The History of the Partner Church Movement by Rev. Dr. Richard Boeke

The UU Partner Church Council was founded in June 1993 to focus and coordinate the enormous grassroots energy of dozens of UU churches which had formed partnerships with Unitarian churches in Central Europe following the collapse of Communism in December 1989. The PCC now supports the partnerships of almost 200 North American UU churches partnered with Unitarians and Universalists in Transylvania, Hungary, the Czech Republic, the Khasi Hills of India, The Philippines, and Poland. The truly significant activities of the Partner Church program are carried on by hundreds of volunteers at the congregation and district levels.

The following narrative was written by Rev. Richard Boeke, Minister Emeritus, First UU Church of Berkeley, one of at least 50 people involved in the beginnings of the Partner Church Council. The information contained herein was current as of its writing in 1998. Many of the names have changed in the interim.

"Exchanges with the Unitarians in Transylvania started as early as the 1830s when a Unitarian from Hungary encountered Unitarian Churches in the USA. Unitarians were a part of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. Many were killed. Others fled to America. Various travelers continued infrequent contacts until after World War One, when crisis hit our Transylvania Unitarians. Now they were under Romanian Rule, and many born in Transylvania fled to Hungary (Bela Bartok was one. He joined the Second Unitarian Church in Budapest.)

To meet the needs of thousands of Unitarians moving to Budapest, The American Unitarian Association and the British General Assembly advanced loans and gifts for the building of a church and mission house in Budapest. Earl Morse Wilbur and others set up a "sister church" program, under which churches like Berkeley, CA. sent $100 a year to their "sister church" in Transylvania. By World War II most of these contacts had faded, except for Starr King and Meadville Lombard Theological Schools, both of which provided scholarships for Unitarian Students from Transylvania in the 1930s. In World War II, Transylvania came first under Nazi Rule. Then from 1945 until 1989, 44 years, the Communists ruled.

The Rev. Wilma Szantho Harrington, Transyvanian born wife of Donald S. Harrington (Community Church, N.Y.C.) was one of the major continuing contacts. In 1964, with two dozen U.S. Unitarians, I joined the Harringtons in one of the first Unitarian bus tours of Transylvania. We were greeted with "bear hugs" by Bishop Kiss Elek in the Bishop's Home in Cluj. A lovely meal with plum brandy. Then the Bishop's grandson, Tibor Szasz, played the first movement of a Beethoven Sonata. (Later Tibor came to America and played at many Unitarian Churches, and at the UUA General Assembly. First Unitarian Church of Berkeley produced an LP record of one of his concerts). After Cluj we visited over a dozen Unitarian Churches always greeted with flowers and hugs.

The I.A.R.F. provided the main link to the rest of the world for the Eastern European Unitarians. In 1964, 1967, 1971, at each IARF Congress, from six to a dozen would come out from under the Iron Curtain. At the IARF Congress at Stanford University in 1987, one of the delegates was Dr. Judit Gellerd, born in Transylvania. There she met her husband, Dr. George M. Williams of Cal State U. Chico. (not George H. Williams of Harvard). They were married a few months later at the Berkeley Church. From their home in Chico they made rich contacts with Japanese member groups of the IARF while Judit also built up contacts in her homeland.

As the Iron Curtain came down at the end of 1989, an IARF Congress was planned for Hamburg, Germany in the summer of 1990. Several tours to Eastern Europe were planned after the Congress involving UUA Moderator Natalie Gulbrandson and over 100 others, including the choir of the First Unitarian Church of Berkeley. By that time with the help of Natalie Gulbrandson, Judith Gellerd, and several others, initial partner church contacts had been established. Berkeley was linked to the same village that had been its "sister" in the 1920s, Homoroduijfalu. Oakland was linked to Ocland, two miles north of Homorodujifalu.

In the following January, Denny Davidoff came through California in her successful campaign to become UUA Moderator. I asked her how we could get more support for our international UU contacts. In essence Denny replied, "get political." I did not realize how soon that would need to be put into practice. At the April UUA Trustees meeting, in a budget cutting move, the UUA Staff was instructed to cut all support for the Partner Church Program. I made several long distance calls. The result was that Leon Hopper, Judit Gellerd and I signed and mailed out a letter of invitation to over one hundred people involved with the Partner Church program. We invited them to join us at an organizational meeting at the UUA General Assembly in June. At that organizational meeting the Partner Church Council (PCC) adopted the by-laws and dues which I proposed. Leon Hopper was elected as First President, and Judit Gellerd as General Secretary.

With the help of an all volunteer board Leon and Judit got the PCC off to a great start. Peter Raible followed Leon as PCC President, as Leon took over Peter's role as PCC Treasurer. Current President is Richard Beal. We got NO money from the UUA, and all PCC board members pay their own expenses to attend meetings. Later some grant money was requested and received for programs like providing an English Teacher for the Unitarian Seminary in Cluj. First Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley began the English teaching program with the help of Meadville Lombard, which continues to give institutional support. The last teacher was Scott Prinster a recent graduate of Starr King. The new teacher is Eric M. Cherry.

Now, John Rex, another recent Starr King Graduate, has gone to do a six month teaching ministry with the 9,000 Unitarians of the Khasi Hills in Northeast India. Networking with the new International Council of Unitarians and Universalists (ICUU), we hope that in a few years we will have Partnership connections with the Khasi Hills, the UU Church of the Philippines, and with other growing UU Contacts."

Louis C. Cornish “Living the Mission” Award

The UU Partner Church Council established this award in 1999 in honor of Louis C. Cornish. As president of the American Unitarian Association, he championed human rights efforts for Unitarians and Universalists in Romania and the Philippines in the 1920’s and 30’s. The award is given annually to honor those who have worked tirelessly to foster the mission of developing and sustaining mutually beneficial congregational partnerships between Unitarians and Universalists around the world.

Each of these recipients have made outstanding contributions to global church partnership and to the partner church movement. We are please to recognize them for their amazing efforts.

2009 – Rev. John Eric Gibbons
2008 – Rev. Dr. Spencer Levan
2007 Dr. Arpad Szabo
2006 – Natalie Gulbrandsen
2005 – Rev. Richard Boeke
2004 – Rev. Peter Raible
2003 – Ms. Patricia Rodgers
2002 – Rev. Richard F. Beal
2001 – Rev. C. Leon Hopper
2000 – Rev. Dénes Farkas
1999 – Dr. Judit Gellérd