Unitarian Universalist
Congregation in Milford

Partner Church

The UU Partner Church Council was formed in 1990 to help foster a cultural, spiritual, andeconomic bond between American congregations and partner churches in Transylvania. That year UUCM formed a partnership with the Unitarian church in the town of Szekely Szentmihaly in the Transylvania area of Romania.

The Partner Church Committee was formed to focus on our partner church. The committee's ongoing projects include:

• Fundraising to support our partner church
• Holding social events with Hungarian foods, music, and videos from Szentmihaly, to create a cultural bond for UUCM members
• Coordinating penpals between the children of our congregation and theirs
• Supporting any travelers from our congregation who make the trek to Szentmihaly

Members of our congregation have visited our partner church on 5 different occasions, most recently in the summer of 2004. The travelers included 3 teenagers from our congregation, who met and stayed with their pen pals' family while in the village. Upon their return, Rev. Barbara wrote this Reflection entitled "A Minister's Life".

Past assistance to our partner church has included:

• Financial support for a large-scale multi-year project to bring a gas pipeline to the village, providing heat to public buildings. Because gas was available, a Dutch company built a small commercial building and began manufacturing automobile airbags, bringing new jobs to the village in 2006.
• Immediate financial aid sent to families who suffered the loss of buildings, crops and livestock during flash flooding in August, 2005. Szeke Szentmihaly was one of 14 villages devastated by a flash flood.
• The UUA Partner Church Committee completed a Community Capacity Building study to help residents come to consensus on which town wide building projects are their highest priority. Read the complete report.