Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

of the Religious Society of Friends

Social Justice

AFSC Seeks Corporation/Board Clerk – Call for Nominations!

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The American Friends Service Committee is seeking a new presiding clerk of the Corporation and the Board of Directors to begin service in April 2023 on approval of the AFSC Corporation. We are asking everyone in the Quaker and AFSC communities to help identify potential nominees who can serve in this important leadership role in AFSC during a challenging and exciting period in the organization’s history.

Please refer to the AFSC Clerk position description for detailed expectations and desired qualifications. We seek a clerk who is spirit-led, and who can unite people of very diverse backgrounds and experiences, including governance volunteers, staff, members of communities with which AFSC has worked or is working, and other stakeholders. Our clerk will need excellent clerking skills and experience. They must be an active member of the Religious Society of Friends and have familiarity with Friends organizations. We seek candidates who reflect and embrace AFSC’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.

Familiarity with the AFSC and prior experience serving within the organization’s governance structures or staff is advantageous for nominees.

If you have suggestions for someone who might meet these criteria, or if you are interested in serving as AFSC clerk, please review the position description carefully and complete for each nominee the AFSC Clerk Nomination Form by October 31, 2022.

You will see from the position description that the work of the clerk is demanding and time-consuming to an extent that it excludes people whose life circumstances do not permit them to serve, such as the lack of freedom to devote the many hours to consultation that are suggested or to undertake the travel described. In seeking to identify a clerk with a call to serve and with the spiritual gifts and the wisdom that are desirable, the AFSC asks that you not refrain from proposing individuals because you believe they would be unavailable given the scope of the tasks described, or because they are located outside of the United States. While seeking a single Presiding Clerk in the traditional fashion, the AFSC is also open to making adjustments, such as redistributing the workload among a Clerk and an Assistant Clerk, or appointing Co-clerks, so as to widen the circle of Friends who can answer this call to service. We ask especially that you keep the AFSC’s goals of diversity, equity and inclusion in mind when thinking about possible nominees.

Any questions can be directed to Elizabeth Corse (ecorse@afsc.org), AFSC staff member supporting the Clerk Search Committee, or Dan Seeger (dseeger8000@gmail.com), who is clerking the Clerk Search Committee.

We encourage you to share this call with others you believe might be interested.

With thanks,
The AFSC Clerk Search Committee – Actress Bartlett, Brenda Chung, Alison Duncan, Dan Seeger (clerk), Nora Vera-Godwin

Providence Young Friends Host Immigration Vigil At Delaware County Courthouse

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Providence Meeting’s Middle School Friends led a highly successful vigil for immigrant rights at the Delaware County Courthouse on October 3, 2020. The event was to focus attention on the treatment of immigrants on the U.S. border and a call for action to address this issue. Supporting our middle school Friends were a large contingent from the Movement of Immigrant Leaders of Pennsylvania (MILPA) and local elected officials. [Read more…] about Providence Young Friends Host Immigration Vigil At Delaware County Courthouse

Providence Meeting Unites on Racial Justice and Anti-Racism Statement

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Our goal is to create a beloved community and this will require a qualitative change in our souls as well as a quantitative change in our lives.

— Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

This fall Providence Meeting united around the following statement on Racial Justice and Anti-Racism.

Consistent with our mission, Providence Friends Meeting seeks to involve members and attenders as partners in the ongoing work of racial justice, advancing equity, and undoing the effects of racism. This work requires us to examine and transform our own individual beliefs and actions, the beliefs, actions and policies of our meeting as a corporate body, and to challenge the effects of racism in the larger society. These include, among others, disparities in healthcare, economics, housing, voting access, climate justice, the workplace, criminal justice, and education.

Goals

  1. As Providence Friends Meeting acknowledges and honors the fundamental value and dignity of all individuals, we strive to be a culturally safe space where all individuals and groups are treated with respect in regard to their unique cultural needs and differences.
  2. We strive to build a pluralist, anti-racist community that encourages participation and leadership among all Friends, and supports and elevates partners and community members most affected by racism and bias.

Providence Friends Meeting resolves to use these queries to further these goals.

Corporate Queries

  • How does our meeting support, model and encourage active and ongoing anti-racism work? How do we move all members forward on their journey to being their best selves?
  • How are we working to change the ways that our meeting benefits from privilege and systemic inequality?
  • How do we create “space at the table” for all individuals and groups?
  • How do we actively consider the effects of our decisions on those who have been harmed by racism?
  • How do we use Spirit-led decision making to promote equity, diversity, and inclusion rather than support structures that reinforce inequities?
  • How do we carry this work into our worship and committee work?

Individual Queries

  • How do I regularly examine myself for attitudes and behaviors that indicate any hidden prejudice?
  • If someone suggests that something I have said or done is racist or discriminatory, do I listen and consider their point of view?
    ● How do my lifestyle choices affect the causes of justice and injustice in our nation and the world?
    ● How do I seek ways to make my local community, state and nation more just and equitable?
    ● How do I challenge statements, practices, behaviors, and interactions that diminish, demean, disempower, or otherwise harm others and their identities?

How do I do this with loving kindness that honors that of God in each person?

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