Emma Condori Mamani is a Bolivian Friend who travels in the ministry frequently. She is a founder and current Executive Director of El Centro Bilingüe Internacional Amigos (Friends International Bilingual Center or FBIC for short) and has hosted PYM Friends in La Paz as well as visiting and speaking at our Annual Sessions in 2019. [Read more…] about Bolivian Friend Visits Philadelphia Area
Monthly Meeting News
Discussion Held on the Quaker Peace Testimony at Cropwell
Cropwell Meeting held an introductory program on the Quaker peace testimony on Sunday afternoon. Geared toward newcomers, presenter Martin Kelley gave a 25 minute overview of the history of Quaker peacemaking, from the foundational 1660 Statement to more recent expressions of Quaker peacemaking, such as the climate-change advocacy of the Earth Quaker Action Team and the “Statement on the Peace Testimony and Ukraine” release in late October.
[Read more…] about Discussion Held on the Quaker Peace Testimony at Cropwell
The Community Outreach of Greenwich Friends Meeting
On Saturday September 24th, 2022, the Quaker Bakers of Greenwich Friends Meeting participated in the 50th Greenwich Artisans Faire at the historic Gibbons House on Ye Greate Street in Greenwich, Cumberland County. Through the sale of baked goods, tea and coffee as well as the Meeting’s signature cookbook (which combines Quaker family recipes and local lore), funds are raised annually for Greenwich Friends Community Outreach activities. The Faire draws hundreds of people to Greenwich and is a delightful opportunity to meet and greet friends and neighbors. [Read more…] about The Community Outreach of Greenwich Friends Meeting
Cropwell Meeting Reaches out to Neighborhood Families with “Trunk or Treat”
Cropwell Meeting held its first annual Trunk or Treat on Sunday, inviting neighborhood families over for games, treats, a pumpkin hunt, and tours of the meetinghouse.
The area around Cropwell Meeting has changed quite a bit since Friends first settled there in the 1780s. A patchwork of Quaker family farms has given way to twenty-first century suburbs, and today the meetinghouse property is an oasis of open space in a built-up area of housing developments. Few of the neighbors have ever visited the meetinghouse. [Read more…] about Cropwell Meeting Reaches out to Neighborhood Families with “Trunk or Treat”
Middletown Friends Reach for Their Roots on World Quaker Day
It was a meeting 340 years in the making and it happened Sunday, October 2, 2022 at Middletown Friends Meeting in Langhorne as congregations from England and America worshipped together for the first time on World Quaker Day.
In 1682 members of Settle Friends Meeting in the north of England followed William Penn’s promise for religious freedom in Pennsylvania and emigrated across the Atlantic Ocean. The group landed in Philadelphia and by 1683 had founded Neshaminah Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, known as Quakers. Early Meetings for Worship were held at the home of Nicholas Waln and others. [Read more…] about Middletown Friends Reach for Their Roots on World Quaker Day
Ujima Friends Sewing for Africa
Since 2019, members of the Ujima Friends Peace Center have partnered with Sankofa Artisan Guild to make reusable, environmentally friendly menstrual pads, pouches, and under garments for African girls’ whose educations are compromised due to “period poverty.” The group, now known as the PanAfrican Sisterhood Health Initiative (PASHI), is led by a group of Black Women elders most of who are community workers, keepers of the culture, educators, activists, counselors and lovers of the arts. The Friends Foundation on Aging supports funding for the project. [Read more…] about Ujima Friends Sewing for Africa
Summer of Freedom Camp visits Solebury Meeting
On a beautiful day in July, Solebury Friends Meeting hosted a group of kids from the Summer of Freedom camp, run by the Ujima Friends Peace Center, which is located in North Philly. Solebury Friend Amy Manoff started the day off right. She explained to the kids how she came to be a fruit farmer and, before taking the kids to pick blueberries, answered all their questions. Kraig McClendon brought the kids out to the country for the day. He’s a photographer and enjoyed capturing the day with his camera. [Read more…] about Summer of Freedom Camp visits Solebury Meeting
Yardley Quakers Step Outside for Spiritual Growth and Medicinal Herbal Gardening
This summer, the Friends at Yardley Meeting (Bucks Quarter) are building a labyrinth and a set of raised bed gardens on the grounds of the meetinghouse. The community is committed to create a space for meditation, and to provide a growing site for medicinal herbs to be shared with the Singularity Botanicals supplying health-related products to the Chester, PA community. [Read more…] about Yardley Quakers Step Outside for Spiritual Growth and Medicinal Herbal Gardening
Interfaith Witness to End Gun Violence
On June 4, 2022, community members from Old Haverford Friends Meeting, Congregation Or Zarua, the congregation that shares the meetinghouse space, and Bethel AME Church of Ardmore set up a “T-shirt Memorial to the Lost” on the lawn of the meetinghouse and joined together for the dedication service. The reflections shared here by two Friends provide the perspective of how the memorial came to be at Old Haverford as well as background on shared interfaith work, and the historical perspective on helping to start Heeding God’s Call. Rabbi Shelly Barnathan speaks to the meaning of the event for the Jewish community and gives us a unified vision for the future.
Newtown Quaker Meeting Fourth Graders Receive Their Bibles
Newtown Quaker Meeting recognizes the growing maturity of the young people in the Meeting by:
- Awarding Bibles to fourth graders at Easter.
- Giving copies of the Quaker Faith and Practice booklet to eighth graders in June.
- Presenting copies of Edward Hicks’ painting of The Peaceable Kingdom to those who have turned 21 during the year at Quaker Homecoming in December.
[Read more…] about Newtown Quaker Meeting Fourth Graders Receive Their Bibles
