For nearly 200 years, this simple, yet grand white building has brought people together in times of crisis, celebration, and everything in between. Today, the White Meeting House continues to offer its space to support the needs of many community groups, as well as providing a home to the Waterbury Congregational Church and you.

Worship

Sunday mornings at 10 am, September through May and at 9 am in June, and July. During the month of August we are in recess. We are ‘broadcasting’ our worship services on zoom. For the Zoom link and the day’s bulletin, go to our blog (https://www.waterburyucc.com/blog/) there you will find, among other more current issues, a post for the day’s worship service. Please note that these posts are published on Friday afternoon and removed on Monday morning.

Sanctuary Church

As of Sunday, April 6, 2025, the Waterbury Congregational Church, UCC is a “Sanctuary Church.” This means that we openly declare that as part of our ministry of welcome, “no matter who you are, where you come from or what you believe,” that if you need help because you are being threatened with deportation you are welcome to seek sanctuary with us.

  • WHEREAS, we the members of the Waterbury Congregational Church (the Church) who hear that we are called to love God above all other gods, believe that this means we are are to love our neighbors as ourselves (Leviticus 19:18), (Mark 12:31ff) (Matthew 22:37ff); and
  • WHEREAS, we believe that to love this way means to care for all of God’s creation to the best of our ability (Luke 10:37); and
  • WHEREAS our Hebrew ancestors insisted that because we were once strangers living in a strange land, so we must be hospitable to the strangers in our land, (Exodus 22:21); and
  • WHEREAS our church’s stated mission is to “open our doors and our hearts to the wider community with love and service,” and 
  • WHEREAS there are an estimated 5,000 undocumented immigrants (out of about 20,000) living in the State of Vermont; and
  • WHEREAS a stated goal of the Trump administration is to engage in mass deportations of undocumented immigrants, separating families and storing them in detention facilities on the borders; and
  • WHEREAS in the last Trump administration the procedures for detaining undocumented immigrants resulted in thousands of orphaned children, abject and daily misery, which the international relief organization Physicians for Human Rights called torture and the American Academy of Pediatricians called child abuse and which John Kelly called “cruelty as deterrence;” and
  • WHEREAS the current Trump administration has issued executive actions that maximize immigration enforcement, expedite deportations, invalidate temporary protected status, create a registry of noncitizens, and scrutinize valid visa and green card holders (EO 14159 and 14161).  Additionally, it has sought to revoke the constitutional right to birthright citizenship for children who have one noncitizen parent (EO 14160),  has rescinded the ‘Sensitive Locations’ policy that protects schools, hospitals, and churches from ICE enforcement action, and aims to circumvent due process rights of any human being living in the United States; and
  • WHEREAS, The Church has a long and sacred history, starting with the Mosaic injunction that there shall be declared sanctuary cities where criminals may find refuge while they await their case to be heard or make plans to escape (Numbers 35:15); and
  • WHEREAS, in our own country churches in the southwest declared themselves sanctuary churches during the US Covert Wars in Central America, and are doing so now all across the country,
  • NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Waterbury Congregational Church hereby declares itself a sanctuary church.
  • NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, in support of the adoption of Sanctuary Church status, the Church adopts the following policies:
    • In a manner consistent with State and Federal law, members of this church will not actively collaborate with federal agents solely for the purpose of enforcing federal immigration law and shall not use the Church, property, resources or personnel to aid in such; and
    • In a manner consistent with State and Federal law, and with our “Sanctuary Church Policies and Procedures,” the church will open its doors to any immigrant seeking shelter from deportation, protecting the constitutional right to due process; and
    • In a manner consistent with State and Federal law, the Church will verify that any arrest warrants are proper judicial warrants and we will  seek to publicly document any legal arrests made on the Church grounds.
    • The Church will not use any of its resources to follow any non-mandatory federal program requiring the registration of individuals on the basis of religious affiliation, race, national or ethnic origin, gender, gender identity or sexual orientation; and
    • In accordance with State and Federal Law, the church will cooperate with federal immigration agencies in matters that involve criminal activity and the protection of public safety given proper documentation; and
    • The Church shall make copies of this resolution publicly available and it shall be posted on our website.
  • NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED  that the Church will continue to:
    • reject the ideology of white Christian nationalism that misrepresents history and subverts authentic Christian values,
    • resist and refuse to participate in acts of injustice against any one of our neighbors,
    • seek to dismantle the systems of oppression that exploit and dehumanize the most vulnerable of our neighbors and in doing so degrade us all,
    • recognize our ultimate authority – a Christlike love for our fellow humans that cannot be denied.