Next week, PYM Connect reaches a new phase as many Friends will start engaging with this online space for the first time. It is a chance for our community to use the platform to share, collaborate, and celebrate among Friends. [Read more…] about PYM Connect Launches Next Phase in Second Week of January
Peace & Social Justice
AFSC Presentation at Swarthmore Meeting
Join friends at Swarthmore Friends Meeting on Sunday, January 19th for a presentation from Ainsley Bruton, AFSC’s Quaker Engagement Coordinator, about AFSC’s work to promote peace and justice around the world. Ainsley will share information about AFSC’s food justice activism, efforts to de-militarize police forces, peacemaking in the Middle East, AFSC’s social change leadership program for young adults, and more. Ainsley will also be connecting with Friends to learn more about peace and justice work being done at Swarthmore.
Meet George Lakey at the Screening of Citizen George
Join the Burlington Quaker Meeting House in welcoming George Lakey for a special screening of “Citizen George” – A feature-length documentary film presentation of the life and work of George Lakey – a nonviolent revolutionary, a deeply spiritual man with a rebel heart, who has been guided in life by his ideal of societal transformation.
Partnership with Church World Service
In October, PYM announced a new partnership with Church World Service (CWS) as a covenant member. During the recent Joint Council meeting, Clerk Nikki Mosgrove led a discussion on PYM’s new relationship with CWS, a national faith-based organization focused on just and sustainable responses to hunger, poverty, displacement, and disaster. This partnership allows PYM to nominate board members and collaborate closely on CWS’s work, although it holds no voting rights. CWS extended this invitation to deepen the connection, reflecting their commitment to building impactful relationships. The council plans to review this partnership at a future session to assess its impact.
[Read more…] about Partnership with Church World Service
Witnessing the West Bank under Siege
Join us to hear testimony from 4 friends who recently returned from participating in a multifaith, international Just Peace Delegation to the West Bank. Hannah Mermelstein, Laurie Gagne, John Reuwer, and Mikayla Lytton will share what they learned and witnessed while visiting the Occupied West Bank. Their presentation will include mini-profiles of courageous Palestinians who are resisting the Occupation non-violently and ways our Meeting may be able to help them.
Nikki Mosgrove Begins as Presiding Clerk of PYM
On August 1, 2024, Nikki Mosgrove stepped into the role of Presiding Clerk of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (a collection of 105 Quaker congregations in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania). She is tasked with facilitating business among as . Among unprogrammed Friends, who eschews religious hierarchy, a clerk is the first among equals. Her discernment process in accepting this role involved 30 days of prayer and reflection with people of many different spiritual practices: Presbyterians, Baptists, Nontheists, Pentecostals, and Quakers.
[Read more…] about Nikki Mosgrove Begins as Presiding Clerk of PYM
Upcoming Grant Deadlines: December 1, 2024 – March 31, 2025
Funds are available for outreach, traveling for interfaith dialog, service, or ministry, Indigenous people and communities, and more. Apply today!
[Read more…] about Upcoming Grant Deadlines: December 1, 2024 – March 31, 2025
October 2024 | Joint Council Update
On Saturday, October 12th, the three councils that support Philadelphia Yearly Meeting—Quaker Life Council, Administrative Council, and Nominating Council—held their first meeting in a new joint format. In this structure, all three councils meet together as one Joint Council to worship, discern, and conduct business collaboratively. A key feature in the joint format is the approval of minutes during the meeting. This allows the Joint Council to share the minutes in a news story with the PYM community in the week following the meeting.
Providence Friends Meeting 340th Anniversary
There will be a short program from 11:00–11:30 a.m., followed by a Treasure Map Tour and a garden lunch. Rain means the inside garden! Everyone will receive a “treasure map” to use to visit different displays throughout the meetinghouse and grounds. Highlights include our Underground Railroad “station,” the work we are doing to mitigate the effects of climate change, and our ongoing efforts to promote peace and racial justice.
Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting on “Going Veggie” and Using “Creating a Playbook for Climate Action”
Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting has embraced a new initiative to support climate action by “going veggie” on the third Sunday of each month. This meeting-wide project is the result of collaboration between the Climate Action and Hospitality Committees, reflecting a shared commitment to addressing climate change.
Sarah Whitman, a member of both committees at Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting, shared her perspective and the behind-the-scenes on this new initiative. “Last spring, we started a Climate Action Committee to help the meeting address climate change,” Sarah shared. “There have been individual leadings and practices related to climate change, but not a project that the whole meeting does together. I happen to be a member of both Hospitality and the Climate Action Committee, so I felt like this was an opportunity for synergy between those two committees.”
