Thoughts on Non-Violence

Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred
rather than love. Violence is impractical because it is
a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding; it seeks to annihilate rather than convert. Violence ends up defeating itself.
It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers.

Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Six Principles of Nonviolence

Principle 1: Nonviolence Is A Way Of Life For Courageous People.

Principle 2: Nonviolence Seeks To Win Friendship And Understanding.

Principle 3: Nonviolence Seeks To Defeat Injustice, Not People.

Principle 4: Nonviolence Holds That Suffering can Educate and Transform.

Principle 5: Nonviolence Chooses Love Instead Of Hate.

Principle 6: Nonviolence Believes That The Universe Is On The Side Of Justice.

Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Facing Bench for February
Deedy Roberts and Marietta Donovan

Coffee and Covered Dish for February
Library Committee

Upcoming Events

February 1-2 ó Waging Peace in Wartime:
Strategy & Vision Workshop
Sat. 1:30 pmñ9:30 pm/Sun. 10 amñ6:30 pm. Unite for Peace is teaming up with Training for Change to provide a workshop for activists to think long term about the strategy and vision of the peace movement. New ideas, fun, food, honesty, disagreements, community. It will
be led by George Lakey, with other co-facilitators.
For more information or to register for the conference, call 215-241-7035.

February 8 ó Bruce Adamsí Love Concert III
Bruce will be accompanied by Mary Ann Griffis and joined by guest vocalist Delores DeFreitas in a pre-Valentine Day celebration of popular love songs. 7:30 pm in the auditorium. Sponsored by the Friendship Committee. Donations accepted to cover costs.

February 9 ó HFS Open House
2ñ4 pm.

February 15 ó Anti-War March in Philadelphia
Beginning at noon at Broad and Spring Garden Streets, the march will proceed down Broad Street and east on Market to the Liberty Bell. The march is being organized by the Philadelphia Regional Anti-War Network.

February 21ñ23 ó Young Friends Peace Gathering
Burlington Conference Center. For more information, contact Cookie Caldwell at cookiec@pym.org.

February 23 ó Quarterly Meeting at Moorestown
Worship at 10:00, then business meeting, lunch and a presentation by Joseph Jacoby, a member of Haverford Monthly Meeting. Joseph was a member of the Christian Peacemaker Team that traveled to Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Hebron in November of last year.

January Monthly Meeting for Business ó January 10, 2003

The Meeting opened with a period of silence; the Clerk read from the 5th Query in Faith & Practice,
on education.

What is our Meetingís role in the life and support of Friendsí education? If supporting or maintaining a Friends school, have we developed an appropriate relationship of Meeting and school? What is our
role in the spiritual life of the school and its maintenance of Friendsí principles?

What does our Meeting do to support education in the wider community ?

What help do we provide for the children and adults in our Meeting to pursue the education they seek, whether academic, technical, or vocational?
Do we make provision for children in our Meeting to attend a Friends school?

How do I show my concern for the improvement of public education in my community and in the world?

Am I aware of what Friends schools are doing and of their plans for the future? How do I show encouragement and support?

Bill Patterson, on behalf of the Finance Committee, presented the audited financial statements for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2001. The Meeting accepted it, and approved the Finance Committee having annual audits in the future.

Steve Senopoulos, for the School Committee, presented the revised budgets of Haddonfield Friends School. There is a projected deficit of $263,662 for this fiscal year. Much of the deficit is due to decreased income from investments and the costs of upgrading the schoolís computer system. The proposed budget for 2003ñ2004 shows a small surplus. The Meeting approved the proposed budget for 2003ñ2004.

Bill Schmidt and Dan Tompkins reported on the search for a permanent Head of School. David Eldridge, the interim head, had requested that the position he fills be reduced to a one-year term. The Meeting approved this, accelerating the search process.

The deadline for applications is March 1, with a decision expected in May and the appointment by June 1. The search committee, which has 10 members, with Pat Williams as clerk, welcomes advice and input from Meeting members.

Flora McKinney and Susan Tucker reported on the budget crisis at PYM (see article on page 5).

Louise Heritage, on behalf of the Nominating Committee, recommended that Chris Werner and
Pat Williams be appointed to fill vacancies on the School Committee; the Meeting approved, and these Friends will start their terms immediately.

Bob Brookes reported that he has signed a lease, on behalf of the Meeting, for office space at 417 Cooper Street in Camden for the Friends Transition Support Services.

The Meeting approved that Joanne Heizer get a voicemail service through Verizon, rather than use the current message machine, and that this be paid for out of the Overseers budget.

After a brief silence, the Meeting for Business closed.

FIRST DAY SCHOOL

ìIt Takes a Meeting to Raise a Friend.î
ìYe have no time but this present time.î G. Fox

John Woolman SpeaksÖ

On the Purpose of Life ó

ìOur gracious Creator cares and provides for all His creatures. His tender mercies are over all His works, and so far as His love influences our minds, so far as
we become interested in His workmanship, and feel a desire to take hold of every opportunity to lessen the distresses of the afflicted and to increase the happiness of the creation. Here we have a prospect of one common interest from which our own is inseparable, so that to turn all that we possess into the channel of
universal love becomes the business of our lives.î

On World Brotherhood ó

ìThe inhabitants of the earth have often appeared to me as one great family consisting of various parts, divided by great waters, but united in one common interest, that is, in living righteously according to that light and understanding wherein Christ doth enlighten every man that cometh into the world.î

ìTo consider mankind otherwise than brethren, to think favors are peculiar to one nation and exclude others, plainly supposes a darkness to the understanding. For Godís love is universal, so where the mind is sufficiently influenced by it, it begets a likeness in itself, and the heart is enlarged towards all men.î

Adult First Day School for February

Feb 2 ó A Place Just Right: Quaker Faith at
Work in the World.
FCNL, the Friends Committee on National Legislation, is a Quaker lobby in the public interest. FCNL seeks to bring the concerns, experiences and testimonies of the Religious Society of Friends to bear on policy decisions in the nationís capital. FCNLís small staff works with a nationwide network of thousands of Quakers and like-minded people to advocate social and economic justice, peace, and good government. Since its founding in 1943, FCNL has witnessed from a basis of spiritual and ethical purpose, as we seek change in both national policy and public opinion.

At the 2002 annual meeting, FCNL adopted new legislative priorities focusing on the prevention of deadly conflict. Come hear more about FCNL and its work. There will be an informational video and a short presentation and discussion facilitated by Jake McGlaughlin.

Feb. 9ó Friendís Peace Witness in a Time of Crisis.
Laura Smoot, a student at Haverford College and Meeting member, attended the peace conference
at Guilford College in Greensboro, NC last month.
The conference was called in response to the growing danger of global war and terrorism. Friends from all over the United States attended. Laura will give a report of her insights and leadings.

Feb. 16 ó Friends Peace Teams work in Columbia, South America and South Africa.
Val Liveoak, a member of Friends Meeting of San Antonio, New Mexico, will share her experiences.
Val was a co-founder of the Friends Peace Teams ten years ago. She is now Administrative Co-Clerk of the Peace Teams and is also an Alternative to Violence Facilitator. She participated in the Colombia Exploratory Team and in the African Great Lakes Initiative/Alternative to Violence Programs with workshops in Burundi, Rwanda and Kenya and visited the Trauma, Healing and Reconciliation Services Program in Burundi.

Feb. 23. ó The International Nonviolent Peaceforce.
Dean Sherwin, a member of Arch Street Meeting, is a member of the Philadelphia Affinity Group of the Nonviolent Peaceforce and welcomes any chance to talk about the Peaceforce.

The International Nonviolent Peaceforce was launched in New Delhi, India at the end of last year. Their pilot project is in Sri Lanka, where the Sarvodayva Movement and others are increasing peacemaking efforts by training teams of Senegalese, Tamil and Muslim peacemakers
to go to the most volatile areas of the country. They asked the Nonviolent Peaceforce to provide international peacekeepers to accompany these teams. See the easel
in the foyer for details or go to the website,
www.nonviolentpeaceforce.org.

The Gospel of Mark

I have agreed to arrange the reading of the Gospel of Mark under the sponsorship of the Religious Education Committee. The reading, which takes about two hours, will be on Good Friday, April 18, 2003, 7:30 pm in
the Meetinghouse.

I am looking for volunteers. The format requires three major readers ó two narrators and the voice of Jesus. There are six other voices requiring lesser amounts, and at times, unison reading. I would hope for a variety of voices, some of which might be as young as Junior High. I would like to have several practice sessions in preparation. If you are interested, please contact me.

Howard McKinney,
e-mail hwmckinney@earthlink.net.

The School Service Corner

Service projects are an integral part of Haddonfield Friends School. Each month, the newsletter will
highlight projects that the Meeting can participate in. The following projects are currently underway:

Food collection

Starting this month we will have an ongoing food
collection for the New Visions Community center in Camden. The center provides breakfast and lunch for
a large number of homeless people during the winter season. It is open 7 days a week. It also acts as a food bank.

Items needed:

Any non-perishable goods ó canned or boxed

Coffee, tea, hot cocoa and soups

Cereal (hot or cold), rice, pasta and pasta sauces

Tuna and other canned fish or meats

Canned beans of any kind

Pet food and accessories collection

As a Valentine project the children have expressed interest in supporting an animal shelter. Starting now and until February 13th we will be collecting items for the Animal Adoption Center in Voorhees. It is a no-kill shelter. Right now they are housing 120 cats and a great number of dogs. The animals are really well cared for and loved and they are kept in impeccably clean surroundings.

Items needed:

Old towels and blankets

Cat litter

Dog and cat food (dry or canned)

Paper towels

Liquid cleanser ( Lysol, chlorox, etc.) to clean cages and floors

Laundry soap

There will be separate bins for food and pet supplies in both the upper building and in the foyer of the lower building.

The children are eager to have successful collections and would greatly appreciate contributions from Meeting members and attenders. Participation is obviously totally voluntary! Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

The HFS Service Committee

Haddonfield Friends School:
Growing Toward the Future

The new Middle School at Haddonfield Friends School is open and moving full steam ahead. Renovated during the summer to house the sixth and seventh grades,
200-year-old Boxwood Hall was officially opened as
the Middle School building in September with a
ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by Haddonfield Mayor Tish Colombi, the press, and the entire HFS school community.

Though the sixth grade has changed residence, its
curriculum is very much the same as in the past. In Tr. Carol Fullerís science class, sixth-graders chose various ecosystems to observe and recorded their observations, presenting their finished projects to younger students. Sixth-graders are also taking on data analysis and statistics in math. In humanities class, they have been reading Greek heroic epics in small groups and honing their discussion skills, with students taking turns leading the discussions. We are beginning to study Athenian culture and are well into the year-long geography project ìMapping the World by Heart,î where students practice drawing the countries of the world in their proper map placement from memory. The sixth grade plans to continue the long-standing tradition of Paper Bag Musicals by producing one this spring.

Our seventh-graders are busy as well. In addition to learning about variables in Algebra, Tr. Susan Milesí seventh-graders have been exploring electricity. They have designed series and parallel circuits, and studied the electromagnetic forces we rely on for motors and other technology. A highlight of our field trip to the Franklin Institute was a demonstration of its namesakeís invention, the lightning rodówith real lightning!

As part of their study of the Middle Ages, seventh-graders have recently completed their Bedouin stories. The two-month project began with a study of ethnographic accounts and authentic Bedouin folk tales. We then worked on the stories in parts: developing plot conflicts, sketching characters, and describing settings. Using a rubric we created together to define what would make a successful folk tale, the novice authors gave feedback to each other for revisions. They are currently studying early Islamic culture and giving weekly presentations on current events.

We have had many excursions for our middle-schoolers, from visiting the public library across the street to speedline trips into Philadelphia. Our traditional New York bus trip took us to the UN, where we visited the Quaker UN office and the Egyptian mission. Students and their parents enjoyed a morning at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and we visited the site where the World Trade Center once stood.

Though not major subjects themselves, other elements of the curriculum are vital to the Middle School experience. We are currently developing an integrated health education program taught by class advisors and our physical education teacher, JoAnn Rell. For our service program, this year our aim is to give students exposure to a variety of service opportunities, from volunteering in a soup kitchen to a Habitat for Humanity project. A third element is peace studies, the foundation of which is the Society of Friends Peace Testimony. In early November, some students observed a Quaker-led antiwar rally at the Liberty Bell while others contemplated peace through poetry and art.

Though it is still early in the school year, we are already making plans to welcome another sixth grade and create a new eighth grade next fall. These plans include renovation of the second and third floors of Boxwood Hall, hiring additional faculty, and crafting an eighth-grade curriculum. We are looking forward
to the exciting challenges ahead.

We have a new building, a new grade level, two new teachers, some new faces in our student body, and new curriculum. Our dedication to the principles of Friends education, however, has remained constant. We are guided by two centuries of tradition and by our schoolís mission: to teach strong academic skills and the understanding that there is ìthat of God in every person.î

Tr. Jonathan Kendall

Meetinghouse Paintings

John Satterthwaite of Merion Meeting (PA) has engaged in a twenty-year mission to create paintings of the meetinghouses affiliated with Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. His approach is realistic, sensitive and respectful.

John has announced his desire to donate his lifeís work to the care of Merion Meeting to help fund its property renovation projects. The Meeting is offering these paintings for sale to the Friends community. Images are framed, signed and contain a short history of each meetinghouse portrayed.

A painting of Haddonfield Meetinghouse in snow is available; anyone interested in making a contribution for the Meeting to buy it should contact Connie or Bob Brookes.

Health Kits for Iraq

Haddonfield Meeting, Cropwell Meeting and four churches in Haddonfield are collecting family-sized health kits for Iraq. They are collecting the items requested on the list from AFSC (see below). The deadline for shipping is March 31. Look for the big box in the foyer.

Each health kit should contain:

4 bars of soap

1 plastic bottle of shampoo (13ñ24 oz. size ó place in separate plastic bag)

1 tube of toothpaste (minimum 18 oz.)

4 adult-size toothbrushes (leave in packaging)

1 hairbrush

1 wide-tooth comb

1 fingernail clipper

1 box adhesive bandages (minimum 40, assorted sizes preferred)

All the items should be placed in a large ziploc bag. In order to provide the same comfort to all the recipients and to meet the exacting licensing standards for shipment, please include ALL the items listed and ONLY these items. Thank you for caring and sharing.

PYM Budget Crisis

Philadelphia Yearly Meeting faces a budget deficit of $246,000 for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2003.
A reduction in income from investments and increases in expenses are contributing to this crisis.

At a special called meeting in December, the Financial Stewardship Committee made cuts in expenses and plans to increase service fees to try and bridge the
budget gap. Some of the proposed cuts are: eliminating Residential Yearly Meeting in 2003, ending staff positions for ìInterpreting Quakers to Visitorsî and the Nonviolence and Children program, cutting funds for staff assistance for Middle School and Young Friends coordinators, and reducing the collection and staffing at the library. Greater details about the budget can be seen online at the PYM News section of the Yearly Meeting website, www.pym.org.

Approval of the proposed budget will be on the agenda at the Annual Session of PYM, March 27ñ30 at Arch Street Meetinghouse.

Pendle Hill Monday Night Forum

The Pendle Hill lecture series, Racial Justice: Speak Truth to Power, continues its eight-month-long conversation about racial justice.

February 3 at Arch Street Meetinghouse, Thandeka,
a professor of theology and culture at Meadville/Lombard School of Theology in Chicago, will speak on Racism by Design: White Racial Profiling in America.

February 24 at Pendle Hill, Vanessa Julye and Donna McDaniel will speak about Quakers & African Americans: A New Look at an Old History.

Both talks begin at 7:30 p.m. and admission is free. For more information about the Monday Night Forum or any other events at Pendle Hill, visit their web site, www.pendlehill.org.

Poems Old and New

Drop Thy still dews of quietness,
Till all our strivings cease;
Take from our souls
the strain and stress,
And let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of Thy peace.

Breathe through the heats
of our desire
Thy coolness and Thy balm;
Let sense be dumb,
Let flesh retire;
Speak through the earthquake,
wind and fire,
O still, small voice of calm!

John Greenleaf Whittier, 1872

Is it possible that at times, when our Meeting for Worship seems out of sync, even chaotic ó spiritual communication is taking place at a deeper level of which we are not aware? And perhaps our intent to be ìgatheredî brings oneness. A valuable lesson is that our intention seeks fulfillment if left alone. Every cell in our body is seeking fulfillment through joy, beauty, love and appreciation. If we have Unbending Intent to become a part of the Universal Energy with others in our Meeting, we become aware of our real selves, functioning freely and consciously beyond the mind.

Harold Heritage

Judy Kruger would like to pass along this quote from Thomas Merton: