“It Happened in Syracuse,” a conference to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the meeting held in Syracuse resulting in a merger between the Unitarians and the Universalists will be held on October 30 and 31 at the Hotel Syracuse. You will be reading more about that event in future newsletters. Long before he ever thought about coming to May Memorial, Nick Cardell played an role in that activity that should not be forgotten.
When he was a minister at the Unitarian church in Plainfield, NJ. Nick was a ministerial delegate to the meeting. His main role was helping to deal with the conflicts between Unitarians and Universalist on the stated principles and purposes. For example, the Universalists were concerned about how language associated with Jesus could or should be included in written material and the Unitarians were not concerned with that aspect. There was some heated discussions and Nick pleaded for a more moderate position. From an interview he had with Jean Hoefer in 1986 he remembered saying this to fellow Unitarians: “Is it going to hurt us to include something that is going to make them feel more comfortable.” We don’t know what the responses were, but can speculate that Nick’s plea for moderation had an impact.
Nick spent most of his time at the War Memorial for the intense discussions taking place there. He only got to the May Memorial building on James Street one time for a service. He also talked about how the communication between Unitarians and Universalists (who were meeting elsewhere – Nick remembered they met at the Universalist church) by telephone as the discussions continued on were very important.
So come to the October 31 meeting to hear more, see some associated displays and photos, and obtain a better understanding of that important meeting. The birth and growth of Unitarian Universalism was its result.
Rog Hiemstra, Chair, History Committee
Written June 10, 2009
