CONFIDENTIAL TO THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE URANTIA BOOK FELLOWSHIP AND THE
LIAISON CHAIR
Dear EC,
My general report follows. Marvin will add a supplement in a day or so, which I
will pass on to you.
There are some extreme and sensitive possibilities that are not mentioned in
this report, and will not be discussed until the Foundation is able to follow
through or not, at which time I will inform the EC of these issues either way,
when appropriate.
Marvin Gawryn was appointed by the EC as the Liaison Chair with the purpose of
working toward improved relations and communication between leaders in the
Fellowship, Foundation and Urantia Association Internation and to develop
collaboritve efforts between the organizations that benefit the mission of the
Urantian revelation, and to the healing of the historic rifts between the three
organizations.
After being approving the Position Guide for the Liaison Chair, Marvin made
arrangements for myself and him to spend time with the Foundation President,
Seppo Kanerva, at Silver Springs Culinary Resort in Ontario Canada. Sue and
Derek Tennant had graciously offered the resort to the Foundation for their
upcoming board meeting and welcomed us to visit. Seppo rearranged his flight
plan to arrive a day earlier just to spend the day with us before the other
Trustees arrived.
Marvin and I arrived in Toronto on Tues, August 8th, in the evening, and after
renting a car and driving close to 2 hours we arrived at Silver Springs. The
facilities and the surroundings have beautiful accommodations and outstanding
grounds with a magical sense in the air. An ideal setting to begin the meeting
of the minds in the Urantia community.
Bud Bromley, a friend and contemporary of Meredith Sprunger, was spending time
up at Silver Springs and was there during our stay. On Wednesday, I spent the
morning with Bud, a very sharp 80+ yr old math teacher and long time reader, who
showed me interesting uses for log rhythms, refreshed my algebra and we had some
deep and wonderful discussions regarding 4th and 5th dimensional math.
In the afternoon, Marvin and I drove back to Toronto airport to pick up Seppo
Kanerva. The drive back was comfortable and it appeared we would all get along
just fine. Seppo was exhausted as were the rest of us and we all went to bed
early.
On Thursday, after a gourmet breakfast fit for royalty, we got down to our
discussions. Before we started, we asked the two young helpers that were
attending us and are readers to join Sue, Seppo, Bud, Marvin and I in a prayer.
This was special, for here we had youth, the future represented in a two young
readers, and we had long experience and wisdom with the revelation in Bud, and
then we had those currently involved in the operations of the revelation Marvin
led the prayer and we all felt the special-ness of the moment.
We then present both Sue and Seppo with a leather bound Uversa Press edition of
The Urantia Book inscribe with "To our dear friend and brother, Seppo Kanerva.
with appreciation for your lifelong dedication to the Urantian revelation, and
to the spirit of unity and cooperation among all readers." It was signed by
Marvin and I on behalf of The Urantia Book Fellowship. To Sue, to read:"To our
dear brother and sister, Sue and Derek Tennant, with the deepest appreciation
for all that you do for the Urantian revelation community, and for your gracious
hospitality", and signed the same way. It should be mentioned that Derek was not
at Silver Springs, as he was fighting an illness an in the hospital.
All eyes were moist with emotion. I think it caught us all by surprise and they
both really appreciated the gesture.
The meeting started with Seppo stating his conviction to move forward, that he
is immune to any further criticism or personal attacks from the readers or the
leadership. It was obvious that he meant it too. He further let us know that
the Fellowship is more supportive (financial and otherwise) than other
organizations revolving around the revelation.
We then discussed three major areas of possible joint interest:
Cooperative Publishing Endeavors
Translations (two prong approach)
Endowment Fund (Urantia Community as a whole)
PUBLISHING: Many issues and thoughts were shared regarding Publishing. The
Foundation is dealing the decision as to whether they will publish only The
Urantia Book and all translations, or if they will also publish secondary works.
Their board is in the process of making these determinations. We can disclose
the other discussions in time or off the record, but to remain confidential.
We also discussed the possibility of partnering our efforts at Book Expos and
the importance of shelf space in book stores. We further discussed how the two
versions may help rather than hinder sales at retail stores. We lightly
explored the possibility of combined fulfillment of especially if sales volume
increases in order to streamline costs and improve efficiency. There is a
Frankfurt Book Fair that we might be able to do mild joint work and work with
the UAI in that area and/or with Renee Hagenaars who is setting up the Europe
Continent Foundation office.
TRANSLATIONS: Regarding translations, we discussed the ability of the
Fellowship to offer advanced web access abilities to aid translations. This was
of great interest to Seppo. He could see the advantages, especially with
current finished translations in need of revision. He said he needed time to
think though the issues of a translation in process, but could see advantages.
Seppo shared with us some of the difficulties they face with translations
(examples like the Spanish translation and the extreme positions by readers from
Spain, Mexico and Latin America). Seppo also liked the idea of seeing annotated
comments in the various versions and to be able to see how such words or
concepts were handled in other languages and the ability to catalogue all the
ideas. While he felt many of the translation ideas would be unusable, he saw
that true resources could be detected and contacted for further help and what
some translation issues would be detected early . He was appreciative, and I
think pleasantly surprised, that we would be so willing to help these endeavors.
ENDOWMENT FUND: Seppo had heard little of the Endowment Fund and was quite
skeptical. After further discussion, he became more interested, expressing the
thought that "it sounds as if this is going to happen with or without the
Foundation's involvement. It would be foolish to not be a part of it." It was
further discussed the importance that the Endowment Fund be funded with
bequeathals from readers wills and not from current donations, as all Urantian
organizations are suffering from severe lack of funds. Other than some large
Major Gifts to seed the fund.
There was discussion that revolved around the UAI. I will not be giving a
written report, but look forward to discussion at the EC meeting or conference
call. Some major changes in the near future are likely and we will need to be
prepared with how we will view such changes and the potential impact on the
Fellowship, which appears quite beneficial to our efforts.
Marvin and I then drove back to Toronto in a Van to pick up the other Trustees
and Associate Trustees. Marvin and I had to laugh at the apparent irony that
the Fellowship President and Liaison chair are the ones driving back and forth
to the airport picking up the Trustees and Associates as well as the President
the day before. They did not know we would be picking them up and were, well,
pleasantly surprised. Gard was not coming due to the serious illness of his
mother, and Richard missed the flight as he forgot his passport and would come
in much later that night. We picked up Jane Ploetz, Georges, Mo, Neil Waldrop
(Trustee Emeritus), and Jay Peregrine (Executive Director). Jorgan Andrews
(Associate Trustee) and a group of Spanish translators, Liza, Lorena, Alejandra,
and Leonardo arrived at Silver Springs a little later that evening.
It did not take long to get an idea of what Seppo was up against. Intense
discussion threaten to break out over the Uversa Press edition and how "it"
divided the community of loving readers halfway through our ride back to Silver
Springs. The EC can be proud of how we handled the situation. I, in the third
row seat in the back, and Marvin, who was driving, defused the situation well.
We diverted the discussion multiple times when the discussion became heated.
And we all arrived in good humor and spirits, with "uncertainty" at it's unsure
and vague best.
After helping get everyone to their rooms, we had another spectacular meal.
Again, the Uversa Press issue came up, with opinions that Uversa Press should
only publish secondary works etc. Marvin was ready and able, diffusing and
helping to frame the issue clearly. It appears that Seppo, Mo (and Gard by
phone) do not agree with some of the Associate Trustees in their opinions on the
issue.
Marvin effectively helped keep things controlled and cool. The discussions and
socializing went late into the night. Good spirits and cool heads prevailed.
The next morning we had breakfast and then moved over to the wonderful
conference center. The room is in another large structure 5-6 bedrooms and
bathrooms, a large common room and kitchen. The Conference room has a large
conference table able to sit 16 or more people, with additional chairs for
visitors. Seppo opened up the meeting and recapped our discussions the day
before. He did an outstanding job. All Trustee except Gard were present and I
believe all Associate Trustees except Nancy Shaffer and Rene' Hagenaars were
present.
Seppo again stated he was immune to the infighting, criticisms and would not
tolerate further lack of movement regarding important issues facing the
revelation. That if progressive momentum were to continued to be thwarted he
would feel it necessary to step down. It was obvious he is clear about getting
movement in our movement.
A variety of questions were directed to Marvin and myself. One question that
seemed very important to them was about the prevailing culture and attitudes of
the EC and GC, do they have strong feeling against the Foundation or still speak
ill of it or the UAI? Marvin spoke and then I and what we said seemed to set
them back in their seats. We stated that the EC nor the GC speak ill of either
organization, rather the opposite, that we have resolutions to substantially
move forward toward cooperative endeavors. We pointed out that our GC meetings
have been open and that a variety of readers sit in an hear what we are about.
We spoke of how it is important for us to be about the business of furthering
the revelation. That while we must get things accomplished, the Fellowship also
recognizes that "how" we go about doing our business is as important, if not
more so, that "what" we are doing.
We recognized the sincere efforts of the Foundation and UAI, and that many are
sincere 2nd and 3rd milers for the revelation. And to please remember that we
in the Fellowship also go the 2nd and 3rd mile, that all of us together are
dedicated to doing our Father's will and moving this revelation forward.
This, maybe more than anything else we said, spoke to them. Even the most
ardent advocates of a strict interpretation of the DOT were softened and spoke
with less edge. We let them know that we are interested in talking with the UAI
leadership, to hear them and move forward. We requested our need for names and
contact information as well as someone to help with warm introductions instead
of less conducive cold calls. We did get some contact info and will be about
getting in touch with them with Marvin's follow-up.
One of the interesting things I noted about their meetings is that they do not
take minutes. Personal notes were being taken and Seppo had an agenda, but no
secretary was taking minutes. Odd to me. It was asked by some Associate
Trustees that we send copies of our approved resolutions regarding cooperative
endeavors. Also any minutes that show the Fellowship has expressed it does not
agree with statements regarding the origin of the papers, as stated in court.
Some of the Trustees appeared to cringe somewhat at these requests, but said we
would find and send them.
Hopefully in a short time we will be able to divulge more of the issues at hand
and for all of us to begin figuring out how or what we will make happen. It is
exciting times and we all do have our work cut out for us.
A conference call is in order soon to discuss further some actions we may or may
not wish to take.
May all our efforts be about our Father's will,
President