Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

of the Religious Society of Friends

Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

Timely Voter Registration Information

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We have heard that many Friends, Quaker meetings and Quaker interest groups are active in supporting voter registration both among nearby populations and within their meetings. As a non-profit organization, the yearly meeting refrains from involvement in political activities to avoid partisanship. Friends have brought urgent concern to the clerks’ group about the need to provide information and encouragement to vote in this election.  After very considerable discernment and prayerful consideration, the Clerks group has reached unity on providing that information to Friends across the yearly meeting. We want to share with you both the foundation and the fruits of that decision.

Elections are fundamental to our democratic system. The hard-won enfranchisement of all US citizens needs to be exercised at every opportunity. This aligns with our testimony on equality (one person, one vote) and allows each individual to examine their conscience and share in support for the common good.

Our good intentions can sometimes be blocked by the realities of the situation that seem beyond our control. Impediments to voting, where they exist (like a moved polling place, fears about the coronavirus, or the imperatives of work or family responsibilities) have potential solutions. Sometimes it is difficult to find those solutions without information and planning. It felt important to make it easy for Friends to find the information they needed to cast a ballot in this election, and to help remove barriers where possible.

Unlike in our Meetings for Worship with attention to Business, we cannot just say “that Friend speaks my mind”; each of us has the opportunity to allow our voice to be heard.

Our yearly meeting spans four states: Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. We have provided separate information for each state, since each state has its own requirements.

Please use the information below to make sure:

Verify that you are registered to vote

Register Now!

Request Your Absentee Ballot

You know where your polling place is located (it may have moved) and have a plan on how you are getting there on election day. You are prepared to wait if necessary (bring snacks) for as long as necessary to cast your ballot. If you choose to vote in person, we encourage Friends to pool resources for making that work.

Friends wanting to become more directly engaged in phone banking or other “get out the vote” activities might want to consider forming a Sprint for that purpose.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES BY STATE

DELAWARE

Registration Deadlines:

  • In Person: 24 days before Election Day.
  • By Mail: Postmarked 24 days before Election Day
  • Online: The fourth Saturday before Election Day

Election day registration:

  • No election day registration

Registration eligibility: 

  • be a citizen of the United States;
  • be a permanent resident of Delaware;
    be at least 18 years old on the date of the next general election;
  • not be mentally incompetent;
  • if you are a felon, you are eligible to vote as long as you have served your sentence (including parole) and your convictions were not for disqualifying felonies: murder and manslaughter (except vehicular homicide), sexual offenses, or crimes against public administration involving bribery or improper influence or abuse of office.

How to register:

  • Use the Register to Vote Tool to fill out the National Voter Registration Form.
  • Sign and date your form. This is very important!
  • Mail or hand-deliver your completed form to the address provided at the Register to Vote tool.
  • Make sure you register before the voter registration deadline.

Absentee voter eligibility:

  • You are in the public service of the United States or the State of Delaware and are unable to come to the polls
  • Your business or occupation prevents you from coming to the polls, including if your occupation is the care of a family member who is at home due to illness, disability, or injury
  • You are a student who is away at college or university
  • You are incarcerated but otherwise eligible to vote.
  • You are on vacation
  • The tenets or teachings of your religion prevent you from coming to the polls
  • You are experiencing a temporary or permanent illness or physical disability

Absentee application and voting deadlines:

  • In Person: Received 4 days before Election Day
  • By Mail: Received 4 days before Election Day
  • Online: Received 4 days before Election Day
  • Absentee ballot is due: Received by election Day

Early voting dates:

  • NO early voting

Voter ID requirements:

  • You are not required to show ID to vote in person in Delaware, but bring one of the following if you have it to speed up the process:
    • A current Delaware Drivers License or State ID
    • S. passport
    • Signed social security card, polling place card, or vehicle registration
    • Signed credit card with photo
    • A similar document that identifies you by photo or signature
  • If you don’t bring any ID, you’ll need to fill out a form before you can vote.

Weblinks:

MARYLAND:

Registration Deadlines:

  • In Person: 21 days before Election Day.
  • You may also register during early voting or on Election Day with proof of address. See Election Day registration instructions.
  • By Mail: Postmarked 21 days before Election Day.
  • Online: 21 days before Election Day.
  • Day of registration: Yes. You can register to vote in-person during early voting and on Election Day. You will need to bring your MVA-issued license, ID card, or change of address card, or a paycheck, bank statement, utility bill, or other government document that has your name and current address.

Election day registration:

  • You can register to vote in-person during early voting and on Election Day. You will need to bring your MVA-issued license, ID card, or change of address card, or a paycheck, bank statement, utility bill, or other government document that has your name and current address

Registration Eligibility:

  • be a U.S. citizen
  • be a Maryland resident
  • be at least 18 years old by the next general election
  • not be under guardianship for mental disability
  • not have been convicted of buying or selling votes
  • not have been convicted of a felony, or if you have, have completed serving a court ordered sentence of imprisonment

How to register:

  • Use the Register to Vote Tool to fill out the National Voter Registration Form.
  • Sign and date your form. This is very important!
  • Mail or hand-deliver your completed form to the address provided by the Register to Vote tool
  • Make sure you register before the voter registration deadline.

Absentee voter eligibility: 

  • Any registered Maryland voter may apply for an absentee ballot and vote by mail

Absentee application and voting deadlines:

  • In Person: Received 7 days before Election Day
  • By Mail: Received 14 days before Election Day
  • Online: Received 14 days before Election Day
  • Absentee ballots are due: Postmarked on or before Election Day and received by 10am, 10 days after Election Day

How to get an Absentee ballot:

  • Use theAbsentee Ballot Tool(https://www.vote.org/absentee-ballot/) to prepare your application.
  • Sign and date the form. This is very important!
  • Return your completed application to your Local Election Office as soon as possible.
  • The Absentee Ballot Tool will provide the mailing address for you
  • All Local Election Offices will accept mailed or hand-delivered forms. Your Local Election Official will also let you fax or email the application.
  • Double-check the deadlines and be sure to cast your voted ballot on time to be sure it is counted.
  • Please contact your Local Election Office if you have any further questions about the exact process.

Once you have your absentee ballot:

  • Carefully read and follow the instructions
  • Sign and date where indicated
  • Mail your voted ballot back to the address indicated on the return envelope
  • Double-check the deadlines and be sure to cast your voted ballot on time to be sure it is counted

Early voting dates: 

  • Starts: the second Monday before the election
  • Ends: the Thursday before the election.

Voter ID requirements:

  • If you’ve voted in Maryland before or provided ID at the time of registration, you don’t need to provide ID to vote in person.
  • If you’re voting for the first time in Maryland and submitted your registration by mail you may be asked to show one of the following forms of ID: copy of a current and valid photo ID (i.e., Maryland driver’s license, MVA ID card, student, employee, or military ID card, U.S. passport, or any other State or federal government-issued ID card); or a copy of a utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck or other government document that shows your name and address and that is dated within 3 months of the election.

Web links

NEW JERSEY:

Registration deadlines:

  • In Person: 21 days before Election Day
  • By Mail: Postmarked 21 days before Election Day
  • Online: N/A

Election Day Registration:

  • No election Day registration

Registration eligibility:

  • be a citizen of the United States
  • be at least 17 years of age; you may register to vote if you are at least 17 years old but cannot vote until reaching the age of 18
  • be a resident of NJ and your county and at your address at least 30 days before the next election
  • not be serving a sentence or on parole or probation as the result of a conviction of any indictable offense under the laws of this or another state or of the United States
  • not be declared mentally incompetent by a court

How to register to vote:

  • Use the Register to Vote Tool to fill out the National Voter Registration Form.
  • Sign and date your form. This is very important!
  • Mail or hand-deliver your completed form to the address provided by the Register to Vote tool
  • Make sure you register before the voter registration deadline

Eligibility for Absentee:

  • Any registered New Jersey voter may apply for an absentee ballot and vote by mail

Absentee application and voting deadlines:

  • In Person: Received by 3pm, the day before Election Day
  • By Mail: Received 7 days before Election Day
  • Online: N/A
  • Absentee ballot is due: Postmarked by Election Day and received 7 days after the election by 8PM

How to get your absentee ballot:

  • Use the Absentee Ballot Tool to prepare your application
  • Sign and date the form. This is very important!
  • Return your completed application to your Local Election Office as soon as possible. The Absentee Ballot Tool provides the mailing address for you.
  • All Local Election Offices will accept mailed or hand-delivered forms. If it’s close to the deadline, call and see if your Local Election Office will let you fax or email the application.
  • Double-check the deadlines and be sure to cast your voted ballot on time to be sure it is counted.
  • Contact your Local Election Office if you have any further questions about the exact process.

Once you receive the ballot:

  • Carefully read and follow the instructions
  • Sign and date where indicated
  • Mail your voted ballot back to the address indicated on the return envelope
  • Double-check the deadlines and be sure to cast your voted ballot on time to be sure it is counted.

Early voting dates:

  • Starts: 45 days before the election day
  • Ends: 3pm on the day before the election (in-person absentee voting).

Voter ID requirements:

  • If you’ve voted in New Jersey before, registered in person, or provided ID at the time of registration, you don’t need to show ID to vote
  • If you’re voting in New Jersey for the first time, registered to vote by mail, and didn’t provide ID when you registered, be sure to bring a copy of your photo ID, or a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or government document that shows your name and address when you vote

Weblinks:

PENNSYLVANIA:

Registration deadline:

  • In Person: 15 days before Election Day
  • By Mail: Received 15 days before Election Day
  • Online: 15 days before Election Day

Election day registration:

  • No election day registration

Registration eligibility:

  • be a citizen of the United States at least one month before the next election
  • be a resident of Pennsylvania and your election district at least 30 days before Election Day
  • be at least 18 years of age on the day of the next election
  • not be incarcerated after conviction for a felony (your voting rights are restored immediately after incarceration)
  • not have been convicted of violating any provision of the Pennsylvania Election Code within the last four years

How to register:

  • Use the Register to Vote Tool to fill out the National Voter Registration Form
  • Sign and date your form. This is very important!
  • Mail or hand-deliver your completed form to the address provided by the Voter Registration Tool
  • Make sure you register before the voter registration deadline

Absentee ballot eligibility:

  • Any registered Pennsylvania voter may apply for an absentee ballot and vote by mail.

Absentee ballot application and voting deadlines:

  • In Person: Received 7 days before Election Day
  • By Mail: Received 7 days before Election Day
  • Online: Received 7 days before Election Day
  • Absentee ballots are Due: Received by 8pm on Election Day

How to get an absentee ballot:

  • Use the Absentee Ballot Tool to prepare your application
  • Sign and date the form. This is very important!
  • Return your completed application to your Local Election Office as soon as possible. The Absentee Ballot Tool will provide the mailing address for you.
  • All Local Election Offices will accept mailed or hand-delivered forms. If it’s close to the deadline, call and see if your Local Election Office will let you fax or email the application.
  • Double-check the deadlines and be sure to cast your voted ballot on time to be sure it is counted.
  • Please contact your Local Election Office if you have any further questions about the exact process.

Once you receive the absentee ballot:

  • carefully read and follow the instructions
  • Sign and date where indicated
  • Mail your voted ballot back to the address indicated on the return envelope
  • Double-check the deadlines and be sure to cast your vote ballot on time to be sure it is counted

Early voting dates:

  • Starts: varies by county. Pennsylvania does not offer early voting, but counties may make mail ballots available to voters in person up to 50 days before Election Day.
  • Ends: mail ballots may be dropped off in county offices until Election Day.

Voter ID requirements:

  • PA driver’s license or PennDOT ID
  • Photo ID issued by any Pennsylvania agency or the US government
  • US passport
  • US Armed Forces ID
  • Student ID
  • Employee ID
  • If you don’t have a photo ID you can bring non-photo ID that shows your name and address, such as:
    • Confirmation from a county voter registration office
    • Non-photo ID issued by Pennsylvania or the US government
    • Firearm permit
    • Current utility bill, bank statement, paycheck, or government check

Weblinks:

Introducing Jean-Marie Prestwidge Barch and Frank Barch, PYM’s Co-Clerks

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Redefined clerking roles filled by some new faces

Annual Sessions 2020 saw some important changes in leadership. First, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting’s (PYM) clerking roles were re-adjusted to be better aligned with volunteer capacities and PYM’s needs, and Nominating Council then proposed a roster of skilled Friends to fill these redefined roles.

Jean-Marie Prestwidge Barch and Frank Barch, members of Schuylkill Monthly Meeting, were appointed to a two-year non-renewable term as Co-Clerks of PYM. Our Alternate Clerk, Jonathon Rhoads, was released from his stewardship role clerking for the community with much gratitude. Melissa Rycroft, formerly clerk of Nominating Council, and a member from Upper Susquehanna Quarter, accepted the position of Rising Clerk. James (Jim) Waddington was appointed Clerk of the Administrative Council.

This week we are introducing our new Co-Clerks, with future news stories to follow the Rising Clerk and Administrative and Nominating Clerks. Our Quaker Life Clerk, Anthony Stover (Germantown), was introduced in a news story earlier this spring.

A bit about Jean-Marie and Frank

Jean-Marie and Frank like to say that between the two of them, they have 40 years of combined experience of Quaker clerking, but clerking Philadelphia Yearly Meeting is new to them, and they hope to move PYM closer to those important places where Spirit may be calling the community. They want to use the gifts they have been given to help the yearly meeting discern and hear more clearly how we are being called to move forward in three important areas before us at this time; membership, the environment, and addressing racism.

Jean-Marie reflected on her vision as a Presiding Co-Clerk, “I would like to help us increase both the perception and reality of listening deeply to one another, hearing one another, and feeling heard. I would like to support increased trust across the yearly meeting. I would like to help create a deeper sense of community among us. I would like to help create the systems through which Friends can come to know one another more fully, to learn to name and support the development of gifts, to be able to grow spiritually.”

Frank, who will be stepping down from his role as Presiding Clerk of Friends General Conference in October, is known for his quirky, playful personality. In the past, he was easily spotted around town in his signature red-and-silver Smart Car. It got 46.7 miles to the gallon. He’s a self-labeled technology geek. “If it runs on batteries, I want one,” he jokes. He’s also recently taken up classical guitar. Jean-Marie enjoys cooking, growing things, dancing, making music, creating space to hear people into their truth—to allow them to become more authentically themselves. They are both dog and cat people.

Frank and Jean-Marie currently live in Elkins Park, PA. They first met at Swarthmore College. Jean-Marie went on to attend Bryn Mawr College for an MA & PhD in Clinical Psychology, and Frank attended the newly co-ed medical school at the Women’s Medical College of PA (now part of Drexel, but founded by Quakers for the education of women physicians). He got his first taste serving in leadership as class president, next Student Council Secretary, then President of Student Council. Frank slowly grew into the faith of Friends, leaving behind his Unitarian childhood, only joining Schuylkill Meeting after 11 years of attending. After 36 years in the Philadelphia area, their shared life and careers brought them to the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, where they found a strong Quaker community, but remained members of Schuylkill Meeting for the 16 years spent in Virginia. After Frank’s retirement, they moved back to Elkins Park two years ago- “We came home” and celebrated their 50 wedding anniversary.

A Quaker childhood

Having been raised by an evangelical Quaker mother and an Anglican father, both born in Jamaica, Jean-Marie knew much about Quakerism but growing up in the US, she also found that unprogrammed meeting was better aligned with her sense of Sprit.  Joining the local meeting in Phoenixville felt very natural, and Jean- Marie quickly became active in leadership as they raised two sons, Keith and Seth (both Quakers and alumna of Guilford College and Earlham College, respectively). Frank confessed that while their children were young and he was working long hours as a doctor, it was easy to say no to worship on Sunday, but the faith drew him in, and eventually he not only joined but became deeply active in the meeting and at FGC.

Frank’s hope for PYM is aligned with Jean-Marie’s vision: “With the support and guidance of Spirit and of each of you, I hope we as clerk will be able to hold the container within which Spirit can work, with and through us to bring us closer to the blessed community of which Martin Luther King Jr. spoke—one in which we are each valued and supported in our growth to be the best version of ourselves of which we are capable—and in which together we come closer to doing and to being what Spirit would have of us.”

Experience with leadership roles at a range of meetings

Frank and Jean-Marie are known in a broad range of Quaker circles. They previously sojourned at Valley Friends Meeting, Baltimore Yearly Meeting (BYM), in Dayton, VA, and served as clerk & recording clerks there. Frank will soon end his clerking of the Central Committee of Friends General Conference. He clerked the FGC Personnel Committee and hopes to share his love and appreciation of Quaker Staff with the PYM staff.  Jean-Marie served BYM on their Ministry and Council Committee for four years, three of them as a clerk. She also served at the recording clerk of Schuylkill Monthly Meeting and clerked there for nine years. She has clerked Central Committee’s Nurturing Ministries Committee as well as its Transforming Subcommittee and has served as a member of FGC’s Nominating Committee. She was FGC’s clerk for the Committee for Ministry on Racism, co-clerk of the Youth Ministries Committee, and a member of the Traveling Ministries and Ministry & Nurture Committees. Jean-Marie also served as clerk of the school board for West Chester Friends School. Together, Frank and Jean-Marie Co-Clerked the FGC 2005 Summer Gathering.

Frank and Jean-Marie were surprised by the nomination to serve PYM as Co-Clerks, but they are ready to nurture Spirit and minister to our shared vision these next two years. Clerking and servant leadership, like the gardening, piano playing, and cooking Jean-Marie loves, or the tinkering Frank does, takes care and attention to hearts, minds, and faithfulness to Spirit. It is all this that they bring to PYM; the community welcomes them with gratitude.

Picture: from 2017 Annual Sessions

Update on Together Apart: Bucks Quarter Coordinator at Lehigh Valley Meeting

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This article about Lehigh Valley Meeting started with an emailed photo of Wendy Kane, Bucks Quarterly Coordinator, and meeting member John Marquette during a (masked & distanced) visit with members of the community. Then one email led to another and this story on the Meeting emerged. Assembled with thanks to John Marquette, our Lehigh Valley Meeting correspondent.

What is it like to host a Quarterly Coordinator visit at this particular time?

Wendy made the visit because this felt like a relatively safe time to get out and visit buildings. She’s been busy hosting quarterly meetings, publishing the Bucks Quarter monthly newsletter, and looking at ways to facilitate Monthly Meeting worship however she can. I like her energy and her strategy. Wendy assumed Holly Olsen’s role in Bucks Quarter in the fall of 2019, and brings an open attitude and good nature to the challenges we face.

How did you cope with the onset of the novel Coronavirus?

Members of our Care and Concern and Worship and Ministry Committees recognized a deep need to maintain continuity in our spiritual community. Luckily, enough members had been using Zoom-like technology to allow us to resume a form of First-Day worship by the end of March.

At first, we used Zoom accounts lent to us by members, and soon realized we needed to spend the $25 or so per month to have the flexibility of offering not only Meeting for Worship, but monthly committee meetings and ad-hoc gatherings. Our Zoom subscription allowed a Wednesday knit-and-crochet group to resume working together.

As the months progressed, we felt the loss of some of our beloved summer traditions like potluck picnics at the homes of members after Sunday worship. We mourned the loss of physical community and even our handshakes (the topic of an article by Steven W. Angell in the August 2020 issue of Friends Journal).

What about outdoor worship?

In July, in response to reports of a few members going to the grounds of the meetinghouse at our usual worship hour, Care and Concern convened a small group to plan for several weeks of outdoor worship on our two-and-a-half acre site. Outdoor worship began in August, using the guidelines of Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Health and the CDC.

Our first outdoor meeting for worship took place under drizzly skies and was concurrent with what has become our normal Zoom meeting for worship. The two groups share announcement time at rise of worship, and Lehigh Valley expects to offer concurrent indoor and outdoor worship as long as weather permits. We have resumed Wednesday evening meeting for worship as well, and have begun publishing a weekly summary of announcements as a supplement to our monthly newsletter.

How have you embraced Testimony with technology?

We couldn’t have maintained our testimony of community without a willingness to accept and even embrace the technological tools available to us. At first, not everyone felt comfortable with entering into worship on a screen. Our deep need to sustain our community and to nurture our members and attenders in an unprecedented time helped us accept the changes caused by the pandemic.

While we can’t foresee the downstream impacts of the pandemic, we recognize that some kind of hybrid worship will remain once it is safe for us to return for First-Day worship. Not everyone has transportation on Sunday mornings. Some of us will begin traveling again, others will return to Lehigh Valley who live at a distance. We even are seeing people new to Quakerism who have found us through our website. Technology may be enabling new outreach as well as nurturing our existing community.

I can’t wait to see what’s next!

A little bit of history – a building designed by the son of the Dixie® cup inventor.

The entrance to Lehigh Valley Friends Meeting

What sets Lehigh Valley apart from many other monthly meetings in PYM is its mid-century modern building designed by the architect Hugh Moore Jr., son of the inventor of the Dixie cup. The original foursquare skylit structure was completed in 1961. Several current members are now grandparent-aged children of the Meeting’s founders.

As the metropolitan area’s only Quaker meetinghouse, Friends chose a location equally convenient to people coming from Easton and Allentown as well as nearby Bethlehem. The two-and-a-half-acre lot was part of a farm when purchased. Today, the now-wooded and native-plant-landscaped lot sits aside a busy distribution center route with offices on two sides and a new Dunkin’ Doughnuts rising to the south.

The meetinghouse is filled with original art by local artists and artisans associated with the meeting over the years. Margaret and Joseph Cantieni, Barbara Kozero, and others contributed prints, sculptural works, and mosaics since Friends first occupied it.

Lehigh Valley Friends have always been deeply involved in social justice, including care and visitation of prisoners and offering alternatives to cash bail. More recently members have turned their attention to matters of systemic and institutional racism in the Lehigh Valley and the nation.

Lehigh Valley Friends Meeting is one of the 14 monthly meetings in PYM’s Bucks Quarter.

 

Addressing Incarceration – Information and Engagement 9/8 & 9/13

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Like much of the nation, PYM Meetings and Friends Schools are deeply interested in America’s alarming incarceration rate. Here is some Pew survey data and articles on the topic from the PEW Research Center and the Senate that detail these concerns from 2012 on.

American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is organizing a three-day program of events to further focus interested Quakers on the issue. These days of action align with the 49th anniversary of the Attica prison uprising. The uprising involved more than 2,000 people incarcerated in upstate New York’s Attica Correctional Facility. Prisoners took over the yard of the correctional facility to advocate for freedoms, wages, education access, medical care and more.

The event kicks off with an educational webinar #FromAtticaToAbolition on September 8 from 7:30 to 9:00 p.m. ET.   This call will be in English with an interpretation of Spanish. It will also have closed captioning.

On September 9th at 2 pm ET, AFSC, Detention Watch Network, and Standing up for Racial Justice will bring people together with a phone zap.

The Days of Action will close with a “Call to reflection and worship to #FreeThemAll” on September 13 from 7:30 to 9:00 ET. This call will be in English with an interpretation of Spanish. It will also have closed captioning.

Friends may also be interested in learning more about Quaker-led criminal justice or healing projects at the Center for Returning Citizens or Every Murder is Real

 

In Person Worship and School – Horsham Meeting and TQS Embrace Distanced Attendance

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Meetings are using different approaches to cope with worship during the pandemic. This week PYM is sharing the story of Horsham Monthly Meeting and its school, The Quaker School at Horsham. Both are open, and the meeting is sharing its building with the school during the week.

After the start of the COVID outbreak, Horsham Friends joined with Upper Dublin, Byberry, and Norristown Meetings in a four-meeting Zoom worship that supported their communities during the PA shutdown. As the state reopened, they realized that with a small group of core worshipers and a large meetinghouse, conditions could be good for in-person distanced worship. Quakertown Meeting in Bucks Quarter has followed a similar model, using careful sanitizing and opening both sides of their meetinghouse. Historic Old Kennett Meeting in Bucks County, hosted in three in-person meetings for worship-once in June, July, and August implementing modifications, and mask requirements.

A group of mixed ages at Horsham—10 to 12 people—started meeting in person in mid-June, and they’ve been successfully worshiping with these restrictions: masks are worn, no more than 25 people sit a recommended distance apart, and the building is allowed to rest between uses.

They benefit from the fact that they live in a region where COVID infection rates are low, and where people are naturally distancing due to living far apart. They know that it is hard for meetings with larger communities in more urban areas to consider worship in meeting houses, and have therefore welcomed ‘Quaker worship tourists’ from other communities for Sunday worship from 10:30 – 11:15.

Betsy Lukeshides at the door of Horsham Meeting

Arriving at the meeting house, it’s pleasant to see the doors propped open for people to just walk in. Vocal ministry through masks is definitely audible (though Horsham had a microphone on the bench just in case), and Horsham’s clerk, Betsy Lukshides, has taken to color coordinating her masks with her clothing choices each week. At the rise of meeting as people left, one couple remained to chat; Mary Ann Darlington and Frank Starrett. They were engaged, but they also said engagement was necessarily an open-ended proposition at present.

The meeting house (which replaced an earlier structure) is built on the pattern of the brick 1755 ‘Great Meeting’ now at George School, and constructed of local stone without stucco or whitewash. A writer recently called for permission to use Horsham website’s historical narrative in a local history book based on antique postcards that include Horsham Meeting.

Engaged couple – Mary Ann Darlington and Frank Starrett

The story is one of faith-based settlement with farms and manufacturing, with a governor’s estate thrown in for good measure.

In the early 1700s, Friends from Germantown settled, cleared land, built farms, and connected the region commercially with Philadelphia and Abington Quaker enterprises. Horsham Meeting served as the community’s spiritual, geographic, educational anchor for more than 100 years. The meeting house stands at the end of roads built to connect growing Quaker communities. Welsh Road (now route 63) came first and was laid out in 1712 to connect with mills in Gwynedd. A second road was built in 1719 to support travel from Horsham Meeting to Byberry Meeting. Route 611—the Easton Road—connected Horsham and Willow Grove meetings. Governor’s Road was also built to connect the meeting to Governor Keith’s house, Graeme Park (now a living history museum with trails).

As an example of how persistent the local Quaker influence was, Horsham meeting remained the only documented House of Worship in the township until 1884. Friends with old Quaker names (Lukens, Hallowell, Darlington) remain committed to the meeting, a long-time attender became a member at last week’s meeting for business, so there was a celebratory feel to the day.

New forms of outreach are being considered. Jesse Hallowell, an active member and a public school teacher for the school district of Philadelphia, is planning a week-long summer camp that will target local parents. The program is informed by Third Haven Meeting’s very positive experience with a similar program two summers ago, and Jesse traveled to Maryland last March to talk with Third Haven Friends and learn more about how their summer camp was implemented. Delayed by COVID this year, the meeting hopes to launch it next year.

Horsham shares the meeting house with The Quaker School at Horsham (TQS) when school is in session, so students are now worshiping in the right side of the divided meeting house (which still possesses the wooden sliding walls that made gender-separated spaces for Meetings for Business in the 1800’s).

Mike Maney’s photo of TQS students at work

TQS was founded as an elementary school by meeting member George Rowe, but a recent strategic plan lead to a re-envisioning of services, and a purpose-built addition for High School is now under construction. The meeting has welcomed the school into its space, and currently, twelve 9th and 10th grade students have classes there. Three administrator offices are there as well.

The complexity of these arrangements has been less of a burden for the meeting than working with the local government – which had placed severe restrictions on the Meetinghouse’s usage due to a now shuttered nearby Airforce base.

Most TQS students come to The Quaker School at Horsham because traditional schools have not served them well.

The TQS website posts a very touching list of students’ thoughts about the education they receive, the friendships they grow, and the personal grounding the school provides. It reports, “students have a mix of disabilities: ADHD, learning disabilities, autism, expressive and receptive language disorders, and anxiety disorders.”

TQS is led by Head of School, Alex Brosowsky, under a board clerked by Newtown Member Ann Reece. Horsham members Frank Jarrett and David Charles serve as members of the Board, along with Mary Beth Snyder (Newtown Meeting) and other members from the larger school and business community.

The school grounds a TQS education in the “Quaker belief that there is the Light of God within every person, and believes we are meant to share that Light through efforts, our gifts, and our actions.” The school is committed and actively involved in educational research, curriculum innovation, and bases instruction in the student’s own “inherent curiosity and desire to learn.”

More about the TQS program can be learned on the school’s well-resourced website.

Worship in a Pandemic – Research on Religion from The Pew Research Center

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Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting Skyspace photographed by Greg Benson

The Pew Research Center (a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts) regularly conducts surveys on religion and public life. PYM met with them this year to discuss sharing their articles and research on the PYM Website, and this is our first story featuring their research.

We’ve learned that one out of eight Americans say they attended church in the past month. What do they think about online worship? Below we have excerpted some interesting facts from a series of polls Pew conducted during the pandemic.

Pew reports that for the Americans who attend church, 86% of congregations implemented changed forms of worship to accommodate pandemic conditions, and 79% of churchgoers say “houses of worship should be required to follow the same rules about social distancing and large gatherings as other organizations or businesses in their local area.”

The surveys deal with how people feel about digital worship, what they plan to do in a post-pandemic period, and how they feel about social distancing in churches. All the content below is excerpted from the Pew Research Center’s August 7th story on their website. It is a lengthy article–too long to quote in full. The reporting is nuanced, and captures important facts about American attitudes. We suggest reading the full article.

How many Americans are attending religious services in person or online?

Overall, about half of U.S. adults who typically attended religious services at least once a month in 2019 (49%) appear to have substituted virtual participation for in-person attendance: They have recently watched services online or on television and have not attended in person.

Roughly a quarter of regular worship attenders (23%) appear to be supplementing in-person attendance with virtual participation: They have both attended religious services and watched them online or on TV in the last month.

Many Americans (are) experiencing virtual services for the first time, (and) experimenting with different congregations.

Slightly more than half of U.S. adults who have watched religious services online or on TV in the last month say that this is something they started doing during the coronavirus outbreak (54%), while 46% say they watched virtual services even before the onset of the pandemic.

Among those who have recently watched religious services online or on TV, majorities of Catholics (68%) and mainline Protestants (62%) say watching virtual church services has been a new experience for them as a result of the outbreak, while most people in the historically Black Protestant tradition (59%) and half of evangelical Protestants say they had done this before.

Fewer than half of those who have watched religious services online or on TV in the past month (40%) say they have watched services offered only by the congregation that they typically attend, while three-in-ten (30%) say they have watched services both from their own congregation and from others.

Overall, nine-in-ten U.S. adults who have recently watched religious services online say they have been satisfied with what they have seen…

Most say their religious attendance habits will revert to pre-pandemic norms

With a wide variety of virtual services available to anyone with an internet connection, many Americans appear to be taking advantage of them and are trying something new.

Overall, 6% of U.S. adults say they anticipate watching religious services online or on TV more often after the pandemic than they did before the pandemic, while 9% say they will watch religious services less often.

More broadly, the survey finds that few U.S. adults who typically attend religious services (6%) say their congregations are open and operating normally, just as they were before the onset of the pandemic. Among religious attenders, 31% say their congregation is closed altogether, while 55% say their house of worship is open and holding religious services, but with modifications as a result of the outbreak.

(Of) people who say that their house of worship is open with modifications, 82% say their house of worship requires people to stay at least 6 feet apart.

There … are broad racial and ethnic differences: White Americans have been less affected and are less worried about the effects of the pandemic than are Black and Hispanic Americans.

While the outbreak is not over, the survey suggests that the pandemic will not produce widespread, lasting changes in patterns of attendance at religious services. More than nine-in-ten people who were regular religious attenders before the outbreak (92%) say they intend to resume their previous level of religious attendance or plan to attend religious services even more often once the outbreak is over. And within this group, most say they will watch virtual services either at the same rate or less often than they did before the outbreak.

The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. They conduct public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research. They do not take policy positions.

Fall Religious Education Planning: Connection and New Directions

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We are in a liminal space right now: there is uncertainty about what is ahead, but it is also a threshold to a new place. Thinking about planning for First Day programs this fall, I wonder what new possibilities are emerging during this de-stabilized time? In March, there was a crisis response and many meetings pivoted into online spaces; now the shift is to the new normal. Friends are thinking about how and when to return to meeting houses and what the implications are for children and young people gathering with the meeting. Some questions we might consider in this moment of community planning:
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Naomi Madaras: Devotion Gives Sustenance for the Journey

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Naomi Madaras gave a powerful presentation on Friday July 31 PYM News & Events previously reported on. We’ve been in email contact with Naomi, and now share this follow up Q&A interview.

Your Bio mentions growing up on a farm as a child; can you speak to how that now connects with your career in chaplaincy?

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Minute of Thanks to the PYM Staff

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At Annual Sessions, Terri Whiteford read this minute of thanks to PYM staff. The letter was dated August 1, 2020.

This has been a year of many unexpected events. It was February when we first discussed if the emerging pandemic would impact planned gatherings for PYM. By March it was clear that things were going to be very different for annual sessions and a residential meeting was not an option.

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