Opening the Doors to Diversity

First Parish in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has begun the process of transforming into a multiracial and multicultural congregation. For years, the congregation talked about becoming more diverse, especially as their surrounding neighborhood became home to more and more immigrants. After learning about the Diversity of Ministry Team (DOMT) Initiative of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), First Parish turned talk into action, and made a commitment to participating in the DOMT Initiative. With support from the UUA, the congregation has engaged in an intentional process of education and conversation about multiculturalism, established a Transformation Team, and called Rev. Lilia Cuervo as the congregation's first settled Latina minister.

"The most difficult part is the preconceptions, the prejudices that people have..." explains Cuervo. "We try to open to other cultures, to appreciate other cultures. Not to 'tolerate,' but to really understand, get to love, and get to embrace other cultures."

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Cambridge
• Unitarian
• Universalist
• Diversity
• Congregation
• Lilia Cuervo

[rgerwin]

Even though in my time of attending worship at First Parish, Cambridge in the mid-seventies (I was a college freshman who lived across the street) it was still the male-dominated, white Anglo church it had so long been, it was already a welcoming and mind-opening place, were a person like me, new to Christianity, was nurtured and encouraged and moved beyond my comfort zone to grapple with new perspectives on my life and emerging faith.

Happy to see that tradition has merged so well with change!