Truth & Transformation Thread Gathering 

 Saturday, February 27, 2021, 9:00am – 3:00pm, VIRTUAL

Hosted by the Ministry & Care Committee of the PYM Quaker Life Counsel, the Truth & Transformation Thread Gathering will explore the transformative practice of deep listening to increase our capacity for healing by responding compassionately to incidents of racial wounding.  We will also explore ways to listen to the truths of Friends who have been hurt by other forms of oppression including sexism, classism, ageism, homophobia, and transphobia, and how these different forms of oppression may be similar to or differ from oppression grounded in racism.

Schedule

• 9:00-9:45am Opening worship and welcome, hosted by the PYM Ministry & Care Committee.
  • Worship is optional and we ask folks to be mindful as they enter the space during this time.
• 9:45-10:00am Quick tech review and introductions
• 10:00-10:30am Listening Spirituality: The Quaker Way
• 10:30am-12:00pm The Yearning of the Compassionate Heart
• 12:00-12:45pm Lunch (communal lunch option)
  • Folks may choose to take an off-screen break at this time (please return by 12:40pm) or join a small group for a communal lunch and possible deepening of the morning’s learnings
• 12:45-2:15pm Plenary Sharing: Small Group Story Sharing
• 2:15-2:45pm Going Forward: Large Group Sharing
• 2:45-3:00pm Closing Worship

Lunch

As mentioned in the schedule above, we encourage folks to make the decisions that best allow them to be fully present throughout the day, which for some may mean needing to move away from the screen to process or attend to other matters, and for others may mean staying in a small group discussion.

A short break will allow folks to get their lunch together and come back.

We ask that those who do take a break from the screen, return to the space by 12:40 pm so we may re-start promptly.

Facilitators

.O

To address both environmental and social justice issues, .O has made health and well-being their life’s purpose.  S/He has worked for over 25 years as a practitioner and educator in the areas of body work, self-care, social services, and health care support. S/He is a seasoned Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) trainer and leads workshops for individuals and groups to support their goals of healing our society’s legacies of racism, sexism, homophobia, and class privilege in order to build healthier and stronger relationships and organizations. Drawing on their Quaker values rooted in love, peace, and social justice, .O’s practice embraces a care-based, trauma-informed, healing justice approach to community organizing in support of social and environmental justice. .O  is a staff member and spiritual midwife of Philly Thrive, a Philadelphia-based environmental justice organization focused on improving the health and well-being of the city’s residents and supporting a just transition to a cleaner, healthier future. S/He is a founding member of Serenity Soular, a community solar collaborative committed to social justice in the Philadelphia area. A longtime Quaker, .O is a member of Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting, and leads Love and Respect Transform, a ministry that focuses on deepening our understanding and experience of alternatives to social and environmental violence by exploring the transformative power of love.

Jean-Marie Prestwidge Barch

Jean-Marie is a member of Schuylkill Monthly Meeting. She has served her meeting as clerk and recording clerk. She has served Baltimore YM, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and Friends General Conference on committees for Ministry on Youth, Ministry on Racism and Ministry and Care;  Jean-Marie has also served FGC’s Committee for Nurturing Ministries, Central and Executive Committees.  She and Frank served as Co-Clerks of the FGC 2005 Gathering, good training for her current role as co-clerk (with Frank) of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.  She also currently serves as clerk of the Ministry and Nurture Committee of Quaker Life Council. Jean-Marie has traveled  for FGC for more than 20 years, giving workshops and traveling as a companion in ministry. She carries a ministry of deep listening focused on nurture and support of movement toward the beloved community. She believes that in order to come closer to living in harmony with the divine, we profit from knowing the many faces and facets of the divine, which we can best come to know through listening deeply to one another.

Dana Robinson

Life has called me into community building and challenging oppression. I contribute through personal service, listening skills and the ability to add to a group’s clearness of purpose.  An invitation onto the Lansdowne Friends School Committee in 1986 introduced me to the Society of Friends and I joined Lansdowne Monthly Meeting a few years later. My Quaker activism intensified when I rotated off the School Committee in 2014, became Clerk of the Meeting and joined the Earth Quaker Action Team.  EQAT’s “Power Local Green Jobs” initiative focuses on solar energy and racial and economic justice.  As one of EQAT’s Delaware County campaign leaders, I have been organizing support here in the county, planning actions and reaching out to Chester Quarter’s monthly meetings. We EQATERs are sharing our stories of being inspired by a climate justice campaign that puts the needs of poor and working-class people in the center. We have faith in the power of nonviolent direct action to call leading institutions (in this case, PECO) to account for the impacts of their actions and omissions.

George Schaefer

George Schaefer is the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Care & Aging Coordinator.  In this capacity, George supports Friends Meetings to respond to the needs of members facing the changes and challenges of aging.  He provides assessments, referral and interventions to PYM members at risk, coordinates requests for grants from PYM granting groups serving older adults and works to nurture the pastoral care ministry of Friends in the yearly meeting community.

Registration