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The meeting assembled at the appointed hour and settled into open worship. The clerks introduced themselves: Arlene Kelly, Presiding Clerk; Richard Bernard and Sandy Heath, Alternate Clerks; Kimberly Haas Diliberto, Recording Clerk.
- Minute 27: Welcome to Visitors
The Clerk introduced Alannah Morton of Ireland Yearly Meeting, who read a letter thanking members of PYM for their donations to Moyallon Camp Development Committee, which were given during her visit to residential Yearly Meeting in July 2001. She offered words of encouragement and support to Friends in the United States.
- Minute 28: Outgoing Epistle – First Reading
The Clerk called upon Thomas Swain (Middletown, Concord Quarter), a member of the Epistle Project Group, who gave a first reading of the outgoing epistle drafted by the group.
The epistle was met with general approval. Suggestions and clarifications were noted and given to the Epistle Project Group to use as they revise the epistle for final approval on First-day.
- Minute 29: Issues and Challenges Facing Our Young People As They Live Their Faith
The Clerk introduced Michael Wajda (Goshen), Clerk of the Yearly Meeting Meeting on Worship and Ministry, who spoke of the auspices under which he felt led to volunteer leadership in putting together this session.
Michael introduced the program and introduced the young people who presented to us. He explained that in this session we would “look through a window at ourselves” to see what our meetings offer young people.
He described events at residential Yearly Meeting 2001 and the called session in November 2001 in which our Young Friends asked to have a deeper spiritual relationship with adult Friends.
Michael and Worship & Ministry began by selecting three Young Friends (high school, college-age, and graduate school) and posing these questions to them:
- What has it been like growing up Quaker?
- How has your Quaker community supported you, or not?
- What issues are you facing and how has your Quaker community helped you with them?
Kate Frysinger (Kennett) is a junior at Westtown School. She observed that her meeting has a problem with keeping kids as they grow up. As a teen, she felt she was too old to be with the kids but too young for adult activities. She credits PYM Young Friends Program and Westtown School with providing an age-appropriate Quaker community.
In her seeking, she knows she has support, first from her father and First-day School, then Middle School Friends and Young Friends. Support has not only been financial, for gatherings and travel, but emotional and spiritual support as well. She wonders what her place will be after Young Friends, and feels uncertain about going directly in to YM adult sessions.
Sara Gray (Newtown) is a junior at Haverford College. She felt she had a “routine” First-day School experience. In high school, her first Young Friends gathering impressed her with its sense of community, challenges of faith, and dedication to service. YouthQuake helped her develop her personal faith. When she moved, she drifted away from her meeting, was too old for Young Friends but felt too young for adult activities. She chose a Quaker college and developed a faith community with three other Quaker students, and established campus activities. These didn’t last, but the four Friends persevere. It’s hard to develop a community when members are transitory. Sara’s faith remains, and she is hopeful.
William Barndt (Richland) is a graduate student at Princeton University and attends Princeton Meeting. Throughout his teens, being Quaker meant having a community. In college, the bonds of home weaken, and the sense of community changes. College is transitory, so it’s hard to build spiritual connections, and there’s a reluctance to develop them. Membership with his childhood meeting is mostly in name only. William maintains his Quaker beliefs of simplicity, peace and social justice, but struggles with pacifism and “that of God in everyone.” Deep involvement with a Quaker community would help him with these issues, but again, he’s reluctant to settle into a community. He realizes this is a frequent situation for college students. William asks, what does it mean to be a Quaker without a place?
Michael Wajda then asked all Friends in the session to turn to their neighbor and to speak to one of the following statements:
- If you’re an older Friend, name one thing you’ve learned from (or appreciated about) a young Friend in your meeting.
- If you’re a younger Friend, name one thing you’ve learned from (or appreciated about) an older Friend in your meeting.
- If you can’t speak to one of these statements, please say a little about why that is so.
After about ten minutes, the Clerk called Friends back from the small groups. Michael Wajda posed the question, how can we strengthen our meetings (monthly, quarterly or yearly) so that our meetings will be places in which young and old alike learn from, support and celebrate each other, especially with respect to the spiritual work God is doing in each of us?
The Clerk asked the same question in slightly different words: How do we make our meetings into truly multigenerational communities in which we build relationships across age boundaries in ways which are authentic?
The Clerk noted that our young Friends from ages 18 into their 20s feel a lack of place in our community. She asked, can we envision a community that would be more successful in retaining our young people?
Friends felt we need to find a way to support young Friends from high school into their 20s. Friends offered many ideas, such as a different category of membership, holding Meeting for Worship on nearby campuses, special events for this age group, inviting young Friends into meeting activities, and engaging young Friends whenever they visit their Monthly Meeting. A young Friend asked Friends not to blame themselves; that sometimes the drifting away is a natural development. But if the young Friend is interested, please keep them involved.
The minutes were read and approved, and announcements given. Then, after a brief period of worship, the Meeting adjourned, to reconvene First-day morning at 9:00 AM.
Kimberly Haas Diliberto, recording clerk
Last modified: Wednesday, February 18, 2004 at 08:19 AM