Latin American UUs assemble to form AUULA

Unitarian Universalism is gaining a foothold in Latin America with the founding of the Latin American UU Association (Alianza Unitaria Universalista Latino-americana, AUULA) in January 2005. The group of 25, which met for the first time in San Nicolas de los Arroyos, in Argentina, included leaders from emerging UU groups in Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Chile, and Puerto Rico.

Because many of the delegates had discovered Unitarian Universalism via the Internet, and started meeting informally with other religious liberals, much of the conference was devoted to familiarizing participants with UU traditions and worship. Workshops covered topics such as UU history, leadership, and maintaining healthy congregations.

The conference, organized by the International Council of Unitarian Universalists, with support from the UUA Denominational Grants Program and several donors, was a big success, said Jaume de Marcos, a Spanish UU. "Participants proved to be strongly committed to Unitarian Universalism and the cause of liberal religion, even those who had learned about our faith only recently."