FROM a CULTURE of CONFLICT to a RENEWAL of COVENANT: a HISTORY of the UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST SOCIETY of SACRAMENTO a Thesis By

FROM A CULTURE OF CONFLICT TO A RENEWAL OF COVENANT: A HISTORY OF THE UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST SOCIETY OF SACRAMENTO A thesis by Rev. Roger D. Jones presented to The Faculty of the Pacific School of Religion in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Ministry Berkeley, California March 2017 Committee Signatures ________________________________________________ Rev. Randi Walker, PhD, Coordinator Date ________________________________________________ Rev. Dorsey Blake, DMin, Member Date ________________________________________________ Rev. William Hamilton-Holway, DMin, Member Date Copyright ©2017 by Roger D. Jones All rights reserved Abstract From a Culture of Conflict to a Renewal of Covenant: A History of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Sacramento In the 1980s and 1990s, an established, mid-sized church, the Unitarian Universalist Society of Sacramento (UUSS), weathered endemic mistrust and conflict among members and leaders, with turf wars and assertions of individual freedom at the expense of congregational wellbeing. There was sparse evidence of the values of a religious community. The concept of covenant is key to the Unitarian Universalist heritage. However, there is little evidence that UUSS leaders and other members had a written covenant or invoked, spoke about, or adhered to a covenantal understanding of themselves as a community. Over this period, however, key lay leaders and clergy did begin to speak frankly and act with courage for the health of the congregation. During painful controversies, they promoted listening across differences, clarified and upheld behavioral standards, and eventually led members to adopt a covenant, promising one another mutual support. This thesis uses congregational archives and interviews to trace this journey from a culture of conflict toward a renewal of the practice of covenant. One chapter summarizes the emergence of new Unitarian Universalist congregations in the Sacramento region since the 1950s. Some of these were seen as a “church split,” whereas others were intentional efforts to extend the faith. Another chapter gives the history of this congregation’s Women’s Alliance, founded in 1911. Reflecting the predominant role of women in i American religion, the Alliance has evolved alongside larger social trends and recently has adapted itself toward a sustainable structure. This thesis also explores the shifting patterns of religious participation in the United States, mainly growth in the proportion of “religiously unaffiliated” persons or “spiritual independents.” Opportunities beckon for ministry to this demographic; however, younger adults or other seekers will not be drawn to join congregational cultures of mistrust, conflict, or time-consuming bureaucratic procedures. The congregation’s eventual return to its heritage of covenant and the affirmation of mutual dependence took place in the same era that its denomination was adopting the religious principle of “a web of interdependence of all existence.” In recent years, the congregation’s fidelity to shared values and mutual dependence and a clear sense of mission have brought about new signs of progress and vitality. ____________________________ Rev. Randi J. Walker, Ph.D. Thesis Coordinator ii Table of Contents List of Tables and List of Abbreviations iv Introduction Summary, Purpose, Methods, and My Role 1 One Context: Unitarian Universalist History in the United States, California, and Sacramento 18 Two Women in American Religion and in the Ministry; the UUSS Women’s Alliance, 1911 to the Present 25 Three Looking at Culture and Class in the Congregation, and Looking Forward 73 Four Successes and Stresses in Ministerial Relationships from 1983 to 1991 101 Five Ministries in the 1990s: Progress Derailed amid Conflict, and Interim Ministry by a Clergy Couple 128 Six From Task-orientation to Trust-orientation 163 Seven New Congregations in the Sacramento Area, 1960 to 1990 188 Eight Conflicts, Conflict Management, and a Covenant 222 Nine A Congregation amid Shifting Patterns of American Religious Participation 261 Conclusion Current Life at UUSS and Lessons Learned 273 Bibliography 286 Appendix I Statements of Mission, Values and Covenant, and the Bond of Union Appendix II Human Subjects Protocols and Questions for Lay Leader Interviews (2016) and Women’s Alliance Interviews (2014) Appendix III Unitarian and Universalist Churches on the Pacific Coast in the 1800s iii List of Tables Table Title Page 2.1 Ordained Women Ministers Serving the UU Society of Sacramento 29 4.1 Ordained Ministers Serving UUSS, 1971-2013 101 4.2 Statistics about UUSS from the 1990 Ministerial Search Packet 119 7.1 Contributions by UUSS to the UU Community Church of Sacramento 210 9.1 Generational Differences among Religiously Unaffiliated U.S. Americans 264 List of Abbreviations CCMC Communication and Conflict Management Committee (of UUSS) DRE Director of Religious Education LGBT Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender PCD Pacific Central District of the Unitarian Universalist Association RE Religious Education (curricula, staff, or programs for children and youth) UU Unitarian Universalist (as an adjective or as a noun) UUA Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations UUCC Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Sacramento UUSS Unitarian Universalist Society of Sacramento, also referred to here as the UU Society of Sacramento, the Society, and the church. Earlier names were First Unitarian Church and First Unitarian Society of Sacramento. iv Introduction Summary, Purpose, Methods, My Role, and an Overview 1. Summary of this Thesis In the 1980s and 1990s, the main period of the scope of this thesis, the Unitarian Universalist Society of Sacramento (UUSS)1 could boast of an adult membership of more than 500; it enjoyed several years of growth in membership and children in Religious Education. As in the current day, the congregation had many activity groups and committees, and a variety of regular discussions and other programs. Members of the Society helped the needy and suffering, and they organized, wrote letters, and protested for social justice, equal rights, and world peace. For the first time since its founding in the late nineteenth century, this era was when UUSS began appointing female-identified clergy, though most of them were in hired, part-time roles rather than in a full-time called ministry. The Women’s Alliance, a church group with its own budget, bylaws, and elected leaders, had been in continuous operation since 1911 and was going strong in the 1980s. It provided its members a monthly occasion to learn about local, national, and international issues, and a place to speak out about them. The Alliance threw parties and banquets, presented music and art shows, and gave money to the church and other organizations. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, its formal structure of committees, elected offices, and business meetings became stressful to sustain, as Alliance members were fewer in number and many were getting frail. Leaders engaged the support of a 1 UUSS is also referred to as the Society, the congregation, and the church. See the List of Abbreviations. 1 facilitator from the congregation and the Alliance members voted to adopt a less formal and leaner governance structure, keeping the group’s essential focus on fellowship among its members. In cooperation with the Unitarian Universalist Association and local leaders in the denomination’s Pacific Central District (PCD), a group of members from UUSS launched a new congregation in South Sacramento in 1989. They ruffled some feathers at UUSS by challenging the UU franchise in Sacramento County, but they wanted to extend the reach of liberal religion and to be more inclusive of children and families. UUSS contributed a small subsidy for a few years to help the new church pay for a full-time minister. Of the three new congregation starts in the Sacramento and Sierra Nevada region from the 1980s and 1990s (as well as some from the 1950s and 1960s), the UU Community Church (UUCC) of Sacramento was the one with which UUSS members had the most significant connection. UUCC was an active congregation with full-time ministry for twenty-five years, but its members voted to suspend operations in 2014. Unfortunately, the 1980s and 1990s at UUSS were a time of mistrust and conflict among members and between members and their clergy, staff, or elected lay leaders. Committee and Board leadership operated in the mode of managerial control, permission- granting (and permission-withholding), and bureaucratic procedures. Various UUSS members guarded their own turf with the blunt end of typed memoranda. An adversarial culture is reflected in the church’s reports, meeting minutes and correspondence, but it also was the diagnosis of clergy who came to serve as intentional interim ministers (short-term consultants between settled ministries). In fact, such dire observations and recommendations made by the interim minister in 1989 and 1990 mirrored those of 2 Sacramento’s interim ministers five years earlier and fifteen years before that! With low trust in their at-large church leadership, many people were loyal first to their own group or program area or to strong personalities who led some of those groups. Too often, volunteer leadership contributed to and suffered within an atmosphere of duty, pressure, second-guessing, and scolding. Reflecting attitudes of caution and scarcity about money, Society communications about pledging and giving to the church and about

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