© 2021 International Urantia Association (IUA)
| President’s Message – June 2021 | Tidings — June 2021 — Index | Report on Virtual International Conference |
¶ The Nature and Nurture of the Soul
28—31 March 2024
Maritime Conference Center, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Mark your calendars now for the next exciting Urantia Association International Conference in 2024! This will be the 12th International Conference of the Association and is being organized by Urantia Association of the United States (UAUS) and will be hosted by Urantia Association of Hawaii.
This conference was first announced by Katrina Glavan-Heise, President of UAUS at the end of the virtual 11th International Conference after the Peruvian team handed her the virtual torch to present the next international conference in 2024. The announcement was preceded by a lovely promotion trailer that you can view by clicking here.
Following is a bit of history of the evolution of this event in the words of Marian Hughes, one of the conference organizers and member of Urantia Association of Hawaii (HULA):
The Hawaii Urantia Local Association had planned to hold a Pacific regional conference in 2018 until our Kilauea volcano decided to erupt and spoil our plans and fun. The facility we had booked was in the Volcano National Park, which had to close due to earthquake damage. I truly felt that the disappointments hardest to bear sometimes do come.
My first Urantia Conference was in 1973 at the First Western Conference in Brentwood L.A. where I was impressed by Christy’s words to us to be “Soldiers of the Circles.” Ever since then I have been a lifelong Urantia conference attendee. Fast forward to the Estonian European Conference in 2019 where the former Association President, Chris Wood mentioned to me that we need to be thinking about a host country for the 2024 international conference. Having already been inspired to have the regional Pacific conference theme on The Nature and Nurture of The Soul, and having already secured a keynote speaker, the seed was planted, and I thought why not turn the ideas for the Hawaii conference into an international conference.
Once the announcement was made that the United States Urantia Association would be sponsoring the next international event, I started to search for the perfect location. Having been spoiled by the wonderful conference hotel facilities in the Netherlands and in Estonia, I was reluctant to go back to the more meager college dorm rooms. After much surfing of the Internet, I eventually found the Maritime Conference Center located near Baltimore, Maryland and Washington D.C. I couldn’t believe that such a fabulous, affordable, non-profit facility, with gourmet food, close to several international airports, and in an interesting city, existed in the United States. Taking my cue from the 2018 conference, which was held at the height of tulip season, I proposed to hold our conference at the height of the famous cherry blossom season, which should fall on Easter weekend in 2024. What a joy it will be to celebrate our Master’s resurrection in-person together.
After winning approval, we formed a formidable UAUS team to create what we hope to be a memorable conference. Although this event will not take place in Hawaii, HULA will be your hosts and we promise the Aloha spirit will embrace all those who participate.
¶ References
| President’s Message – June 2021 | Tidings — June 2021 — Index | Report on Virtual International Conference |