SUMMER GOINGS ON AT ALL SOULS

Activities at All Souls were still in full swing during May although the last Quarterly, published in April, could not include most of the May events. Since this issue is mostly devoted to the reports from GA, only a cursory mention of what went on during May, June, July and August can be fitted into these pages. However we would like to acknowledge several important events as well as mention of the regular activities by many groups that provided a continued congregational presence regardless of weather conditions.

The UUSC President, Dr. Charlie Clement, presented a program, video-taped in Israel, to celebrate the naming of Martha and the Rev. Waitstill Sharp as two of the “Righteous Among the Nations” at the Holocaust memorial site of Yad Vashem forl their rescue efforts in Europe during World War II. The Sharps thus joined only one other American among this selected group.

A video presentation of Dr. Church’s “An American Creed” lecture, based on his book, was offered at All Souls a few days before the same video was shown at GA. The presentation at All Souls was offered under the sponsorship of Faith & Values Media. Several of the GA reports included mention of Dr. Church’s presentation.

The Lifescapes Group offered two lunchtime programs under the title “Celebrate the Joys of Living,” open to all and featuring poetry readings, some by church members, that were well received and well attended by a multi-generational audience. Lifescapes, which serves the congregation each year by organizing a highly popular intergenerational weekend retreat outside the city, is already collecting advance reservations for the next retreat in October near Ossining.

The Women’s Alliance, at its annual Spring Luncheon in May, presented Financial Manager and Advisor Karen Altfest in a program designed to make women more aware of their own financial education and power. Another May Alliance lunch program featured information about bird watching in preparation for the May 20 bird watching expedition into the Central Park Ramble led by professional bird watcher Sara Elliott, who publishes a newsletter for those of us who are passionate bird watchers on their own.

Other outings by the Alliance, organized by Maureen Marwick, included a number of museum trips to learn more about interior designer Dorothy Draper (Museum of the City of New York), the sculptor Noguchi (the Noguchi Museum in Queens), the Rockefeller Asian Art Collection (the Asia Society), a visit to the New York Historical Society both to learn more about what to look for in “Family Portraits” and to view the “First Ladies” exhibit, and to “Photographic Portraits of an Age” (the Neue Galerie). All the outings included a shared meal afterwards.

The Alliance’s Women’s Reading Group also offered its annual “Light Summer Reading Book Sale” which yielded about $370, which will be given to book related programs at P.S. Partners (formerly, Adopt-a-School), and the Booker T. Washington Learning Center.

Several fairly new groups were organized at the beginning of the summer and operated during the summer months. They included a Bible Study group guided by the Rev. Cheryl Walker and the Rev. David Robb; the newly established Emerson Reading Circle run by Carlos Martinez; and a Media & Entertainment Professional Group.

The Young Adult Group and The 30s/40s Fellowship offered entertainment and fellowship to their members almost every summer

weekend, meeting for dinners, concerts, hiking expeditions and museum visits. Neil Osborne continued to provide monthly Cinema All Souls showings throughout the season and the Stories with Soul group met each Wednesday night.

These are only some of the goings on at All Souls from May to September. Add to that several Lifelines programs and it becomes clear that our church is a busy place at any season.