Kitty and I, along with Bryan and Gretchen Buck, Rev. Carolyn Price and Orval Osborne, and Martha Kazlo, gathered with fellow supporters of Camp de Benneville Pines for the first annual Pacific Southwest Service Area Assembly, in lovely San Luis Obispo.
In case you missed it, the Pacific Southwest District of the UUA (PSWD) has ceased to function as an entity. Its efforts are now to conform to regionalization and merge with the Mountain Desert District of the UUA. It is a slow process. The PSWD exists in name and law only.
Into the breach stepped the Camp de Benneville Pines board and professional leadership. In case you did not know, our camp in the mountains, Camp de Benneville Pines, is owned by all the members of all the congregations of the area included in the PSWD, not by the PSWD or by the UUA. Camp leaders determined that in the void left by the PSWD, they would hold a gathering in the spirit of former District Assemblies, to do camp business, and to bind our 50 congregations together. The camp folks coined the term Pacific Southwest Service Area as a substitute for PSWD, which was the same group of covenanted congregations.
There were compelling keynote speakers, field trips to appeal to a variety of interests, and social times on campus at the Unitarian Universalists of San Luis Obispo to keep us mingling.
One great joy was to hear it announced that the Unitarian Universalist Church of Ventura (Yes, that’s us, UUCV) will host the second annual PSWSA Assembly in April, 2024.
This will be our great honor, and the good people of UU SLO have set a high bar for hospitality. I’m sure that we can limbo under it.
More to come.
Jim he/him
