October 26, 2008
First Parish Fogg Lecture Series partners with UCC Missions and Outreach Team to present Charlie Clements Sunday, October 26th, 2008, 6:30 p.m. at UCC Norwell.
Dr. Charlie Clements, renowned human rights and health advocate and president and CEO of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, will be speaking at UCC Norwell as the guest of the UCC Mission and Outreach Ministry Team in collaboration with First Parish Fogg Service Committee.
Charlie Clements began his career as a pilot during the Vietnam War and attended medical school after leaving the military service. His reputation as a human rights activist started during the U.S. intervention in El Salvador during the 1980s. At that time he provided health care and preventive medicine to rural communities caught in the cross fire of their civil war. He saw first hand how the policies of our government can exacerbate the oppression of the people in Central America. He served as liaison to the International Committee of the Red Cross for Prisoner of War-related matters. More recently his efforts raise international awareness about access to water as a human rights issue and the danger of landmines.
Charlie Clements has served as a consultant to the Pew Charitable Trusts, is the author of Witness to War, printed in four languages, and served as a special guest at the signing of the peace accords in Mexico City, ending the bloody civil war in El Salvador. Today Dr. Charlie Clements travels frequently around the globe putting into action the dignity and worth of all individuals as president of UUSC. The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) is a nonsectarian organization that advances human rights and social justice in the United States and around the world envisioning a world free from oppression and injustice, where all can realize their full human rights. We, at First Parish, are honored to co-sponsor Dr. Clements. Plan to join us for an inspiring evening and open discussion.
May 4, 2008
The Fogg Lecture Series will host a lecture and book signing event for author Eve LaPlante’s new book Salem Witch Judge: The Life and Repentance of Samuel Sewall on Sunday, May 4, 2008 at 7 p.m. More program information...1.1M pdf
In 1692 Samuel Sewall, a forty-year-old father of five, sat on the colonial court that tried hundreds of people accused of witchcraft. Believing the girls who claimed their neighbors bewitched them, Sewall convicted and condemned to death more than thirty women and men, including two of his friends. He and the court executed twenty people before public opinion turned and the governor halted the proceedings. Sewall struggled internally for years before publicly assuming "the blame and shame" for the wrongful convictions and deaths. He went on to compose America’s first antislavery tract and a revolutionary essay portraying Native Americans as virtuous inheritors of God’s grace. In a period when women were considered inferior to men, Sewall publicly affirmed the fundamental equality of the sexes. Through his long repentance Sewall became America’s most surprising moral hero.
Eve LaPlante's Salem Witch Judge: The Life and Repentance of Samuel Sewall , follows the Boston Globe bestseller American Jezebel and Seized . She contributed to the collection Why I'm Still Married (Penguin, 2006) and has written for The Atlantic, The New York Times, Ladies’ Home Journal, and Gourmet. She has been featured on NPR's "Here and Now", in The Boston Globe and on Comcast CN8's "Your Morning". LaPlante has degrees from Princeton and Harvard. She lives with her family in New England on land once owned by Judge Sewall, her 6th great grandfather. Visit her web site at evelaplante.com.
March 30, 2008
The First Parish Fogg Committee sponsored a free Fogg Lecture featuring Dr. Mohamed Ibrahim Elgadi, a Darfur refugee. Dr. Mohamed Elgadi is a survivor of torture in Sudan and is living in the United States under political asylum. Since coming to the US, he has worked to raise awareness about atrocities committed by the Sudanese government and the genocide in Darfur.
Dr. Elgadi earned his M.A. in Environmental Studies at the University of Khartoum and his Ph.D. in Education at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. A committed activist on the American national stage and in international circles, he is the co-founder of the Philadelphia-based Darfur Alert Coalition, a Sudanese-American group of grassroots activists working on issues related to Darfur. He is the founder and chair of Group Against Torture in Sudan (GATS), an advocacy group working among Sudanese refugees. He also serves on the advisory committee of Judgement on Genocide: International Citizens Tribunal for Sudan, a project that has created a forum for discussion of the genocide and crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Sudanese government led by President Omar Hassan al-Bashir (www.judgmentongenocide.com).
More program information....613K pdf
November 14, 2007
Rev. Kate Braestrup will be speaking about her recent book, "Here If You Need Me", which is a beautifully written, deeply moving account of her loss and her work. Numerous articles by and about Kate Braestrup have appeared in such sources as the Oprah magazine, the Boston Globe magazine and the Patriot Ledger. She has a truly fascinating story. Come to hear it and to meet Kate at a reception following her talk. More information....463K pdf
April 15, 2007
Peter Kelly-Detwiler, speaking on "Policy Responses to Climate Change, and Implications for the Individual." What does science tell of climate change? How is the world responding?
