3/13 Barb W

The text below was emailed to the First Unitarian Church of Portland’s Board of Trustees on March 13, 2025, in response to the Board’s March 11 letter demanding that the Congregant Action Team take down its website, among other things. The author is a member of the Congregant Action Team and ultimately was expelled from the church one month later, along with the rest of the team.

To the “Board of Trustees":

Greetings-

I received your insulting , inaccurate and demeaning letter. You mention a "covenant". Yes, you as our trusted elected stewards covenant to attempt to repair damage when it is brought to your attention. I have heard you say this publicly. I have begged you repeatedly for help to repair the harm done to me and my colleagues and you have done nothing. Most of this could have been avoided if only handled with the compassion and respect that I expect from a place that claims to practice "love". Instead you chose to demonize and otherize individuals who needed only your good faith effort to reach out. You allowed slanderous statements and ugly vitriol to be hurled by congregants against other peaceful congregants and by your silence you condoned these actions.

I don't believe in anonymity, and so I have lent my name and effort to the work of the Congregant Action Team, mainly via speaking and writing. I support this group in its work towards justice and beloved community, as do others not named. I did this because I believe in the rights of aggrieved people to bring their grievances to the appropriate body in accordance with established rules and norms.

I also believe in people's rights to speak up against injustice and wrongdoing. You have repeatedly lied and gaslit, as the evidence gathered by the Congregant Action Team attests. I have witnessed many of the actions you have lied about and was present for some of the activities you falsely mischaracterize as wrongdoing.

I would like to note that many of the points in your allegations are false in regard to my own actions. Specifically:

1. I have never attacked Rev. Alison. I have always been courteous in my dealings with her. I have only hoped that she would reach out in the meaningful way that Rev. Mariann Budde, the Episcopal Bishop of Washington DC, describes in her book “How We Learn to be Brave” I do regret very much that Rev. Alison never reached out in any meaningful way but rather let problems fester and grow. I have watched with sadness as she behaved defensively, elided the truth, and demonstrated utter lack of compassionate leadership.

2.I have never been invited to participate in any meetings and I have no idea what you are talking about in regard to my so-called nonattendance. I would have been glad to meet with you but have had only silence and now calumny from you, in spite of my serious efforts.

3. I have never disrupted a worship service. I have not been inside the the sanctuary at First Unitarian since before the dismissal of our music director last June.

4. I have never interfered in any way with the Religious Education program, nor has anyone that I know of except a Board member. Indeed, since the demise of Adult Education I have not had any opportunity for involvement.

5. I have not disrupted social events, indeed I have contributed positively to them, for example I helped provide an event for the Church Auction.

6. I am not aware of any inaccurate statements and have not seen or heard you refute any of the statements made by the Congregant Action Team. I have however seen and heard inaccurate and even slanderous statements coming from you.

7. I am not the administrator of the Congregant Action Team website, but your suggestion that it be taken down is inappropriate. We are still allowed to speak our truth in this country, for now.

8. I have not communicated directly with staff, unless you mean my respectful and considered emails and verbal testimony in front of the Board, all of which were ignored. Nevertheless I find this prohibition to be egregious in its denial of the freedom to assemble and to speak with those we choose to talk with.

9. I have no knowledge of the source of email addresses but I note that in every church I have ever seen except this one, the membership directory is freely available to all members. Why the secrecy?

So, you would like to deny me access to the church I once loved. Let it be so. I will look forward to it. I consider it an honor to be dismissed from an institution that betrayed my trust, slandered people I care about, and showed me its ugly underbelly with no sense of shame or serious desire for repair.

Barbara L. Walden