk by Saint Ananda I have an announcement. Please hold your applause. I know we are trained to celebrate what I am about to say, but it is important you just listen, no matter how much it goes against our social training. I’ve lost a significant amount of weight. And, what may come as a surprise is that what I dread about losing weight is people rushing at me with compliments and congratulations. This may sound baffling.

Maybe you love such compliments for the hard work you put into your weight control, and that is perfectly understandable. But for myself, and others, there is a dark side to these compliments. The bottom line is this: complimenting weight loss reinforces the diet industry’s agenda to pressure us to fit into their ‘standards’ of health and beauty for their profit, not our health.

Studies have shown that roughly 95 percent of people who lose weight will regain most – if not more –of it over time.

This is a fact the diet industry preys upon. I didn’t know this in my 20s, when I first lost significant weight. It was a high for me, and I felt evangelical about my achievement.

But then the weight came back. And, with each attempt to slim myself, I would gain extra pounds. The compliments stopped and the fat shaming would begin again, directly, and indirectly.

An allegedly well-meaning stranger at a park praised me for riding a bicycle. ‘Good for you!’ she said. Before that comment, I was just out in the sun riding my bike with a happy heart and my fit-as-a-fat-fiddle body. After, I was a big fat fatty who had finally hoisted my fat arse up from the sofa to go for a bike ride.

Continued on page 4 >

Hold your applause Continued from page 3 >

Suddenly, I was reminded that people don’t see me. They see fat – and all the assumptions that go with it. Fat that is bad and ugly and unhealthy and must be fixed. This is one of many compliments being as damaging as bullying.

But then I moved to Berkeley, California and found the fat acceptance community where I learned to love and celebrate my body. I started saying body-positive things like, ‘I’ve got a whole lotta woman going on.’ I shamelessly spoke of going ‘chubby-dipping’, as I don’t have the prerequisites for skinny-dipping. With the support of that community, I was able to better deal with bullying disguised as compliments. I focused on healthy eating and engaging in physical activities without stepping on a scale.

It helped mitigate the damage. But I regret to report the bullying continues and the only thing thinning is my patience.

‘I thought you were going to die!’

Most people are wise or uncomfortable enough to not mention my weight when I am larger. But once notable weight comes off, more than a few people (some who barely know me) have felt they could speak freely of the concerns they were harbouring. They speak as if my obesity were an ex-lover I’ve finally left and whom I would never see again.

Here are some actual quotes: ‘You look so much better now!’ ‘I thought you were going to die!’ ‘So, what’s your secret?’ ‘How did you get so big in the first place?’ ‘What’s your goal weight?’

I call this retroactive fat shaming, presumptuous of my intentions, downright rude, and quite frankly nobody’s business. Such commentary and questions hurt me, anger me, and negatively impact my mental health, wellbeing, and self-image. It makes me want to move someplace where nobody knows me so I can just be fat – instead of not-as-fat-as-I-was.

And while they hurl compliments at me, the speakers beam and blatantly look me up and down, as if I’m an object. As if objectification is somehow the appropriate response, as if I lost weight just to be ogled. I didn’t. (If anything, the psychological benefit to my fatness is safety from just that very thing.)

Though we’ve been taught that weight loss compliments are positive reinforcement, several resources –including eating addictions experts – validate my feelings and experience on weight-loss compliments. Here are some of their reasons to stop this behaviour: 1. It enforces the thin ideal that thinner equals better or that being thin is automatically healthier.

2. It contributes to fat phobia and weight stigma, perpetuating the message that being larger is bad.

Page 4 | Issue 8077 – 17 February 2024

3. You could be complimenting the side effect of depression, chronic illness, or an eating disorder.

4. It can encourage disordered eating behaviours.

5. It implies the person looked bad, unattractive, or even unlovable before the weight loss.

6. It enforces the idea that our worth is tied to our weight.

‘But what about your health? It’s a health concern.’ some will protest. Yes, weight is a health factor, as is stress, overworking, smoking, drinking, anger issues, insomnia, or a sedentary lifestyle. But it is unsightly fatness we are told to fight. I love my body regardless of its size. Everyone’s personal weight is based on lifestyle, psychology, and genetics. There is no one-size-fits-all solution nor a blanket diagnosis of health impacts for everyone of size. We urgently need to reassess our approach to the so-called obesity epidemic, because the programmed peer pressure reward system of shaming fatness and complimenting weight loss is backfiring.

It can be tricky If you have crossed any of these lines with me, not to worry. We are all subjected to the same social brainwashing. I personally feel incredibly awkward around those who’ve lost significant weight. Do they want me to say something? Is it rude not to? Are they thinner due to ill health? For the most part, I like to believe we all strive to be kind and encouraging to others, and we are here to learn how to accept and respect one another. It can be tricky. I am not speaking out to reprimand, but to share my experience and findings of the unintended consequences of weight loss compliments. I am here to invite us to recognise the damage of the multibillion-pound diet-industry-driven fat-shaming epidemic hidden in what we thought was kindness and concern. There are a lot of changes of social mores to keep up with recently and we can only do our best.

Saint Ananda Saint Ananda is a Unitarian writer and is a member of the Octagon Chapel, Norwich.

“Jesus spent a lot of time with people who would have been seen as outcasts – with sex workers, people with leprosy, even tax collectors!”

Shown right: Muscular Jesus on a crucifix photo by Enrique Vidal Flores on Unsplash Continued from page 3 >

whole plank in your own eye. And I think this was really about minding your own business – not trying to change other people. It’s not to say that you don’t help others, but it’s saying that we shouldn’t point out what’s wrong with other people without first looking at ourselves.

Jesus didn’t talk a lot about body image but he did talk about appearances. As humans we make very quick judgments based on appearance. Research shows judgments at job interviews are made in the first 12 seconds. We want to know quite quickly – is this person part of our tribe or not ? Is this person safe?

This makes a lot of sense from an evolutionary point of view. Thousands of years ago, physical safety would have been much more important and much more vital. We would have to be part of a tribe in order to live and survive.

Today, we are regularly manipulated by governments and the media to see people as separate from us and therefore dangerous. Be careful of these people who are unemployed, immigrants, protestors, terrorists. This ‘othering’ can also be used to make people be seen as a burden on the health service. Be careful of these people who are using our precious NHS resources. (Never mind that the NHS chronically is underfunded!)

Examples are wide and varied. But think about your own reaction to the people in each of these categories: drug users, people with aids, refugees, unvaccinated people, old people, disabled people. And, of course, fat people I want to tell you about Jessamyn Stanley. She is a woman who noticed that yoga teachers tended to be thin white women who therefore attracted other thin white women to the practice. She wanted yoga to feel more inclusive so that people of all sizes and colours could feel at home doing it. She rose to fame with her Instagram posts showing her doing yoga as a plus size woman of colour. She identifies as a fat queer femme. In her book, Every Body Yoga: Let Go of Fear, Get On the Mat, Love Your Body, she says, ‘Yoga is for everybody and every body.

You don’t have to be thin and you don’t have to be fat. You don’t have to be a specific colour or commit to a specific diet.

You don’t have to earn (or have access to) a certain amount of money. You don’t have to embody anything other than your truest and most honest self in order to practice yoga.

You don’t have to omit the sadness, the anger, and all of the other “ugly” emotions that flavour our lives. You don’t have to be anyone other than yourself. And I think it’s high time that someone shouted it loud enough so everyone can hear.’

So while the internet can be a harsh place, it can also be a place of learning and of seeing people who are different from us. Of finding our voices and being seen.

Everything that you want to see is on the internet and everything you’ve never seen is on the internet; people who are different from us, people who are different from the stereotypes we have in our heads. Fat black women doing yoga, Angela Rippon doing the splits. Even muscular Jesus. They’re all there.

As Unitarians let us be bold enough to embrace new ways of being. New ways of seeing.

Brave enough to not be afraid of getting it wrong. And inspiring enough to move others to do the same. Let us not let society’s ideas of how people should look be our guide. Let us be drawn not by conformity but by kindness, love and acceptance.

Helen Simpson HelenofNorwich Simpson is a writer, stand-up comedian, CBT therapist and a member of the Octagon Unitarian Chapel in Norwich. This article was drawn from a service she did there. www.inquirer.org.uk | Page 5

Robert Oulton writes of ‘Faith in our Future’, a U4CJ event

Unitarians for climate justice Unitarians for Climate Justice (U4CJ) held their first ‘own in-place’ event, since coming together nine months ago. It was created at quite short notice, and enabled by the generosity of Kensington Unitarians’ offer of their church as a venue, and support from the GA social action team.

The group originally formed to attend ‘The Big One’ – the large collaborative climate demonstrations held in London, and coordinated by Extinction Rebellion last April.

Since then, it has grown as an activism springs from a deep sense ad-hoc meeting of climate and that people are fundamentally good, The idea grew out of a environmentally concerned but they need the activist to remind Unitarians, sharing a wide range of them of this. Life can be lived in need to connect with information, ideas, and experiences a more abundant way: we don’t each other in person, about environmental issues and have to defer to the reductive view climate change via Zoom and of human nature, contemporary and start developing WhatsApp. But the idea for the neo-liberal capitalism would have ideas for action that day grew out of a need to connect us do. She spoke about non-violent with each other in person, and start direct action, and her arrest for will truly reflect our developing ideas for action that will breaking a window at HSBC bank Unitarian ethos. truly reflect our Unitarian ethos and in London. She sees this not as inspire others within the movement. an act of violence, but one of We wanted the content to reflect resistance to oppressive forces that both the ‘social activism’ side of are persistently seeking to reduce this work, and, with our past connections to civil rights the space in which ordinary people’s lives can be lived. causes, the clear implications that social justice is right at This kind of action uses resistance not out of anger, but to the heart of how Unitarians approach climate change. We create new spaces, where love and empathy can flourish. wanted the day to also reflect the scientific and practical Her recent work takes this desire to create ‘space’ for side of environmental activism and inform us how we can change, by making new forums for democratic discussion make a difference without necessarily needing to sit down within communities, separate from the harsh, adversarial in roads or go on demonstrations. forum of normal politics.

Although Clare was not brought up in a faith tradition, she spoke movingly about how her life in protest ‘embodies’ Environmental crisis and spirituality her beliefs – something any prophet would understand.

And as a faith organisation, how does the environmental crisis impact our spirituality? What might it mean to sense It was ‘faith’ rather than hope that drove her. To her, hope seems a betrayal of the seriousness of our situation, the Earth is sacred and for us to be inheritors of such but her fundamental faith in human goodness, makes it foundational wisdom as the Golden Rule? Our two main possible to go on. A true faith, perhaps, unencumbered by speakers showed that all these aspects interrelate – they dogma? can’t be pulled apart.

Dr Tim Harrison, teacher, scientist and environmentalist, Clare Farrell, fashion designer and foundational member approached the issues we face from a strong scientific of Extinction Rebellion spoke movingly about how her Page 6 | Issue 8077 – 17 February 2024

“We wanted the day to also reflect the scientific and practical side of environmental activism and inform us how we can do to make a difference.”

Shown left: There was a full house for the U4CJ ‘Faith in our Future’ event. Photo

by Rob Oulton

and evidence-based standpoint. His presentation focused on the environmental impact of our diet. Maybe 15% of global greenhouse gases come from animal agriculture which is about the same as the combined emissions from all forms of transport.

Is it all just ‘Sunday talk’?

When you realise that only 4% of mammals on earth are wild, with livestock and humans making up the other 96%, it’s not only the methane produced by farm animals that matter, but the bio-diversity loss entailed in the vast amount of land need for grazing and animal feed. Tim helped us understand how important our food choices are, and how we, as Unitarians, could begin to approach our diet in ways that could make a difference. Could the GA annual meeting dining room go entirely vegan? A provocative suggestion, but are we serious about our faith, or is it just Sunday talk?

‘Embodying’ our faith, which Clare Farrell identified at the heart of direct action- is also about food. Shouldn’t it reflect our values as well as our appetites? Tim left us with a series of amusing contrasts about our food choices.

Which is more weird: drinking oat-milk or the mammary secretions of a large lactating mammal? Eating the seabed creatures or the crunchy insects that roam the earth?

Our food choices are more culture than necessity – they can be changed. Our entirely vegan and wholly delicious lunch provided by London Vegan Kitchen, fully bore this out.

There were also four workshops for attendees to choose from. In the creative involvement session, the Rev Sheena Gabriel helped participants use art and collage to express their fears and hopes about our world. Caroline Drijver created a gentle listening space to do the same. A short walk to Kensington Gardens brought some into a session of deep connection to nature in a session of Forest

Bathing led by Jen Deacon, while a chant was quickly created by another a group expertly guided by musician Jen Hazel, expressing our motivation for climate action.

The day was completed by a peaceful climate vigil led by Shana Parvin Begum and friends, with a chance to ground ourselves in gentle Tai Chi movement, chanting, voice work and meditation.

The vigil gave opportunity to connect with the earth, ourselves, and each other using meditation, chanting and Qi Gong. Metta chanting is the radiation of loving-kindness towards all beings. We chanted Pae Metta, which literally means opening out or spreading metta. The words in Pali are: Sukhino Wa Khemmino Hontu Sabbhe Satta Bhavantu Sukhitattha.

Meaning: May happiness and wellbeing arise. May all beings be content.

It was a day to remember, to inspire and to build on. We hope more Unitarians will join us, as together, we bring our concern and effort to a renewing of the earth and justice for all its people.

For more information on U4CJ, contacted Robert Oulton: robert.oulton@btinternet.com

Robert Oulton Dr Robert Oulton is a member of Godalming Unitarians and is a founding member of Unitarians for Climate Justice.

www.inquirer.org.uk | Page 7

Leafletter at the Pearly Gates A late-arrival Christmas card from the US bore an attractive stamp illustrated with a picture of folksinger and social activist Pete Seeger. He died just 10 years ago after a long life, campaigning for social justice in various fields, notably the Civil Rights movement in the 1940s and onwards. Listen to him singing ‘We Shall Overcome’. It still touches the emotions. Seeger was often denounced as a ‘radical’ or ‘socialist’, or even ‘communist’ (He was one, briefly in his young days, but left and served in the US army in WW2).

He took his five-string banjo and sang out for peace, goodwill and fairness wherever he felt needed.

I saw him once, close up, in a tiny coffee bar in Birmingham and was enthralled by his skilful banjo picking. In later life he became a Unitarian Universalist.

On a visit to the Community Church in New York, I was disappointed to learn that he wasn’t there that particular Sunday, but our American cousins now claim him as one of theirs. If he was still alive, what songs would he be singing now?

I tipped off ministry colleague John Clifford, a known collector of stamps with pictures of Unitarians and Universalists. He was glad to learn of it and will add it to his collection. (Stamp image courtesy of USPS.) *** I always appreciate responses to the Funny Old World column, but they sometimes surprise me. I somehow didn’t expect mention of a 19th-century politician to prompt reactions. Two responses came to a previous issue in which I mentioned Benjamin Disraeli as the UK’s only other non-Christian Prime Minister. He was born into a Jewish family, though he attended an Anglican school.

Alan Ruston wrote in agreeing but adds that he was later baptised into Anglicanism and also attended a successful school run by the Rev Elizer Cogan, a Unitarian minister.

‘Disraeli himself said different things about what church he adhered to; it changed according to his political needs at the time. Cogan was buried at the Unitarian burial ground attached to the church at Hackney. That Disraeli changed his religion when it suited him is my evaluation and that of others.’ *** The Rev Frank Walker also responded, to concur. ‘I like to think that (Disraeli’s) Unitarian schooling helped to inspire his considerable achievements as a politician and Prime Minister.

‘As a novelist he pretended to be part of “Young England”, a group of romantic public-spirited aristocrats pledged to do the best for their agricultural tenants. ‘He became the archetypal ‘One Nation Tory’ and was the first politician Page 8 | Issue 8077 – 17 February 2024

FUNNY OLD WORLD

By John Midgley

to give working men the vote. In many ways he always remained something of a charlatan, but his successes were genuine.

‘Elizer Cogan was admired as a distinguished classical scholar who produced editions of many famous Greek poets. On his retirement his former pupils paid for a lifesize portrait of him to be painted by Thomas Phillips, RA. He lived to the age of 93. His brother Thomas Cogan, also for a time a Unitarian minister, became, as well, a popular physician (MD Leiden) in Holland and London and was a founder of the Royal Humane Society.’

Thanks to both correspondents. I love the word ‘charlatan’. *** Two religious institutions in Skipton have died recently.

Can one person be an institution? Major Alan Hickman of the Salvation Army was regularly to be seen at a particular corner of the High Street on busy market days, selling War Cry, the official news publication of the Salvation Army. Versions are sold in countries all over the world to raise funds supporting the Army’s social work. If Alan was ever missing from his favoured spot, it would probably be because he had slipped into the Town Hall to attend a meeting of some sort, being a diligent Town Councillor. He was also a leading member of the local Rotary Club. I have misgivings about some Salvation Army beliefs but appreciated Alan’s lifetime of work for the benefit of others. *** The other loss is the man simply known as Richard. For 20 years on market days, this evangelist stood on his favoured spot, handing leaflets to passers-by, informing them that Jesus loves them and offers salvation. I asked him once how many leaflets he had handed out over the years. ‘Thousands!’ he replied. ‘And how many souls do you think you have saved?’ I asked. He looked up towards the heavens. ‘Ah, that’s up to Him up there!’ I was tempted to say that if it was all up to ‘Him’, what was the point of handing out leaflets? But I thought better of it.

Again, his fundamentalist beliefs were distant from mine, and yet the town misses the familiar presence of these two. I’m sure they will have been welcomed ‘up there’.

Indeed, if ever I arrive there, I expect to see Richard at the ‘pearly gates’, handing me a leaflet.

Looking for Heroes!

Shown above: Recent Junior Weekend participants. Unitarian College photo

Junior Weekend in March

A fun residential experience for children aged 7-11 years old is planned for 15-17 March at the Nightingale Unitarian Conference Centre, Great Hucklow.

The theme of the weekend is ‘Looking for Heroes!’ with activities that include walking to Eyam, the plague village and learning about its heroes, playing games, having a Barn Dance, a Lantern Walk, singing, planning and leading worship in The Old Chapel, Great Hucklow.

Registration for March’s Junior Weekend closes soon All children must be accompanied by a responsible adult (eg parent, church member, etc). The chosen adult can be responsible for up to four children.

Responsible adults must know all children in their care.

All adults must have a current enhanced DBS check which must be sourced by the Unitarian College, please contact Helen Mason on HMason@UnitarianCollege.org.uk as soon as possible as checks can take a few weeks to be processed.

Costs: Children (7-11) Full board is free (cost generously met by the Nightingale Centre). Adult leaders £200 (Ask your congregation or district association to help with the cost).

To book a place, email Unitarian College on Admin@ unitarian-college.org.uk or Phone 07494-495-743.

For more information: https://unitarian-college.org. uk/junior-weekend-march-2024/

Search for Foy presidents As we approach the Foy Society Centenary Celebration Conference at the Nightingale Centre in Great Hucklow at Easter, we are trying to trace as many past Foy Presidents as we can to create a ‘Parade of Presidents’ (in person or virtually) for a display. We would welcome information as to their/your whereabouts and any memories you have of Foy and Flagg. Maybe you have a favourite hymn or song which transports you back to a special event. Perhaps you have a memory of a particularly inspiring Conference which influenced your life?

We would also welcome contact with anyone with special memories of Foy. Were you involved in the ‘62 Group?

Did you ever edit GAZette or stay up all night typing stencils, collating and stapling copies ready to sell at breakfast?

If you can help in any way please contact Barbara Rowland by email or by post: bbbrowland@icloud.com Barbara Rowland (c/o Jennifer Rowland), 14 Shaftesbury Ave, Shipley W Yorks, BD18 2JX

Dot Hewerdine, president of the Foy Society

Penny Quest: author and active Unitarian Cheltenham and Gloucester Unitarians share, with sadness, the news that Penny Quest died in January.

It was after her move to Cumbria that Penny was introduced to Unitarianism by the late Simon John Barlow who became a valued friend. Penny joined the Kendal congregation describing herself as on the Pagan wing of Unitarianism, but she came to appreciate Unitarians for the open-minded faith she found. Later she moved to Cheltenham and joined the ‘Cheltenham and Gloucester’ congregation, but in both places she became fully involved with the congregational life and had much to contribute.

Penny had studied North American Shamanism and Celtic Spirituality, and both gave her ideas for services and other group events like a Drumming Ritual and Gong Baths. But her life was centered on Reiki and as a Reiki Master she organised training workshops which were widely appreciated. She also wrote a number of books on Reiki based on what she had learned and wanted to share.

Reiki for Life is one.

In Unitarian circles Penny joined the Earth Spirit network and was active in the wider movement, attending Hucklow Summer School, the General Assembly meetings and Midland District events. She also contributed writings on spiritual matters and recently was on the board of trustees of the Lindsey Press. She will be missed by her wide circle of friends.

We are sending this on behalf of Penny’s daughter Kathy Roberts. We do not have details of a funeral yet, but information will be on our website: www. cheltenhamandgloucesterunitarians.org.uk under ‘Events’ Alison Thursfield, secretary, Cheltenham and Gloucester Unitarians www.inquirer.org.uk | Page 9

Maud Robinson writes of the fire and the history of Cork Unitarians

Fire at Cork Unitarian Church Shortly after 8am on Monday 29 January, the Fire Brigade were called to a fire at the Unitarian Church in the centre of Cork City, on the south coast of Ireland. The historic building was saved, and the roof remains intact, however the interior damage is extensive. Thankfully there were no injuries, and the Cork City Fire Brigade said the fire was not being treated as suspicious, though they were not able to immediately establish the cause.

An alternative venue will have to Institution in 1803, to promote be identified for Sunday services education and science. It led to the and other church activities, while establishment of the Cork Opera restoration work is done at the House, the Crawford Gallery (now church. a National Cultural Institution, “The work of the church Cork’s minister, the Rev Mike dedicated to the visual arts) and O’Sullivan, and members of the University College Cork. is larger than the congregation were devastated, building.” however Mike has said ‘The work Social activism of the church is larger than the Throughout the 1800s, the building.’ On behalf of the church church was home to a thriving community, Mike expressed his congregation, and members were deepest thanks and appreciation to active in many social and political the Cork City Fire Brigade and the movements, including the antiGarda Síochána for their prompt slavery movement, the Anti-Tithe action on the morning of the fire.

Association, and the Young Irelanders.

I first visited the Cork church in about 2003, when I was Later, there was a slow decline of the congregation and a member of the Dublin Unitarian congregation, and the building, to the state in which I found them on my shortly before I began my ministry training. I led a service visit in 2003. When exactly the congregation adopted a for a congregation of 6 people. We sat in a circle in the Unitarian theology is uncertain, but the term Unitarian central sanctuary area which looked pretty derelict, with did not appear on the church’s signage until 2004. In peeling paint, crumbling masonry and evidence of water 2017 the church celebrated its tercentenary, having damage. The only furniture in this large, dilapidated space undergone some repairs for this celebration, and was was the circle of seats which, from memory, were twovisited by Ireland’s President, Michael D Higgins, in seater benches covered in red and cream vinyl; I learned January 2017. On 24 February 2017, the Rev Mike that these had been salvaged from decommissioned O’Sullivan was ordained and installed. railway carriages.

The Church was built, originally as a dissenting Profound conversations Presbyterian meeting house, and opened for worship in In conversation with Rev Bill Darlison (former minster at 1717, and went on to become an important part of the Wakefield and Dublin Unitarian Churches) Bill recalled life of the city. Thomas Dix Hincks, the congregation’s for me his first meeting with Mike O’Sullivan; though he minister, 1792-1815, established the Royal Cork can’t remember when exactly this happened. Mike had Page 10 | Issue 8077 – 17 February 2024

“If any readers would like to support Cork Unitarians, donations can be made via this following webpagefrom anywhere in the world: http://tinyurl.com/ CorkUnitarians”

Shown above: Left, the sanctuary after the fire. Right, the Revs Michael O’Sullivan abd Bridget Spain lead worship prior to the fire. Photos provided

by Michael O’Sullivan

been attending an event at the Dublin Unitarian Church.

They met when both of them had nipped outside to have a cigarette on the church steps. Over the years, Bill told me, he fell into many profound conversations with fellow smokers on the church steps! They found they had another thing in common. They had both started training for the priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church, but neither had proceeded to ordination; and Bill went on to introduce Mike to the open theology and philosophy of Unitarianism. Mike later went on to train as a Unitarian minister, under the auspices of the Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church, our sister denomination in Northern Ireland.

Building restoration Following Mike’s installation as minister, restoration began in earnest on the building. The small community pulled together and a huge amount of hands-on work was done by this team of doughty comrades. A warm and welcoming worship space was created in the South Chapel, while the main sanctuary was restored as a multipurpose space, which has served as the venue for plays, concerts and the Cork festival.

After the incredible work over the past few years to bring an almost derelict church back to being a beautiful and welcoming place for the small – but growing and committed – Unitarian congregation, it make the news of the interior being gutted by fire all the more heart-

breaking.

In the days immediately following the fire there were meetings with insurers and, fortunately, there will be no hindrance in claiming against the church’s policy for fire damage restoration. But as anybody who has ever had to deal with rebuilding following a fire will know, there are many extra costs incurred during such work, including the rental of alternative space, that will not be covered by insurance.

How to help If any readers would like to support our Unitarian friends in Cork at this challenging time, donations can be made via the following webpages, from anywhere in the world: http://tinyurl.com/CorkUnitarians or idonate.ie/ advanced-donation-form/CUC

Maud Robinson The Rev Maud Robinson is minister with Underbank Unitarian Chapel, Stannington in Sheffield.

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Lent

Here in this meeting place where many others have been before us, we surrender ourselves to a stillness of Spirit – a stillness of mind and body that connects us to the Eternal Spirit of God. Even though it is beyond our complete understanding, there are many things which speak to us: In times of stillness we hear it like a distant song; There is something in the sky in the early morning and evening time, something in the spirit of the wild untouched wood and mountain, something in the faces of men and women and children, that lingers in our heart and speaks to us.

Sometimes we can feel that round our incompleteness, flows a greatness, and round our restlessness, a peace.

And in the brevity of our mortal life, a sense of the Eternal.

We pray, that those broken in spirit discover glimpses of these moments and that they bring interludes of repose and comfort.

Help us to remember the power we each have to relieve one another of some of the burdens, sorrows and troubles of this life.

And we pray that like rain falling on a thirsty land, this meeting place and its community uplifts our own spirits.

In its ministry of consecration, meditation and reflected thought, may we find help.

In its companionship and fellowship, may we find encouragement and strength.

In its quest for truth – find our truth, And in its worship find inspiration.

May our hearts be warmed within as we talk with one another on the way.

And may such knowledge as we may gain of life`s deeper meaning enrich our lives giving us beauty for ashes and hope for all our tomorrows.

Amen Margaret Kirk Adapted from the writing of Rev Denbigh Hilton (Minister Hastings Unitarian Church 1934-84) From Worship Words, a Unitarian General Assembly resource: https://worshipwords.unitarian.org.uk

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