Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

of the Religious Society of Friends

Social Justice

New Years: Open Heart, Peaceful Mind with Valerie Brown

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A Retreat for Rest and Reflection

Registration 4-6pm in the Barn, December 28, first session after dinner. Concludes with lunch January 1st.

This is an especially meaningful time for our community to come back together. Our lives have changed through the challenges of global pandemic, climate crisis, political polarization, and racial and social injustice. These societal challenges have also created space for new experiences, deeper looking, and renewed aspirations. Join us as we return in-person to our Beloved Pendle Hill and our 15th Annual Open Heart, Peaceful Mind Retreat for rest and reflection.

For more information, to register, or to apply for financial assistance, please visit:
https://pendlehill.org/events/new-years-open-heart-peaceful-mind-3/

Aiming for Justice: Race Reparations and Right Paths with K. Melchor Quick Hall

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Dec 13 and 14, 2021 (pre-workshop sessions); workshops begin proper in January 2022

Mon  12pm – 1:30pm EST, Tue 7pm – 8:30pm EST

Designed by Black feminist scholar-activist K. Melchor Quick Hall, the month-long workshop will be facilitated by – and offered for – US-based, white inheritors of wealth.

From the very beginning, this reparations workshop was designed as a popular education experience that would not pay homage to the knowledge of any single expert. Past participants will be taking lead by facilitating all synchronous workshop sessions. Videos, readings, and workshop design will continue to be managed by K. Melchor Quick Hall, who has designed and modified the workshop for the past three iterations.

For more information, to register, or to apply for financial assistance, visit:
https://pendlehill.org/events/aiming-for-justice-race-reparations-and-right-paths-4/

“The Underground Railroad in South Jersey And Its Importance Today”

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Haddonfield Quarterly Meeting will feature a presentation by Linda Shockley, President of the Lawnside Historical Society.  Friends are encouraged to pre-register for this hybrid event, to be held in person at Medford Meeting and via zoom.

Oral history identifies Peter Mott as an agent and conductor for the Underground Railroad, working from his home and Mt. Pisgah A.M.E. Church in present day Lawnside.  Freedom seekers would continue their journey north via Evesham, Haddonfield, and Pennsauken.  The Lawnside Historical Society has restored Mott’s home for use as a museum of the Underground Railroad and the Lawnside community, the only historically African-American incorporated municipality in the northern USA.  (www.petermotthouse.org)

Children’s activities will be provided during worship (10 AM).  The program will begin about 11 AM.  Beverages and lite snacks will be provided at the conclusion of the program outside.  Guests are welcome to bring a lunch, as well.

Let’s Talk About Faith-based Reparations

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A world that is accountable for past harms including slavery, colonialism, genocide, and other material and moral abuses will be a world better for everyone. The Grassroots Reparations Campaign sponsors a course to examine the history, spiritual, conceptual (ethical and moral) and practical dimensions of reparations as a global movement. Centered on the approach to reparation from the United Nations, the twelve-hour course explores the perspectives that justify and help many ground the case for faith-based reparations. The spiritual journey to uproot white supremacy externally and internally co-exists with working toward full reparations and abolition-democracy. Barb Kreider will offer some insights from this course. Click here or call 646-558-8656 and enter meeting ID 873 3565 8140 to be part of the conversation.

Weaving a Wider Welcome eRetreat

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Do our meetings truly reflect all the faces of God among our members and attenders? FGC has heard from many of you that the answer to that question is often no. We have heard that many meetings wonder why their newcomers stop coming after a few visits– especially LGBTQ folks, families with young children and People of Color.  In this eRetreat, we will explore how newcomers experience welcome, mistakes meetings make with newcomers, and what approaches to welcoming have worked in FGC meetings.

In this workshop you will learn:

  • Why people don’t come back and why people choose to engage.
  • Ways meetings can shift their culture to become more newcomer-friendly
  • Effective ways to better reach newcomers, with a special focus on seekers of Color, LGBTQ folks, and families with young children. Spoiler alert: what is enriching for newcomers also benefits longtimers!

Let’s Talk About Ellen Foster

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Book club! Moorestown Meeting attender Elizabeth will facilitate discussion of Kaye Gibbons’s award-winning short novel Ellen Foster. This story of a strong, smart girl and her challenging childhood is widely available in libraries and from booksellers. Click here or phone 646-558-8656 and use meeting ID 815 8781 6369 to join the conversation with our Anti-Racism Committee.

Let’s Talk About Ellen Foster

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Book club! Gather with us for a discussion of Kaye Gibbons’s award-winning short novel Ellen Foster. This story of a strong, smart girl and her challenging childhood is widely available in libraries and from booksellers. Click here or phone 646-558-8656 and use meeting ID 815 8781 6369 to join the conversation.

Let’s Talk About the Baldwin-Buckley Debate

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Ben will facilitate a discussion of Fringe Art’s production of ‘Baldwin and Buckley at Cambridge’, a recreation of a famed 1965 debate between James Baldwin and William F. Buckley, Jr., on the question, “Has the American Dream Been Achieved at the Expense of the American Negro?” If you have a chance, see the performance Sept 9, 10 or 11 at the FringeArts Theater on the Philadelphia waterfront. You can also watch the original debate online, and find many related commentaries and analyses. Click here or call 646-558-8656 and enter meeting ID 873 3565 8140 to join the conversation.

21st Annual Peace Fair

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Volunteers, Non-Profits, Crafts Vendors Needed! The 21st Annual Peace Fair of Bucks Quarterly Meeting will take place on Saturday, September 18, 2021, at Buckingham Friends Meetinghouse in Lahaska, just south of Peddlers Village. Up to 100 booths of local crafts, artwork, food, games, animals and Bucks area non-profits whose focus is peace, community service, healthy living and the environment. Browse the book sale and listen to entertainers like the Tookany Creek bluegrass band, River Drivers and kids’ songster Ecoman. Hear Bucks and Montgomery County poet laureates at the Poetry Reading or tour the Buckingham Quaker Meetinghouse, a National Landmark. The fair runs from 10:30am until 4:00pm and is handicap accessible. The suggested donation is $2 and parking is free. Local residents from toddlers to seniors will enjoy a delightful, engaging and uplifting day among the giant oaks and maples at the Peace Fair.

Let’s Talk About Ellen Foster

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Join Moorestown Friends Meeting’s Anti-Racism Committee as our attender Elizabeth facilitates a discussion of Kaye Gibbons’s beautifully human, short novel Ellen Foster. The award-winning book about a strong, smart girl navigating an unusually challenging childhood is widely available in libraries and from booksellers. Enjoy a book club and help support the important work Friends are doing in witness to our testament of equality; click here or phone 646-558-8656 and use meeting ID 873 3565 8140.