About Us

Our AUW Story

Who are we?

We are about creating community and deepening our spirit…

AUW has been a dynamic force in the life of First Universalist since 1905! For years, women have gathered under our umbrella to connect with each other and to serve the community. Community building remains an important goal which we serve with five annual events that are open to all friends and members of AUW... Fall Kickoff…Holiday Tea (a tradition since 1932)… AUW Sunday (January)…Mother Daughter Banquet (a 12 year tradition!), and our spring Women’s Retreat (since 2000) and special programs like Friendship Groups, which we started in 2005 with 10 groups and 65 women to facilitate relationship building in small groups. In two years, participation has doubled! And just this fall, we added Friday Get Connected—to give women a chance to relax together at the end of a long week, share a meal and discuss a topic of common interest.

Spiritual deepening became a serious interest when Sharon Bishop and Hannah Mitchell created a Women’s Ritual Circle in the mid 1980’s. Years later, AUW organized a Women’s Retreat and Pat Gottschalk led the way in reinvigorating AUW Sunday with inspiring sermons and noteworthy speakers. Both events have become Popular annual traditions.

We also encourage women to reflect on and ground their AUW relationships and justice work in their UU values and principles (see Faith & Choices curriculum below). We did this in 2005 when we invited Star King Seminary president, the Rev. Rebecca Parker, to preach on AUW Sunday and facilitate a day long workshop. Parker led us deeper to a more profound understanding that relationships are at the heart of spiritual development and that spiritual maturity depends on our awakening and responding to the needs of the world. Our understanding of these connections is reflected in our new mission statement:

“The mission of AUW is to engage women in strengthening and deepening each other in religious community—our whole lives long— and to manifest that collective strength by working in the world to improve women’s lives.”

We are about bringing our faith to action in the world on behalf of women…

AUW has a proud and visible history of fighting for and defending women’s rights. AUW women like Dru Cummins, Betty Benjamin, and Sharon Bishop played national roles in the struggle. In 2006, Betsy Allis led a special AUW task force which engaged UU women in discerning our vision and strategy around women’s justice. This led to new program that focuses on involving UU women in yearlong campaigns to protect women’s rights.

We are now in the third year of two companion campaigns: (1) UU Reproductive Rights: Sacred Choices Campaign (RR:SC) and our UU Voting Rights: Sacred Franchise Campaign (VR:SF).

The mission of our RR:SC campaign is to promote and protect the reproductive rights of women worldwide, to reframe reproductive choice as a UU religious issue, and to educate and advocate for Comprehensive Sexuality Education. Key campaign partner is the Minnesota Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice.

Our UU Voting Rights: Sacred Franchise Campaign mission is to protect the right and access to voting for all citizens and to ensure that votes cast are counted and reported accurately. The core of American democracy and civil rights depends on citizen confidence in this system. VR:SF works in partnership with Citizens for Election Integrity/MN and the League of Women Voters/MN.

The Campaign emphasis on education and advocacy includes a preparation phase in which activists learn how to reflect and articulate their positions in relation to our UU values and principles. As part of this goal, our UU Reproductive Rights: Sacred Choices Campaign (RR:SC) uses the Faith & Choices curriculum developed by the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC) to help UUs clarify and then speak out about their views on reproductive choice. Both campaigns are official working groups of the Minnesota UU Social Justice Alliance (MUUSJA).

We are about contributing to our church and the larger community…

AUW also proudly supports our First Universalist Community with monetary contributions that have included the labyrinth, items for the kitchen and most recently an ensemble of gifts commissioned for our child dedication ritual. Our contributions have also been in-kind —developing women leaders, mentoring young women, and continually initiating and incubating innovative ideas and programs. AUW also contributes money to our women’s rights campaign partners, such as MUUSJA and RCRC and to the UU Women’s Federation, a UU sister organization, and to various women’s advocacy organizations in the Twin Cities.

AUW Events

About Us

-Who Are We?
-Organizational Structure &
How We Work Together

Goings-on

-Events Calendar