News

Warwick church drops fossil fuel company stock

By Marlene Gasdia-Cochrane Inspired by letters and measures taken by Massachusetts Conference Minister and President Jim Antal, the members of the Trinitarian Congregational Church of Warwick are taking action and divesting. For several years the church has been holding 70 shares of Exxon Mobil Corporation stock that were donated to them, and reaping the cash dividends. However, on March 10th, the members unanimously voted to divest the church of those stocks. “It was the right thing to...

Five UCC conferences join MACUCC in call for divestment

Five United Church of Christ Conferences have now joined the Massachusetts Conference in its call on the denomination to divest from fossil fuel companies as part of an effort to combat climate change. The Massachusetts Conference Board of Directors in December voted to bring a Resolution urging divestment from Fossil Fuel Companies to the UCC General Synod this summer.  The Southwest, Central Atlantic and New York conferences signed on as co-sponsors and now...

Antal reflects on Ash Wednesday arrest

Update: Read Jim Antal's column on his arrest in the Sojourners Blog, God's Politics: To Dust You Shall Return: In the Meantime — Acting With Gratitude and Conviction, Feb. 15, 2013   Massachusetts Conference Minister and President Jim Antal was one of 48 environmental activists arrested in front of the White House on Wednesday as part of an act of civil disobedience calling on President Barak Obama to block a proposed oil pipeline. Others arrested included author and...

Board call for fossil fuel divestment receives national attention; Southwest Conference joins effort

The recent vote by the Massachusetts Conference Board of Directors calling on the entire United Church of Christ to divest from fossil fuel companies is receiving national attention. In the cover article of the Jan. 9 issue of The Christian Century, environmental activist Bill McKibben lifted up the efforts of the Conference in his call for schools, churches and municipalities to divest.  (THE CHRISTIAN CENTURY: Playing offense: It’s time to divest from the...

Board of Directors votes to bring resolution to Synod calling for divestment from fossil fuel companies

The Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Conference voted Monday night to bring a resolution to General Synod calling on all settings of the United Church of Christ and its 1.2 million members to divest from fossil fuel companies. “Humanity is ready to take action. The UCC is ready to lead,” said Conference Minister and President The Rev. Dr. Jim Antal. “We can’t continue to profit from wrecking God’s creation – not through our pensions, not through...

MACUCC Minister & President jailed for 3 days

Massachusetts Conference Minister and President The Rev. Jim Antal unexpectedly spent three days and two nights in jail in Washington DC, after being arrested during a sit-in aimed at pressuring President Obama to deny the permit for a massive new oil pipeline. "We expected to be arrested and given the opportunity to bail ourselves out that day," Antal said of himself and the other 64 protestors arrested on Saturday, Aug. 20. "But what ended up happening was that we were...

Churches ring bells to raise awareness of need to reduce carbon in the atmosphere

In 2008, Massachusetts Conference Minister & President Jim Antal challenged churches in the Conference to ring their bells 350 times to raise awareness of the need to reduce carbon in the atmosphere to the sustainable level of 350 ppm (the current level is almost 450 ppm.)  The action was part of the 350 campaign (350.org) started by acclaimed environmental expert Bill McKibben. Participating churches were encouraged to seek as much local publicity for their action...

Resolution to Reverse Climate Change and Protect God's Creation approved by the 210th Annual Meeting (2009)

    Click here to download this resolution as a PDF document.  Approved by the 210th Annual Meeting, Massachusetts Conference, United Church of Christ, October 17, 2009, DCU Center and Hilton Garden Hotel, Worcester. Submitted by the Commission for Mission and Justice Ministries of the MACUCC at the request of the Environmental Ministries Committee. The Bible begins with the creation stories in Genesis ---God calls all of creation good and shows us that the earth, air,...

Resolution to Send a Call for Environmental Education and Action to General Synod approved by the 206th Annual Meeting (2005)

Approved by the 206th Annual Meeting of the Massachusetts Conference, United Church of Christ, June 4, 2005 WHEREAS, each day of Creation, as recorded in Genesis, is followed by the affirmation, “God saw that it was good.” (Gen. 1), and humans are given the care/stewardship of this creation; and  WHEREAS, a number of Psalms proclaim the glory of God’s handiwork (8: 1-9, 19: 1-6, 65: 9-13), and Jesus looked to the lilies of the field and the sparrows for natural...

Resolution to Invite Congregations to Endorse the Earth Charter approved by the 204th Annual Meeting (2003)

Approved by the 204th Annual Meeting, June 6-7, 2003, Mount Holyoke College. Proposed by First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, Williamstown Background: Urgent worldwide concern brought the Earth Charter into existence at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. From the beginning, the emphasis was on saving and sharing energy, protection of species, concern for poverty, controlling pollution, and honoring the gift of the earth, our home. The final version was approved and released by...

Resolution for a Healthy Tomorrow approved by the 204th Annual Meeting (2003)

Approved by the 204th Annual Meeting, June 6-7, 2003, Mount Holyoke College. Proposed by the Environmental Task Force of the Commission for Mission and Justice Ministries WHEREAS, The 202nd Annual Meeting of the Massachusetts Conference of the United Church of Christ voted to approve a Resolution on the Environment and the Church, urging church members, congregations, lay and religious leaders and the Commission for Mission of Justice to be prayerful and mindful of our responsibility to...

Resolution on the Environment and the Church approved by the 202nd Annual Meeting (2001)

Voted by the 202nd Annual Meeting, June 9, 2001 As Christians, we say that God created the earth and called it good. Human beings are called to care for the earth. We do not own it, but are to treasure it and nurture it as a sacred trust.   WHEREAS, A pattern of ecosystem changes produced by human behavior threatens human survival; and a suffering earth, like the prophets, cries out against human greed, neglect, and destructiveness; and WHEREAS, Christians are called to respond...