Schedule of Activities for
Wednesday, September 25th
8:00 AM
Prayer & Meditation
Prayer and meditation are foundational to Unity, and our conference reflects that focus.
10:00 AM
Creating a More Beautiful World
Facilitated by Rev. Stephanie Seigh
(2 General CEUs)
Langston Hughes once wrote, “I am so tired of waiting, aren’t you, for the world to become good and beautiful and kind?”
Join Rev. Stephanie Seigh as we explore together how to create that world, through the creation of the New Beloved Community. While the term has become increasingly common place, it’s origin and impact is anything but “common.” Creating such a community, and such a world, has the power to transform us individually and collectively, or as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. observed, “Our goal is to create a beloved community and this will require a qualitative change in our souls, as well as a quantitative change in our lives.”
This session will be informative, interactive, inspiring and impactful as we learn together how to be that change we wish to see in the world… a good and beautiful and kind world.
Rev. Stephanie Moyer Seigh
Rev. Stephanie Moyer Seigh, ACE, PCC, is a twice-ordained Minister (Unity and Interfaith) and a Professional Certified Coach. Before coming to Unity of Palmyra, she served several Unity and Interfaith communities, in Gettysburg, Harrisburg, and Allentown, PA; New York City, NY; and Atlanta, Georgia. Rev. Stephanie was the national Director of Peacemaking and Transitional Services for Unity Worldwide Ministries. She was an adjunct faculty member at One Spirit Interfaith Seminary in New York City, and a mentor coach for The Academy for Coaching Excellence. She specializes in personal, organizational, and leadership coaching and consulting, and teaching classes and workshops on a variety of life-affirming topics. Rev. Stephanie lives in Londonderry Township with her husband, Ken, and enjoys making her home beautiful, gardening, hosting friends and family, and spending time with her amazing granddaughters. She loves all things Star Trek and Star Wars and believes in the future Gene Roddenberry predicted decades ago: “Star Trek was an attempt to say that humanity will reach maturity and wisdom on the day that it begins to not just tolerate, but take a special delight in differences in ideas and differences in lifeforms.”
2:00 PM
“Creating Harmony In Transitional Times”
Facilitated by Laura Wade
(2 General CEUs)
Now that we have spent time together looking at our focus as those ministering to and teaching others, and examining spiritual direction… you may find yourself asking “Now What?” We are already experiencing what it means to be living in transitional times, but where do we go from here? Let’s practice looking at what we want to be and do moving forward, developing clarity and vision about what might be blocking us, examining what resources and tools we have available. This session is designed to help us develop strategies for creating harmony as we move back into our families, communities and world.
Laura Wade
Laura is a Soul to Goal Guide and Empowerment Coach who works with you to help you move from striving to thriving, from overwhelm to harmony and happiness.
Laura knows that having clarity about what matters most to you is the first step in creating a life you love. Working with her will empower you to get clear about what you want, uncover and release limiting beliefs and blocks, make conscious choices in the present and create the future you desire.
In addition to her extensive experience in personal development training, she has worked in public relations and sales training where she delivered a program she developed called The Human Touch. She was a Certified On-Purpose Person Mentor and has been a Certified Passion Test Facilitator since 2007. Laura holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business from Indiana University.
Laura loves personal development and sharing the things she has integrated into her life with her clients and in the programs she develops. Since 1994, Laura has studied and trained with masters including Janet Attwood, Jack Canfield and Patty Aubrey. She believes investing in yourself is the best investment you can make and consistently does so.
Laura resides in Roanoke, VA with her husband Steve, their three teenagers (including twins!), and two dogs. When she’s not helping clients live a life of passion, she stays busy as a freelance writer, community volunteer, avid reader and loving wife and mom.
5:30 PM
“Traces of the Trade”
A Voyage of Realization and Reconciliation
A Dinner, Movie and Discussion Experience
Facilitated by Constance and Dain Perry
This session meets and exceed requirements for an inclusivity / diversity credit.
Please join us for this very special opportunity to share dinner, watch “Traces of the Trade” movie and have a discussion on reconciliation, race and healing.
“By creating an atmosphere of safety and openness, the Perry’s cut through
the fears (of judgment, of giving offense, of being misunderstood) that
often inhibit discussions of race.”
Traces of the Trade
A Voyage of Realization and Reconciliation
A documentary film that unearths a hidden legacy of slavery in America. Traces of the Trade: A Story From The Deep North was one of the few documentaries chosen from 953 submissions to be shown at the Sundance Film Festival. It traces a journey by Katrina Browne, the filmmaker, and nine of her cousins into the dark past of the slave trade which enriched their white New England family.
Dain Perry, one of the nine cousins, and his wife, Constance, screen the film and facilitate a conversation on race, reconciliation and healing. Traces of the Trade is both a geographical and psychological retracing of the industry of the largest slave traders in American history, the DeWolf family of Bristol, Rhode Island, and an exploration into racism in America, a legacy of slavery that continues to tragically impact the country even today.
For generations the family’s past has been hidden from view, but a group of descendants decided to retrace the Triangle Trade, from Bristol, Rhode Island, to Ghana, where they visited centuries old slave forts and dungeons and talked with African-Americans on their own homecoming pilgrimage, to the ruins of a family-owned sugar cane plantation in Cuba. Each encounter on their journey leaves family members shaken with new insights. Along the way many myths are debunked and new questions pondered. A primary debunked myth is that the North was the center of the abolition movement and had little to do with slavery. The fact is that the North was the center of the US slave trade, and the ownership of slaves in the North was not only common but it lasted for over 200 years.
The film was shown on the PBS series Point of View (POV), won the Henry Hampton Award for Excellence in Film, and was nominated for an Emmy Award for historical research.
It was greeted with excellent reviews. Variety called it “a courageous scab-ripper of a tale.” The Black Notes blog of the Providence Black Repertory Company praised the “complicated moral circumstances” and concluded, “it is a must-see.” Sundance’s Geoffrey Gilmore said the film “makes a potent statement about privilege and responsibility.” In a review Kirk Honeywell, of the Hollywood Reporter, said, the “clear-headed film represents an intense and searing call for national dialogue.”
Dain and his wife Constance are experienced facilitators who will help audience members discuss the lessons of the film. They have conducted over 500 screenings and facilitated conversations in over 200 cities and towns across the country, and overseas in Ghana and Australia. One family member said the most surprising question was whether Constance, who is a descendant of enslaved people, knew about Dain’s family history before she married him. The answer: yes. Now she and her husband travel across the country as a team to screen the film and encourage group discussion of the legacy of slavery.
Dain Perry says the Episcopal Church shares responsibility for the perpetuation of the slave trade by condoning slavery while it was the dominant denomination in early America. The family has a long connection with the church. At least three descendants of the DeWolf’s were Episcopal bishops, and James DeWolf Perry, Dain’s grandfather, was Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the 1930’s, and many more have been Episcopal priests. The Anti-Racism Committee of the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church has endorsed the work of the Perrys.
It is a “deeply moving story, amazingly told,” the Episcopal Bishop of Utah, Carolyn Tanner Irish, has said. “This film opens a door to an authentic way for people of faith — indeed everyone — to walk in repentance, reconciliation, and healing of the horrors of slavery so deeply embedded in our culture and in our souls.”
ABOUT CONSTANCE PERRY
Constance Perry grew up in Boston, Massachusetts. For more than twenty years, she managed, designed and implemented programs for at-risk youth and adults at the municipal, state and national level. Constance was a self-employed national consultant for twelve years specializing in training, facilitation and on-site consultation services to community organizations. She and her husband Dain travel the country screening
Traces of the Trade and facilitating conversations on racial reconciliation.
ABOUT DAIN PERRY
Dain Perry grew up in Charleston, SC. He and his wife Constance travel the country screening Traces of the Trade and facilitating conversations on racial reconciliation. Dain served 30 years in the financial services industry in Boston. Previously he served as deputy director of the Massachusetts Council on Crime and Correction and Acting Director of the Crime and Justice Foundation, non-profit organizations which promoted reform in the criminal justice system.
Viewer Testimonials
“Dain and Constance brought the discourse to a gut level, while at the same time affirming everyone’s reactions as perfectly and equally valid.”
“Many people came with fear that we were just going to stir up guilt and deal with this issue on a superficial level and discovered that it moved the conversation deeper and helped people get in touch with each other’s stories and became a healing, liberating experience.”
“Programs like yesterday’s give me hope that the racial divide will lessen.”
“In an environment free of blame and shame, those in attendance deeply listened and honored the experience of others and that produced subtle but remarkable shifts in awareness of the pain experienced by people on both sides of the racial divide.”
“When I got up and talked about my experience with racism it really helped. I had never talked about the situation with anyone, not even my family.”
“The film was wonderful and I so respect the participants’ courage and honesty. I’ve received very positive feedback about both the film and your facilitation.”
“The folks…talked about how important the screenings of the film were for them, and how that changed hearts in the way that traditional “training” could not. What a blessing.”
“The way you got us focused on talking about racism in our country in today’s world rather than comments and questions on the events from the past was brilliant, for, after all, that is the point of what you are doing.”
“I was particularly struck by how skillfully you helped create a safe space for people to speak. I also noticed how you keep conversation going, while still taking moments to insert your own observations from time to time, but without derailing the energy within the group.”
“Leadership like yours gives people permission to be honest, to risk vulnerability, to venture less-than-perfect responses …”