NEW BRUNSWICK MONTHLY MEETING
of the Religious Society of Friends

New Brunswick Friends Meeting (Quakers)
History of Our Meeting

The following history of New Brunswick Friends Meeting was originally written by John E. Brush, a founding member of the Meeting, from his perspective and recollections, in December 2004 in anticipation of the Meeting’s Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration. It was edited and updated by Jeffrey Aaron and Jennie Fischer. Keith Voos and John Menzel provided additional editing.

In 1927, a Friends Worship Group was established in New Brunswick. Participants were largely Rutgers faculty and students and members of Rahway-Plainfield Friends Meeting. Regular worship was established in 1940 with a First Day School (Sunday School) and other activities. In 1955, New Brunswick Monthly Meeting was established under Shrewsbury & Plainfield Half Yearly Meeting. In 1963, the Meeting was incorporated. From 1964 to 1983, the meeting had its home at Quaker House, 33 Remsen Avenue. Quaker House also functioned as an international, inter-racial graduate student co-operative residence for women and men attending Rutgers. In addition, it brought speakers to express Friends’ concerns for social justice and peace to the university and community at large. Since 1984, the meeting has been located at 109 Nichol Avenue.

Chronology

• Informal Group: 1927–55
• Establishment of the Monthly Meeting: 1955–64
• Quaker House: 1964–84
• Friends House: 1984–2004
• 2004–2010

Informal Group: 1927–55

In 1927 Quakers in New Brunswick and vicinity began gathering for worship in the lounge of the Elks club on Livingston Ave. Subsequently meetings for worship and discussion were held at various locations on the Rutgers College campus and the New Jersey College for Women (now Douglass College.) The group was largely made up of faculty and students. During 1937, ‘38 and ’39 annual conferences, organized by Young Friends with invited outside speakers (e.g. Thomas Kelly,) had attendance of 50 or more. In 1940-41 the group had regular worship, first-day school, social gatherings and a sewing group that made garments for the AFSC to distribute to war victims.

Activity fluctuated and no monthly meeting was established during the period prior to 1954. Friends who wished could easily affiliate with Rahway & Plainfield, a large monthly meeting located about 10 miles from New Brunswick in Plainfield NJ (also called Plainfield Meeting). Clarence and Mildred Platt, long-time Friends who lived many years in Highland Park, had membership there. When John and Miriam Brush came to Rutgers in 1951-52, they transferred their membership from St. Louis, Mo., to Rahway-Plainfield. They took their three children to Plainfield’s flourishing first-day school and attended the concurrent adult class. But in the afternoons they went to meetings for worship in the New Brunswick YWCA, located on Bayard Street.

Soon, thereafter several young families living in Highland Park and the vicinity of New Brunswick organized to worship and to provide religious education in the Guest House, a historic building at 60 Livingston Avenue, owned by the City and located on the Public Library grounds. No rent was expected for use of the premises on Sundays; instead, we paid heating costs and purchased chairs for adults and children, made a pamphlet rack and the tables needed for the children. Thus, an independent monthly meeting was created. By 1954 there was a membership of 33, almost half of them of age 15 or younger.
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Establishment of the Monthly Meeting: 1955–64

In 1955 the existing monthly meeting was formally recognized by Shrewsbury and Plainfield Half-Yearly Meeting and thus became part of New York Yearly Meeting and the wider Society of Friends. By 1960 our membership had grown to 64 of whom half were children of minor age. During this period the meeting acted as sponsor and gave personal aid to four refugees: 2 young men displaced from Communist Europe (Yugoslavia and Hungary) and a middle-aged man and wife displaced from the Middle East by ethnic and religious strife.

Between 1958 and 1961, three members of Shrewsbury, New Brunswick, and Rahway-Plainfield Meetings (Edmund Goerke, John Fischer, and Louis Kopecki, respectively) visited other New Jersey Quaker meetings and NJ state legislators to support abolition of the death penalty in New Jersey. Three years later, in 1964, a commission was established in the state legislature to study the death penalty.

The City terminated our use of the Guest House in 1962. Thereafter, Meetings for Worship, First-Day School and Business were held in the homes of members—namely, at Weigands in East Brunswick, Brushes and Von Erffas in Piscataway and Ruth Nafey in Highland Park. During 1962-3 we were meeting regularly in the Dunhams Corner Chapel (a non-denominational church building, which was disused and available for rent), located near Ryders Lane in East Brunswick Township about 5 miles from New Brunswick. We brought Rachel Davis Dubois to our meeting to lead us in Quaker Dialogues--- a problem-solving method of group discussion, sponsored by Friends General Conference. In 1963-4 we met in the new YWCA building on Livingston Avenue and New Street in New Brunswick. Membership stabilized at about 60 adults and children.

It was decided that we needed to be legally established and also to find a permanent place to meet. In 1963 Edward Webster, member and attorney, helped the Monthly Meeting to charter incorporation under New Jersey statutes, creating Bylaws and Officers who were responsible for the Meeting’s financial assets. The six incorporators were John Brush, Hilda Barr Dixon, John Fischer, Arnold Von der Porten, Eleanor von Erffa, and Frederick Weigand. We had saved about $2,500 in a building fund but the goal of acquiring a home for the Meeting remained a dream.
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Quaker House: 1964–84

Help came in 1964 when the New Jersey Friends Center Committee was created, due mainly to initiatives by Jane Karkalits from Rahway-Plainfield Meeting, comprising representatives from the five N.J. Quarters located in the southern section of the State, belonging to Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, and in the northern section, belonging to New York Yearly Meeting. The purposes of the New Jersey Friends Center Committee were threefold: (1) to establish an international, inter-racial graduate student co-operative residence for men and women attending Rutgers – the State University; (2) to provide a base for a program with part-time paid leadership and to bring speakers to express Friends concerns for social justice and peace to the university and community at large; and (3) to be the home of New Brunswick Friends Meeting.

Rahway-Plainfield Meeting offered $5,000 to be added to New Brunswick’s fund for purchasing a building. David Arnold, a Friend and an experienced administrator, was engaged to help in setting up the Center and to lead the search for an existing building (also to be known as Quaker House). A former mansion, then used as a rooming house, located at 33 Remsen Avenue, close to the central business district of the City and within walking distance (and close to university bus service) to the campuses of Rutgers, Douglass and Cook Colleges, was purchased with a 20-year mortgage for $70,000. The 3-story structure could accommodate a dozen young people in single or double rooms on the upper floors with common kitchen, dining and living rooms on the first floor. A part-time program director was employed to live in Quaker House. New Jersey meetings were invited to contribute to the Center’s operating budget. The building was remodeled to provide a first floor apartment with office for the program director. Supervision of the program, operation of the student co-operative and property management were responsibilities of the N.J. Friends Center Committee, Inc. which was made up of representatives appointed by the regional meetings—coming primarily from Ridgewood, Montclair, Moorestown, Princeton, and Trenton, as well as Manasquan, New Brunswick, Rahway-Plainfield, and Shrewsbury.

New Brunswick Meeting rented space in Quaker House. Worship, discussion and social hours were held in the first floor living-dining room and children’s classes were accommodated in basement rooms. The Meeting also contributed to the operating budget for program support, and some of our members served on the Friends Center Committee. Among the 13 residents in 1972 there were three Quakers, including Don Meserve who was program director. They and other residents participated in our worship and activities.¹ During this period the Meeting experienced an influx of new families and individuals², due in many instances to the influence of Evelyn Bird in her role as teacher and head of the Pine Grove Co-Operative Nursery School in which their children were enrolled.

The decades of the 1960’s and 70’s were turbulent—at times chaotic. Young people rebelled against conventional social and political constraints. Members of the Meeting were divided in respect to United States war involvement in Viet Nam; the Meeting was able to be a resource for conscientious objectors. And some Quaker House residents were caught in the throes of War resistance; others challenged conventional behavioral mores. John Brush in his role as Committee representative to the resident manager, describes his experiences as “continuous drama”. Nevertheless, we had generally happy relationships with the residents and a cooperative spirit prevailed in the House. Former students who lived there for several years have fond memories of their experiences and maintain friendships, coming together for reunions many years later. Three marriages resulted among couples who first knew one another while they were in residence.

Circumstances changed in the early 1980’s. The goals of Quaker House were no longer being served. Student interest in co-operative living and community service diminished. Financial support from New Jersey monthly meetings was insufficient to maintain a program staffed with a part-time director. The committee faced increased financial burdens due to municipal fire safety regulations which required expensive installation of a sprinkler system and fire escapes. After a comprehensive survey of views in the supporting meetings and long deliberation it was decided to discontinue the New Jersey Friends Center.

In 1983 the Center organization was laid down and the building sold to the New Jersey Association on Correction to become a half-way house for rehabilitation of prisoners prior to being released. The proceeds of the sale were given by the Committee to New Brunswick Friends Meeting with the understanding that we would remain in the City and continue having Quaker activities in a place readily accessible to students. New Brunswick Friends continued to meet in the House one more year during our search for another home.

¹One Sunday during 1971 a student from South India spoke in meeting for worship, saying “I believe in God, but not in religions. A religion says it is the one way, but I say there are many ways. I have found God more in Quaker meeting in these two years than in the thirty years of life before in Hindu temples.” (from the Meeting Newsletter)

²Among others joining were the Aarons, Birds, Davisons, Kicklighters, Lawsons, MacLeans, Mahals, Menzels, Nowelsky, Pifer, Smiths and Ways.

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Friends House: 1984–2004

In 1984 a duplex house with three apartments, located at 109 Nichol Avenue, built by Jeffrey Aaron’s grandfather and where Jeffrey had lived as a child, was offered for sale by his aunt, The building was purchased for $110,000 with funds raised from our members, added to some $70,000 available from the sale of Quaker House. We were pleased to be able to purchase it without indebtedness, although for several years thereafter bank loans were necessary to finance major repairs and improvements. Our location on Nichol Avenue across the street from the Cook-Douglass campus makes the meeting house readily accessible to students.

The property is subject to municipal taxation, unlike the status enjoyed by the Friends Center which was classified as a tax-exempt religious organization. The apartments (one with six rooms and the other with four) are readily rented at below market rates, usually to students or to young adults. Income from the rental of the two apartments is sufficient to carry the taxes as well as most of the overhead expense of maintaining the property. The Monthly Meeting pays a flat fee in lieu of rent, and the treasury and budget is divided into operations and property so that Friends will not rely on rental income to meet operations budgetary needs.

The meeting for worship based on silence is central to our search for God. Attendance at this writing averages about 16-20 (maximum 27) and at meeting for business about 10-15. Members and attenders participate regularly in interfaith service projects such as Elijah’s Promise (a soup kitchen in New Brunswick for homeless people) and Fish Hospitality (provision of lodging and meals for homeless families in Plainfield vicinity). Our Peace and Service Committee has participated in public demonstrations, in New Brunswick and Highland Park, of opposition to war.

In particular, in response to the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Peace and Service activities included reaching out to Muslim communities in Old Bridge and Piscataway, participating in peace vigils for many years, participating in a central NJ inter-faith dialog group with Christians, Muslims, and Jews for 2 years, and being founding and current members of the Central Jersey Coalition Against Endless War. Some members were trained on providing military and draft counseling to interested families and individuals.

The Committee on Religious Education recently organized adult sessions on the nature and history of the Society of Friends (Quakerism 101). We have singing before worship monthly and a monthly potluck meal after the first Sunday meeting. Total membership in the Meeting has declined to 46 and none are minors, but meeting for worship has increased over the years. In 2003 we hired an experienced facilitator, Steven Ross (a Shrewsbury Friend), to lead us in three sessions of constructive dialogue. As a result, we have come to know one another more fully in spiritual and organizational matters. We ponder the significance of our condition and what the facts might mean for the future.

In 2000, the Peace and Service Committee, together with other Quaker Meetings and other faith organizations in New Jersey, began to work again on the abolition of the Death Penalty. By 2006, a moratorium on executions in NJ was enacted in the state and the Death Penalty Study Commission was formed; we continued to work on this issue until December 2007 when a law was signed by the governor, abolishing the death penalty in the state of NJ.
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2004–2010

Members of the Meeting have continued to be active with many projects and dealt with other significant issues. We have written and circulated minutes (documents expressing the views of the Meeting as a whole) against torture and for acknowledging the equal worth of all people, including those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning. We have helped Friends’ Peace Teams in Africa, as well as Quakers in Kenya, and have continued purchasing, preparing and serving dinners every month at Elijah’s Promise, the local soup kitchen.

The Meeting has also donated food to local pantries, supported Ronald McDonald House with pop tabs, and bought stamps and stationary for the Elizabeth Immigration Center detainees. Our adult Religious Education Committee holds monthly sessions. Topics have included Quaker history, Quaker testimonies and queries, and most recently, “The Gathered Meeting.”

Our members are involved in the local regional organization of Friends called Shrewsbury and Plainfield Half Yearly Meeting, as well as in the larger New York Yearly Meeting which covers New York, north Jersey and two Meetings in Connecticut. One of our members is an at large member of the Friends Committee on National Legislation, an organization based in Washington D.C. advocating for laws that would help to bring about a world at peace, a just society and an earth restored.. He keeps us informed of the Committee’s concerns and activities.

It has been important for us to provide First Day School experience for our children. Because we have a small and variable number of them attending intermittently, we have worked hard to provide consistent adult leadership for the program. Under the care of the Religious Education Committee, they have carried out several projects: collecting and disposing of litter from around the block, recycling cell phones, and collecting money for Pennies for Peace, Greg Mortenson’s organization which builds schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Please see the full description of our First Day School program elsewhere on the website.

We strive to be welcoming to all. We hold regular Wednesday night worship and discussion meetings for both Rutgers students and members of our Meeting. In 2008 our meeting received the designation as a campus chaplaincy at Rutgers. This designation has to be renewed each academic year. We recently held a workshop on the book, Fit for Freedom, Not for Friendship, which focused on the issue of racial discrimination and the abolition movement in American Quaker history. Several of our members joined a counter demonstration last year to support the Hillel Foundation and Rutgers University when out of state members of a church called Westboro Baptists carried out an anti-Semitic demonstration. We had a talk on transgender issues last year, and this year arranged for a handicapped parking spot near our Meeting House. As landlords of two rental units in our building, we feel that our tenant relationship and property stewardship are important parts of our witness.

In 2005, in an effort to peacefully solve the problem of truckers driving across our front yard, the Meeting planted a small, circular flower garden surrounded by rocks near our front curb. This avoided an unnecessary confrontation with city officials and has been a fairly successful solution. It has also resulted in a lovely flower bed in front of our Meeting House, and we have been heartened by this result.

We now have 39 members, several of which are non-resident or inactive. This is a slight decrease in membership; however, our regular Meetings for Worship attract a steady stream of attenders. We look to the future with hope, and continue to search for the inner light to direct our actions.
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