Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

of the Religious Society of Friends

Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

Quakers in Education: Jane Fernandes, Former President and Professor of English at Guilford College

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This interview with Jane Fernandes is a part of our Quakers in Education series. It follows our earlier conversations with Terry Nance I & II, Sa’ed Atshan, Maurice Eldridge, and Sarah Willie-LeBreton.

Jane Fernandes served as the president of Guilford College for seven years and is the newly appointed President of Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. She is the first deaf woman to lead an American college or university. She continues her role as a professor of English at Guilford.

Before joining Guilford College, Jane was a part of the University of North Carolina at Asheville, where she had been provost and vice-chancellor of academic affairs for six years. In addition, she served as vice president and later provost of Gallaudet University for a total of eleven years. Gallaudet University is a Washington, D.C., school that educates people who are deaf or hard of hearing.

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Queer Palestine and the Empire of Critique by Sa’ed Atshan

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Last Spring PYM interviewed Sa’ed Atshan, Associate Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies at Swarthmore College. Sa’ed is a member of CPMM (Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting) and a member of the Middle East Collaborative. This June PYM is sharing a 2149 word excerpt from the preface of his new book, Queer Palestine and the Empire of Critique.

As so often happens, books tear us away from our own reality and open doors to other people’s lived experiences. This book–which called out to me from its featured spot in an Andersonville, Chicago bookstore window this past May–names some of what a person goes through as they realize they see, feel, and embrace Queer consciousness.

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Every Child Needs a Celebration of Juneteenth

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First celebrated in 1866, Juneteenth honors the news of the abolition of slavery reaching Texas in 1865. On Wednesday, June 16, 2021, Congress passed legislation to make Juneteenth a federal holiday. It’s the first federal holiday approved since Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983.

It is a myth that Quakers did not participate in the enslavement of others, but it is true that many Quakers voiced strong opposition to forced labor and chattel slavery, agitating for the laws to change. Grounded a belief in all people’s humanity and equality, Quakers like John Woolman, Paul Cuffe, Cyrus Bustill, Thomas Garrett, and Lucretia Mott served as key change-makers in the movement to abolish slavery. The Quaker Faith passed a minute that prohibited all Friends from owning enslaved persons in 1776. Friends today continue to work towards undoing racism.

This year’s Annual Sessions theme focuses on this work, “Uproot Injustice, Root Justice.” The theme will be present and woven into all aspects of our work together.

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Part 2: Where are we going? Supporting Families and Religious Education

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Queries from PYM Faith and Practice are read at the beginning of worship each month at my meeting; one of the youth in our Young People’s Group is the reader.  In May, they were the ones about religious education: Nurturing Our Community: Religious Education in the Home and Meeting. As we think about returning to weekly programs for our children and youth, what guidance do these queries offer? This summer is a moment to pause and consider the experiences and lessons of these past months and how they might shape our programs and support for young Friends and families in our meetings. The PYM queries ask us is place in the center of our religious education programs preparation, formation, and belonging.
 [Read more…] about Part 2: Where are we going? Supporting Families and Religious Education

Introducing Annual Sessions 2021 Keynote Speakers

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Philadelphia Yearly Meeting’s 341st Annual Sessions will be held virtually this year from July 27 through August 1, 2021. This Sessions embraces the opportunity to gather both local PYM community and welcome many seekers and Friends who span the US and live abroad.

We invite Friends to register for Annual Sessions now, joining us for the whole week or choosing to engage in those parts of Annual Sessions that most speak to you.

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New Quaker Communities: Johanna Jackson

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Johanna Jackson (she) is a member of State College Friends Meeting. She travels in the ministry with JT Dorr-Bremme, a Friend with a gift for eldering. They formed the Listening Project, a series of creative conversations rooted in love. Johanna writes about the spiritual community that sustains her, imagining how similar groups could help sustain others, too.

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Shannon Isaacs on Growing Quaker Community

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Shannon Isaacs, Director of Advancement at Pendle Hill, is concerned about addressing growth of the Quaker faith. Her upcoming workshop Using Your Power: Changemaking and the Future of Quakerism shares ideas on how to appeal to and engage next generations.  As Friends discuss what has worked for those meetings that have successfully engaged younger generations, Janaki Spickard Keeler, PYM’s Friends Counseling Service Coordinator, is supporting the workshop as an Elder.  Together they have resources, tools, and strategies to share.

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The Story of How a Film Intersects with PYM Youth Programs

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As part of Runway to Annual Sessions, ‘We Are the Radical Monarchs’ is a two-part event for all ages (10-100!). The first event will be a community viewing of the documentary on June 11, followed by a facilitated discussion on June 13. Friends unable to join on June 11 can register and receive the link to view the film on their own time June 12-13 and join the conversation on Sunday! 

This documentary film tells the story of a different kind of “scout troop” — a group of BIPOC girls in Oakland, CA who coalesce personal leadership around environmental, LGBTQ+, and disability issues of their time and community. The Radical Monarchs co-founders and leaders, two queer women of color, shape and motivate their work. Below is an interview with Melinda Wenner Bradley, PYM’s Youth Religious Life Coordinator, who describes “fierce sisterhood” and “multigenerational joy” as motivations to host these events. 

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Part I: Where have we been? Where are we going? Supporting Families and Religious Education

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This is the first of a two-part story focused on local meetings and their experiences with programs and support for children and youth, and their families, in the last fourteen months of “pandemic times.” Families in our local meetings come in all different varieties; these stories are focused on families with children and the people parenting them (who also come to that relationship in a variety of ways, including foster parents and grandparents).

The people who support children and youth programs in meetings, in their Quarter, and the Yearly Meeting have expressed many feelings in this time — sadness at separation, joy in creativity, mourning for connections lost, delight in new ideas, frustration with lack of support, fear that families will not “return” when others resume community in person. I’ve written about the liminal time we’re in, and the opportunities this disruption/interruption provides to think in new ways. I’m also holding a keen awareness of the exhaustion and longing to return to “normalcy” that Friends may be feeling; it feels important to balance encouragement about new possibilities and succor for what feels lost or overwhelming. [Read more…] about Part I: Where have we been? Where are we going? Supporting Families and Religious Education

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