Peter Morales - The visible spokesperson for Unitarian Universalism
(http://www.uuperspective.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/peter-morales-150x150.jpg)Rising quickly from member to Seminarian, to religious leader and becoming UUA President, Peter Morales shares his passion for the future of Unitarian Universalism. Here are some of the quotables taken from this episode:

-The largest religious group of people 35 and under is nothing (the nones.) This is a change from 12%-35% in the last century.
-Our religious cousins in nearly 8 yrs have lost up to 1/4 of there members.
-We are about where we were 10 yrs ago, less the past 3 yrs a 1% decline/yr. Although it's a bit misleading because 35%-40% of congregations are growing, 35% are declining and others in the middle are treading water.   -You went (to church) out of a sense of habit or obligation, those days are over .
-Nothing is stable right now, the ones (congregations) with leadership will thrive, and others that are missing leadership will not thrive. It's about learning how to reach out to those 10s of millions who have become skeptical -Church has become a bad brand. Because of  how people associate with it we have to
find a way of reaching and engaging people beyond what we do in Sunday morning programming
-So what's the solution? it's a problem with no obvious solution
-How do we adapt to a new environment?
-Interfaith work. We've never reached out as a faith organizations. There will be  more work in the coming year and is the future in this area. We can do it more easily than one of the other progressive faith communities can and I want us to live in to that possibility
-We're multifaith at our core, theologically, so we're natural people to lead and convene this effort.
Bio:
The Rev. Peter Morales is the eighth president of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). He was elected in June 2013 to a second four-year term.

Prior to his election, Morales served as the senior minister at Jefferson Unitarian Church in Golden, Colorado. From 2002 to 2004, Morales was the UUA Director for District Services. He has also served on the UUA Board of Trustees, as trustee from the Mountain Desert District, and on the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association (UUMA) Executive Committee, as the first person to carry its anti-racism, anti-oppression, multiculturalism portfolio.

Before entering the ministry, Morales was a Fulbright lecturer in Spain, a newspaper editor and publisher in Oregon, a Knight International Press Fellow in Peru, and a regional manager in California state government.

Morales grew up in San Antonio, Texas. He graduated with a B.A. from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, in 1967. He earned his M.Phil in American Studies from the University of Kansas in 1976 and his M.Div. from the Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley, California, in 1999.
Quote:
“No other faith aligns with the emerging culture the way we do. No other faith has our potential to touch lives and change the world.” - Peter Morales

Contact:

petermorales@uua.org

 

Final Credits: music thanks to:

"Carefree", "Open Those Bright Eyes", "Sweeter Vermouth"
Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/