Alfred Monthly Meeting

Called Meeting for Worship
August 18, 2002

On August 18, 2002, a special called Meeting for Business to consider a public statement about Peace opened with a period of silent worship. Attending the meeting were: Dean and Sharon Hoover, Nadine Hoover, Keith and Suzanne Blackburn and Serena and Analea, Clarence Klingensmith, Donna Tartaglia. The meeting approved the following minutes.
  1. Alfred Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends will establish an ongoing silent peace vigil for each Wednesday from noon until 12:30 P.M. with laminated signs that say PEACE in many languages and one that says: "Peace is . . . principled, purposeful, persistent, non-partisan, patriotic, prudent, penitent, powerful, prosperous, possible." We will have two or three simple fact sheets available on a table, with large-print versions available also. We will invite area churches to join with us in the vigil and to contribute materials for the table. The vigil will be a prayer for peace. We will request use of the lawn in front of the Union University Church Center. If they agree, we will send a letter to area churches formally inviting them to join us. As much as possible, we will support Friends who wish to organize similar vigils in their hometowns.
  2. Alfred Monthly Meeting will work toward placing a paid ad in local newspapers using the July 2002 NYYM Peace Minute signed by members of Alfred Monthly Meeting and including Web site addresses of our meeting and Friends Committee on National Legislation (to locate governmental representatives). We will also work toward placing a simple, paid ad on local radio stations and cable TV, such as: "The following is a very important message, brought to you by the Alfred Religious Society of Friends, also known as the Quakers. . . . Peace is patriotic . . . and possible. www.alfredfriends.org." Friends approved an initial budget for this project of $1,500, funds to be drawn from Peace and Social Concerns allocation, contingency fund, member contributions, NYYM, and Alfred Monthly Meeting reserve funds.
  3. Alfred Monthly Meeting will ask the Alfred Seventh Day Baptists if we may establish a Peace Center reading room in the Parish House. We will open the Peace Center on Tuesdays from 2:00-6:00 P.M. when the Op Shop is open and people are passing by there. We will make a magazine rack to display our resources.
  4. Alfred Monthly Meeting will place boxes for used stamp collection in towns and villages in which we reside, with a display of the Quaker missions supported by the stamps. We will display our message of peace and conscientious objection to war on the boxes.
  5. Friends are encouraged to be clear about our sense of conscience, to be informed about our nation's actions in the world, to share our conscience with others, and to seek guidance through worship on how to live out and witness to God's love and truth in the world.

The meeting closed with silent worship.