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Contents
Ongoing Events within the Yearly Meeting(See the Events section of the NYYM Web site for further information.)
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The following are possible areas of prayerful consideration:
For information see the Events section or contact Vicki Cooley or Irma Guthrie. Back to contents
As the coordinator of the Western Massachusetts office of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), Comerford was part of an AFSC/Quaker delegation to Iraq that returned in June 2002. The trip, which violated U.S. law and UN sanctions, was made as an "act of conscience." Its purpose was not only a fact_finding mission but also a humanitarian effort. The delegation had a broad spectrum of meetings and encounters, including a session with Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz and talks with taxi drivers and artists. The group also met with UN Assistant Secretary General Tun Myat. A time for questions will follow the talk. All are welcome. Old Chatham Monthly Meeting is at Powell House; their phone number is 518-794-0259. If your meeting would like a visit from Jo, you may e-mail afsc@crocker.com. Back to contents
Brooklyn Meeting will host a group of Virginia Friends. They will open the meetinghouse on Saturday morning to greet arriving Friends. They will also open the meetinghouse on Saturday evening following the demonstration and serve a spaghetti dinner. On Sunday morning before people depart they will have a bagel breakfast. All who wish are welcome to stay for worship at 11:00 A.M. Brooklyn will accommodate as many as possible in the meetinghouse. Sleeping arrangements will be on carpet or bench cushions. Bring your own sleeping bag or blankets. Backup locations are being arranged in case of excess numbers, or for those for whom sleeping on the floor is impossible. As of press time the logistics of the march and rally are still being worked out. Friends are trying to make arrangements for Quakers to worship and march together. To stay informed please contact Cheshire Frager at cfrager@afsc.org and visit www.unitedforpeace.org. Back to contents
Pendle Hill Weekend, February 21 23, 2003From the time when William Penn owned slaves through the civil rights activities of individual Friends and Quaker organizations, the relationship between Quakers and African-Americans has been complex and often at arm/s length. What has really happened over the past 350 years?On February 21 23 at Pendle Hill, Vanessa Julye and Donna McDaniel will facilitate a weekend of exploration of this subject. Using short readings, small- and large-group discussions, and worship sharing, they will explore the relationship of Quakers and African-Americans during different periods. Learning from the past can help us transform our future as a Society of Friends and as individuals creating the kind of community in which we want to live. Vanessa and Donna are writing a book on the relationship of Quakers and African-Americans, to be published by Quaker Press. For further information contact Pendle Hill, 338 Plush Mill Rd., Wallingford PA 19086; 800-742-3150; www.pendlehill.org. Back to contents
March 1, 2003, Poplar Ridge MeetingThis day-long workshop, led by Bill Galvin, counseling coordinator with the Center on Conscience & War, will consider such topics as:
The fee for the workshop is $40, which includes the recently revised Draft Counselor's Manual. To register or for further information please see the NYYM Web site or contact: Larry Buffam, 3887 Rt 38, Moravia, NY 13118; 315-364-8901; larrybuf@localnet.com. NOTE: A similar workshop under the care of Purchase Quarter, focusing only on counseling servicemembers on military discharges and GI rights, will be held Saturday, March 8, in Westport, Conn. Further details will be forthcoming. Back to contents
The retreat weekend will be a time when we can explore together - through worship and sharing - ways in which we may nurture, deepen, and strengthen the spiritual roots of our meetings and their members/attenders. We will consider both the strengths and the challenges of being small meetings. Powell House has received a large grant from the Advancement Committee to support this retreat. When someone from your meeting registers, they should let Powell House know how much assistance they need. Early registration is advised. The cost is $160 for adults, $80 children (2-17), $40 for infants. For further information and registration: Powell House, 524 Pitt Hall Rd., Old Chatham, N.Y. 12136; 518-794-8811; carolyn@powellhouse.org; www.powellhouse.org. Back to contents
Quiet Helpers was mounted by the German Historical Museum, Berlin, to document the humanitarian assistance. The exhibit uses a mix of artifacts and replicas, documents, historical photos, and video. If you served as a volunteer or staff for Quaker service in Europe, or know someone who did, during the '20s, '30s, or '40s, and would like to tell your story, give us a call. For general information, please contact American Friends Service Committee, New York Metropolitan Region,(212) 598-0954. Back to contents
FWCC Northeast Regional GatheringJoin Friends from New England, Canada, and New York State April 11-13 for a weekend of listening and celebration as spring awakens the earth at Woolman Hill in Deerfield, Mass. We will be focusing on the importance of listening in the peace process; both the building of peace in the world, and personal opening to peace within.
Elise Boulding will facilitate the program on Saturday. Holly Baldwin will report on FWCC's January Peace Consultation. We will celebrate with Sacred Circle dancing, singing, and, weather permitting, a bonfire on Saturday night. A children's program will be led by Gretchen Baker-Smith. For more information, contact info@woolmanhill.org or 413-774-3431. Back to contents
Easter Work Weekend & Messiah Sing, April 18-20 (FOR CHILDREN AND ADULTS). This Powell House tradition has something for everyone, and the price is right. There is always light work as well as the muscle-building stuff and projects for the younger set. We sing Handel's Messiah beginning Friday night and finishing Sunday. Cost: $25 per adult for food; teens & children are free. Spirit Play, March 14-16, JR. HIGH. Spirit abounds in us. It can be playful or serious. Often it is joyful and creative. Explore what Spirit means to you and to others. Then make a production out of it. Come ready to create and to experience the magic and mystery of PoHo Theater III. Fee $90. Reflecting the Silence, March 21 - 23, SR. HIGH. Karen Arp Sandel will lead us into the silence again this year with deep meditative yoga. Then the time is yours for moving in the silence, to find your Inner Light, center, core. Discover your oneness with those around you as you communicate without words. Fee: $90 Simply Wonderful, March 28 - 30, 4TH, 5TH, & 6TH GRADES. When the cold gray days of late winter start to wear on you, its time to think of the wonderful simple things like hot chocolate and the first crocuses poking through the snow. It's also a good time to think about simplicity and the wonders that brings. Using the Quaker testimony of simplicity as a springboard (and not the PoHo pillows), we'll explore what simplicity means to each of us and how we might live it. Fee: $90 Tough Mind, Tender Heart, Men's Intergenerational Weekend, April 11-13. JR & SR HIGH, ADULTS. In a celebration and exploration of being men, we will frame the weekend with Martin Luther King's words: "The strong man holds in a living blend strongly marked opposites. . . ." This youth conference will be open to a limited number of adults also: PoHo grads, attenders' dads, young and old. Be tough, be tender, be balanced, be here! Fee: $90. What's Love Got to do With it? April 25-27, SR. HIGH. Teilhard de Chardin said that we are spiritual beings having a human experience. Sex educators claim we are sexual beings from birth. Can we be both spiritual and sexual beings? Come and share your ideas and feelings about sexuality and spirituality. Think about this too: What's love got to do with it? Fee: S90. EarthSong XXIX, May 23-25, JR AND SR HIGH. Spring will be bursting out and so will our seniors. Join us for this two-houses-full farewell to our graduating seniors. Celebrate friendships and Spirit in workshops, Ultimate Frisbee games, a dress-up (or -down) dinner, and the ever-exciting Saturday Night Cabaret. Fee: $90 YouthQuake 2003, December 27, 2003 to January 1, 2004,Estes Park, Colorado, 14-20 YEAR-OLD QUAKER YOUTH. We hope to get together a group of 10 to 20 young people to participate in this triennial event. This is a chance to meet young Quakers from the throughout the U.S. to share, worship, have fun, and build community. It can also be a challenge spiritually, as you encounter others with a different faith perspective, and financially, as you discover the cost of getting there. To meet these challenges, Chris would like interested youth to contact her as soon as possible. We'll discuss fundraising possibilities and preconference discussion opportunities. For more information, including the conference mission statement, you can visit www.youthquake.org on the Web or call Chris at 518-794-8811 x13. Back to contents
The group first gathers at the meetinghouse for a brief discussion. Topics include the types of contact children have with other senior adults or with people with illnesses, perceptions and stereotypes of seniors, the meaning and use of manners, and the ways we can simply share ourselves. The group then walks over to the nearby center and assists the recreation staff with an hour-long coffee time. Children greet the seniors, serve drinks and cookies, answer questions, and chat with the seniors. The exchanges are small, and the rewards immeasurable. In debriefings afterward, the children initially expressed how much easier it was to visit than they had anticipated. In subsequent visits, the children have grown curious about how roommates get assigned, what the more independent seniors do all day, and why serving cookies means so much. Our visits have been very well received. After our third visit, we received a note from the staff remarking how polite, friendly, and helpful the children are. They emphasized how much it means to the seniors to have some time with young people, especially one-on-one or in small groups. Rochester Meeting is planning to bring a religious-education puppet show to the center, and later in the spring, we may arrange a sing-along. We hope to continue this relationship throughout this year and beyond. Back to contents
Long Island Quarterly Meeting on January 25, 2003, focused on Worship and Action. The 38 people who gathered at Westbury Friends Meeting represented most of the Quaker meetings on Long Island and a number of other faith groups, including Catholics, Congregationalists, Buddhists, Wiccans, and Christian Scientists. The many perspectives enriched our worship sharing and discussions. The program reflected the L.I. Friends Peace Group mission: to gather those with peace concerns from many faith paths, to share perspectives, and to give support to each other After extended worship, the group broke into three worship-sharing focus groups. One group looked at the Biblical and Historical Experience to see how these might illuminate the path for peace. In the second group, Wrestling with the Peace Testimony, participants related their own peace activities to larger concerns, such as being conscientiously aware of inflicting pain on others and how the testimony is a spiritual mission, not a secular one. The third group considered Spirit-led Peacemaking by sharing personal journeys and also called for more emphasis on peace and not only on opposition to war. In the final whole-group session, participants made several suggestions, including enlarging the e-mail and postal-mail network and disseminating information to those who are concerned but not yet ready to act. We want to inform each other of our vigils and other events, and spread the word to other groups. We spoke of training for conscientious objection counseling and for civil disobedience. To be more accessible, the Friends Peace Group will move future meetings to a Thursday evening and seek meeting places that are central to as many as possible. Gretchen Haynes, Westbury Monthly Meeting Back to contents
Our Vigil to End the Death Penalty is now in its fifteenth year. Our Meeting's Witness and Outreach Committee arranged for a bus from the meetinghouse to the January 18 march in Washington. The response was so great that W&O had to add another bus to accommodate all who wished to participate. Friends who were not able to travel with us created banners for us to carry and helped in other ways. We have also created a Peace Table that serves as an information clearinghouse during social hour. We disseminate information from other meetings and from local peace organizations, and gather information from Friends that we pass on to these other sources. Sue O'Doherty, clerk
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Fifteenth Street Meeting is at 15 Rutherford Pl. The nearest subway stops are the Third Ave. stop on the L train and the Union Square stop of the N-4-5-6-L lines. From the Third Ave. stop walk north to 15th St., then right for one short block. From Union Square walk east two blocks along 14th St., one block north on Third Ave., and one block east on 15th Street. For further information e-mail gsandman@panix.com. Gary Sandman, Fifteenth Street Meeting Back to contents
You may look up the Internet ad posted on Idealist.Org at http://www.idealist.org/en/jobs/80942/94987. Please send cover letter and r‚sum‚ to Pspencer-Linzie@afsc.org (in MS Word) or to Phillip Spencer-Linzie, AFSC, 972 Broad St., Newark, NJ 07102-2518 by 3 P.M. February 14, 2003. No calls, please. Back to contents
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This is a great opportunity to grow spiritually and work in all areas of this Quaker nonprofit. Mountains, redwoods, housing, stipend, and benefits are provided. Singles and couples are welcome. Information posted on our Web site, http://www.quakercenter.org/Pages/AboutUsPages/InternshipAd.html. Application deadline April 1. For information contact the center at 831-336-8333; mail@quakercenter.org. Walter and Traci Sullivan, codirectors
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