In 1982, Common Ground II was held on the Bowdoin College campus in Maine. The delegates' mission was much more structured than it had been at Common Ground I; this time they had to develop a concrete plan, including budgetary recommendations, for continental youth programming within the UUA. They had the general ideas and notes from Common Ground I, Wayne Arnason as coordinator, and one week. What they produced struck a lot of compromises. It had adult guidance; it provided for paid youth staff. It was part of the UUA; it got funding from the UUA. It kept continental conferences, provided for continental communication, and ensured that, in governing bodies for the new youth organization, the number of youth matched or exceeded the number of adults. At the end of the week, they took up the tabled first agenda item and chose Young Religious Unitarian Universalists (YRUU) as the name for LRY's successor, previously known as "Common Ground Baby". They drew up a birth certificate for YRUU and a last will and testament for LRY. The executive board of LRY transferred all holdings of LRY to the UUA, with the provision that they be used for youth activities, and the phoenix rose from the ashes.
It is disheartening to read the dismal predictions that came out of the controversy in the late seventies. Reactions to the process of change and its results were varied. Many, many LRYers seem to have believed that if LRY ended, so would the heart of UU youth programming. Some ex-LRYers still believe that YRUU is too adult-heavy and that youth programming should be changed to incorporate more youth influence. Never having been a member of LRY, I cannot judge for myself, but here are three opinions on the subject.
Ed Inman, LRYer in the seventies:
"YRUU is far too politically controlled by adults and does not
reach out to non-UU youth as well as did LRY. Still, I know and understand
that YRUU is a special place for many young UU's today as LRY was for me.
. .
" I would like to see LRY, or at least the CONCEPT of LRY as a youth-run
organization again take hold in the denomination--possibly as an experimental
youth program within a UUA affiliated group like CUUPS or another group—that
would serve as an outreach to youth of non-UU families as well as YRUUers."
Kevin Timken, delegate to Common Ground II:
"Our perception at the time was that the end of LRY was inevitable
- already decided at the higher levels of the church. Although this carried
a certain level of offensiveness, we really believed - and, as long as
I was around, correctly - that the national change from LRY to YRUU had
no impact at all on the goings-on at the local level. "
Wayne Arnason, minister and former LRY youth and adult leader:
" When I look at the YRUU group at my own congregation, and talk with
its advisors, it does not look or feel that much different from the local
LRY group I was a part of in Winnipeg from 1965-69. We did not follow a
structured curriculum, although we occasionally did use structured resources
for programs We devised our own schedule of activities working with our
advisors. We did some fund-raising. We attended regional conferences, and
we planned an annual Youth Sunday Service. The relationship with the adult
advisor was a different relationship than we had with teachers or parents,
and the quality of that relationship gave us permission to explore a different
kind of relationship with each other - a relationship that was more trusting
and risking than I had with friends in high school. These relationships
were stren