​Jamestown, N.Y. – Rev. Alison Wohler will speak at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown’s 10:30 a.m. service on Sunday, October 24, 2021.

Her sermon topic is “Are we there yet?  Is the end in sight?”

Of her subject, Wohler says, “Please, please, let it be time for the Pandemic Rollercoaster ride to end. I'm ready to get off. The ups and downs of reality can be so exhausting.” 

In 2016, Wohler retired as Minister Emerita from the Unitarian Universalist Society of Amherst, Mass., and moved to Columbus, Ohio, to be near her daughter and parents. She is a member of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Chautauqua, where she is a summer resident as well as a lifelong, fifth-generation Chautauquan. 

Before becoming a Unitarian minister, Wohler was a working scientist and spent 19 years as an art gallery owner. 

Wohler’s background includes a BS in Biology from Allegheny College. Her scientific background has been a significant influence not only on her theology, but also on her philosophy of ministry, and what it means to be in religious community. She identifies as a Religious Naturalist and often brings science into her services. 

Because of COVID-19 concerns, UUCJ Sunday services are remaining virtual instead of returning to 1255 Prendergast Avenue. Anyone is welcome to participate by emailing UUJamestown@gmail.com to receive a Zoom link for the 10:30 a.m. service. The link is available on the website at UUJamestown.org/calendar.

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown is a progressive, liberal religious community serving the southern tier of Western New York and Warren County, Pa. The UUCJ’s mission is to promote and provide a community where diverse people of all ages may explore the meaning of existence, give expression to liberal religious values, and work for a just, sustainable society.

​Jamestown, N.Y. – Dr. Greg Rabb, Jamestown Community College (JCC) professor of government, politics and economics, speaks at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown (UUCJ) virtual service on Sunday, October 17, 10:30 a.m. His subject is “The Divided States of America.” 

Rabb contends that since the “United States” was divided as a textbook example of a colonial-settler society even before its coming into being in the 18th century, it is more aptly described as the “Divided States.” The history of the “US” is one of managing the divide and not attempting to heal it: conflict management rather than conflict resolution. 

The message relates to the second of seven principles that Unitarian Universalist congregations affirm and promote: “Justice, equity and compassion in human relations.” 

A Canisius College graduate, Rabb earned a Master’s Degree in Urban Planning from the University of Illinois and a Juris Doctor from the University at Buffalo School of Law. In addition to his teaching, the former Assistant Dean of the Division of Business and Social Sciences for JCC’s Jamestown and Cattaraugus County campuses serves as Coordinator of Global Education. He also currently serves as Adjunct Professor of Political Science at Buffalo State College. He is the recipient of the State University of New York (SUNY) Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching and the JCC Faculty Award for Excellence.

Rabb is a Richard P. Nathan Public Policy Fellow, Rockefeller Institute, SUNY. He is the chair of the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities Board of Directors and of the Jamestown City Planning Commission and a former Executive Director of the New York State Municipal Clerks Institute. In 2017 he was awarded a grant to study in Palestine through the Palestine American Research Center. 

Because of COVID-19 concerns, UUCJ Sunday services are remaining virtual instead of returning to 1255 Prendergast Avenue. Anyone is welcome to participate by emailing UUJamestown@gmail.com to receive a Zoom link for the 10:30 a.m. service. The link is available on the website at UUJamestown.org/calendar.

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown is a progressive, liberal religious community serving the southern tier of Western New York and Warren County, Pa. The UUCJ’s mission is to promote and provide a community where diverse people of all ages may explore the meaning of existence, give expression to liberal religious values, and work for a just, sustainable society.

​Jamestown, N.Y. – In February, during Black History Month, Verdis LeVar Robinson, Ministerial Intern for the Unitarian Church of Montpelier, Vt., led a virtual service of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown (UUCJ). 

Robinson’s presentation was so well received that he has been invited to return on Sunday, October 10, when he will speak on “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?”

Robinson will share his story of bringing an unexpected guest to a Thanksgiving dinner. He will explore how we can cultivate relationships that accept and empower authenticity and realness in our lives and the lives of our loved ones.

His message relates to the third of seven principles that Unitarian Universalist congregations affirm and promote: “Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations.” 

Robinson is the Lenora Montgomery Scholar of Excellence at Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago, where he is a candidate for a Master of Divinity. A former Holiness-Pentecostal minister, he is an Aspirant for the Unitarian Universalist ministry.  He holds a BM in voice performance from Boston University, a BS cum laude and an MA in history from SUNY College at Brockport, and an MA in African American studies from SUNY University at Buffalo.

Because of COVID-19 concerns, UUCJ Sunday services are remaining virtual instead of returning to 1255 Prendergast Avenue. Anyone is welcome to participate by emailing UUJamestown@gmail.com to receive a Zoom link for the 10:30 a.m. service. The link is available on the website at UUJamestown.org/calendar.

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown is a progressive, liberal religious community serving the southern tier of Western New York and Warren County, Pa. The UUCJ’s mission is to promote and provide a community where diverse people of all ages may explore the meaning of existence, give expression to liberal religious values, and work for a just, sustainable society.

​Jamestown, N.Y. – This past summer, Mark Bernstein, adjunct consultant with the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), led members of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown (UUCJ) in developing their mission, vision, and covenant statements. 

Bernstein joins the congregation again on Sunday, October 3, 2021, to deliver the message “Stealing Second Base” at the 10:30 a.m. virtual service.

Describing his sermon, Bernstein says, “A meaningful life requires that we sometimes work without a net; that we take risks in order to reap rewards. This applies not only to us as individuals, but to congregations as well.  Why is it so hard to let go and how can our Unitarian Universalist faith help us to journey into the unknown?”

The message relates to both the third and fourth of seven principles that Unitarian Universalist congregations affirm and promote: “Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations” and “A free and responsible search for truth and meaning.”

Bernstein was a member of the Congregational Life Staff of the Central East Region of the UUA and currently serves as an adjunct consultant. His work is with congregations, assisting with training, presentations, and facilitation of congregational meetings and events. A loyal member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Delaware County in Media, Pa., he also has his own business providing training and consultation to agencies in the healthcare field.

Because of COVID-19 concerns, UUCJ Sunday services are remaining virtual instead of returning to 1255 Prendergast Avenue. Anyone is welcome to participate by emailing UUJamestown@gmail.com to receive a Zoom link for the 10:30 a.m. service. The link is available on the website at UUJamestown.org/calendar.

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown is a progressive, liberal religious community serving the southern tier of Western New York and Warren County, Pa. The UUCJ’s mission is to promote and provide a community where diverse people of all ages may explore the meaning of existence, give expression to liberal religious values, and work for a just, sustainable society.

Jamestown, N.Y. – “Collective Trust - The Relationship of the People to Their Government” is the subject of Jamestown Community College’s Frank Corapi at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown’s (UUCJ) 10:30 a.m. virtual service on Sunday, September 26, 2021.

The trust of the people is vital for a healthy representative democracy. Corapi will trace the evolution of trust in government over the past several decades to its current state. 
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The current level of mistrust between the people of the United States and their representative government seems to be reaching a critical mass and could create too great an eventual distance between the people and those they elect to represent their interests. Assertions will be made as to the limits of governmental trust, the role of individual political office holders, bureaucracy and future directions to build back trust. 

Unitarian Universalist congregations affirm and promote seven Principles, which are held as strong values and moral guides. This message reflects the sixth Principle: “The goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all.” 

Corapi is Associate Professor/Coordinator of the  Psychology Department and  Director of the Social Sciences Division at Jamestown Community College. Prior to joining the JCC’s faculty in 2002, he was an instructor in psychology at Edinboro University in Pennsylvania. He has also worked as a clinical program director with a variety of behavioral health treatment programs for Stairways Behavioral Health in Erie, Pa., and was in private practice for 10 years, specializing in couples therapy. He has an M.S. in counseling psychology from Gannon University as well as much post-master's work.

Because of COVID-19 concerns, UUCJ Sunday services are remaining virtual instead of returning to 1255 Prendergast Avenue. Anyone is welcome to participate by emailing UUJamestown@gmail.com to receive a Zoom link for the 10:30 a.m. service. The link is available on the website at UUJamestown.org/calendar.
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The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown is a progressive, liberal religious community serving the southern tier of Western New York and Warren County, Pa. The UUCJ’s mission is to promote and provide a community where diverse people of all ages may explore the meaning of existence, give expression to liberal religious values, and work for a just, sustainable society.

​Jamestown, N.Y. –  Retired Jamestown Community College sociology professor Dr. Jeffrey Victor will discuss “The Psychological Origins of Moral Conscience” at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown’s (UUCJ) 10:30 a.m. virtual service on Sunday, September 19, 2021.

Victor will explore the question “How can parents cultivate a moral conscience in their children?,” pointing out that if we know the psychological origins of moral conscience in normal adults, we can cultivate it better in our children.

He will acquire some insight by looking at extreme examples of helping behavior: how ordinary people act under extraordinary circumstances. He will present three true stories, one of which happened in Jamestown to Unitarians.

Victor taught at Jamestown Community College for 52 years. In 1988, he received the New York State University’s Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence. He has been an invited speaker at conferences in France, Scotland, and the Netherlands and appeared on national television programs including Larry King Live, The Maury Povich Show, and The View.

Victor has been a member of the UUCJ since 1966. He received a Ph.D. in Sociology from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1974 and has published two books, nine chapters in edited books, and 32 articles in popular and scholarly magazines. His first book was a textbook for college courses in human sexuality. 

Victor’s book Satanic Panic: The Creation of a Contemporary Legend is a sociological research study of rumors and claims about secret criminal satanic cults and false accusations of such crimes. It received the H. L. Mencken Award from the Free Press Association for the best book of 1993 that deals with the protection of individual rights against abuses of power. His most recent publications are “The Social Consequences of Economic Inequality” (2019) and “The Social Forces behind Trump’s War on Science” (2018) in Free Inquiry, “Adventures in Search of Wild Gourmet Mushrooms” in Edible Western NY (June, 2019), and  “French Vegetables for the Fall Table” in Mother Earth Living (November, 2019).

Because of COVID-19 concerns, UUCJ Sunday services are remaining virtual instead of returning to 1255 Prendergast Avenue. Anyone is welcome to participate by emailing UUJamestown@gmail.com to receive a Zoom link for the 10:30 a.m. service. The link goes out on Saturday afternoon, but you can request to join until the start of the service on Sunday.
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The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown is a progressive, liberal religious community serving the southern tier of Western New York and Warren County, Pa. The UUCJ’s mission is to promote and provide a community where diverse people of all ages may explore the meaning of existence, give expression to liberal religious values, and work for a just, sustainable society.

​Jamestown, N.Y. – The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown (UUCJ) was looking forward to returning to in-person services this month. Unfortunately, the current local COVID-19 situation forced a reassessment.

According to UUCJ President Emily Garrick, “At a special meeting, the board voted to reopen in person only when 50 percent of the total population of people in Chautauqua and Warren Counties are fully vaccinated and the transmission rate in both counties is ‘Moderate’ or lower for two consecutive weeks according to the CDC’s COVID Data Tracker.” 

The congregation had planned to resume in-person services on Sunday, September 12, 2021, with member Anne Kenefic leading a Water In-Gathering at their 1255 Prendergast Avenue location. That 10:30 a.m. service will now be online. 

This annual celebration springs from a ceremony created in the 1980s. Many Unitarian Universalist congregations now hold a Water Communion once a year, often at the beginning of the new church year in September. 

Members bring to the service a small amount of water from a place that is meaningful to them. During the appointed time in the service, people one by one pour their water together into a large bowl. As the water is added, the person who brought it tells why this water is special to them. The combined water is symbolic of a shared faith coming from many different sources. Adaptations will be made for the virtual service. 

Anyone is welcome to participate by emailing UUJamestown@gmail.com to receive a Zoom link. The link goes out as part of “This Week at UUCJ” on Friday afternoon, but you can request to join until the start of the service on Sunday.

Kenefic was a Sister of Social Service for more than a decade. A graduate of California State University, Hayward, with a BA in Political Science, Religious Studies and Women’s Studies, she received her Doctor of the Law from the University of West Los Angeles. She practiced various types of law in California and taught various subjects at the Paralegal Studies Program at California State University, San Bernardino. 

After moving to Jamestown in 2008, Kenefic worked as a paralegal for the law offices of Arthur N. Bailey & Associates, Legal Aid of Chautauqua County, and Fessenden, Laumer & DeAngelo, PLLC, until retiring last year. She has been a UUCJ member since 2008 and was a board member for three years.

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown is a progressive, liberal religious community serving the southern tier of Western New York and Warren County, Pa. The UUCJ’s mission is to support and celebrate each other, encourage spiritual and individual growth, and serve the wider community.

Jamestown, N.Y. - ​Member Anne Kenefic will address the 10:30 a.m. virtual Sunday service of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown (UUCJ) service on June 20.

This concludes Kenefic’s presentation on the book by Merlin Stone, When God Was a Woman, that she began at the May 23 service. It continues the reflection on the Goddess-centered life that existed for centuries prior to the rise of patriarchy. 

The talk describes the early history of Goddess relationship between Her, humanity and Mother Earth and how the rise of patriarchy tried to destroy this relationship. It will also cover the re-emergence of Goddess in today’s world.  

The message addresses the seventh principle that Unitarian Universalist congregations affirm and promote: “Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.”

Kenefic was a Sister of Social Service for more than a decade. A graduate of California State University, Hayward, with a BA in Political Science, Religious Studies and Women’s Studies, she received her Doctor of the Law from the University of West Los Angeles. She practiced various types of law in California and taught various subjects at the Paralegal Studies Program at California State University, San Bernardino. 

After moving to Jamestown in 2008, Kenefic worked as a paralegal for the law offices of Arthur N. Bailey & Associates, Legal Aid of Chautauqua County, and Fessenden, Laumer & DeAngelo, PLLC, until retiring last year. She has been a UUCJ member since 2008 and was a board member for three years.

Because of COVID-19 limitations, UUCJ Sunday services are currently virtual instead of at its 1255 Prendergast Avenue location. Anyone is welcome to participate by emailing UUJamestown@gmail.com to receive a Zoom link for the 10:30 a.m. service. The link goes out as part of “This Week at UUCJ” on Friday afternoon, but you can request to join until the start of the service on Sunday.

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown is a progressive, liberal religious community serving the southern tier of Western New York and Warren County, Pa. The UUCJ’s mission is to promote and provide a community where diverse people of all ages may explore the meaning of existence, give expression to liberal religious values, and work for a just, sustainable society.

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​Jamestown, N.Y. – On Sunday, June 13, 2021, congregant Anne Kenefic will lead the 10:30 a.m. virtual service of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown (UUCJ) in a celebration of Flower Communion. 

This uniquely UU ceremony honors each person’s individuality, while also celebrating community. 

Normally, everyone in the congregation brings a flower and then goes home with a different flower. Because this is not an in-person gathering, each participant is asked to bring a living plant that represents someone in their life and to share what that person means to them.

The Flower Celebration, as Flower Communion is also called, was initiated in Prague on June 4, 1923, by Norbert Čapek, the founder of the Unitarian Church in Czechoslovakia. He saw the need to unite the diverse congregants of his church, from varying Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish backgrounds, without alienating those who had left these traditions. For this reason he honored the universal beauty of nature by having a communion of flowers instead of the Eucharist. 

The ritual was brought to the United States in 1940 by the Rev. Maja Čapek, Norbert’s wife, and was widely adopted by American Unitarian churches and their successor Unitarian Universalist congregations.

Celebrating the Flower Ceremony is an opportunity for UU congregations to express their commitment to the Sixth Principle they affirm and promote: The goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all.

Kenefic was a Sister of Social Service for more than a decade. A graduate of California State University, Hayward, with a BA in Political Science, Religious Studies and Women’s Studies, she received her Doctor of the Law from the University of West Los Angeles. She practiced various types of law in California and taught various subjects at the Paralegal Studies Program at California State University, San Bernardino. 

After moving to Jamestown in 2008, Kenefic worked as a paralegal for the law offices of Arthur N. Bailey & Associates, Legal Aid of Chautauqua County, and Fessenden, Laumer & DeAngelo, PLLC, until retiring last year. She has been a UUCJ member since 2008 and was a board member for three years.

Because of COVID-19 limitations, UUCJ Sunday services are currently virtual instead of at its 1255 Prendergast Avenue location. Anyone is welcome to participate by emailing UUJamestown@gmail.com to receive a Zoom link for the 10:30 a.m. service. The link goes out as part of “This Week at UUCJ” on Friday afternoon, but you can request to join until the start of the service on Sunday.

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Jamestown is a progressive, liberal religious community serving the southern tier of Western New York and Warren County, Pa. The UUCJ’s mission is to promote and provide a community where diverse people of all ages may explore the meaning of existence, give expression to liberal religious values, and work for a just, sustainable society.

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