Linda Clark is a member of Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting. As a whole meeting, Chestnut Hill Friends has joined an organization called POWER. In this article, Linda reflects on her experiences working with POWER and why it’s important for meetings across PA to join. If you have questions if your meeting is interested, please contact Linda at lindapat49@gmail.com. [Read more…] about Calling All PA Meetings: Consider Joining POWER
The story below was previously published in the Merion Friends Meeting April 2021 Newsletter. The article was written by Janet Frazer.
Lower Merion Township’s official history begins in 1682 after Penn established his colony and sold the land to the Welsh Quakers who founded Merion Friends Meeting. But the area was not empty when these travelers arrived! Quaker Thomas Evan’s son reported that when his father arrived in Merion that year he was thirsty and given a drink of water by an elderly Swede and his wife. Dr. Edward Jones later recalled that shortly after his family’s arrival, “the Indians brought venison to our door for six pence ye quarter .” Thomas Paschal, an immigrant from Bristol, England, who lived at Kingsessing (Southwest Philadelphia) wrote in 1683 that “Swedes provide food and housing for the newcomers but also essential services in negotiating with the native Indians”. So the Delaware Valley was not an unoccupied wilderness when the Quakers arrived.
Like others, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting’s staff have endured this pandemic year while witnessing persistent violence directed at non-white populations. The latest killing of Daunte Wright by a police officer is another instance of how unsafe it is to live as a person of color in the United States.
The death of George Floyd, and each individual’s loss of life through hate and gun violence is personally felt. The rise in anti Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) violence is addressed in the staff statement below. The statement was welcomed and affirmed by the presiding clerks of the yearly meeting, Jean-Marie Prestwidge Barch and Frank Barch, earlier this week.
Granting Committee last week invited members of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting’s Granting Groups – along with Administrative Council members, Young Adult Friend consultants, and staff – to gather online to celebrate those involved in the care and stewardship of the Yearly Meeting’s granting funds and to reflect on their work in the past year. “Celebrating Our Granting Witness” offered Granting Group members from different groups the chance to build community and learn from one another. To begin, Ken Park, clerk of the Granting Committee, led us in a period of grounding worship before passing the spotlight on to Friends presenting on their granting group. [Read more…] about Grantmakers Gather to Celebrate PYM’s Granting Witness on April 1
Warm greetings from the Ministry and Care Committee of Quaker Life Council!
We trust this communication finds you well, grounded in Spirit and in your community of faith. This a reminder that if you haven’t already sent yours, we would like to receive the Spiritual Life of the Meeting report from your meeting by May 1, 2021. This will give the Ministry and Care Committee ample time to receive and read what you share, and to craft a document describing the Spiritual State of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and send it to the Quaker Life Council in advance of PYM’s summer sessions, July 27-August 1. [Read more…] about Reminder – Spiritual Life of the Meeting Reports
While we know many Friends will agree with the author of this post, the views expressed here are personal and not a Philadelphia Yearly Meeting statement. Friends within Philadelphia Yearly Meeting are aware that experiences of life differ from person to person. As a faith community, we are undertaking the work of learning more about each other. Within this work, we find that there are ways we will want to change, internally and externally.
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting has curated trusted links and downloads for more than 100 resources that support Friends concerned with Peace & Social Justice issues. Please educate yourself on how to serve as an effective ally to Trans, Queer, Asian, and Black Indigenous People of Color and read further about how our faith can engage in creating a better world. [Read more…] about A Call for Intersectionality
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting hosted an evening question and answer session with the Eco Justice Collaborative in preparation for the Saturday March 24th Continuing Sessions work on the topic of Climate Change. Here follows an interview with Pat Finley and Ruth Darlington of the Eco Justice Collaborative (EJC) and Anthony Stover, Clerk of Quaker Life Council.
The interview explains how the Quaker Life Council will form a Sprint (a nimble, short-term committee convened around a Yearly Meeting initiative of importance) and the Eco Justice Collaborative will support the PYM community in climate justice work.
[Read more…] about Quaker Life Council and Eco Justice: Pathways to Climate Change Action
Earlham School of Religion has a new graduate certificate: Spiritual Formation.
This 6-course certificate is designed for individuals with undergraduate or graduate degrees in many different fields who want to explore a Seminary education rooted in Quaker thought and practice, without committing to a degree program: new retirees, career changers, those seeking vocational discernment, and others in the midst of transition. The required courses are core courses of the MDiv degree; the certificate can be applied toward the MDiv once finished.
[Read more…] about Earlham School of Religion offers a New Graduate Certificate
The author of this post, Zachary T. Dutton, serves our yearly meeting as Associate Secretary for Program and Religious Life. He is a white cisgender gay man working (imperfectly) to dismantle oppression in all its forms. He is a member of Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting.
While many Friends share Zachary’s concerns, the views expressed here do not necessarily represent the views of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting as a whole. Check out the Rainbow Railroad for information on one way to support international LGBTQ+ people. The PYM Website contains further resources on its page for Peace & Social Justice. [Read more…] about In Solidarity with LGBTQ+ People
Following a Friday night gathering for song and fellowship, and preceded by a Tuesday Question and Answer Session hosted by the Eco Justice Collaborative, some 120+ Friends gathered virtually at Continuing Sessions on Saturday March 27th.
The morning began with 9:00 All Ages Worship followed by a land acknowledgement by S. Boone O’ Scheyichbi. Philadelphia Yearly Meeting clerks, Jean-Marie Prestwidge Barch and Frank Barch, led Meeting for Business in Worship. [Read more…] about Take-aways and Minutes: March 27 Continuing Sessions
Update your contact & Meeting information at pym.org/updates
