UU Belmont Alliance: Romanesque Monasteries in Burgundy

Please join us on Thursday, December 11th at 11:00 on Zoom for our December Alliance program on Romanesque monasteries.. Lanier Smythe will include photos and information on various churches in Burgundy, France. She will show us two of the most famous French monasteries, Cluny and Fontenay Abbey, compare them, and consider their influence on the architecture and sculpture of the age, as seen in other Burgundian churches. Lanier will include information about monastic life as seen in the buildings and theological beliefs as seen in the sculpture. Please contact Kathy Lind, belmontuualliance@uubelmont.org, for the Zoom link.

Our Story:

The Belmont Unitarian-Universalist Alliance is the oldest continuing meeting group at First Church. It was founded in 1890 as the local branch of the Alliance of Unitarian Women. When the Unitarian-Universalist Association was created, this Alliance became part of the Unitarian-Universalist Women’s Federation.

While it met at First Church in Belmont, the Alliance wasn’t part of the Church’s organizational structure. It had its own elected officers, dues, and bank account. Dues-paying participants were the official members.

The Alliance held monthly lunches which included either a presentation or an excursion. In earlier years, the organization ran the Rummage Sale, put on a music program and Wassail every December, and provided the reception following funerals. The group also contributed to church projects such as the restoration of the Tiffany Window.

Alliance bylaws were amended in 1999 to reflect the dissolution of the national organization and the absorption of the local chapter into First Church. The structure of the Alliance remained largely unchanged until 2014, when the group dropped the word “Woman,” from the title to make it clear all, not just women, are now welcome to join in.

Now a subcommittee of Adult Programs, the Alliance remains semiautonomous with its own bank account and elected officers. Because the group now holds its monthly meetings on Zoom, it no longer collects dues. At its May 2023 meeting the group declared that anyone who attends two presentations during a two-year period will be a voting member. The group votes to elect officers and approve expenditures. Officers include President Nicole Bernstein, Co-President Patricia Hawkins, Treasurer Miriam Baker, Secretary Mary Harrison, Program Committee Doris Hunter, and Technical Advisor Mark Rosenstein.