Social Body - Julie Perini Julie Perini December 10, 2003 Project Title and Credits: The Church of Julie Perini By Julie Perini I. Response Summary: The Social Body in Demonstration Description: The Church of Julie Perini is a process that incorporates research, critical thinking, presentation, and various tools that encourage others to use The Church of Julie Perini as a model for the establishment of their own revolutionary faith-based organizations. The Church of Julie Perini brings attention to the recent establishment of President George W. Bush's White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives and its potential to violate the United States' constitutional and historical separation of church and state. The Church of Julie Perini exists in the world and is promoted with a packet of information that is usually distributed by the Reverend Julie Perini. This informational package includes the following: a title page, text about the project background and thematics, text about the process/action, a copy of the Reverend's certificate of ordainment, and an instructional document to actuate others to form their own faith-based organizations. Currently, the Reverend Perini is in the process of drafting a proposal in the hopes of garnering federal funding in support of the Church's mission. The Reverend Julie Perini presented these informational packets to Prof. Caroline Koebel's Art Practicing the Body class on Tuesday, November 4. She explained the tenets of the Church and stimulated a discussion surrounding these issues. Discuss the Strengths and/or shortcomings of the final project: The strengths of the project include its timeliness, its basis in research on the topic, its reaction to a political issue that is receiving little attention in the media today. The tone of the pamphlet and the presentation by the Reverend is simultaneously serious and playful, creating an engaging experience for those who come in contact with the Reverend and/or the pamphlet. One weakness in the presentation of the project was that at the time of presentation to the Art Practicing the Body class, the Reverend had not taken any steps to put the mission of the Church into action. No plans for subversive acts had yet been made. This made the Church seem like more of a work-in-progress, which is fine, as it was still in development at that time. What role did process play in the unfolding of the idea(s) into the finished work? The process of establishing the Church was crucial for the realization of the finished work. The initial idea was to address the establishment of an office of faith-based organizations and community initiatives by applying myself, as Julie Perini, for funding. What's the difference? I thought. After further research into the establishment of the Office, and the debates among religious leaders, politicians, gay commentators, and others, it became clear that I needed to establish myself as a Church in order to apply for funding. I contacted members of rtmark.com to ask for their advice, and they directed me to the Universal Life Church, where I became ordained as a minister. I then realized that my Church would need to be based around some idea, have some mission, central tenet that it is carrying out. I formulated a mission based upon my reaction to the large amount of federal funding available for abstinence education programs that require grant recipients to teach that the only permissible sexual activity exists between a man and a woman in the context of marriage. I compiled a chronicle of my process along with other materials to elaborate on my experience establishing this church. This pamphlet is available for easy distribution. Describe your project's conceptual origins in "The Social Body in Demonstration": I gave this concept a lot of thought, conceiving of and then discarding several projects before coming upon the idea I eventually developed. To me, this project is a demonstration of how a citizen, acting as a social body within the larger social body framework, can recognize a situation where rhetoric and power are being combined by the government in a way that may limit personal freedoms. This citizen is taking an action to highlight this questionable federal action, pointing it out to the government and to others who find out about her action. Any other points: I do plan to continue developing this project. I called the administrator of the SPRANS grant, the funding available for abstinence education programs and she told me that the updated application forms would be available by mid-December. They are currently available and I have downloaded them. I am drafting text and I plan to mail in an application on behalf of the Church.