Preaching at MidAmerica Regional Assembly 2015
RELATED Links
Rev. Tom’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/tom.capo.5
Rev. Tom’s Blog with written copies of his sermons: http://www.thehumanspirit.net/
Youtube CHANNEL (UU Miami)
Sermon Archive: UU Congregation of MIami
Sample Sermons:
Our Bodies Not Belonging to Us
Farewell Sermon:
The Mysterious Us (when I left DuPage Unitarian Universalist Church, related story and sermon begins at 37.45)
Addressing the Miami Dade School Board September 2022 regarding vote on LGBTQ History Month
In the News
The image above is from an August 2022 article in the Washington Post in which I was quoted. I am “among seven Florida clergy members — two Christians, three Jews, one Unitarian Universalist and a Buddhist — who argue in separate lawsuits […] that their ability to live and practice their religious faith is being violated by the state’s new, post-Roe abortion law. The law, which is one of the strictest in the country, making no exceptions for rape or incest, was signed by in April by Governor Ron DeSantis.”
DuPage Unitarian Universalist Church received the 2019 Breakthrough Congregation designation for the Smile Project. This project was created and implemented by the Social Justice Committee, members of DUUC, and myself in collaboration with the Proviso Township Ministerial Alliance. This project took two years of hard work, and in the end we were able to provide summer internship/mentoring for youth of color in DuPage County.
In the summer of 2018 I opened DuPage UU Church to the students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (Parkland, Florida) as they began their cross-country tour. Our church youth were able to spend time discussing issues with the students prior to the public event. We were the host site for the anti-gun violence forum these students created, which included youth of color from Chicago as well as local high school students. The forum received news coverage in the UU World and the local newspaper.
My interfaith work in Cedar Rapids increased the visibility of Unitarian Universalism in the community.
Other Media Connections
A long-time supporter LGBTQ rights, I eagerly embrace opportunities to champion those rights. While in Cedar Rapids, I frequently lobbied for marital equality at the State Capitol and gave public witness across the State and signed on a letter with 150 clergy to support same-sex marriage. While at DuPage UU Church, I have co-created community forums that foster increased understanding of the LGBTQ community.
After the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, I and other religious and civic leaders spoke at an observance hosted by our local synagogue. (My remarks begin at 22.26.)
As a Unitarian Unitarian minister, I feel strongly called to facilitate civil dialogue on difficult issues. While serving the congregation in Cedar Rapids and as a member of the Board of the Inter Religious Council of Linn County, I co-produced and co-moderated Ethical Perspectives on the News, broadcast by the local ABC affiliate. I selected the topics and the panelists for the show. Topics included: private or public aid for the poor; exploring the need for gun control; civil rights in the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City Corridor; and religious views on reproductive rights.
A ritual for elders that Martha and I wrote is included in a new book published by Skinner House—Blessing It All. This ritual was created after years of working with Conscious Aging groups in two different congregations.
