312 FILLMORE STREET, STATEN ISLAND, NY 10301    PHONE: 718-447-2204
On Sunday, September 10, 2023, we returned to our regularly scheduled Sunday Services at 10:50 in the Sanctuary, with a virtual option via Zoom link. The link is published in the Tuesday night email to our membership list, and on Friday in the newsletter to Members and Friends.
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Our historic Arts & Crafts building, located one block from Snug Harbor Cultural Center. Photo courtesy of Aisha Arcangel
Many Staten Islanders know about Robert Gould Shaw and are familiar with names like Curtis High School, the Goodhue Center, Jewett Avenue but do they know that these famous names date back to the families who founded our church, the Unitarian Church of Staten Island?
 
Many of the founders had roots in New England where they were active in abolitionist groups. Curtis and Shaw, both from New England, ended up on Staten Island, where they became prominent members of the fledgling Unitarian Church of the Redeemer, founded as the result of the merger of two independent liberal churches in West Brighton and Stapleton.
 
Both George Francis Shaw and George William Curtis were Transcendentalists. They were influenced by the Boston Unitarian ministers, William Ellery Channing and Theodore Parker. Channing and Parker were considered radical by contemporary New England Unitarians, yet the Transcendentalist values they embraced remain surprisingly modern: dedication to racial and gender equality, and social justice. Two famous quotes by prominent Americans that are derived from sermons by Parker: Martin Luther King: "The arc of the moral universe..." and Abraham Lincoln: "...government of the people, by the people, for  the people..," espouse the deep beliefs of Transcendentalism. Its influence on the Church of the Redeemer, today known as the  Unitarian Church of Staten Island, stretches in an unbroken line from the abolition of slavery to the Black Lives Banner that hangs on the exterior wall of our Parish Hall.
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Anti-war activist and Muslim Ghanim Khalil, in dialog with Rabbi Michael Howald.


​INTRODUCTION

The Unitarian Church of Staten Island (UCSI), dating from 1852, is the only Unitarian Universalist congregation founded by Transcendentalist Abolitionists, including nationally recognized political and intellectual leaders.  We've met in our current building since 1895.  Learn more about our history >

Our sermons (listen here), music, and readings are drawn from the world's religions, current events and the arts, with themes that focus on human dignity, social justice, and ecological responsibility.


OUR uCSI mission

Our mission, as a church in the community of Staten Island is:
  • To open our hearts and home in order to enrich our community.
  • To extend ourselves to help make the world a better place.
  • To support and nurture people as they search for their own truth.
  • To share the responsibility for sustaining our cherished home!
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Church Interior: The Rose Window in our Sanctuary



our seven UU principles

The Seven Principles guide all member churches of the Unitarian Universalist Association: 
  • First Principle: The inherent worth and dignity of every person.
  • Second Principle: Justice, equity and compassion in human relations.
  • Third Principle: Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations.
  • Fourth Principle: A free and responsible search for truth and meaning.
  • Fifth Principle: The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large.
  • Sixth Principle: The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all.
  • Seventh Principle: Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.
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Carol Bullock, Executive Director of the Pride Center of Staten Island

our six sources

We affirm and promote these six sources of spiritual and ethical wisdom:
  • Direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces which create and uphold life.
  • Words and deeds of prophetic women and men, which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the power of love.
  • Wisdom from the world's religions which inspire us in our ethical and spiritual life.
  • Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God's love by loving our neighbors as ourselves;
  • Humanist teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science, and warn us against idolatries of the mind and spirit;
  • Spiritual teachings of Earth-centered traditions which celebrate the sacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature.
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We are handicapped accessible.