Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

of the Religious Society of Friends

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Non Violent Training for These Times

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Different Friends and meetings in PYM and across the United States are responding to the upcoming election with prayer and concern. Here is a perspective:

Choose Democracy

As members of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, we along with others are engaged in an effort to protect our country’s democracy from spoken threats to subvert the 2020 elections. We do so not as a partisan effort, but out of a concern for truth, integrity, and the nonviolent resolution of conflicts.

As Quakers, we are called to stand fast in Truth, not political truth but moral truth, that is capital T spiritual Truth.  Lying is not Truth.  Hating is not Truth.  Killing is not Truth.  Manipulation is not Truth.  Truth is love.  We are called to stand fast in love. [Read more…] about Non Violent Training for These Times

Full Circle: A Quaker Farm, Quaker Meeting and Quakertown Today

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This is part III of our story about a Quaker farm and a Quaker Meeting in Quakertown, NJ.

In this final section, Quakertown Meeting attender and farm owner, Marty Campanelli brings us into the year 2020 with news of the Potter-Allen-Vail farm during the 1929 stock market crash (Herbert Hoover, an Iowa Quaker, was president), the creation of a local scout troop by Willis Vail, the planting of 1000 Christmas trees, and wool Marty now harvests for local crafters.

[Read more…] about Full Circle: A Quaker Farm, Quaker Meeting and Quakertown Today

Video: Aging Well

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The Newtown Meeting Aging Well series continues with two programs on housing: Where Will You Live in Your Later Years?  and Aging in Place.  They are presented in video format by Susan W. Hoskins, LCSW. Susan is a clinical social worker certified in gerontology.  She is the Executive Director of the Friends Foundation for the Aging, and was director of the Princeton Senior Resource Center for nearly 20 years. [Read more…] about Video: Aging Well

PART II: History of a Quaker Farm + Quaker Meeting + Quakertown NJ

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This is part II of our story about a Quaker farm and Meetinghouse in Quakertown, NJ. We share this with thanks to Quakertown attender and farm owner, Marty Campanelli. Marty is writing about the farm she inhabits and the Meeting she attends.

Marty begins where she left off last week, with the Allen and Laing family farm on the outskirts of Quakertown, NJ.

Think back to the first part of the 19th century. It was a time of horse drawn carriages, coal-fired factories, steam engines, and the birth of the railroads…

[Read more…] about PART II: History of a Quaker Farm + Quaker Meeting + Quakertown NJ

Quakers in Education: Nitobe Inazo, Elizabeth Gray Vining, and Joseph Wharton

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This is the second in a series of articles about Quakers who’ve impacted the fields of education and contributed to global scientific, medical, political, or economic leadership. The first article was published on September 23 and covered Elise Goulding, Ezra Cornell, and Johns Hopkins.

Nitobe Inazo (1862-1933) was a Japanese Quaker who became the first Under Secretary General for the League of Nations. Nitobe was born into a samurai family on Honshu, the main island of Japan. While in college, he became a Christian and later a Friend. In 1884, He moved to the US for post-graduate studies at Johns Hopkins University. There he began attending Quaker meetings, telling friends, “I very much like their simplicity and earnestness.”

[Read more…] about Quakers in Education: Nitobe Inazo, Elizabeth Gray Vining, and Joseph Wharton

PYM Leadership: Meet Rising Clerk Melissa Rycroft, and James Waddington, Administrative Council Clerk

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Melissa Rycroft – Rising Clerk

Melissa Rycroft comes to her new role of Rising Clerk after years of supporting PYM as the clerk and previously a member of Nominating Council. She is a member of Upper Susquehanna Quarter, and she works as a Client and Application Support Specialist in Library & Information Technology at Bucknell University. [Read more…] about PYM Leadership: Meet Rising Clerk Melissa Rycroft, and James Waddington, Administrative Council Clerk

September Giant Children’s Meeting: Celebrating New Beginnings

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Giant Children’s Meeting is a new religious education and community event hosted on fourth Sundays by the Youth Religious Life Coordinator, Melinda Wenner Bradley, and a planning committee of Friends holding care for children and families in the yearly meeting: Guinevere Janes (Media Meeting), Abigaile Brace-Higgins (Mickleton Meeting), and Crystal Hershey (Mount Holly Meeting) who also serves the Children & Families program. [Read more…] about September Giant Children’s Meeting: Celebrating New Beginnings

Middle School Friends Made Pie!

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Middle School Friends began their Fall Hangout series with a fun afternoon of baking!

After spending some time getting to know each other through introductions and a “favorite thing about fall” scavenger hunt, Chef Alix (our fabulous MSF Assistant!) led everyone through the steps of making a key lime pie.  Each pie had its own unique characteristics – just like our Middle School Friends – and they all were delicious! [Read more…] about Middle School Friends Made Pie!

Newtown Quakers Celebrate World Quaker Day

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Newtown Friends Meeting sent greetings and love to people throughout the world on October 4 in celebration of World Quaker Day as they gathered virtually via Zoom for worship in Newtown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania

There are approximately 400,000 Quakers worldwide in North, Central and South America, Europe, the UK, East Europe, Russia, Africa, Southeast Asia, The Far East, Australia and new New Zealand. [Read more…] about Newtown Quakers Celebrate World Quaker Day

In Person Worship: Outdoors and in Meetinghouses

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It is a truth universally acknowledged that every empty meeting house exists to embrace worshipers. Friends say they miss in-person worship during this pandemic, and some have found ways to carefully manage convening for indoor and outdoor worship.

Over the course of a month, PYM staff have started visiting meetings to be present in community. As we’ve connected through personal fellowship and phone calls, clerks and meeting members have explained how they have seasoned the decision to reopen. They’ve had to balance safety, tech support, and overall meeting capacity with the genuine need that Friends have to sit together in worship.

All of the four meetings that we visited in late August and September — Horsham, Quakertown, Third Haven, and Plumstead — were offering in-person worship. [Read more…] about In Person Worship: Outdoors and in Meetinghouses

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