We have heard that many Friends, Quaker meetings and Quaker interest groups are active in supporting voter registration both among nearby populations and within their meetings. As a non-profit organization, the yearly meeting refrains from involvement in political activities to avoid partisanship. Friends have brought urgent concern to the clerks’ group about the need to provide information and encouragement to vote in this election. After very considerable discernment and prayerful consideration, the Clerks group has reached unity on providing that information to Friends across the yearly meeting. We want to share with you both the foundation and the fruits of that decision.
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting
Quakers in Education: Elise M. Boulding, Ezra Cornell, and Johns Hopkins
Quaker education has always been grounded in basic principles of the Religious Society of Friends. Each child has that of God within, and Friends’ education is centered in truth, practical learning, scientific inquiry, simplicity, and concern for civic society.
Quakers have a long history of questioning power and engaging in social action for human rights and peace. Today, many Quaker schools or Quaker affiliated institutions of higher education frame their learning environments with social or civic responsibilities and define community expectations through the lens of Friends’ values while still honoring the individual.
As the United States grew from colony to nation, the Quakers advocated for and delivered universal pubic education in Pennsylvania, built colleges, and created private Quaker secondary and elementary schools. The motto of the William Penn Charter School; “Good Instruction is Better than Riches” dates back to its founding in 1689 and still serves to describe Friends’ fundamental belief that knowledge outperforms wealth over time.
In the United States, Quakers were key to the founding of Haverford College (Pennsylvania), Guilford College (North Carolina,) Earlham College (Indiana), Swarthmore College (Pennsylvania), Johns Hopkins University (Maryland), Cornell University (New York), and the Wharton School of University of Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania). All that does not mean that Quakers were perfect. As we see in the stories below, the were human and also strongly influenced by their own time and place.
[Read more…] about Quakers in Education: Elise M. Boulding, Ezra Cornell, and Johns Hopkins
Introducing Jean-Marie Prestwidge Barch and Frank Barch, PYM’s Co-Clerks
Redefined clerking roles filled by some new faces
Annual Sessions 2020 saw some important changes in leadership. First, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting’s (PYM) clerking roles were re-adjusted to be better aligned with volunteer capacities and PYM’s needs, and Nominating Council then proposed a roster of skilled Friends to fill these redefined roles.
Jean-Marie Prestwidge Barch and Frank Barch, members of Schuylkill Monthly Meeting, were appointed to a two-year non-renewable term as Co-Clerks of PYM. Our Alternate Clerk, Jonathon Rhoads, was released from his stewardship role clerking for the community with much gratitude. Melissa Rycroft, formerly clerk of Nominating Council, and a member from Upper Susquehanna Quarter, accepted the position of Rising Clerk. James (Jim) Waddington was appointed Clerk of the Administrative Council.
[Read more…] about Introducing Jean-Marie Prestwidge Barch and Frank Barch, PYM’s Co-Clerks
Update on Together Apart: Bucks Quarter Coordinator at Lehigh Valley Meeting
This article about Lehigh Valley Meeting started with an emailed photo of Wendy Kane, Bucks Quarterly Coordinator, and meeting member John Marquette during a (masked & distanced) visit with members of the community. Then one email led to another and this story on the Meeting emerged. Assembled with thanks to John Marquette, our Lehigh Valley Meeting correspondent.
What is it like to host a Quarterly Coordinator visit at this particular time?
Wendy made the visit because this felt like a relatively safe time to get out and visit buildings. She’s been busy hosting quarterly meetings, publishing the Bucks Quarter monthly newsletter, and looking at ways to facilitate Monthly Meeting worship however she can. I like her energy and her strategy. Wendy assumed Holly Olsen’s role in Bucks Quarter in the fall of 2019, and brings an open attitude and good nature to the challenges we face. [Read more…] about Update on Together Apart: Bucks Quarter Coordinator at Lehigh Valley Meeting
Addressing Incarceration – Information and Engagement 9/8 & 9/13
Like much of the nation, PYM Meetings and Friends Schools are deeply interested in America’s alarming incarceration rate. Here is some Pew survey data and articles on the topic from the PEW Research Center and the Senate that detail these concerns from 2012 on.
American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is organizing a three-day program of events to further focus interested Quakers on the issue. These days of action align with the 49th anniversary of the Attica prison uprising. The uprising involved more than 2,000 people incarcerated in upstate New York’s Attica Correctional Facility. Prisoners took over the yard of the correctional facility to advocate for freedoms, wages, education access, medical care and more.
[Read more…] about Addressing Incarceration – Information and Engagement 9/8 & 9/13
In Person Worship and School – Horsham Meeting and TQS Embrace Distanced Attendance
Meetings are using different approaches to cope with worship during the pandemic. This week PYM is sharing the story of Horsham Monthly Meeting and its school, The Quaker School at Horsham. Both are open, and the meeting is sharing its building with the school during the week.
Worship in a Pandemic – Research on Religion from The Pew Research Center
Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting Skyspace photographed by Greg Benson
The Pew Research Center (a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts) regularly conducts surveys on religion and public life. PYM met with them this year to discuss sharing their articles and research on the PYM Website, and this is our first story featuring their research.
We’ve learned that one out of eight Americans say they attended church in the past month. What do they think about online worship? Below we have excerpted some interesting facts from a series of polls Pew conducted during the pandemic. [Read more…] about Worship in a Pandemic – Research on Religion from The Pew Research Center
Fall Religious Education Planning: Connection and New Directions
We are in a liminal space right now: there is uncertainty about what is ahead, but it is also a threshold to a new place. Thinking about planning for First Day programs this fall, I wonder what new possibilities are emerging during this de-stabilized time? In March, there was a crisis response and many meetings pivoted into online spaces; now the shift is to the new normal. Friends are thinking about how and when to return to meeting houses and what the implications are for children and young people gathering with the meeting. Some questions we might consider in this moment of community planning:
[Read more…] about Fall Religious Education Planning: Connection and New Directions
Naomi Madaras: Devotion Gives Sustenance for the Journey
Naomi Madaras gave a powerful presentation on Friday July 31 PYM News & Events previously reported on. We’ve been in email contact with Naomi, and now share this follow up Q&A interview.
Your Bio mentions growing up on a farm as a child; can you speak to how that now connects with your career in chaplaincy?
[Read more…] about Naomi Madaras: Devotion Gives Sustenance for the Journey
Minute of Thanks to the PYM Staff
At Annual Sessions, Terri Whiteford read this minute of thanks to PYM staff. The letter was dated August 1, 2020.
This has been a year of many unexpected events. It was February when we first discussed if the emerging pandemic would impact planned gatherings for PYM. By March it was clear that things were going to be very different for annual sessions and a residential meeting was not an option.
