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Saturday, January 16, 1997

Dear General Councilors, Society Presidents, Society Secretaries:

I regret the delay in providing you with a report of our meeting with the Trustees of Urantia Foundation last Saturday. The meeting seemed to go quite well. At its conclusion all five Fellowship representatives were feeling quite optimistic, as were the Trustees. Since the purpose of this meeting was to seek greater understanding and cooperation between our organizations, I was concerned that any report we made about what the Trustees said be accurate from their perspective as well as ours. We have learned to misunderstand one another all too easily. Therefore, after preparing a report on Monday, I sent it to Pat Mundelius for verification. That process turned out to be more involved than anticipated. There were a number of items which Pat felt required adjustment or elimination. In addition, events occurred subsequent to the meeting that further confused and delayed the effort to provide an account acceptable to both groups. Consequently, this report is presented from the perspective of the Fellowship; more specifically, it represents my best current understanding of what happened at this meeting and subsequently.

Please consider this an interim report, subject to correction based upon further information and clarification. The Trustees may not entirely agree with my account of the meeting. We will have to let things to clarify as we go along. Discussions with the Trustees continue on a daily basis. A full report on both the meeting and related subsequent events will be made in Kansas City. By that time much that is now uncertain may be resolved.

The Fellowship representatives were Steve Dreier, Gard Jameson, Marilynn Kulieke, Harry McMullan and Mo Siegel. Foundation Trustees were Tom Burns, Georges Dupont, Richard Keeler and Pat Mundelius. There is currently a vacancy on the Foundation’s Board of Trustees.

Our initial impression was that the meeting went well, better than anticipated. We met with the Trustees at 533 Diversey Parkway from 9-5 on Saturday, January 11. The atmosphere was entirely cordial. There was none of the irritation, arrogance and condescension often experienced in the past. Discussions were frank, ranging over a variety of topics including lawsuits, trademarks, copyright, advertising, translations, communications, reader references, organizational differences, and cooperative activities. There were no forbidden subjects. While matters from the past were mentioned, we did not dwell on them. Attention was directed to future possibilities.

The Fellowship representatives indicated repeatedly that they had no authority to bind the Fellowship to any agreements or understandings. Viewpoints expressed were personal opinions. Action of the Executive Committee/General Council is required to bind the Fellowship. The items listed below are all subject to this understanding. Any reference to “agreements” should be viewed only as an account of what was said, unless otherwise indicated.

1. The Foundation is willing to inform inquiring readers of all study groups in an area. If we provide them with a list of study groups, they will incorporate it into their study group database. They will instruct their office staff about this matter. The Foundation has not referred readers to most study groups listed in the Study Group Directory since 1989. The Executive Committee subsequently approved of this understanding and action is now being taken to provide Urantia Foundation with study group information. We should see some effects of this by the time we meet in Kansas City.

We offered to list Foundation associated study groups in the Study Group Directory. The Foundation will poll their study group list to determine which groups wish to be included in the Study Group Directory.

2. It was agreed that future meetings between board members of the Fellowship and the Foundation were desirable. Fellowship representatives indicated that future meetings should include the entire Executive Committee and possibly the entire General Council. We discussed the possibility of the Trustees coming to the February mid-year meeting, but their schedule conflicts will not allow that. We agreed to try to find a mutually acceptable date for another meeting in the near future.

3. There was agreement that direct communications between respective officers should be the primary means of getting accurate information about matters of concern. This would replace reliance on hearsay, office staff, and other sources less equipped to provide full and accurate information. This understanding has already been acted on with respect to at least one matter that would certainly have resulted in significant problems. As of this moment, direct communication appears to have resolved the matter, and led to progress in another area as well.

4. The possibility of jointly sponsored translations was discussed briefly. The Trustees seemed amenable to further discussion of the concept. One Trustee, Georges Dupont, seemed to feel quite positively about the concept. His primary Foundation responsibilities concern printing and translations. Subsequent to the meeting we were informed that the area of Fellowship-Foundation relationships was also assigned to Georges Dupont.

5. There was general agreement that it would be desirable to minimize/eliminate organizational denigration, particularly in official publications. Respective office staffs should also be instructed to refrain from expressing negative attitudes. It was recommended that those holding organizational positions clearly indicate when making public statements whether they are speaking for their organization or as individuals.

6. The Fellowship representatives encouraged the Trustees to consider using the Fellowship’s paper-section-paragraph notation in future Foundation editions of The Urantia Book. The Trustees indicated they would give the suggestion serious consideration.

7. The Trustees expressed concern with some of the advertising copy the Fellowship is using to market its new edition of The Urantia Book. They feel that some of it is false and/or unfair. As a courtesy, and in the interest of improving relationships, we discussed the possibility of showing proposed advertising copy to the Trustees for their comment. Perhaps we can find language which is mutually acceptable to both groups. In doing this, the Fellowship would retain full right to determine the content of its advertising.

8. We discussed the problem of litigation in the Urantia community. We strongly recommended that the Trustees seek alternate means of settling disputes concerning intellectual property and other matter. With respect to the Fellowship, we asked that no legal action ever be taken without a face to face meeting between principals of the two organizations. The Trustees indicated they understood our suggestion and would discuss it further among themselves.

9. The Trustees stated that, as Trustees, their primary loyalty is to the Foundation’s Declaration of Trust. They pointed out that, according to that document, they are required to maintain absolute control over the physical fact of The Urantia Book and all translations thereof, and that they were duty bound to carry out those provisions as best they could.

10. The general principle of fostering sympathetic understanding and cooperative activities between the two organizations was agreed to by all present.

The Fellowship representatives left this meeting with the feeling that the Trustees are genuinely seeking to improve relationships between the Fellowship and the Foundation, significant differences of viewpoint notwithstanding. Subsequent discussions and events suggested that our initial impressions might have been overly optimistic. Further discussion tended to somewhat restore that optimism. The sawtooth experience of this week is probably a reasonable indicator of the challenge involved making bona fide improvement in the relationship between the Fellowship and the Foundation.

There do appear to be real opportunities for improvement of inter-organizational understanding and cooperation, but progress may not come quickly or easily; nor are we likely to be able to resolve every difference in a mutually satisfactory manner. An attitude of controlled optimism seems reasonable at this time. The Trustees say they want to make things better; they also say that their basic objectives are unchanged. We say the same things. Just how these two sentiments will fit together is far from clear.

As usual, a wide range of opinion has been expressed about this matter. Some Fellowship members are not convinced that the Trustees are sincere in seeking to improve the relationship between the Foundation and the Fellowship. They want to see more tangible evidence of that sincerity before accepting the proposition as valid. In addition, years of separation and animosity have provided an atmosphere tinged with misunderstanding, suspicion and distrust.

Nevertheless, we must begin from where we are. Each of us, individually and collectively, must decide how we will proceed in this matter. At this point whatever potentials there are for improvement between our two organizations are young and fragile. This makes them easy to damage and difficult to culture. Under such conditions the actions of each individual are greatly magnified. If these apparent potentials are to mature into something better than what we have now, it will require from each of us the best of our thought, word and deed. If we are not willing to bring those attributes to bear, we would be better off not even trying. This is probably one of those situations in which failure is likely to leave the matter worse confused.

Let us hope for the best, and do all we can to bring that about. Most readers are sincerely interested in seeing a genuine improvement in relationship between the Fellowship and the Foundation. Such an improvement is possible only where there is an atmosphere of mutual respect, sincerity, honesty and flexibility. If these elements are absent, on either side, we are not likely to see much progress. Pray that the advocates for both groups find themselves amply provided with those essential endowments, and with the courage to use them to evolve these apparent potentials into new and better realities for a new and better future.

Feel free to contact any of the Fellowship members who attended the meeting if you would like further information or clarification on this report.

I look forward to seeing you in Kansas City.

In fellowship,

Steve Dreier

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