"CLF" by Laura Cavicchio ©

VII. MORE RELIGIOUS PROSPECTING

Public announcement of the UCLF was made to the Association’s Annual Meeting in May, 1944 and an Executive committee was appointed on May 26.   Following the AUA Board’s adoption of the first financial plan, a sum of $3,177.00 was placed in the budget of the Department of Extension to subsidize the first year of the UCLF’s operation.^[75]  An inauguration service was held on September 12, 1944, and that October, a charter with thirty-four names was given to the Board of Directors, which then formally voted the UCLF into existence.^[76]   The Bond of Fellowship was stated as "Avowing as our sole bond of Fellowship our earnest desire to lead pure pure, reverent and useful lives, to seek together the love which quickens fellowship and the truth which makes them free."   A revised purpose was stated as "to provide a spiritual home for isolated Unitarians and their families, and to transfer the allegiance of its members to local Unitarian churches whenever and wherever possible."  For students and members of the armed forces, the minimum annual contribution would be $2.00, and upon recommendation of the Minister, the Executive committee could waive or modify the financial requirement. 

      Provision for worship to be conducted weekly under the general charge of the Honorary Minister was also made. ^[77]  As an act of establishing the worship life of the Church, the CLF funded the purchase of a Baldwin organ for the Eliot Chapel and dedicated it on November 20, 1944 in memory of William Ware Locke.  As for correspondence and literature, it was decided that each member or family would receive at least three pieces of mail per month, and that special messages would be sent at Christmas and Easter. ^[78] Within the first year, the Minister reported that the parents of children in ten families were being helped in a home-study plan worked out with Mr. Kuebler of the Division of Education of the AUA and that resources for devotional periods for family use were being prepared. ^[79]  The following year, membership totaled 280 persons from thirty-eight states, Hawaii, Canada, Mexico, and South America, and members of the armed forces. ^[80] 

       As in the early days of The Post Office Mission, names of prospects were continually being gathered by hand.  A testimonial letter from a woman in Oregon published in the Christian Register of October, 1944 echoes the sentiments of earlier times:

 " I have found the truly liberal church, based on broad concepts of Christianity, with reason as the guiding light.  This idea of the Unitarian Church of the Larger Fellowship dawned on me like the vision of Damascus! You who have been reared as Unitarians have no conception of the need of such a church." 

In that same article, the Chairman of The UCLF’s Executive Committee member, Dr. Frederick R. Griffin stated: 

"If the members have vision, which is a creating force, and missionary zeal, without which no movement can advance, this Church of the Larger Fellowship may become an influence of the first rank of importance as well as a home of the soul for all who enter it." ^[81] 

By 1946, the war now over, the UCLF had adopted the slogan "My Church Coming to Me". ^[82]  Albert Dieffenbach’s report from that year shows that the membership had grown to 600 contributing members and an overall constituency of 1400.  Religious education materials were provided in cooperation with the AUA’s Department of Education.  In addition to correspondence from the Minister, members were also writing to one another. ^[83]  New members were now also located through advertising as well as the usual channels.  Upon receipt of an inquiry or a referral, the minister would send each potential newcomer an invitation to join the church.  A report from the time states:

"Because there is not a creedal requirement for admission, but simply the affirmation of a spiritual living purpose, the church includes men and women who belong to a number of denominations…The Larger Fellowship is above and beyond sectarianism…the people come, and they find themselves among kindred minds and hearts…and they obtain the continuous services of a real church."  ^[84]

The UCLF was a living model of free religion:  "OUR CHURCH, BEYOND SECT AND DIVISION" was the slogan from 1947.   "… there is not in Christendom or elsewhere a church quite like ours.  This is a new creation ….by means of our communications constantly coming and going we are united in the bonds of spiritual fellowship" ^[85]  The following year, the UCLF claimed members in every state of America, eight Canadian provinces, and nearly twenty countries.  Its promotional brochure stated, "The Most Important Weapon in the World is an Idea":

"Neither torture nor the sword nor the legions of any dictator anywhere, nor bombs, nor bullets, nor poison gas have been able to obliterate the idea…of freedom, or reason in religion, of the dignity of the individual man, of generous tolerance for the beliefs of others…"^[86]

Still another role played by The UCLF in this time period was that of actively aiding and abetting the Unitarian Fellowship movement.  As has been previously noted, the Fellowship movement was primarily a child of the Western Unitarian experience.  With its institutionalization as a program of the AUA in 1948, its Director, Munroe Husbands, was appointed Clerk of the UCLF.  From this point on, the UCLF became an integral part of extension and its budget was included in that of the department.  ^[87]   With a tone reminiscent of The Pamphlet Mission’s fervor to reach the "fives and tens and twenties in small towns", the 1948 annual report describes "cooperating with the Director of Fellowship Units by encouraging our members to find ten persons in each of their communities, which is the number required for organizing a Unit". ^[88]  According to one account, it was out of the CLF membership lists that the concept and organization of the fellowships came, and the first fellowships in Long Island, Colorado, the Canal Zone, and Connecticut were formed in

1947-48…"^[89]  By the year 1961 and merger with the Universalists, geographically clustered UCLF members, with help from Munroe Husbands, had gathered to establish more than 400 new UU congregations, most of which were fellowships. ^[90]                

  The 1950 UCLF Annual Report describes the systematic, cooperative plan between the  Larger Fellowship and

"…the Extension Committee of the General Alliance…When an individual or a family moves to another community, the Alliance representative immediately notifies the Larger Fellowship office.  We in turn check to see if there is a Unitarian church or Fellowship Unit in this community.  If so, the minister or leader is urged to contact the newcomers; if not, an invitation is extended to join the Larger Fellowship."

The same report states: "Each year about 1600 invitations are given…there are at present, in good standing, about 860 contributing members.  Of the total number (1700), 375 persons have been dismissed to local churches and Fellowship units; eighty-five have died and others have discontinued." ^[91]   Recall, too, in the twentieth century words below, those from Unity regarding the ministry in 1886 of the Post Office Mission workers: "for the mission belongs to the laymen and can be carried on, though no minister is within a thousand miles.  Is any church a church, until it is a missionary of its faith?"

Members of the Larger Fellowship who remove to communities where there are Unitarian churches are commended to unite with them.  About three hundred members altogether have joined local congregations and Fellowship Units.  Six of the Units have been composed chiefly of Larger Fellowship members.  The first Unitarian society south of the Rio Grande River was founded by members of the Larger Fellowship, with Mr. Elmer C. Dunkelberg as lay minister. ^[92]

Here is another account:

The great Westport, Connecticut church began with a single CLF member in Argentina who came to Fairfield County and requested names of other CLF members.  From this nucleus grew the Fairfield County Fellowship, one of the first, and the first Fellowship to '‘graduate’ to Church status, and the first to erect a building… ^[93]

  Albert Dieffenbach retired as Acting Minister in 1949 and was given the title of  ‘Minister Emeritus’ through 1963.  The role of Acting Minister was assumed in 1949 by the Rev. Dan Huntington Fenn, followed shortly by the Rev. Grant A. Butler, then Director of the AUA’s Department of Extension.  This put the UCLF in direct relationship with that department.  Butler had many ambitions for growing the fellowship.  Under his leadership some reorganization plans were implemented, including the introduction of an Every Member canvass.  Almost immediately the church became fully self-supporting.  During this time, the UCLF was given voting privileges at the Annual Meeting of the Association by four delegates and the Minister.  A name change was also considered, and the membership even voted on alternative names such as "Unitarian Church at Large" and "Unitarian World Fellowship", which received the most votes.  Correspondence was, as always, central to ministry, as seen in this account regarding the minister:

"It takes a great deal of his time, both evenings and weekends, and during the week to answer the steady flow of correspondence which comes to him from the members…the life of the church depends on the flow of correspondence…"  ^[94]

Under Butler’s ministry, a women’s alliance and a layman’s league were formed.^[95]  He also wanted the church to promote itself more in foreign countries and build membership there, so the Executive Committee began plans to work with the Department of World Churches. ^[96]

It was during this time in 1953 that, with the help of Munroe Husbands and a dedicated group of women with at least five years experience in religious education, the UCLF’s first full-fledged Religious Education program was established.  Some work in this area had been done by the Minister in connection with Mr. Keubler, but time for personal attention to families had been limited.  The new Religious Education Committee consisted of eight volunteers who engaged in correspondence consultations with families, prepared special resources, and converted teacher’s manuals for use by parents in the home. The Committee began the process of organizing a club for Unitarian children and launched the "Church School by Mail" program by adapting lessons from the Beacon curriculum series of the AUA’s Department of Education. ^[97]  Curriculum books were available for borrow.  Now the CLF could really begin to stress its home program. ^[98]  This was a significant turning point, as the future Minister, George Marshall would write in his book, Challenge of a Liberal Faith: 

In the Church of the Larger Fellowship parents are the teachers, not only actually, as always, but also the acknowledged teachers.  That the responsibility for the religious guidance of the child rests directly on the parent has profoundly affected the CLF religious education program.  The members of the religious education committee have written and adapted materials specifically for isolated families…"  ^[99]

The 1954 Tenth Anniversary report states of the UCLF:

"Founded by the Board of Directors of the Unitarian Association, the score of charter members were mostly Board members and the officers of the Association; today the membership exceeds 1500 people, the majority living in North America, yet with some representation in all of the other continents. The Church is the responsibility of the Association and is administered through an Executive committee of seven members; the President of the Association is Honorary Minister.  In May, 1951, the By-Laws of the American Unitarian Association were amended to acknowledge officially the Church of the Larger Fellowship, and also to entitle the Church to be represented at all Association meetings by its minister and four voting delegates."

Sermons were now distributed bi-monthly and there was a lending library.  Besides alliance associations for adults, children and teenagers were eligible for membership in Junior Fellowship and Liberal Religious Youth. 

As for extension, the UCLF served as "a clearing house for the denomination…" ^[100]  The intention was that "with the cooperation" of ministers and lay folk alike, through word of mouth and the willingness of CLF’ers and others to form groups, "Unitarians moving from one community to another might have a continuous membership in a church, a Fellowship, or the Larger Fellowship…"^[101]   Minutes of a 1958 UCLF Executive Committee record these comments by the Minister:

"I am still astonished at the vision which initiated the UCLF…Here the isolated and lonely liberal finds a home and fellowship.  From here he and others may initiate a fellowship and later a church…it is a fundamental factor in the growing movement.  The UCLF is meaningful in a wider context.  It represents a sociological thrust toward the one and to the few in an age of mass gatherings and assembly-conditioned conformity.  It further places at the center of life the thinking person in his home, the concerned parent in the companionship of inquiry with his and her children.  The person in intimate relationship is the focus of the UCLF.  And at a minimum cost, it essays this task by correspondence and unpretentious pamphleteering supplemented by loaned books. ^[102]

Accounts such as this invoke those of Susan Lloyd Jones in which she described the days of taking the liberal word from "farmhouse to farmhouse" on the Western frontier.  For different and similar reasons both, the "sociological thrust toward the one and to the few" was as needed in 1955 as it was in 1855.    

Other testimony of the time proclaims the continuing partnership that the UCLF maintained with outreach groups such as the Unitarian Laymen’s League.  To keep visible, the CLF placed its own print and radio advertisements from time to time, but the more extensive promotional plan was managed by the League with the use of funds from the CLF budget. ^[103]  In 1958, Caroline and Nelson Simonson responded to a League advertisement in The New York Times that sported the caption, "Are You A Unitarian Without Knowing It?"  Since they did not live close to a UU church or fellowship, their names were added to the trial mailing list of the UCLF and they were invited to join the church at the expiration of the trial period.  Nelson’s career was with the United States Navy, and with each base assignment, the family got to try out a new naval chapel or local church.  "We were always open to new ideas," Nelson explains, "But at this point, our children were asking hard questions."  ^[104]  They decided to try this new idea for church, and soon became members of the larger fellowship.  Then in the Cold War of the 1960’s, Nelson had to leave his family for extended duty in Cuba.  "During that time and ever since, the CLF has been a backstay,"  Nelson asserts.  "That’s a sailing term – it means a line that supports the masthead and keeps it in configuration, like an anchor."            

The 1960’s were a productive time for the UCLF, and it was decided that the church now demanded a full-time Minister.  Since Alfred Dieffenbach, the last ten years had seen four part-time UCLF Ministers, all officers elsewhere in the AUA, mostly in the Department of Extension. The Rev. Grant Butler was followed by the Rev. Richard B. Gibb, who was followed by the Rev. Paul F. Harris.  The Rev. George Marshall was to become the first UCLF Minister with pastoral, organizational, and promotional duties. ^[105]  By 1960, the Every Member canvass was bringing in $35,000 and as a responsible ‘citizen’ of the denomination, the UCLF was making substantial annual contributions to the Unitarian Service committee and the United Unitarian Appeal.  The newsletter expressed pride in the UCLF as "a church to which I belong as well as a "depository for transient Unitarians", a means for spreading the liberal gospel, and still a spiritual home for those in the armed forces and the invalid. ^[106]  By now, the UCLF was creating and distributing its own youth publications: Junior Fellowship News, Uniteen News, and Horizons, and circulation was growing..  As a religious education volunteer later put it, "We started out corresponding with the parents, but before long the children were involved." ^[107]

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^[75] Richard B. Gibbs, Minister, "Unitarian Church of the Larger Fellowship", Feb., 1961, archives of the UUCLF.

^[76] Marie H. Walling, "I am Not Alone: Church of the Larger Fellowship –Twenty Years Old", reprinted from The Unitarian Universalist Register Leader, March, 1965, archives of the UUCLF.

^[77] The UCLF By-Laws (As Amended), October, 1944, archives of the UUCLF.

^[78] Minutes, Executive committee Meeting, July, 1944, archives of the UUCLF.

^[79] Minutes, Executive Committee Meeting, Feb. 21, 1945, archives of the UUCLF.

^[80] Report dated 1945, archives of the UUCLF.

^[81] Christian Register, October, 1944, archives of the CLFUU.

^[82] Letter to the membership from Rev. Albert Dieffenbach, Dec. 30, 1946, archives of the UUCLF.

^[83] Report of 1946 by Rev. Albert Dieffenbach, archives of the UUCLF.

^[84] Ibid, 1946

^[85] Ibid, 1947.

^[86] Brochure, "The Most Important Weapon in the World is an Idea", 1948, archives the UUCLF.

^[87] Munroe Husbands, undated memo to Tom Chulak, "Some Extension/CLF History", archives of the UUCLF

^[88] Report of 1948 by the Rev. A. Dieffenbach, archives of the UUCLF.

^[89] "CLF: A Thumbnail Profile", published with the Board of Directors Minutes, January 17, 1968, UUCLF archives.

^[90] "CLF’s Historical Timeline Tidbits, undated document, archives of the UUCLF (author unknown).

^[91] Ibid, 1950.

^[92] UCLF Annual Report, 1949, archives of the UUCLF.

^[93] CLF – A Thumbnail Profile, from Board of Directors Minutes, January 17, 1968, archives of the UUCLF.

^[94] Minutes, Executive Committee Meeting, Dec. 22, 1952, archives of the UUCLF.

^[95] "Monroe Husbands, "A Brief History of the Church of the Larger Fellowship, UUA, June 9, 1958, archives of the UUCLF.

^[96] Minutes, Executive Committee Meeting, Feb. 20, 1953, archives of the UUCLF.

^[97] Walling, "I am Not Alone", ibid.

^[98] Minutes, Ibid.

^[99] George N. Marshall, Challenge of a Liberal Faith (New York: Pyramid Books, 1967), 172.

^[100] The Rev. Grant A. Butler, Report, 1954, archives of the UUCLF.

^[101] "UCLF Ministers’ Seminar", 1955, archives of the UUCLF.

^[102] Minutes, Executive Committee Meeting, March 12, 1958, archives of the UUCLF.

^[103] "Statistical Report of the Clerk, October 22,1964-January 19, 1965" and Board Minutes, November 18, 1965, archives of the UUCLF.

^[104] Telephone interview with Nelson Simonson, October, 2001, used with permission.  Note: As of this writing, Caroline Simonson serves on the Executive Committee of the UUCLF Board of Directors.

^[105] Memo from Richard B Gibbs to Dana M. Greeley, dated Aug. 17, 1960, archives of theUUCLF.

^[106] "News Bulletin", Dec. 14, 1960, archives of the UUCLF.

^[107] Walling, "I am Not Alone", ibid.

Last updated June 12, 2005