CUUPS Summer 2026 Newsletter

CUUPS Newsletter

Happy 40th Birthday Celebration

2026 CUUPS Convocation

Presenter Bios & Registration

Happy 40th Birthday, CUUPS!

As our country prepares to celebrate 250 years, here in my home state, where the revolution began, we celebrate 251 years since the demand to separate was made to the king of England a year earlier. Along with that milestone, many of the coastal towns and cities in Massachusetts have been celebrating or preparing to celebrate their 400th anniversaries over the next few years.

When I think about how young the separation of church and state is in many ways, holding to our commitment to it takes fortitude and vigilance to continue defending it. How perfect that the CUUPS Convocation and Birthday Celebrations are being held in a city that started out with a theocratic form of government that the church manipulated. Salem’s Puritans were not the kindest of leaders during the 1600s, and over time, with thanks to so many, including Unitarians, Universalists, and Congregationalists, it has transformed into a progressive, welcoming, and religiously diverse community.

As Salem turns 400 years old, our host, First Church in Salem, turns 397. It seems a fitting place to honor our place in UUism to celebrate in the church whose congregants were at the epicenter of the Salem Witch Trials.

Since 1986, CUUPS has made a difference in Unitarian Universalist circles and in our larger Pagan and Earth-Centered communities. It has taken a lot of work from extremely committed people running things, managing volunteers, facilitating chapters, doing inter- and intra- faith collaboration, setting up events for GA and other convocations, and serving our connected congregations. The last Convocation was held in 2016 when the book “Pagan and Earth-centered Voices of Unitarian Universalist Pagans” by Rev. Shirley Ranck and me was released.

We anticipate 75-100 participants at convocation over the full weekend, plus our day trippers on Saturday. Our workshop presenters are excited to come and support the celebrations. The ritual team is planning daily rituals, and the worship leader is preparing for the Sunday service with the host congregation.

We would love to have you come and participate in person! Mark your calendars for July 24-26, 2026, at First Church in Salem, Massachusetts!

Keep reading as we share more information to help you get registered!

Blessed Be,

Rev. Jerrie Hildebrand

CUUPS President & Communications Liaison

Speakers for Convocation

We have some great speakers with years of experience working for Pagan, Earth-Centered, and Nature-Centered paths and traditions. It looks to be a vibrant weekend filled with workshops, rituals, storytelling, music, and community as we celebrate four decades of CUUPS.

There are rates for the Full Weekend and for Saturday only. You can get Box Lunches for lunch and the Community Meal for a small extra fee.

Each speaker has worked over the years in our UU communities, leading services, tending to their own congregations and chapters, and championing traditions that honor the earth as sacred. We look forward to hearing their wisdom.

The Weekend Schedule can be found on the website at https://cuups.org/Weekend-Schedule

Full Speaker bios can be found at https://cuups.org/Convo_Presenters

Founder, senior minister, & high priestess of Circle Sanctuary in Wisconsin and Founder of Lady Liberty League, a religious freedom organization for earth-centric faith traditions. She has been active in interfaith and social justice endeavors since
the 1960s and serves on the national Faith Advisory Council
of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State (AU) and on the board of the Wisconsin Faith Voices of Justice.

He is Professor Emeritus of Psychology and a Circle Sanctuary Minister. His current interests include Ecopsychology, Nature Spirituality, Pilates, Yoga, Cardio Interval Training, and Mindfulness Meditation.  He presents workshops about the health and wellness benefits of experiences in Nature, exercise, and mindfulness, and the potential of such experiences to strengthen ecological awareness and activism. He guides Mindful Nature Walks at Circle Sanctuary to help folks connect more deeply with Nature.

He was born in Cuba and raised in the American South, growing up bicultural and under multiple religious traditions. He serves The Wild Hunt as Editor-in-Chief and Publisher, is a witch and was raised as a child of Oyá. Manny has served in multiple roles with several organizations including Covenant of the Goddess and Ár nDraíocht Féin. He serves as Public Information Officer for Everglades Moon Local Council. Manny is married and splits his free time between the Florida Swamps, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Alban Hills of Rome.

Author of Six Women of Salem and The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege.She is a member of the Gallows Hill Project who verified the correct site of the 1692 Witch Trial hangings.

CUUPS Chapter Coordinator and author of the book Righteous Rage: Why Feminism Needs the Fierce Goddesses. She is a clinical psychologist, has taught philosophy, and worked as a journalist.

(Om Prakash)CUUPS Right Relations Liaison and a retired UU minister promoting wellness and healing. Contributor to Voices from the Margins: An Anthology of Mediations(Skinner House Press).

Participates with Turning Wheel CUUPS Chapter at the UU Fellowship of Salisbury, MD. She led the chants at the UU General Assembly in Baltimore in 2025 and brings her gift of songs and chants to this year’s celebration.

He is a Radical Faerie, priests in Stone Circle Wicca, and coordinator of the LGBTQ and Pagan interfaith group called “Center Faith.” He lives near Washington, DC and is retired from the federal government after spending three decades at the Temple of Minerva (The Library of Congress). He holds a Masters degree that includes teaching group identity dynamics.

She is President and communications lead for CUUPS and has been affiliated with various national earth- and nature-centered organizations. She is the illustrator of the Wiccan Pentacle and Druidic Awen symbols that grace government-issued headstones for veterans. Jerrie was also a former Ambassador of the Parliament of the World’s Religions and co-author and co-editor of the book Pagan and Earth-Centered Voices in Unitarian Universalism with Rev. Shirley Ranck. (Skinner House)

We apologize for any spelling errors. We do our best, and sometimes our
humanity takes over! We hope you enjoyed this newsletter.