Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

of the Religious Society of Friends

Fall Continuing Sessions

REGISTER FOR 2025 FALL SESSIONS!

Fall Continuing Sessions 2025

Friday – Sunday, November 7`9, 2025

Arch Street Meeting House

ll Friends everywhere are invited to join Fall Continuing Sessions at Arch Street Meeting House and online. Our theme “Members One of Another” reminds us that each individual is a necessary part of the whole Body, with important gifts to share.
 
Fall Sessions will begin on Friday, November 7th with Affinity Groups on Zoom from 7-9pm.
 
The agenda for Fall Sessions events on Saturday November 8th and Sunday, November 9th can be found below.

Schedule

Items with an asterisk (*) are hybrid format
Events with two asterisks (**) are online-only

Saturday, November 8th
  • 9:00am: Worship for all ages*
  • 9:30am: Youth programs begin
  • 9:30am: Meeting for Business*
    • YM’s New General Secretary: Continuing Sessions is the first day of service for our new General Secretary Chris Mohr!
    • Addressing Climate Change: PYM has a commitment to address climate change which we are acting on in several ways. We will learn about monthly meetings’ engagement in decreasing their carbon footprint and next steps in decreasing the footprint of PYM operations, and we’ll hear from the Climate Witness Stewards who we’ve charged with holding us accountable to this witness.
    • Addressing Racism: PYM has a commitment to address racism. In that light, we will consider the query: How am I being called as a Friend to live differently with regard to race in America? And explore what we can do next to move toward the goal of having conversations about racism without fear
  • 12:30pm: Lunch (bring your own!)
  • 12:30: Lunch fellowship on Zoom**
  • 1:30pm: Afternoon program: Sharing our Light across generations*
  • 3:30pm: Memorial to the Lost
Sunday, November 9th
All events online**

  • 9:00 – 10:00am: All Together Worship**
    The Zoom link to join All Together Worship will be the same one being used for that Sessions weekend; individuals and meetings will receive it when they register for Sessions.
  • 10:00 – 10:30 am: break
  • 10:30 – 12:00 pm: Meeting for Business**
    • Update on the Draft Guidance for Advocacy and Lobbying
      Friends will receive a brief update on the draft Guidance. Following Annual Sessions, an ad hoc group revised the draft to reflect recent IRS practice allowing pulpit endorsements of candidates and legislation. Joint Council hosted two listening sessions—one with Collaboratives, who beta-tested the Guidance, and one open to all Friends. Feedback included both concerns and support.
    • Nominations
      One nomination will come forward for approval.
    • Minute on Solidarity with the LGBTQIA+ Community: Follow-Up
      At Annual Sessions, Friends approved a minute of solidarity. A public-facing version is now being developed for sharing beyond our community. The statement and proposed next steps will be presented.

DOWNLOAD FCS 2025 BUSINESS AGENDA

Fall Continuing Sessions, Nov. 8-10 2024

Our Fall Continuing Sessions at Arch Street Meeting House, and online, gathered us into a shared journey of worship, fellowship, and reflection as we closed our theme of “Called to Healing”.

Read more about what happened at Sessions in the Mott Memo.

View the keynote speakers from Friday and Saturday night below.

Tom Gates: Healing Across Cultures: Two Stories

Nov. 8, 2024

Tom Gates is a member of Lancaster Friends Meeting, where he serves on Worship and Ministry. He is a retired family physician, and he and his family lived and worked at Friends Lugulu Mission Hospital in Kenya, from 1991-94. He is called to a ministry of the written word, is the author of several Pendle Hill Pamphlets, and is the 2024 Kenneth Carroll Biblical and Quaker Studies Scholar at Pendle Hill.

Katy Hawkins: The Somatics of Centering: Quaking and Stillness

Nov. 8, 2024

Katy Hawkins, PhD (pronouns: she/her) is a lifelong Quaker and a member of Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting, where she serves on the Worship and Ministry Committee. Ten years ago she opened Shiné: Mind/Body/Spirit at the meetinghouse, a practice space for integrating the whole self in the work of centering. She has offered courses, workshops and weekend retreats at FGC, Pendle Hill, and area colleges. Her book, Thinking Feelingly: Somatic Approaches to Poetry, experiments with how poetic language can bypass the rational mind to touch deeper layers of our being. She is currently taking part in School of the Spirit’s “Participating in God’s Power” program on deepening Quaker ministry. More information on her work can be found on movingpoetics.com

Tara Rubinstein
Sessions and Events Coordinator
(215) 241-7228
trubinstein@pym.org
Simone Small Gellizeau
Director of Program & Religious Life
(215) 241-7008
sgellizeau@pym.org

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