In this past year, how has your meeting worked to create and strengthen the reality of a Beloved Community? How has your meeting fostered an environment in which members and attenders of all ages know they are loved, cared for, trusted, and respected?
Our meeting has nurtured our community in several ways with most of the members and attenders being actively involved in these pursuits.
- Our Care and Counsel committee stays informed on the needs of our members/attenders who are ill, having difficult life changes, or are in need of support. They reach out consistently.
- Care and Counsel has created a protocol for resolving conflict within our community. There was an initial forum on conflict resolution with more to follow.
- We have continued our hybrid meetings which has increased our connection to each other and given more unity to the Meeting. This has provided access to many who otherwise would not attend.
- Three of our members attended clerking workshop /retreat at Pendle Hill to learn ways to use our Quaker process to recognize and address conflict. We are implementing ways to strength and unite our community.
- Spiritual Discernment Circle – twice monthly meetings mid-week of quiet worship, then worship sharing, and fellowship.
- Forums in general encourage connection and community.
- Last spring, Nancy Bieber led Radnor’s spring retreat entitled, “Deepening our Worship in these Uncertain Times.” During the day long retreat, we shared reflections about what can hinder or enhance our connection with the Spirit as we prepare for, and enter into our worship as a community.
- Christmas caroling – this past year we returned to our MH for this traditional activity while including our virtual community in the hybrid form. This was a joyous celebration and affirmation of our community.
How have you sought to be neighbors and in relationship with other communities?
We have sought to be neighbors and to be in relationship with other communities in a variety of ways:
- We house the Main Line Montessori School on our campus, providing care and learning for children ages two through five in a way compatible with Quaker values. This provides a valuable service for area parents. We invite them to worship with us, though so far only the staff have responded.
- We contribute money and food to the Ardmore Food Pantry, and also participate in the Interfaith Hospitality Network, providing money and cooperating with Central Baptist Church in feeding and caring for unhoused families. We provide dinner for participating families about once every six weeks, with opportunities for interaction.
- We have formed a relationship with the Peace Island Institute, a group that promotes interfaith understanding and cooperation. Several of our members attended a dinner in Spring 2022, and we responded by hosting a Thanksgiving dinner in November, with about 30 members of the PII and 25 Friends attending. Several friendships came out of that occasion, and we expect the relation to continue.
- We’ve established the Benjamin Lay Fellowship Program, a 10-week leadership training and internship program grounded in Quaker history and values and open to students at local colleges and universities. This is an exciting initiative which we hope will benefit the Meeting by bringing in young people to help with our programs, and will benefit the students by offering training and information (as well as a stipend). This will benefit other Meetings in Haverford Quarter as well as Radnor.
- The Climate Action Committee brings us into cooperative action with other Quaker Meetings as well as non-Quaker groups. We trust that by making our own property more environmentally healthy we will benefit our neighbors.
- We were well-represented at the Radnor Fall Festival with seven members and attenders staffing our table, and a banner welcoming the thousands of participants from our community with the message, “Radnor Quaker Meeting: Explore Your Spirituality in a Peaceful Welcoming Community.” Radnor Friends also joined the Wayne Business Association as a non-profit member for 2022-23.
- We continue to display our “Black Lives Do Matter”.
How has your meeting been called to address issues of racism this past year? What additional concerns and initiatives have your meeting or meeting members been led to address?
- The meeting as a whole has not focused much of its attention on righting the wrongs that arise from systemic racism. Some individual members of the meeting have, however, felt called to address those wrongs.
- The meeting as a whole has begun thinking about what it means for us to try to worship G-d on land that was taken from the Lenape. The meeting also sponsored workshops that helped people look for creative ways to respond to personal and social conflict.
- In addition, the meeting gave concrete assistance to people who were facing food insecurity and to people who had immigrated to the United States from Afghanistan. And (as detailed in another part of this text), the meeting also took concrete steps to address the problems created by climate change.
How has the Spirit guided your work on climate change? How has your meeting addressed the five action areas identified in the climate change sprint report? Has your Meeting appointed a Climate Witness Liaison?
During this year Radnor Meeting’s Climate Action Committee, which has 4-6 members, has represented the spirit of the Meeting in several ways:
- We hosted EQAT’s campaign against investing in fossil fuels at Vanguard when they stopped at Radnor where we fed them and participated in a forum.
- We added a ‘Climate Action Committee’ section on the home page of Radnor’s web site with climate news and a blog to provide guidance.
- We established a low-carbon food guide for fellowship food on our web page.
- We researched and worked on the process of reducing the Meeting’s carbon footprint by making plans to retire our 6 gas-burning furnaces and replace them with heat pumps that are powered with sustainably sourced electricity. This is a long process that we expect to be completed by 2025.
- We are in the process of developing the EMERGE mnemonic statement of the values that lead Quakers to become activated as we are all face climate chaos. Empathy, Mindfulness, Ecological Integrity, Right Action, Growth, Endurance.
What learnings and yearnings particular to your meeting would you like to share?
- We yearn to regain our pre-pandemic size. Before the pandemic we typically had 40+ Friends present on a Sunday morning. Now it’s closer to 15-20, with an equal number on zoom. We miss the full-meetinghouse energy. However, we’re happy that we’ve attracted 3 or 4 “young people” (younger than the average age of our members) and we hope the Benjamin Lay Fellowship program may attract more.
- We always yearn to deepen our spiritual lives, both individually and corporately.
We have both yearnings and learnings about climate action. Our climate action committee has provided information and stimulus for reflecting and acting. We yearn for a more environmentally healthy world, and have learned how to take practical steps as a meeting.
What are things the Yearly Meeting might do to support your meeting?
This is from our forum on PYM in December 2022. We created a list of our needs and ideas which follow:
- Create a social media presence for PYM and help create one for MM. PYM needs a better website that is more interactive and more current with the times
- Provide curriculum for Quaker Studies, with leaders that are new voices, about our past, our principles and how they inform our worship and other topics of interest.
- Organize a speakers’ bureau of Friends who can speak on a variety of topics.
- We would like to have a more robust response to property issues that Meetings are dealing with, such as funding for repair of walls.
- A better understanding of the YM structure, with communications from the YM explaining what they do and what they offer.
- Needs differ among Quakers and there are many challenges. Some Friends are only interested in casual attendance and don’t see beyond Meeting for Worship. We are in a new moment after the pandemic, with a new opportunity to gather along common interests over Zoom.
- More interesting Yearly Meeting gatherings, to encourage increased attendance and the continued use of zoom to enhance attendance.
- Greater responsiveness to the needs of Young Adult Friends
- We need a way to network with other Friends and get young folks involved. Need to focus on how to care for young people.
- Camp programs for young people should be held, if not available already.
- Program offerings that allow for participation of people now in the workforce.
- Organized communication among Quakers would be helpful, such as listings of members within Quarters
Prepared by the Worship and Ministry Committee. Submitted by David Castro, Clerk of Meeting
