Who Am I?

 

Candidate Biography

I have been a Unitarian Universalist for fifteen years. I am a member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Rutland and have served on our board of trustees for six years. I've been active within my church throughout my membership, and am especially proud of the work I and my congregation did to welcome Syrian refugees to our city in 2016-2017. 

I recently completed four years’ service on the city council of Rutland, Vermont, where I earned the respect of my fellow public servants on both sides of the political aisle for my principled discussion, listening skills, thoughtful attention to facts and due process, and ability to help craft solutions to complicated problems by attending to the needs of all. 

I am currently the chair of the Rutland City Planning Commission, overseeing the complete rewrite of the zoning bylaws of the city. In this work, I have made sure that people with varied and opposing views are at the table, because I know that creating good policy depends upon incorporating the input of diverse representatives of the community. 

I was a teacher for many years, including five years teaching middle school math, and I currently volunteer, teaching English to asylum seekers and refugees from Central America and Afghanistan. I sing in the church choir, give occasional sermons, and enjoy hiking, writing, and playing the ukulele.

Why am I running?

 

Why I am running for election? 

I cherish Unitarian Universalism. I love my home congregation, our Seven Principles, and the sense of freedom and belonging I feel as a member of the denomination.

But our liberal church has taken a dogmatic and authoritarian turn. Every time I open the pages of the UU World or receive an email from the UUA, I am being told how I should think and what I must do. 

As an everyday UU, I feel abandoned by the UUA. It is supposed to be an organization that supports member congregations, but increasingly it seems to be trying to turn itself into our only source of moral authority.

I am running because I believe I have something to offer to all UUs and to the UUA in its proper role. I have experience with the democratic process as an elected official and public servant. Someone has to stand up for what is right, and I am willing and able to be that person!

My Position

My Position

I want the UUA to be an organization that is truly diverse, which includes diversity of thought. I want it to have a closer, more supportive relationship with member congregations. I want it to be a paragon of the democratic process. I want it to be an exemplar of liberal religion, in which diverse people exist in a community of love, service, and freedom.

The three principles that I most wish to protect are the first, fourth, and fifth: the inherent worth and dignity of every person, a free and responsible search for truth and meaning, and the right of conscience and the use of the democratic process. I believe the UUA has lately ignored, abandoned, and even sometimes attacked these principles.  

As a Trustee I will do all I can to preserve and promote scientific processes and freedom of conscience within our congregations and UU leadership. I will do all I can to foster the relationship between everyday UUs and the UUA. To this end, I believe denominational decision-making authority should be returned to our congregations, and I will sponsor the conversation to end the current regional organizational structure and reconstitute our congregation-led district structure. I will also revisit all of the recommendations of the 2009 Fifth Principle Task Force report.

Newsletter Insert

Dear Newsletter Editor,

We, Rebecca Mattis and Beverly Seese, are requesting that you publish the announcement below in your congregational newsletter to inform your members and General Assembly delegates that there is an actual election for UUA Board members at this year’s Portland General Assembly. This election is required since we petitioned to have our names placed on the ballot to provide delegates an opportunity to participate in the selection of our UU leaders.

 

Announcement of Elections at General Assembly

At this year’s General Assembly in Portland, Oregon, delegates will be given the opportunity to vote on candidates to serve on the UUA Board of Trustees. We, Rebecca Mattis and Beverly Seese, petitioned to be placed on the ballot providing delegates a choice on who will serve as future UU leaders.

Please visit our personal campaign websites, RebeccaMattisUU.Blogspot.com and BeverlySeeseUU.Blogspot.com to learn about our backgrounds and campaign platforms.

We have arranged to hold three Meet the Candidates Townhall meetings on May 18, May 25, and June 2.  Details can be found on our campaign websites.

Delegate voting opens June 1.  We encourage you to become informed voters and live into our Fifth Principle, the right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large.

 

Meet the Candidate Townhall Meetings

Three joint Meet the Candidate Townhall meetings with me and Beverly Seese (candidate for Trustee seat #11) have been scheduled to allow you to learn why we placed our names on the ballot to be UUA Board of Trustee members.  These are interactive Zoom sessions designed so you can directly ask us questions, share your comments, and interact with us. 

Pre-registration is required.

Please see the dates and links below to register for Meet the Candidate Townhall meetings.

• May 18, 2022, 8:00 PM Eastern, 7:00 PM Central, 6:00 PM Mountain, 5:00 PM Pacific, Register
  
• May 25, 2022, 8:00 PM Eastern, 7:00 PM Central, 6:00 PM Mountain, 5:00 PM Pacific, Register
  
• June 2, 2022, 8:00 PM Eastern, 7:00 PM Central, 6:00 PM Mountain, 5:00 PM Pacific, Register
  

Donate to my Campaign

I welcome any financial contribution you can make to my campaign. Numerous expenses are incurred running as a candidate for a UUA Board of Trustee position including travel, purchase of a booth, and production of campaign literature. No contribution is too small.

Please use the Contact Me feature on this website to send me an email. I will reply with my mailing address and other details for contributing. 

Your support enables us to live into our fifth principle, the right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large. 

Notes on our First Principle

The Inherent Worth and Dignity of Every Person

Empathy – doing one’s best to know what any one mind is thinking and feeling – is my strongest value. It can be called a spiritual practice, or just a way of life. I have never once regretted any attempt toward empathy.

In order to have empathy for another, one must interact with that being as an individual. It is not possible to have empathy for any one while holding on to assumptions about that individual based on their group membership.

For this reason, I am anti-identitarian. While any individual can and should claim group membership, it is not for me to label any person based upon the stereotypes of the groups they belong to or the groups I assume they belong to!

The UUA has embraced identitarianism. It labels people and judges their thoughts, feelings, and value based on certain identity markers like race, sex, and gender identity. This is wrong.