Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

of the Religious Society of Friends

Activism

Eco-Justice Collaborative Spotlight Q&A With Patricia Finley

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“The whole eco system is connected and we are a part of it!”
— Patricia Finley, co-clerk of the Eco-Justice Collaborative

Q: Why was the Eco-Justice Collaborative formed?

The Eco-Justice Collaborative (EJC) has been in many forms since 1988. It began as the Environmental Working Group (EWG); in 1993, there was a renewed desire and commitment to elevate the EWG after a young person, during Annual Sessions, shared their experience of having nightmares about the future of our planet. A husband-and-wife team, Ed Dreby and Margaret Mansfield, foundational in creating EJC, doubled their efforts in visiting 50+ meetings encouraging other Quakers to get involved. Then in 2009, the Environmental Working Group became the Eco-Justice Collaborative which focused on lifting leaders with environmental expertise and interest to support each other’s projects. [Read more…] about Eco-Justice Collaborative Spotlight Q&A With Patricia Finley

“The Golden Rule and Resistance to Atomic Bomb Testing”

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Sallie Willoughby, daughter of the late George and Lillian Willoughby, will speak about her father’s participation as a member of the historic Golden Rule crew as it attempted to prevent the US from testing an atomic bomb in the Marshall Islands.  She will also talk about her parents’ participation in protests and civil disobedience against war. Helen Jaccard, with Veterans For Peace and project manager for the Golden Rule, and several members of the current crew will also join us to talk about ongoing efforts to ban nuclear weapons and other peace issues.

All are welcome for worship 10-11 AM, or after 11 AM.  The program itself will begin at 11:20 AM.

The 34-foot wooden ketch is visiting the Delaware Valley May 9-14 as part of a 15-month voyage around the eastern half of the USA, making 100 ports-of-call. The Golden Rule is a national project of Veterans For Peace.

See flyer for additional Golden Rule events in the Philadelphia area between May 7 -13

 

Youth Visit to FCNL Lobby Weekend

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Westtown School’s ​​Quaker Leadership Program (QLP) plays a significant role in nurturing Quaker identity and providing experience with faith and practice for students and adults in the school community. QLP students were part of the PYM Young Friends group who volunteered at the Bucks Peace Fair in September and a group from the school attended Fall Continuing Sessions. Over their spring break in March, three QLP students and two faculty members participated in the Friends Committee on National Legislation’s 2023 Spring Lobby Weekend.

[Read more…] about Youth Visit to FCNL Lobby Weekend

“The Movement and the Madman”

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This film, to air soon on WHYY, explores how two brilliantly orchestrated antiwar protests in the fall of 1969 — the largest the country had ever seen — pressured President Nixon to cancel what he called his “madman” plans for a massive escalation of the U.S. war in Vietnam, including a threat to use nuclear weapons. At the time, protestors, including many Friends, had no idea how influential they would be and how many lives they may have saved. Told through remarkable archival footage and firsthand accounts from movement leaders, Nixon administration officials, historians and others, the film reveals how the leaders of the antiwar movement mobilized disparate groups from coast to coast to create two massive protests that changed history.

Andrew Mills – A Conversation about his book “Reporting For Duty”

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Trenton Meeting will host our member Andrew Mills (age 93) for a conversation about his newest book “Reporting For Duty: My Urgency for Justice and Peace”.  The in-person event can also be attended by Zoom.  Email trentonquakers@gmail.com for a Zoom invitation.

In his long and active life Andy has done many things in support of peace and justice.  This book is at once a memoir, a recounting and analysis of past actions and a call for others to keep up the struggle.

Continuing Revolution 2023: Nurturing Experiments in Spiritually Grounded Abolition

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June 2-6, 2023: on campus and online via Zoom

  • On-campus resident  (June 2-6): $100
  • Commuter daily attendance: $15/day
  • Online: $20
  • Significant financial assistance is available!

Continuing Revolution, Pendle Hill’s annual conference for young adults (ages 18-35), is a space of collective exploration and learning for the spiritually curious who are striving to live in ways that reflect their values. We welcome those who are seeking to examine the connections between their spiritual, political, and interpersonal lives. 

Join young adult Friends and seekers (ages 18-35) gathering both online and at Pendle Hill to build community with others exploring abolition of police and policing. Building on themes and feedback from Continuing Revolution 2022: Experiments in Spiritually Grounded Abolition, we will focus this year on the relationship between individual and structural transformation. We will explore together definitions and practices of structural change, building skills for positioning ourselves in that work in our respective communities.

We will continue to draw on Mariame Kaba’s understanding of abolition as “a vision of a restructured society where we have everything that we need to live dignified lives.” Kaba notes that “abolition” is not a static or singular thing; the word is used by people of various political persuasions and imaginations, who “want to eliminate prisons, policing, and surveillance, and . . . want to create true safety, health, and well-being instead.” We will learn collectively from the tools, strategies, and processes that contemporary groups are using in local, national, and interpersonal communities, with an emphasis on the interaction between personal and structural work.

Come to Continuing Revolution 2023 to support and be supported in learning to make decisions that reflect your values and hopes for the building of abolitionist futures. Enjoy opportunities for reflection, sharing, worship, and skill-building with other young adults from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences in the nurturing environment of Pendle Hill, either online or in person.

Building Sanctuary Within to Build Sanctuary for Others

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An online First Monday Lecture with Blanca Pacheco

When immigrants arrive in the United States we face racism, poverty, brokenness, and disconnection from our cultures. The New Sanctuary Movement (NSM) of Philadelphia holds space for the community to move from this trauma to collective action and healing. Along this journey, we have learned to claim our wisdom and unique perspectives, developed new and alternative models for ways to fight for social justice, and connected our personal healing and liberation work to our community organizing.

In this lecture, Blanca Pacheco, Co-Director of NSM, will reflect on her  journey as a community organizer and share the current work of NSM. She will offer tools for reflection on our connections to immigrant experiences and our own tools of resistance to fight for justice, and will offer ways to pay attention and learn from organizing models outside of the U.S.

Pendle Hill Quaker Institute: Beloved Community as Prophetic Witness

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An on-campus gathering of Friends to learn about and practice the art of building beloved community as an act of prophetic witness.

Adult Private Room: $450/ $600/ $750
Adult Shared Room: $450
Adult Commuter: $250

Child (0-2): No charge
Child (3-12): $60 (room & board)/ $30 (commuter)
Youth (13-18): $150 (room & board)/ $75 (commuter)
Free childcare provided by Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.

If these options are financially inaccessible, we welcome your request for financial assistance.

Join us in rebuilding our Beloved Community, grounded in Quaker faith and practice!

Grounded in Friends’ history of community as the roots of spirituality and social change, we will learn from each other about what is possible in this moment – both old and new ways Friends are grounding our communities in our prophetic values and mobilizing in the service of healing the world.

In December 2019, Friends came together for the Pendle Hill Quaker Institute, Practicing Our Heritage of Mysticism and Resistance, challenging the false dichotomy between contemplative and activist Friends. This year, we invite Friends back to Pendle Hill’s campus to re-connect and re-group after surviving these traumatic and illuminating intervening years. We will worship, learn, and break bread together.

Experiential workshops will explore different ways that the Religious Society of Friends is creating cultures of beloved community. Themes will include the ministry of space, intergenerational programming, art as a container for building community, and ways Meetings can support and engage with Friends’ peace and justice organizations.

This long weekend is a collaboration with a broad range of Friends and Friends’ organizations, including the American Friends Service Committee, the Friends Committee on National Legislation, Friends General Conference, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, the Quaker Religious Education Collaborative, and other Quaker institutions and retreat centers.

Philadelphia Yearly Meeting’s Youth Programs staff will lead a program for younger Quaker Institute registrants at no additional cost. We hope this will make attendance for families with children more accessible. It will be a simultaneous experience of building beloved community, designed for the ages who register.

Please check the event page for forthcoming schedules, workshop descriptions, and leader information.

Policy on Advocacy Explained

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Quaker practice invites Friends to listen deeply to the Inward Teacher and then to follow the leading that comes as a result. This is foundational to our faith, and individuals and meetings expect ourselves to be guided by Spirit in our daily decisions and with the direction of our lives. One way of responding to Spirit is through political action, including creating lasting and structural change through local, state, and federal legislation. Individuals may do this without limitation. When monthly, quarterly, and yearly meeting engagement is political, in addition to seeking unity in spiritual discernment we must also consider what is legally necessary for our non-profit organization. [Read more…] about Policy on Advocacy Explained

Approved Policy on Advocacy

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Administrative Council, after months of research and listening, approved a Policy on Advocacy in our yearly meeting which encourages Friends to follow their individual leadings and also articulates the limitations of a religion under the law. This story shares the policy and offers context and examples.
[Read more…] about Approved Policy on Advocacy

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