Leadership Development Team
The Leadership Development Team is responsible for hosting events that promote the development of lay leaders in our congregations and district. This team sponsors and organizes President's Day, one major workshop each year and additional workshops at District Assembly or other events.
To contact the chair of this committee, Dianne Digianantonio, email her at leadership at ohiomeadville.org
Recap of Workshop on Leadership in a Multicultural World
Unpredictable conversations. Parking lots filled with bikes, old cars, new cars, motorcycles. People with different life experiences. Accessible. Energetic.
These are just some of the images that attendees envisioned during a meditation at an OMD conference, “Leadership in a Multicultural World,” held Oct. 10 at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Toledo, Ohio. The conference was produced by the OMD Leadership Development Team.
Rev. Hope Johnson, who had been scheduled as the keynote speaker, was unable to attend due to the death of her father, but she kindly arranged to have an able substitute lead the workshop. Rev. Dr. Om Prakash, whose birth name is John Gilmore, is director of racial and social justice for the Joseph Priestly District. A graduate of Meadville Lombard Divinity School, Om Prakash based his talk on a book by a UU professor at the University of Chicago, Ralph Burhoe, Ph.D.
“We are moving toward a global mindset,” said Om Prakash. He summarized Burhoe’s book, Toward a Scientific Theology, by tracking our evolutionary progress from the first living cell to a species with a global understanding of the need to work together to survive and awareness that we are one with the universe. “We are moving from dualism to pluralism as we recognize universal ways of thinking and feeling,” said Om Prakash. “We are the choice makers and can create a new world.”
If your congregation had a cosmic view, that we are part of all, what would be different? The spirit of your group? Your music? Your openness to truly welcoming more people, even those different from your church’s “culture”? If you would like to explore this topic more, consider attending one or more of the related events coming soon to our district.
Future workshops on multiculturalism in our congregations:
Over the next year, OMD will provide additional opportunities to explore the richness of multiculturalism.
- Jubilee One Anti-Racism Training will be held Dec. 4-6 at Allegheny UU Church in Pittsburgh
- Transforming Race Conference will be held March 11-13 at Ohio State University in Columbus. This is sponsored by the Kirwan Institute at OSU
- Workshop on multiculturalism will be held March 27 during the OMD assembly at Ohio University, Eastern Campus, St. Clairsville. This workshop will be sponsored by the OMD Leadership Development Team.
Members of the OMD Leadership Development Team are: Debra Gray Boyd of First UU of Columbus, Michelle Buhite of Jamestown UU Church, Herb Caponi of South Hills UU Church, Pittsburgh, Dianne Digianantonio of UU Congregation of Greater Canton, Dr. Avis Ellis of Allegheny UU Church and First Church Pittsburgh, Ken Franklin of East Shore UU Church, Rev. Joan Van Becelaere, district executive.
