Update. A press piece yesterday by Jane Greer at UUWorld.org notes the likely maximum is $615,000 — perhaps the first source heard a report rather than reading one — making $1.23 million. So the UUA Board of Trustees, in a special meeting last night, passed a resolution commending this year’s General Assembly to move the… Continue reading What $1.3 million could buy
Category: Debt
How you’ve learned to cope with less
This isn’t a “favorite lentil soup” post as such. Will Shetterly yesterday linked to two article about class, one of which was “Rich People Things, with Chris Lehmann: A Steady Diet of Nothing” From that article comes this vital point: While there’s little data this early in our present calamity to track the formation of… Continue reading How you’ve learned to cope with less
PolityWonk on ministerial formation
I agree with Elizabeth (of “Elizabeth’s Little Blog”) that you should read PolityWonk’s “How UU Ministry Got to Be So Expensive” — and especially the little-told parts of the story from point #7 onwards. In a related note, my own choice of seminary was conditioned on the full tuition I got from Brite Divinity School (M.Div.… Continue reading PolityWonk on ministerial formation
Silverman on church finances
Yes, it’s a bit rude and tons of people have seen this. But it’s Sarah Silverman and I totally heart her. And I love where she goes with respect to church wealth. And not just — by implication — the biggest owners.
Making the church building pay its way, part 0
There’s a charming old picture of the hoary Universalist church in Oxford, Massachusetts with retail space on its ground floor and the meeting-space above. Wise, that. Empty churches — by which I mean the buildings — are bad stewards no matter where or when they are, and these days a bad steward might kill the… Continue reading Making the church building pay its way, part 0
When discounting memberships, internationally
Another church administration tidbit, in a roundabout way, though really more directed to membership organizations with any sort of international outreach — Membership organizations usually offer discounts for cause to members of certain classes of person — the young, the unemployed, students, the elderly, low earners, the retired, military service personnel, and so on —… Continue reading When discounting memberships, internationally
Future of theological education?
Several years ago, visiting a colleague-friend, I visited the Universalist-founded Tufts University, musing that this was as close as I was ever to get to a formal Universalist education. Crane, the Universalist seminary at Tufts, and St. Lawrence, the Universalist seminary in upstate New York were both closed in the late 1960s because the powers-that-were… Continue reading Future of theological education?
My apartment’s real cost
Hubby and I live in a mid-grade rental apartment in a newly-nice neighborhood very close to downtown D.C. We both walk to work. (Washington, D.C. has one of the highest rates of pedestrian commuters in the country.) We don’t own a car. Most people who don’t live in New York or Los Angeles think we… Continue reading My apartment’s real cost
Practice now to cope later
Whether you look to the emerging global environmental crisis, the emerging global financial crisis or the spiritual and cultural crisis that may come from the two, I think life is going to be harder for most people as time goes on. Of course, for millions, the hardship may be fatal or at the very least… Continue reading Practice now to cope later
I’m having the best week ever!
I got paid today. I looked at my bills and expenses. I thought about my options. I made a decision. I just made a payment to retire my student debt. Done. Gone. A part of which dates to 1989. Over. Oh, and I also bought something nifty today. (With cash, of course.) More about that… Continue reading I’m having the best week ever!