January 2004 • $5 Quaker Thought FRIENDS and Life OURNAL Today
Making Peace, Telling Truth For Where Your Treasure Is, There Will Your Heart Be Also See No Evil An Among Friends independent magazine serving the Seeking Common Ground Religious Society of our years ago, when the new millennium began, our future seemed challenging Friends but also promising. In 2001, the events of September 11 cast a pall that has yet Fto lift. We've been plunged into a global war on terrorism that has permeated Editorial our everyday lives to an extraordinary degree. The immediate search for Osama bin Susan Corson-Finnerty (Publisher and Executive Editor}, Robert Dockhorn {Senior Editor}, Lisa Laden has morphed into a quest to bring imposed "democracy" to the greatly Rand {Assistant Editor}, Judith Brown (Poetry Editor), oppressed people oflraq. Since that war began early last year, more than 60 people Ellen Michaud (Book Review Editor}, J. Brent Bill {Assistant Book Review Editor}, Joan Overman {Book have died each month fighting for the US in the name of freedom, and the numbers Review Assistant}, Christine Rusch (Milestones are escalating. Even more Iraqis have died. But true freedom has not come to Iraq, Editor), Robert Marks, George Rubin (News Editors}, Kara Newell (Columnist), Marjorie Schier despite the terrible sacrifice made by so many. Here in the US freedom is quietly {Copyeditor), Teresa Jacob Engeman (Editorial slipping away under the rubric of homeland security- Assistant), Danielle DeCosmo (Intern) As I write, e-mail messages have begun arriving, telling of the terrible confrontation Production Barbara Benton (An Director}, Alia Podolsky between 2,500 police and other law enforcement officers and thousands of essentially {Assistant An Director), Herb Enel (Web Manager), nonviolent protestors in Miami during the recent FTAA (Free-Trade Area of the Cheryl Zabinsky (Production Volunteer) Americas) meeting. It has become commonplace, since the protests at the World Advertising, Circulation, Development Nagendran Gulendran (Advertising Manager), Trade Organization meeting in Seattle in 1999, for cities to prepare their police Nicole Hackel (Circulation Assistant}, Melissa departments for potential riots during large or controversial gatherings. In November Martin (Project and Database Manager}, Lawrence Moore (Circulation and Marketing Manager), Gretta in Miami, that became an open war on dissent, according to numerous independent Stone (Development Coordinator), Kay Bacon, journalists. What struck them was how divorced police behavior was from any Ruthanna Hadley, Ruth Peterson (Volunteers} threatening behavior on the part of protestors. Nonviolent protestors were beaten, Administration Marianne De Lange (Office Manager), Tom McPeak shot at with pellets and pepper spray, tear-gassed, arrested, or forced to flee. Many {Accounting Services) dozens were injured; a dozen were hospitalized. Hundreds were arrested. Board of Trustees Ominously, much of the money spent on the intense militarization of Miami's police Barbara Andrews, Paul Buckley, TylaAnn Burger (Treasurer), Katharine Clark, Linda Coffin, Karen force in preparation for this-including full riot gear, aerial surveillance, armored Cromley, John Darnell, William Deutsch (Assistant vehicles, and a press corps officially "embedded" with the police-came from an $8-5 Clerk), Mary Ann Downey, Walter Evans, Marsha Green (Recording Clerk), Linda Houser, Paul million rider tacked onto the $87 billion spending bill for the war in Iraq_ 'This Landskroener, Linda Lyman, Ellen Massey, Janet should be a model for homeland defense," Miami Mayor Manny Diaz was quoted as Ross Melnyk, Larry Miller, Julian O'Reilley, Ann Trueblood Raper, Jonathan Tamez, Lynn saying proudly. Waddington, Pamela Williams, Elizabeth Years In this issue, we take up the difficult issue of truth-telling as a key component to (Clerk) peacemaking. "We must understand that what any one of us perceives to be the truth FRIENDSj OURNAL (!SSN 00 16-1322) was established in I 955 as the successor to The Friend (I 827- 1955) and is refracted by our experience, our perspective, and by what we have been taught to Friends lnteliigencer (I 844-1955). see," writes Paul Lacey in "Making Peace: Telling Truth" (p.6)_ As Friends, our ' FRIENDS jOURNAL is published monthly by Friends Publishing Corporation, 1216 Arch Street, 2A, traditional task has not been partisan, but rather to seek that of God within all_ That Philadelphia, PA 19107-2835. T elephone (21 5) 563-8629. E-mail [email protected]. Light is within Miami policemen, combatants in Iraq, members of our administration Periodicals postage paid at Philadelphia, Pa., and additional mailing offices. who clearly believe that a military response is appropriate and needed in these times. • Subscriptions: one year $35, two years $65. Add $8 per In "With Malice toward None, Charity toward All" (p.12), Anna Poplawska reminds year for postage to countries outside the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Individual copies $5 each. us that our hearts must remain open to our shared humanity with those whose acts • Advertising information and assistance is available on are repugnant to us. As peacemakers, we dare not indulge in "hunkering down in request. Appearance of any advertisement does not imply [our] ideological enclave and refusing to engage with the truth-claims of others," as endorsement by FRIENDS jOURNAL. • Postmaster: send address changes to FRIENDSJ ouRNAL, Paul Lacey says. Nor should we be shy of naming what in all humility we perceive. 1216 Arch Street, 2A, Philadelphia, PA 19107-2835. John Woolman, who labored so carefully with those with whom he disagreed so • Copyright© 2004 by Friends Publishing Corporation. Permission should be received before reprinting excerpts completely, could be our guide. 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2 january 2004 F RIENDS jOURNAL January 2004 FRIENDS Volume SO, No. 1 JOURNAL
Features Poetry 6 Making Peace: Telling Truth 6 Making Peace PaulA Lacey Denise Levertov Conscientious truth-telling, always a complex endeavor, is a key component in actualizing peace. 14 Compassion: A Missed Opportunity 10 See No Evil Wayne Swanger Donna Glee Williams Ifthe concept ofevil doem 't help solve anything, why 26 Futility use it? Wllfred Owen 12 Wrth Malice toward None, Charity Departments toward All Anna Poplawska 2 Among Friends We need to respect and forgive people evenhandedly, including President George W Bush. 4 Forum 15 For Where Your Treasure Is, There 5 Viewpoint Will Your Heart Be Also Building community under fire Kat Griffith 23 Life in the Meeting A visit to El Salvador Friends and their approach to Sardines: a meditation on latecomers money astounded her. 24 Memoir 18 Intersecting Circles To the desk clerk out there-thank you George A Crispin and Mario Cavallini Seeking truth together is not just figuring out what we 26 Reflection have in common. Peacemaking: public andprivate 20 The Benches of Cobscook (Maine) Meeting 34 Books Audrey Snyder 38 News They are 600 miles and perhaps 275 years from their origins in Purchase (N Y) Meeting. 40 Bulletin Board 22 Epiphany Claire Gerber 41 Milestones Once in a while, claybreak stops us in our tracks. 49 Classified
Photo on front cover and at right © David Lorenz Winston
fRIENDS ]OURNALjanuary 2004 3 Forum Turning on the Light other Quaker testimony other than to sit the speaker's mouth to the microphone and together in worship. We have gathered the speaker's mouth to the wall and then to Your 'Welcoming New Friends" issue some appropriate quotes from founding the microphone. (FJ]uly) was good food for thought. I live Quakers for reference to lead us in our joseph H Condon in a community where several of us have sat practice. Then, too, we draw on our Summit, N.J. on occasion and worshiped as Friends. In experience as Friends. It has been very our town we have numerous experienced satisfYing spiritually. We pick a Sunday Quakers. In the last 25 years, occasionally every month that works and meet in homes A clifferent perspective on we have met but have not formed a regular for Quaker worship. The meetings have hearing impairment Friends meeting. easily happened between friends. W e are "fallen-between-the-cracks Is it all or nothing to be a Quaker I appreciate the efforts of the editors of Friends" as Teddy Milne describes in the member? Can there be a place for those the October issue to include a broad column "Some Thoughts on Membership" who just come for worship without also exploration of diversity among Friends. (FJ]uly). I believe that all of us, formerly having to become an activist on every social However, I am concerned about the lack of affiliated as Quakers or not, would claim our issue? What is fundamental here? I look to diversity in two articles, "Including Deaf religious affiliation as Quaker. However, the words ofearly Quakers for those Quakers" and "Raising a Deaf Child." For none of us are members of organized, formal answers, for original intent. We live in an readers unfamiliar with the diversity of Friends meetings. area where there were once many un experience among the hearing impaired, When we do meet, it is as Friends programmed Quaker meetings in the 19th the two a:tides give a problematically pursuing a corporate practice ofsitting century. Yet there probably have not been narrow view. together in a powerful silence. For us unprogrammed meetings in the southeast Both authors have children who Friends living in this little Iowa town known corner oflowa since around the turn of the communicate primarily with sign language. for its thousands of transcendental 20th century. One suggests that "learning to read lips and meditators, our Quaker practice has been I do not see that we will form a meeting making the most of their hearing" is too absorbed into a larger group practice of though we will continue to meet to practice stressful for hearing-impaired children. meditation, sirting in cultivated silence aimed worship as Quakers. In time there may be Friends, especially those who have family towards a collective world spiritual peace. the possibility of forming a meeting. members who recently have been For decades in our community we have However, for now, first things first, and the diagnosed with a hearing loss, need to had group meditations with hundreds of first thing here seems to be more about become familiar with a broader perspective people spending up to four hours a day in turning on the Light. on hearing impairment than is evident in silent meditation. It has been a very these articles. powerful corporate experience for many. Doug Hamilton The Alexander Graham Bell Association Fairfield, Iowa I think early Friends would have and the John Tracy Clinic are two recognized the weight of it as part of their organizations that have longstanding records own experience. Snap thy fingers of success with supporting families who While I experience this meditation as want their hearing-impaired children to similar to Quaker practice, it does not I wish to add emphasis to the second learn to speak and lip-read. Thousands of exactly transpose over in the terms or bullet item under "General Suggestions" in families elect this option each year, without definitions that Quaker authors like Susan Karen Street's article "Addressing Hearing the stress to their children of which Paula Davies or Cynthia Maciel Knowles Loss Among Friends"(FJ Oct.). That is, Laughlin speaks. ("Meditation, Prayer, and Worship," F] "Get rid of as much echo as possible; My parents made this choice for my July) would like. It is much more simple carpets, curtains, tapestries, and acoustic tiles sister, who was born with a profound and powerful in nature; more like what all help." hearing loss. She was mainstreamed into a Marty Grundy describes in "Sit Thee Here" Reverberation cuts into intelligibility regular classroom at age six, graduated from (FJ]uly). I know weighty Friends in the by smearing one syllable into another. college, and has pursued a successful career same sense that I know weighty meditators This is true for elderly challenged and as an occupational therapist. When my sister from our community: weighty in the hearing unchallenged people as well as attends meeting with me, she wants to sit throw weight of their cultivated silence. I myself. Some people who have a linle where she can lip-read speakers in the really appreciate the way that Marty difficulty hearing will benefit by reduction meeting. She would have no use for an Grundy catches the gravity of this weight in of reverberation without any electronic interpreter because she does not know any her words. Many Friends have had the assistive system. sign language. She would be offended to be precious experience of sitting near a If thee snaps thy fingers at arm's length described as a "deaf woman," because her weighty Friend and being drawn by that and hears any reverberation or ringing in the disability does not define who she is. My Friend's experience into a deeper, more room afrerward, there is too much sister's experience, an alternative to those prayerful place. This weightiness comes reverberation. If another person 20 feet away described in the two October articles, from practice. snaps their fingers and thee can just barely suggests that Friends will respond best to the Recently, aspects of the group meditation hear the reverberation afrerward then the hearing impaired in our midst if we honor a in our town have become less inclusive, and reverberation is low enough. diversity of responses to hearing loss. several of us have explored a refuge in our The reason that hand-held microphones old Quaker practice. As we have gathered are more effective than hanging Martha J Reineke month by month for the last half year, we microphones is that the ratio of direct Denver, Iowa have come simply as worshiping Friends, sound to the reverberant sound is much without agenda and without burden of higher because of the relative distances of Continued on p. 45
4 january 2004 FRIENDS j OURNAL Viewpoint Building Community under Fire
o understand the Friendly testi private propeny altogether and pooled their Squatters ofren try to legalize their monies, including equality, sim resources to live in common (Acts4:32- 5:10). squat, usually by seeking a contract with T plicity, and community, it is im Squatting, in a more general sense, is the the house's owner or with the city. When ponant to get to know some of the societ appropriation of physical and virtual space to legal negotiations fail and eviction is threat ies that have developed to put these ideals make room to create alternatives to the status ened, residents and supponers sometimes into daily practice, and the struggles that quo, and, ofren, to make one's presence and gather inside houses, holding festivals have developed to defend these societies. demands known to the authorities "respon and refusing to leave. In Barcelona, two I'd like to tell you about some of them; sible" for that space. This reclamation ofcor social centers were successfully defended I've been a wandering student of life for porate and public space for human use is re when residents wearing harnesses sus almost three years, hitchhiking from place flected in many diverse forms ofactivism such pended themselves from the roofs, hang to place and squatting. as pirate radio, landless peasants' subsistence ing there for four days, protecting the Squatters take over abandoned build farming movements, "subvenising," parody houses with their bodies. Across Europe ings and use recycled and scavenged ma websites (such as gatt.org and nato.org), rent and North America, squats have in recent terials to renovate them and to turn them strikes, protest street blockading, and sit-ins. years been met with increasingly harsh into communal homes. In Europe, large Squatting is also a movement of necessity. repression including home raids, beatings, squatted buildings become social centers, Across Europe and the United States, facto deportations, tear gas, fines, and prison hosting public libraries; street kitchens; ries and investors have pulled out of industrial time. During a recent wave of evictions public computer labs; craft workshops; cities, relocating in search of cheaper labor in Brussels, police incinerated all the concen halls; mural spaces for graffiti art and lower environmental standards, leaving squatters' clothes, identity papers, and ists; "bicycle libraries"; "free shops" pro empty industrial buildings: urban brownfields. possessions; the justification was lice risk. viding discarded clothing and household White flight to the outlying small towns and In Europe, arson and physical assault by items; experiments in sustainable tech to outer-ring suburbs has also lefr abandoned right-wing groups are also a constant nology; and common sleeping areas for housing in the inner cities and inner-ring threat for squats. Currently, the solidifica passing travelers. Community gardens and suburbs; Philadelphia, for example, has 30,000 tion of the European Union has meant orchards sprout up in the vacant lots sur abandoned homes, and at least 25,000 home the concened evictions of the longest rounding squats. These projects are not less residents, according to housing activists. established social centers, in almost every maintained with paid staff or grant fund Fire- and water-damaged houses stand vacant city in Europe. ing, by charging fees for services, or for years, either abandoned or bought cheaply Despite these evictions, new squats are through charity; instead, they function by speculators who sit on them, waiting to opened every day, in defense ofArticl e 25 with the active participation and contri resell them for higher prices later. As the houses of the Universal Declaration of Human butions ofall who use the facilities, and by decay, they pose safety, fire, and health risks to Rights: "food, clothing, housing and medi gathering resources from dumpsters. Since the rest of the neighborhood. As municipali cal care and necessary social services." As squatters do not pay rent, their energies ties try to replace their lost industry with governments abandon their responsibil are freed for community engagements such tourism, developers do not attempt to reha ity to protect such rights, grassroots move as child care and elder care, grassroots bilitate existing housing. ments build community at the local level legal aid networks, workshops in alterna Instead, poor neighborhoods are system to re-weave this world's ripped social safety tive medicine and environmental educa atically demolished in the name of"urban re net with mutual aid and solidarity, in tion, and community media. newal" as corporate-municipal "partnerships" every neighborhood, every day. Squatting as a political movement pos construct new highways, chain stores that force For more information on housing its "propeny of use"- that land belongs out local businesses, and upscale housing and rights, see the Poor People's Economic to those who need it and use it-against hotels that local residents cannot afford. Mean Human Rights Campaign,
FRIENDS ]OURNAL]anuary 2004 5 \!KliNG IEACIE:
rom 1959, as a graduate stu Avoice from the dark called out, You can see why this poem sus dent teaching my first class "The poets must give us tains so many peace activists. That es, until 2002, when I imagination of peace, to oust the intense, familiar voice from the dark speaks for us: "The poets must give us imagination taught my last classes at imagination of disaster. Peace, not only Earlham, my day job has of peace. . . . Peace, not only the been as a teacher of litera the absence of war." absence of war." Those of us who ture and writing. For 50 years, since But peace, like a poem, have spent much ofour lives resisting I became a Quaker at the same time is not there ahead of itself, war have also longed to go beyond I was finding my vocation, the study can't be imagined before it is made, that to be a part of a genuine peace of literature has enriched my politi can't be known except movement. Denise Levertov reminds cal and social witness, and my work us that peace is not something that is for civil liberties, civil rights, interna in the words of its making, found but something that is made, tional understanding, peace, and jus grammar of justice, constructed out of complex and tice has deepened my reading of lit syntax of mutual aid. often unyielding materials. And, erature. So I am going to begin with A feeling towards it, because she is a poet as well as a peace a poem by Denise Levertov called dimly sensing a rhythm , is all we have activist, she makes a rich connection "Making Peace": until we begin to utter its metaphors, between those two aspects of her inner life. Peace is like a poem. It does learning them as we speak. not exist until it is made. Each of A line of peace might appear them is imagined in the act of mak if we restructured the sentence our lives are making, ing it, "in the words of its making," revoked its affirmation of profit and power, she says. And both peace and poetry questioned our needs, allowed are made of words, sentences, meta phors, the formal unity of grammar long pauses . .. Paul A. Lacey, a member of Clear Creek and syntax. Each has cadences, Meeting in Richmond, Ind. , is emeritus A cadence of peace might balance its weight silences, presence, is an energy field, professor of English at Earlham College on that different fulcrum; peace, a presence, pulse, vibration of light, facets of the and clerk ofthe national board ofdirectors an energy field more intense than war, forming crystal. of American Friends Service Committee. might pulse then, You may feel there is too much He authored Growing into Goodness: stanza by stanza into the world, poetic license in all those assertions Essays on Quaker &lucation. He is also the beautiful and intense, but perhaps literary executor for Denise Levertov and each act of living too metaphorical to be practical in edited her Selected Poems. An earlier ver one of its words, each word sion of this paper was presented as the doing the work of peacemaking. But Carey Lecture at Baltimore Yearry Meeting a vibration of light-facets I want to invite you to imagine some on August 2, 2003. of the forming crystal. of the connections between these 6 january 2004 FRIENDS JoURNAL ways of making two precious human arti such down-to-earth facts as, "This is Spot. we can build our beliefs and actions. Here facts-a poem and peace. Each is pro See Spot run," with illustrations to con I want to make a claim that is implicit in duced by hard work and trial and error. firm the factual accuracy ofeach sentence. all the connections between peace and Each seeks the right order, a pattern, that Of course, we must understand that poetry that Denise Levertov is making: enlarges us and connects us with others. what any one of us perceives to be the each is a work of truth-telling. The At its best, making peace or making any truth is refracted by our experience, our integrity and power of each rests on truth art (though here poetry stands in for all of perspective, and by what we have been and truthfulness. That means seeking out them) is soul-satisfying work that contin taught to see. The poet and lifelong peace the truth, pledging ourselves to speak the ually enhances our humanity. activist William Stafford says: "Some peo truth and to live by the truth. I began by saying I thought there is a ple are blinded by their experience. At first that may not appear to be a crucial connection between peacemaking Soldiers know how important war is. very big revelation. Afi:er all, we Quakers and truth-telling, and I will try to puzzle Owners ofslaves learn every day how infe claim the original copyright on the phrase out, very tentatively, what I think it means rior subject peoples are." "Speak Truth to Power." But, of course, to tell the truth. The late philosopher We also know that truth is pluralistic matters are more complicated than that. Bernard Williams's book Truth and in how it functions in different kinds of The definitions of all the most important ~ TruthfUlness has been of great help to me. discourse. Some statements words we have created to ~ He begins by identifying "two currents of have what we might call a local describe our most desired, ~ ideas . . . very prominent in modern truth. It is 7:30 P.M. Eastern sought-after social an~ politi- ~ thought and culture." First, "an intense DaylightTtme,August 1, 2003, cal values-all the capttal-let- ~ commitment to truthfulness," and sec in Harrisonburg, Virginia. It is ter words: Peace, Justice, E ond, as a "reflex against deceptiveness, ... an hour earlier in Richmond, Truth, Love; the words for } a pervasive suspicion about truth itself, Indiana, on Eastern Standard values for which many have :-§ whether there is such a thing." Bernard Time, which many of our willingly died, and willingly ~ Williams argues that truth serves an evo killed-the meanings of all ~ lutionary function in helping humans to those words are always under § live cooperatively. Humans have to be AMERICAN contention. An emperor said ~ able to depend on the accurate commu that the Roman legions creat- nication of a great deal of information PHILOSOPHER RICHARD ed a desert and called it peace. Socrates's that would be too hard or dangerous for RORTY CALLS TRUTH most dangerous adversary in Plato's us to discover for ourselves. For example: Republic says that justice is whatever the "The fire will burn you." "This water is JUST A "'COMPLIMENT' strong say it is. And Pontius Pilate sends safe to drink." "Eating that will make you Jesus to his death with the flippant ques sick." He argues that "assertions perform WE PAY OUR tion, "What is truth?" one of their most basic functions, to con ASSERTIONS. A LITTLE Ever since the American Friends vey information to a hearer who is going Service Committee booklet Speak Truth to to have to rely on it, in circumstances of 'RHETORICAL PAT' ON Power appeared in 1955, that phrase has trust, and someone who is conscientious been a favorite rallying cry, slogan, even a ly acting in circumstances of trust will not THEIR BACKS." cliche for a lot of people. It fairly bristles only say what he believes, but will take the with capital letters: Truth, Power, and trouble to do the best he can to make sure farmers call "God's Time." In Japan it is behind them a whole bouquet of other that what he believes is true." tomorrow, in the Gregorian calendar, but capital-letter values such as Justice, not according to the traditional Japanese Equality, Reconciliation, and Love. But ruthfulness, the determi method ofdating according to an emper Truth with a capital T has fallen on hard nation to act conscien or's reign, nor according to the Jewish or times, not only because the most author tiously in circumstances of Chinese calendars. The facts, in this case, itarian and oppressive governments and trust, rests on what Bernard are not contradictory but depend entirely movements in the world claim its warrant Williams calls "two virtues on where we are, our cultural perspectives, to justifY how they use power, but also of truth''- accuracy and and the agreed-on, constructed conven because the very concept of truth- how sincerity. Language must be used to com tions of watches and calendars. ever you print the word-is under assault municate correct information, but prior But the truth is also pluralistic to the on behalf of communities that have been to that, language itself must be learned. degree that we are talking about feelings without voice and without power. "Children learn languages in many ways or our responses to experience. I have I want to stress this point. On behalf of and in many different kinds of situa spent a career trying to help people read the previously voiceless and oppressed, tions," he writes, "but one essential way is for what the novelist Tim O'Brien calls such as women, Third World communi that they hear sentences being used in sit "story-truth" as distinct from "happening ties, communities ofcolor, and ethnic and uations in which those sentences are truth." And I offer Denise Levertov's sexual minorities, there has arisen a pow plainly true." For example, "This is poem as an expression of feeling-truth, erful, skeptical critique. Often politically Mamma," or "Daddy will be home metaphoric truth, a truth largely depend radical, this critique questions traditional soon." Some of us may recall how the ent on our being willing to grant that authoritarian, religious, and political sys Dick and Jane books taught reading with similitudes give us something upon which tems and the European ideology of
FRIENDS JouRNAL january 2004 7 rationalism, empmCism, and science ere is the great conflict ly, with integrity? called the Enlightenment. This critique immediately before us: For another example, consider the fol challenges the assumption that there is Peacemaking depends lowing three sentences: anything we can appropriately call even absolutely on a commit 1. Every human life is sacred. the most modest lowercase "truth." ment to truth-telling, but 2. Human life begins at the moment of Instead, we are being asked to regard all we know that what con conception. truth-claims merely as expressions of ide stitutes truth is always under contention 3. Every fetus is a human being from ology, which the British literary critic because our truth-claims are always con the moment of conception. Terry Eagleton, in Literary Theory: An nected to how power will be used. Those The first sentence, every human life is Introduction, defmes as "the ways in which who win the wars write not only the his sacred, expresses a profound conviction, what we say and believe connects with the tories but the dictionaries. They control to which all of us may give assent. The power-structure and power-relations of the master narratives that will express or second is an assertion of fact, a truth the society we live in, ... more particu embody the received truth. claim. It seems logical. When else would larly those modes of feeling, valuing, per Take one obvious example: In the we say life actually begins? But it is also ceiving, and believing which have some Israeli/Palestinian conflict, are Gaza and packed with political implication, and kind of relation to the maintenance and the West Bank "the disputed territories" some of us may agree while others find reproduction of social power." or "the occupied territories"? Ought we ourselves holding back, saying, "Yes, The French philosopher Pascal Engel use their present-day place names, or but ...", or proposing an alternative says that the American philosopher Biblical names like Samaria and Judea? moment at which to start counting Richard Rorty calls truth just a '"compli Grant the validity of one name, and you human life-viability outside the moth ment' we pay our assertions, a little appear to grant the political, social, and er's body, for example. Either we are on 'rhetorical pat' on their backs." He claims military legitimacy entangled in that our guard against the power implications that Richard Rorty believes such skeptical name. Use one set of terms instead of implicit in the truth-claim, or we are views about truth "are apt to promote the another, and you will be criticized for urgently pressing the truth-claim about values of democracy and social solidarity lacking objectivity. "Be objective; tell the what seems to be a simple fact, but which better than foundationalist moves in objective truth," we are told, but that becomes a matter of how we "construct" moral and political theory that emphasize the truth to point us toward one or anoth the values of justice and truth." er political stance. The third sentence is a Todd Gitlin, one of the founders of SAMUEL TAYLOR conclusion, a truth-claim derived from Students for a Democratic Society in the first two sentences, and if it is a truth the 1960s, reports a woman graduate COLERIDGE WROTE. "My it implies a very specific exercise of power. student in sociology recently telling You will recognize that the three sen him, "There are no truths, only truth MIND MISGAVE ME .. . tences are the moral and intellectual foun effects." Ifl understand her, she is assert THAT THOUSANDS dation for the right-to-life movement, ing that all that really matters is power, and from those three truth-claims that power hides itself behind ideology in WHO WOULD RATHER which, I want to remind you, were indis order to pass itself off as truth, and to putable truths in this culture through a impose what it calls truth on others. DIE THAN TELL A LIE FOR large part of my adult years-have fol Either truth is what those in power say it A LIE. WILL TELL TWENTY lowed fierce political battles, stringent leg is and are prepared to back up with force, islative and judicial initiatives, and politi or there is only rhetor- TO HELP OUT WHAT cal victories and defeats profoundly affect " ical power, the power THEY BELIEVE TO BE A ing millions of people. ~ to convince or deceive I am describing a present-day reality. j others by manipula CERTAIN TRUTH." Those who are pro-choice, as I am, and ~ tion of words, data, those who are pro-life, including many .~ and information, so Quakers and other peace activists who ~ they accept your ideal translates to: "Accept that my words derive their convictions from an absolute ~ ogy and make it an are the true ones for the political sit belief in the sacredness of all human life, ] absolute in their own uation and therefore mine is the true recognize that all the truth-claims, on ~ lives. If that is so, we solution." What words can the peace both sides, are also power-claims. We v can't speak truth to maker use in the Israeli/Palestinian want something to happen according to power because all conflict that might help bring about our truth-claims. In such a situation, does truth-claims are merely expressions of the an end to violence and steps toward rec the peacemaker try to find neutral words will to power. But if we can only intro onciliation? If we speak only of Gaza and to describe the conflict, or take a stand on duce the voices of the silenced and the West Bank, will the Palestinians and one side or the other and try from that oppressed into our discourse by denying Israelis believe we are maintaining the vantage point to bring about change lead that our purpose is to get at the truth, objectivity of a mediator or the evasive ing to reconciliation? what have we accomplished? If truth is ness of someone who will not grant their I have been corresponding with Friend merely a sweet name for the will to power, respective truth-claims? In such a case, Julie Meadows, a member of Baltimore the powerful have no reason to listen. how does the peacemaker speak truthful- Yearly Meeting and a student of ethics,
8 january 2004 FRIENDS JoURNAL about these issues. She offered me a for truth/your truth" formula tion knowingly withheld or " mulation used by Murray Wagner of tion: it seems to claim the manipulated to justify an § Earlham School of Religion. It might be authority of truth while reliev unnecessary and terrible war? ~ called the Parable of the Three Umpires. ing the speaker of responsibil To put the question bluntly: ~ The first umpire says: "There is a ball, ity to check the known facts were we lied to? i there is a strike. I call it as it is." The sec against one's own opinions or You know how these ques- § ond umpire says: "There is a ball, there is to test the validity of one's tions are being answered by our~ a strike. I call it as I see it." The third leaders. Apologists for the war1 umpire says: "There ain't nothing till I call say the weapons of mass ~ it." Julie Meadows suggests it would be FRENCH PASTOR destruction argument was a v useful to invite each person to contem bureaucratic choice, the argu plate which kind of umpire one is. She ANDRE TROCME ment most likely to succeed. The claim thinks there are a lot of first and third TOOK ADVANTAGE OF that Saddam Hussein was actively pursu kinds of umpires among Quakers; the ing nuclear weapons was only 16 little first umpires ("I call it as it is") think HIS POSITION AS words in a long State of the Union everyone who is at all faithful will agree address. They may be inaccurate, but so with them; the third umpires ("There ain't PASTOR. AS what? We got rid ofa terrible dictator, one nothing till I call it") assume everyone OCCUPATIONAL AND who killed thousands of his own people. who is halfWay intelligent will agree with Surely that is a good result from a little them. A lot of us also seem to believe we PROFESSIONAL TRUTH.. bending of the facts. As I understand should be free to shift from one to anoth them, Prime Minister Tony Blair as well er umpiring stance in the middle of the TELLER. TO LIE FLAT as President George W. Bush and his game. Like Julie, I am the second kind of OUT. IN ORDER TO associates have been arguing exactly that umpire: I believe there is a ball, there is a case: we didn't intentionally mislead, but strike, and I call it only as I see it, trying if we got the facts wrong, look on the to see clearly what is there and to report actions. A number of times in recent years bright side; the outcome is excellent. One honestly what I have seen. I have sat in meetings where people mis U.S. journalist, when asked recently represented what I and others had said, whether he thought the president of the e could try to avoid repeated unfounded rumors as fact, made United States had told the truth about the whole problem judgments on the motives of others, and Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, said, and resort to the sugarcoated it all as speaking one's own "He told his truth." I am tempted to say current popular for truth. Am I daring to suggest that some simply, "The prosecution rests its case." mulation, "This is Quakers might now and again be careless As William Stafford has written, "Today my truth. That is of facts, in the name of truth? Yes, I am. I in society you need a tendency not to YJ your truth." But am daring to suggest that we are all falli believe." this apparently humble approach has ble human beings. some practical problems for the peace You may have heard of the child in believe there is such a thing as a lie, maker. "Speak the deeply held but unex Sunday School who got the Biblical texts not just "my truth" or a "truth amined, ideologically inflected, opinions mixed. up and said, ''A lie is an abomina effect." And the distinction matters of your race, class, and gender to Power" tion unto the Lord but a very present help precisely because sometimes people is not a compelling rallying cry. Nor is "In in time of trouble." If there are no truths, ofintegrity have to decide whether to my humble opinion, the truth as I see it only truth-effects, and "truth'' is only a lit tell lies in order to preserve some will set you free, I think'' much of a sign tle rhetorical pat on the back we give our value without which they find their to carry in a protest march. selves, is there any such a thing as a lie? integrity is meaningless. You may know Even in the best case, this apparent And does it matter? the famous formulation of this issue by openness may be only a way of hunkering In a letter from 1802, Samuel Taylor Immanuel Kant. If a known murderer down in one's own ideological enclave Coleridge wrote, "My mind misgave intending to kill your friend asks you if and refusing to engage with the truth me ... that thousands who would rather your friend is hidden in your house, are claims of others. Bernard Williams calls die than tell a lie for a lie, will tell 20 to you required to answer truthfully? the "my truth/your truth'' approach "an help out what they believe to be a certain Immanuel Kant says yes, because you owe idle relativism." He says it "often compla truth." Millions of people around the more to sustaining the moral law than to cently presents itself as a witness to world look at the assertions by which the saving a single life. You must ask, what human equality, a refusal to impose our leaders of the United States justified the would happen to us if everyone told lies concepts on others, but in fact, if it does war against Iraq-that Saddam Hussein when faced with difficult moral choices? anything at all, it simply imposes one of had and intended to use weapons of mass You may also know the case of Pastor our conceptions rather than another. It destruction, that he was actively pursuing Andre Trocme, who organized his com gives up before the real work of under a nuclear weapons program, that he was munity in France to hide and save Jews standing human similarities and differ associated with al-Qaida, that "time is not ences even begins." on our side"-and they ask, were we I have another problem with the "my deliberately misled? Was correct informa- Continued on page 28
FRIENDS JouRNAL january 2004 9 SEE NO EVIL by Donna Glee Williams
clOre I tell you that I don't = was something else. the real world before I got it. anythingB to be gained using the word At the beginning of every new semes There was a concept in phonology "evil" to describe any part of creation, I ter, he would start class by drawing on the that things can be alike on one level and need you to know who I am. Otherwise chalkboard a blobby diagram that repre different on another level-that I had you will be able to discount my under sented the world. Then he would cover it transplanted to explain a problem in standing as naive. It is not. with a grid of neat, squared-off straight semantics for a paper in another profes I'm 48 years old and I have been a reg lines. He would explain that our theories sor's class. The paper had been accepted istered nurse for 22 years. Part of my psy were a kind of grid that we lay on top of for publication, so I needed to let Frank chiatric training in nursing school reality co help us map it, talk about it, know about it. But I was afraid. I had involved leading groups on the forensic make sense ofit, and to predict how it will played fast and loose with the theory as he unit of Parish Prison in New Orleans-in behave. "Help us" is the key phrase; our had taught it, and he was a cough, "my other words, I worked with rapists and theories are utilitarian mental fictions that way or the highway" kind of guy. In fear murderers. As a pediatric nurse, I dealt and trembling, I went to him and con with child abuse in its many forms, fessed that I had swiped a bit of theory including infanticide. Later, as a psychi from one area to explain something in atric nurse, I was face to face with a range Labeling human another area. of human twistedness. I now direct a He was delighted. H e offered up his Holocaust education program for the behavior "evil" same old wisdom: theories are stories we state of North Carolina, and I regularly make up co help us deal with things. revisit (often with survivors) the reality of simplifies things for There is nothing sacred about them; take genocide. When I tell you that I do not what helps you and ditch the rest. believe in evil, it is not because I haven't the ktbeler, but there's Maybe because I had been so afraid seen the damage that humans can cause. nowhere to go from that he would snap at me for messing It is because the idea of evil is not helpful around with some golden, unquestion in setting that damage right. there. What kind of able absolute, and so relieved when he My dismissing of evil as a useless con didn't, I finally took in what he was say cept is based on a foundation laid by response does calling ing. Our concepts about reality aren't the Frank Parker, my mentor in graduate truth. What is, is, and then there's what school, who taught me how to think. somethng "evil" we think about it. What we think about Frank greatly respected theories. H e liked it may be helpful or it may not, but it isn't them clean and clear, simple and unclut invite? the thing itsel£ It's just what we think tered, good for many household uses. It about it. was more than liking; Frank Parker loved So when people get to talking about a good theory-the sheer aesthetics ofele Evil with a capital E, and whether it exists gance, parsimony, and explanatory power or not, I don't get into a lather about it. made him laugh with joy. are valuable to the extent they help us What is, is, and then there's what we Despite his high regard for theory, he attain some goal of understanding, pre think about it-but that isn't the thing was emphatic about the difference dicting, or manipulating the world. But itsel£ Still, what we think about it may be between it and reality. He wanted his stu the main thing is to realize that they are helpful or it may not, and that's what's dents to understand that theories were not the world. T hey are stories. We make worth discussing. just theories, and reality-the world- them up to help us deal with things. The M. Scott Peck, in his popular book The amorphous blob of reality only coincides People ofthe Lie, tells a story about a young Donna Glee WiUiams was formerly active in with the neat grid of theory at cenain boy whose parents gave him, for his birth New Orleans (I.A.) Meeting and now lives in Balsam, N C She leads residential learning points-there is a lot of blob that the grid day, the gun with which his older brother adventures for public school teachers and address doesn't touch. That is the mystery part. had committed suicide. After recounting es topics related to stress in contemporary life. A That is the part where there is still work the horrifying case hiscory, Scott Peck recent publication of hers is "Teaching in the for science to do. rhetorically pushes back from the table, Resistance, " in Horiw n, the newsletter of the I don't know how often I heard his riff dusts off his hands, and tells his readers, Association for Experiential Education. on the difference between theories and "Now, that's evil."
10 january 2004 FRIENDS JouRNAL chiatric nurse, and 1 met a lot of twisted is a deadletter box-there's nowhere to go teaching, and encouraging. What kind human beings. If I could get enough from there. of response does calling something "evil" information about them, I could usually Let's say that, instead of tagging this invite? get a sense of where the kinks in their family as "evil," he had called them sick It seems to me that once something has souls came from. Often, if I could get instead. "Sick" takes us somewhere; some been identified as evil, there are two ways enough of their story, I could help them thing sick needs to be healed. The catego that humans can respond. One is to dwell or at least develop some kind of hazy ry of sickness is paired with a category of apart from it, to separate from it as much mental picture of what kind of help they response-healing-that points the way as possible. Sometimes humans have done would need in order to stretch out and for human action. To diminish the amount this by removing ourselves from evil (for become more whole. of sickness in the world, you increase the example, certain religious sects that with But there were people I couldn't help, amount of health and healing. draw from the world), or sometimes we couldn't understand, couldn't like-peo If Scott Peck had instead called that drive it out, exiling it from our presence ple I couldn't even care about enough to family "broken," he would have invited us (for example, imprisoning criminals). want to do these things. That's what Scott to consider ways of fixing or repairing the Either way results in isolation, walls, and Peck had run into in that family: people brokenness. If he had called them "igno diminished communication. who were outside his ability as a therapist rant," he would have invited us to specu The other way that humans respond to to help or understand or care about. late about teaching and learning. Ifhe had evil is by attempting to destroy it. The I was a mere psychiatric nurse, with rel called them "emotional cowards," he death penalty, the Holocaust, war-these atively little at stake when I confessed that would have invited questions about how are rational behaviors ifone buys into the some folks were just beyond me. But to give them courage. identification of any human being or Scott Peck is a world-famous expert heal These are just metaphors, just words. group as evil. er. I imagine that bumping into some But these words invite certain kinds of So if I look at the concept of"evil" as a thing outside his compe theory to help us tence and compassion understand and deal would be devastating for with puzzling things him. To be baffled would be that happen in our baffling. The experience world, it's one that would need to be doesn't get me any named. The name he where I want to go. gave it was "evil." I don't have a taste Once he named it for destroying or iso evil, he was pretty much lating the problem off the hook The prob people of the world, lem became qualitatively so there isn't much in different from all the it for me. I am more other snarled families he intrigued by healing, had dealt with (because repairing, teaching, this one was "evil"), so he and encouraging. If I was not obliged to grope were a judge whose job around inside himself for it is to decide who goes the reason that this particu to jail and who goes to lar family dynamic was the electric chair, then opaque to him. He was not maybe I would be more obliged to examine his skills, interested in the theory his assumptions, or his own of "evil." If I were a psychopathology in the way philosopher who got that mental health profes paid to devise abstract sionals must when they are but logically satisfYing stymied. He could simply definitions of moral remove that case file from the absolutes, then maybe mental drawer marked "My you could drag me into Responsibilities" and put it the discussion. away in the drawer marked But I am a nurse, a "Evil." I can understand the teacher, and a mender, so :::! appeal of that. when they hold the next ~ But I don't think this labeling of meeting to decide on what Jl human behavior as evil is some and who is evil, I won't be ':::! thing that should be offered as good there. I'll be elsewhere, busy. 0 ~ policy. It certainly simplifies ftling >iS
FRIENDS JouRNAL january 2004 11 over the last few ~ords of my message. get to know them, how moving their let Afterward I went over to apologize for ters are, and how important it is for us to having caused her discornfon. She also offer them forgiveness. But I have yet to apologized, and said that she shouldn't hear a single word spoken in opposition have allowed her feelings such free rein. to the violent acts that many of them She went on to explain that she doesn't have committed. believe in violence and comes to meeting In a somewhat similar vein, after 9/11 because this is the only place where she there was shock expressed at the violence can consistently hear messages opposed to that had been committed, but the major by Anna Poplawska it. I tried to explain that I too am opposed thrust of the messages was the need to With Malice toward None, Cha
or a while after Jack Powelson's to violence, but she cut me of£ She said offer forgiveness and understanding. article entitled "Why I am that though she disagreed with me, she Since George W Bush attacked Iraq, I Leaving Quakers" (F] April respected my right to hold my opinion. have not heard a single message about for 2002) came out, a number of us She gave me a quick hug before she giveness toward him or toward our coun gathered together in the Light to walked away. try. While our violence has been roundly examineF whether or not our meeting is This is an expression that over many condemned, not one word of outrage hospitable to conservatives. Though the years I have grown to dislike. What is real has been expressed regarding Saddam questions raised were good ones, the effort ly being asserted, under the appearance of Hussein's mistreatment of his own people. fell apart, as many good intentions do, virtuous open-mindedness, is precisely What is it that we fear? under the combined weight of a largely the opposing quality. It is a closed I am not suggesting that I approved of disinterested meeting and theoretical con minded unwillingness to listen, to learn our war on Iraq; I didn't. I am merely structions. Recently, I tried another strat from, or to try to understand another per pointing out what I perceive to be an egy. After many months of listening to son's point of view. A true relationship, assymetry in how we as Quakers treat the messages about how we must contact our which might come out of weighing evi differing sides of a conflict. Quakers have president and speak to the issue of war dence and the discovery of what is held in traditionally maintained neutrality. That and violence, I gave a message about the common, has been transformed into an neutrality, in order to be effective, must be need to offer our president forgiveness. I empty ritual, a hug meant to convey that one not only ofform but also ofspir it. We pointed out that he has very much been we're both still Friends. must study our deepest feelings to ask if acting according to his own light in trying Over the past few years I have heard a to kill as few people as possible, including great number of messages regarding the Arabs, and in seeking to show respect for need to share our Testimony of nonvio I am not suggesting Arab culture. It may not seem like much, lence. At one meeting, somebody even but compare this to the attitude displayed stood up to suggest our own cable televi that I approved of toward the Vietnamese 40 years ago. sion show. Yet it should come as no sur Progress often comes in small steps. prise that we, as Quakers, can be just as our war on Iraq; I was nervous to begin with, giving unwilling to listen to those whose opin I didn't. I am merely what seemed like such a radical and ions differ from ours as they are to us. We potentially explosive message. The room are part of a culture that places tremen pointing out what I seemed to be twice as silent as I'd ever dous value on the right to speak one's noticed it before, a silence given dramatic opinion and not enough on listening. perceive to be an significance by the woman sitting directly Our meetings can easily become a reflec assymetry in how across from me. She was shaking her head tion of this, with the added danger of jus violently and writhing in her seat as if in tifying our narrowly held opinions by lay we as Quakers treat dire pain. I was halfexpecting her to shout ing sole claim to the Light. me down at any moment and found Yet there is a deeper, and I believe more the differing sides pressing, issue that I was trying to express of a conflict. Anna Poplawska is a member of Northside with my message. It is not true that we Meeting in Chicago, Ill., and currently attends consistently give messages opposed to vio Oak Park (Ill.) Meeting. She teaches yoga and is lence. I hear messages in my meeting a writer and an artist. Her work may be viewed regarding prisoners and death row at
12 january 2004 FRIENDS JouRNAL all people and all Sides ot a conthct. Our telt sate to assume my sympathy with his missible to continue wearing his sword, love must extend not only to the weak but position without asking about my poli he was told to wear it until he could wear also to the powerful. Mohandas Gandhi, tics. I am not a true conservative, but I it no longer. Ifwe are to be true to Quaker in his struggle to free India, wrote letters have no doubt that one, if present, would teachings, we cannot ask the president or to Lord Irwin, the British viceroy to India, have been outraged. anyone else to take on the practice ofnon addressing him as "my friend" and even I believe that President George W violence merely because we say that it is expressing his fear ofhuning the viceroy's Bush deserves compassion and forgive right. This would be an empty form. We feelings. At issue is whether we who call ness, precisely the same forgiveness that might offer hints or make suggestions, but ourselves Friends can make this same leap we offer so readily to death row inmates. then we must wait patiently for others to follow their own Inner Light and their own experience. I suspect that it will take a very long time before nonviolence is a universally held approach. As far back as Ecclesiastes " (9: 13-18) a wise man succeeded with lC ~ his words of wisdom in stopping a .~ king from going to war, but we also l learn of the great futility of wisdom. ~ The man was promptly forgotten. ~ Wars continued. Even Jesus with his ~ supreme example failed in his life- ~ time to free the world from the cycle ~ of violence. We Quakers fondly ~ remember the Sermon on the Mount ~ and forget that Jesus also tells us that v he has come not to bring peace but to ~ bring conflict and a sword (Matt. ~ 10:34-36). He will set parent against ~ child and sibling against sibling. ~ When I look at the world honest- ~ ly, I often find myself wondering ~ what the point is of loving other ~ human beings at all. Then I grow ~ tired of looking at the world; it's too ~ discouraging. Instead, I look more to friendship with those who oppose us. If we truly believe in our Testimony of deeply into my own hean to find love Some time ago I got to talking after Equality, then it is not only that the there, and to deepen my faith in God's worship with a visitor from another meet inmate is an equal to the president; it is plan that we as Quakers were placed here ing. It turned out that he wanted to talk also that the president is an equal to the for a reason that will someday be revealed. about how stupid he believed our presi inmate. He is also a victim of circum Perhaps this is God's very wisdom at dent to be. He had conveniently brought stances that he did not choose: he comes work, which we as humans don't want to with him a long list of grammatical blun from wealth, as they come from poveny. concede. The violence of the world forces ders that have been made during speech His base of suppon is a state that derives us, in our search for love, to turn inward. es and openly laughed at George W Bush. its income from oil. Perhaps he was even In the meantime, I am not confident While I haven't been under the impres beaten up by the class bully when he was that the practice of nonviolence will make sion that the president is terribly bright, a child. He is not a Quaker. He believes us or the world any safer. We are not I've never heard anyone point out that an that the use of force is legitimate, and promised that it will be easy or that any inmate of death row is stupid or that his sometimes the only way to resolve con one else will follow suit. Nor are we prom or her grammar is poor. It has often been flict. He is the leader of a country in ised that our children won't be conscript pretty bad in the letters I've seen, but I'd which a large number of people agree ed or jailed in 25 years should the draft be be shocked at an accusation of stupidity. with him. It may pay us to consider that reinstated. We are asked to carry our own We talk about native intelligence, lack of a practicing Quaker would never be elect cross and to willingly make sacrifices good influences, or different ways of ed as president and that such a presiden even the ultimate sacrifice, should we be thinking. We say everything and anything cy would most likely be a lamentable if called-for what we believe to be true and except stupid. I was just as shocked to noble failure. Ethical choices tend to right. Our inspiration must continue to hear the president, a fellow human being become murky in real-life situations when be that first generation of Quakers, many despite all of his faults, spoken of in such one doesn't have absolutes to fall back on. of whom died in jail for their belief that a rude and disrespectful way, especially at A popular but apocryphal Quaker there is that of the Light, that of love, in a Quaker meeting. The visitor, who was story holds that when William Penn all people, including presidents. 0
FRIENDS jOURNAL january 2004 13 Compassion: A Missed Opportunity by Wayne Swanger
The old man holding a cardboard sign stapled to two pieces of wood stood on the periphery of the crowd. His body tensed as he strained to keep the sign aloft. Staring straight ahead he spoke to no one as if he could get the speaker's attention by resolve alone. The man moved to the center of the crowd and held the sign in front of the speaker who gave no indication of notice. He slowly turned around and the crowd read this message written in a coarse hand:
I trust my life and the lives of my two marine sons in the hands of President Bush. God bless America.
I, who believe his trust given to the untrustworthy, and his faith rested on the shifting sands of politics, \%yne Swanger attends Oshkosh felt pity for this father of two beloved sons. (Wir.) Meeting and Winnebago (Wif.) Worship Group. Today, just a day later, I regret not following the old man as he left the crowd. I might have offered him my hand and bought him a cup of coffee. I could have asked him his sons' names and where they are stationed, smiled, n that he must be proud of his boys. I ld have both peace and God's protection.
14 january 2004 FRIENDS JouRNAL !FOR WHIEIRJE YOUR lliRJEASUIRJE IIS9 liHEIRJE WlliLIL YOUR IHIEART IBIE by Kat Griffith
Do not lay up for yourselves others' wealth (and sense of entitle ment to it) to feeling guilty treasures upon Earth, where moth about my own. I am alternate- and rust destroy, and where ly self-righteous, materially envi ous, ludicrously penny-pinching, thieves break in and steal But lay and wantonly generous. My behav ior might all balance out in the long up for yourselves treasures in run to some kind ofkarmic neutrality, but heaven, where neither moth nor detached it is defmitely not! I fmd that I am not alone in some of rust destroys, and where thieves do my conflicts. I see many of my attitudes mirrored in other Friends I know. I also l:! "<:! not break in or steal· for where keep finding myself- to my great baffle i: your treasure is, there will your ment-in the middle of money manage ~ ment and fundraising efforts among their limited means. And they leave a trail heart be also. (Matt. 6: 19-21) Friends. I, who have not balanced my ofwreckage and accomplishments in their checkbook in 25 years, am nominated to wake that would leave most North hese are precious words to Friends; serve on the finance committee of a large American Friends I know slack-jawed. formative, touchstone words in monthly meeting, and to convene the As I sit there, I want to reach for a seat llour Religious Society, and one of budget committee of Northern Yearly belt. I want to hang onto my hat. I want the foundations of the Testimony of Meeting. I am asked, or feel led, to raise to laugh. Even more, I want to cry. Simplicity. money for various Friendly causes, over I think back to our most recent budg Maybe you need to have lived a life of and over again. Go figure. At the very etary discernment effort at NYM. As clerk relative affluence to hear this passage the least, God has a sense of humor! And I of the budget committee, I have tried, in way I always have: that your true treasure also guess that I'm going to keep on a halting and gingerly fashion, to help us is the life of the Spirit, and that money is butting up against this money thing and figure out how to deal with the fact that nearly irrelevant to achieving this. Money all of the inner contradictions it awakens we are quickly spending down a slowly is at best a distraction in a life of devotion in me until I get it right. accrued surplus to meet budgetary com to God, and potentially a real obstacle. Recently, a new chapter has opened in mitments. (Right now, that strikes me as I have personally labored for years to my personal money saga: astounding. A surplus?! Do we so lack achieve a kind of detachment from Soyapango, El Salvador, january 2003. vision that we cannot think how to spend money-an attitude I have imagined to I was sitting in on the annual session ofEI our money in the service of God? Is God's be a hallmark of a "spiritually evolved" Salvador Yearly Meeting as NYM's repre work all done? .. . But I digress.) Meeting person. But I am compelled to admit that sentative, along with NYM clerk contributions are not rising to keep pace it has been an uneven struggle. Money Christopher Sammond. Salvadoran with our spending, and at some point we and I have a complicated relationship, a Friends were doing their money thing will face a moment of truth. love/hate/ignore relationship that plays while we watched, silently. I was astound Our committee's solution is a shining out in odd ways. I alternately pay no ed. Salvadorans honor and record every example of creative conservatism: tighten attention to and obsess over money. I go contribution, down to $2.50 from some our belts moderately, provide adequate back and forth ftom feeling resentful of body or other. They don't really have a but minimal support for the workings of plan or a budget, and there are no apolo NYM, and only fund charitable contri Kat Griffith is a member ofWinnebago Friends Worship Group in east-central Wiscomin. For gies for that. They run through an aston butions as the money comes in. We will more information about San Ignacio School a ishing amount of money in a year. They prorate whatever we have left after meet K- 12 school run by San Ignacio Evangelical spend as the opportunity or the need aris ing basic expenses, so that each "Quaker Friends Meeting, contact Kat Griffith at 955 es, they commit with passionate assurance Concern'' line item gets a fair share of Ramom St., Ripon, W7 54971, or call (920) that "God will provide," and they make whatever resources are available at the end 748-3923. spectacular financial leaps of faith given of the year.
FRIENDS ]OURNALjanuary 2004 15 This simple mechanism promises avoid making decisions "on the floor" of We northern Friends, in contrast, seem to magically balanced budgets year after our annual sessions, where--heaven for consider talking about money during year, with no great need for unpleasant bid-passions might enter in and lead us worship as unseemly. We surreptitiously discussions about how much we give--or astray! drop our folded check in the discreet lit don't give. There are a few voices protest They don't imagine coolheadedness as tle box in the meetinghouse when no one ing this; several Friends are concerned that divinely inspired. They recognize the is looking, maintaining a careful, antisep we are not showing sufficient generosity presence of passion-heat-as a sign of tic separation between our money and or commitment to our national organiza divine leading. Our rational, cerebral ap our souls. tions. On the whole, however, the budg proach assumes that a true divine leading Salvadorans' financial traffic lights are et committee is praised for its sensible will stand up to an analysis offiscal impli perpetually green. They zoom through new policy that can accommodate just cations as demonstrated by a computer intersections in their rickety vehicles from about any likely pattern ofgiving without spreadsheet. We at NYM put our money all directions simultaneously, weaving spilling a drop of red ink. on Excel, thank you very much. Such an wildly in and out, avoiding disaster by a Our process is eminently reasonable, analysis to them, I think, would signify a hair, and sometimes suffering calamitous carefully thought out, and done with the lack of faith that God will provide. They collisions. Our financial traffic lights are help ofa laptop that quickly demonstrates seem to trust that it will all work out on perpetually yellow. We inch cautiously the bottom line implications of any deci the Great Spreadsheet in the Sky. through our intersections in comfortable, sion we make. We try to be guided by the It seems to me that Salvadorans aim to well-maintained cars, rarely suffering col Spirit-we worship in silence, we pray, we squeeze the greatest possible financial sac lisions-but our traffic is slow and con discuss carefully, we listen-but it is hard rifice out of their members. They regard gested, and we don't rack up nearly the not to feel, as I watch the Salvadorans, committing to something huge as a way mileage that they do. that we have perhaps been guided at least to motivate people to rise to the challenge. Salvadorans deal with both spending as much by culture as by Spirit. We see it as a recipe for disaster, a future and taking in money in the context ofcol As I watch Salvadorans buy and sell millstone around our necks. We seem to lective worship. We deal, at most, with the land and churches like so many cabbages, aim to require as litcle of ourselves as is spending part that way. I suspect that this pour money into missions in Nicaragua decently possible. accounts for our wariness about bringing and Cambodia(!), run two K- 12 schools, They regard giving money as part of decisions about contributing to the floor start their own small part-time seminary, the process of sanctification. When was of our Sessions. Experience tells us that and engage in energetic evangelism hith the last time you heard a North American we might be overcome with passion and er and yon, I am alternately awed, Friend talk about money and sanctifica commit to something, but that our sub appalled, moved, alarmed, and rather tion in the same breath?! sequent giving may not necessarily ashamed of us North American Friends. Salvadorans ask for money during increase enough to correspond with our We have a piece of the truth--don't get meetings for worship, during meetings for me wrong. There are admirable and pro business, during just about any time they ductive aspects of our sober fmancial gather in the name of the Lord. Money is stewardship. And clearly, Salvadorans an integral part of their worship, of their crash and burn on occasion, and some individual commitment to their faith times leave things worse off than they community, of their personal relation would have been without their sponta ship with God. And they offer up neous- some might say reckless--com money with joy-an offering to God mitments and casual financial manage that is just as genuine and &om the heart ment. Culture plays a role for them, just as their prayers and tears. as it does for us. And the way they do things would personally cause me the mother of all headaches--except when it was causing me to shout, "Hallelujah!" But I see that they're onto something. It seems to me that they try to make ~ financial decisions in the heat of Friends ~ attending ~ moment-the hotter the better! We, El Salvador ....., in contrast, consider this dangerous, Yearly Meeting careless, and apt to get us in over our tour a piece of land to heads. be used for a youth camp. Above: A group returns to nearby villages after '§ Salvadorans deliberately raise the Yearly Meeting sessions; Kat Griffith !::; issue of money when the Spirit is palpa is on the right. ~ bly among them, when tears are flowing, Page 17, bottom to top: The ~ when passions are high. We devolve a sig playground and patio of the Friends School at San Ignacio; Emma de Vichez, ~ nificant amount of financial decision now presiding clerk of El Salvador Yearly ·1: making to a coolheaded committee of Meeting; Andy Alberto, who lives in San 6 experienced bean counters, in part to Ignacio and is a student at the school.
16 january 2004 FRIENDS jOURNAL commitment. Ifthere is no chance of our were witnessing some Over the course of the next 24 being overcome with collective passion thing unprecedented hours, a new consciousness seeped when giving money to NYM, it is a little twice in one day! into my soul, a new way of under risky to allow ourselves passion when we Now, we're not exact standing those words so precious to are spending it! ly out of the woods yet. It John Woolman: "For where your What would happen if we did as remains to be seen whether treasure is, there will your heart be Salvadorans do, and subjected both our folks will actually contribute also." Might it be that our giving and our spending to the inspiration more to NYM. But there money is after all one of our of collective worship? was an excitement in the air treasures? And that the more I believe we have the beginnings of that was unfamiliar to me at we dedicate our financial an answer to this question. At NYM's NYM, but that treasure to our faith works, recent session, following my report on our I had experi- the more our hearts and faith clerk's and my experience visiting El enced once will follow? That our money can Salvador Yearly Meeting, one Friend rose even lead the way to a deeper faith? and said, "I feel led to pass the hat, right Several people told me that for them the now, for the Friends school in San high point of the Session this year was the Ignacio." She did so, and over the collection for San Ignacio. This from next 24 hours, in a gathering of Quakers who don't like to talk about about 280 Friends, $4,300 was money, who as a matter of religious prin- ~ raised. To put this in perspective, the ' ciple do not pass the plate during worship! -s contributions to San Ignacio roughly Who would have thought it? ~ doubled the average per capita contri As I think about this, a new verse for ~ bution to NYM of those attending the song "Holy Ground" pops into my ~ NYM's session. mind. It feels subversive-a poke in our ~ It is hard for me to believe that the tim collective eye-and also makes me laugh ~ ing and the method of asking for money out loud. ~<::. didn't have some relationship to the out This is holy money, ~ come. It is also interesting that shortly were spending our holy money, after the San Ignacio collection was taken, before-in El Salvador. Following the rise God works with our money, and so our the yearly meeting confronted another of meeting, I was astonished by the num money is holy. special financial request, this time from ber of Friends who approached me and the Friends School of Minnesota. The said how moved they were by the collec It's no secret that pan of the success budget committee, convened by yours tion for San Ignacio School, by the report of fundamentalism in the United States truly, had made a rypically sober recom on our visit to El Salvador, by the gathered is that it asks more of its adherents, mendation that involved tweaking the worship we achieved when Salvadorans not less. Salvadoran Friends contribute a timing of our gift to leverage more funds were in our midst, and by the example much higher percentage of their already for the school, without actually giving any they set in their financial stewardship. meager incomes to their meetings than we more than usual ourselves. This Clearly, many of us had just experi do, and their faith community, as well as win/break even approach seemed tailor enced something unusual and powerful, each individual's own spiritual experience, made for our circumstances, in which we but not everyone. There was one Friend grows and is enriched in the process. I am appeared about to balance our budget on who expressed that he was deeply dis deeply curious to see where we at NYM the backs of numerous historical recipi turbed and put off by the passing of will go next with this issue. No doubt we ents of our largesse. (Read, our prorated the hat. I am told his feelings were shared will process what we did exhaustively; contributions to Quaker concerns are by some others, including some who gave we will second-guess ourselves, analyze, expected to go down substantially this money despite, not because of, the pass agonize, pray, exhort, listen, disagree, talk year unless people give more than they ing of the hat. I understand that the soft a lot about holding the issue and each ever have to NYM.) pedaling of money issues is an important other in the Light ... doing what good Well, I'm here to tell you that Friends attraction of Quakerism to many Friends upper midwestern Scandinavian/German would have none of this miserly and very who are put off by the frequent, emo Friends do when confronted with the responsible approach. Perhaps pumped tional financial appeals of some other money thing. And that's OK up by the exciting discovery that we denominations. But as we do it, I have a vision ofsome were collectively able to raise 4,300 spare But the fact remains, NYM did some thing else: I see little pieces of our hearts, dollars for the San Ignacio school, our thing quite out of the ordinary for us: we flying like hundreds oflittle moths on the upper midwestern Scandinavian-German directly linked asking for money to giving wings of prayer and love, fluttering south Quakers threw caution to the wind and money, and we did both on the floor, in from NYM and alighting on the walls of committed a comparable bundle to cash, in the context of a business meeting a struggling little Friends school in a tiny Friends School of Minnesota. that grew out of a deeply gathered meet mountain town called San Ignacio, in a Salvadoran Friends attending the ing for worship. The result is the largest country called The Savior. meeting sat quietly in the back of the spontaneous donation I am aware of For where your treasure is, there will room with no idea, I suspect, that they NYM's ever having made. your heart be also. 0
FRIENDS JouRNAL january 2004 17 at can be done when, inevitably, riends differ in their perception of truth? A starting point, as Henry Cad bury observed, is to speak to the common ground, where the circles intersect.
by George A. Crispin and Mario Cavallini Anumbe< of y=s '!;<'. whil' gender-specific language is eschewed, teaching at Harvard Divinity School, along with titles and other remnants of Henry Cadbury encountered a distraught class differences. Others work in hierar former student who had become a minis chical businesses, live in exclusive neigh ter in a church that was deeply divided borhoods, and send their children to elite over certain theological issues. He wanted schools. While we place great emphasis to know how to address his congregation on our corporate discernment and wit on Sunday mornings, and Henry ness, we also recognize that the pursuit of Cadbury advised him to "preach where truth requires each individual to walk his their circles intersect." or her own path in living the testimonies At one level or another, Friends often of Friends. appear not to agree, even about the most So what can be done when, inevitably, basic matters. We have a Testimony of Friends differ in their perception of truth? Simplicity, for example. Some Friends A starting point, as Henry Cadbury deliberately restrict their income, some observed, is to speak to the common avoid driving large cars, while some do ground, where the circles intersect. Let us not drive at all. Other Friends live in large take a look at those circles. houses and drive SUVs. We have a Testimony of Equality. For some Friends
George A Crispin, a member of Woodbury (NJ) Meeting, retired after 38 years as a high school teacher but continues to teach at Rowan University and work a smallfamily form. Mario Cavallini, an information architect, is a mem ber ofMickleton (N.J) Meeting and is active in the worship and ministry bodies of Salem Quarterly Meeting and Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. An earlier version of this article appeared in the summer 2003 issue of Salem Here we have the most basic of inter Quarter News. secting circles: the beliefs, experiences,
18 january 2004 FRIENDS JouRNAL theories, discernments, notions, and overlap; they do not map them. Obvi son we do not operate by majority rule, truths of "thee" and "me." As with any ously, God's circle of experience would and the reason we treasure diversity. We pair of individuals, much of each person's dwarf any human circle to insignificance, gain a fuller sense of God when we can experience is unique to that individual and it is absurd to think that any person answer that of God in one another, when (the darker part of each circle in the dia knows as great a proportion of God as we can accept as genuine what others gram), but a certain portion is shared with God knows of that person. experience of God, even if we do not the other (the lighter part). There is, of course, much that we do experience it ourselves. It is tempting to think that "truth'' is not know of God. However, that which This is particularly a challenge when it to be found where the circles intersect, but we can discover and experience of God is comes to the Peace Testimony. Some that is not necessarily so. The only thing the object of Quaker discernment. That is Friends are led to be strict pacifists and true about the intersection is that the two what we seek to commune with in our take a stand that they would not use force people agree on that part of their experi worship, what we strive to serve in our even to protect their home and family. ence. Perhaps they have the same opinion business meetings, what we simplify our The history of the Religious Society of about skyscrapers. They may both be lives to focus upon. In Quaker faith and Friends has been one ofcourageous moral right, or they may both be wrong. The practice, concordance with God is our witnessing. In nearly every war in modern only assurance is that they agree. yardstick for truth. times there has been a small but persistent It is also tempting to think that, if you Therefore, does that mean that we Light that has shone, a testimony to a add more people to the mix and you fmd must seek and focus solely upon the better way of settling differences. On the intersection for most of their circles, bright triangle at the core of our diagram? occasion the results of this witnessing then you stand a greater chance of finding No. Not at all. For truth does not reside have been remarkable. One can only truth there. That, of course, is a founda only there. imagine that the Vietnam conflict would tion of democracy: wisdom resides in the Consider some specific parts of the have continued much longer without the majority. The odds are probably in favor diagram. The area shared by thee and me voice of Quakers, and others, registering of this view, but, again, it is not necessar now has two parts, labeled 2 and 3. Part their opposition. ily so. One need only consider the histo Other Friends, however, have been led ry of science to see, again and again, how in other directions. In every war, Friends the majority of thinkers, working from have nursed soldiers to health or eased faulty premises or incomplete observa their dying, have labored to provide food tions, were certain ofo ne fallacy or anoth and materials to those who fight, have er. Or consider the history of civil life to themselves fought, and have commanded see, over and over, how an entrenched fighters. Indeed, it is the rare Quaker who majority can reject the truth of a margin can make even an approximate claim to alized minority. be free ofs upporting war in any way. And However, the truth that we Quakers there is no Quaker in this country who seek does not involve just more and more does not benefit from the privilege-and human circles, and we do not rely on hu suffer the burdens-that the United man standards to define truth, for the truth States derives from its military. we seek is God's presence in our lives. So Each Quaker- indeed, each person let us add that important third circle. needs to be true to one's own measure of the Light. However, claiming that respon 3 is shared not only by thee and me, but sibility for one's self also requires accept also by God. Truth resides in part 3, not ing it in others. Together, each being true because of thee or me, but because of to the Spirit, we all draw closer to it even God. However, thee knows something of if we cannot claim to walk the same path. God that is not shared by me, and vice To this end pacifists and nonpacifists can versa (the parts labeled 4). Truth resides work together, both within and outside of also in those parts, because of God. the Religious Society of Friends. Only If thee focuses only on the measure of then will we fulfill the Peace Testimony God that is shared with me (part 3), then and truly move toward peace. 0 thee ignores the portion of truth that is unique to thy own experience of God. If thee takes a step forward and accepts thy full experience of God (part 3 and thy own part 4), then thee still fails to appre ciate the unique experience ofGo d by me In looking at these drawings (known as (the other part 4). But what if thee takes Venn diagrams), it is important not to get one more step, and accepts the experience caught up on the size ofeac h circle, or the of God by me? size and shape of each section of the cir This is the genius and the challenge of cle. These circles simply identify areas of Quaker corporate discernment, the rea-
FRIEND S JovRNAIJanuary 2004 19 The Benches ofCobscook Meeting by Audrey Snyder
here are five antique Quaker The second meetinghouse was de cushions, which smoldered but did not benches at Cobscook (Maine) signed to follow the first one exactly in every burn through. Meeting. At this point they are detail of the exterior appearance. But in The next day, while the ashes were still T in various stages of disrepair. side, the new plan omitted the old gallery warm, my husband and our sons, Frank Deciding what to do about them requires where the African American servants and Lyman and his sons and daughter, Dick some careful contemplation. They have farmhands sat, and also the center parti Lockyer, Merril Houser and his daughter become part of the meetinghouse and tion separating men from women. Linda, Mort Heineman, and others stand in mute testimony to a past we Unfortunately, this lovely historic went into the building to retrieve what can now only wonder about, and to replica was also destroyed by fire during was salvageable. Friends long gone who we never knew, the evening of]anuary 1, 1973. My hus The benches, surprisingly, still stood but who are reaching out to us through band, Harry Snyder, and I, and many of solid. these benches. our friends in Purchase Meeting, watched Once again community neighbors The history of the benches starts with as the kitchen and the great dining room offered to house them in barns or garages the history of the early Quakers who set where we had spent so many Harvest and until we could rebuild. But when the new tied the area ofWestchester County, New Christmas dinners and early birdwalk meetinghouse was built it was much York, where Purchase Meeting is today. breakfasts turned to ash. The old iron smaller than the old building and there Harrison's purchase was made for the cookstove sank into the cellar and was was not enough room for all the big, old benefit of Friends on Long Island, New drowned and broken beyond repair. The benches. They remained stored for more York, who needed to escape the hostility high school classroom with its interesting than 15 years. of the Dutch who controlled New Amsterdam and the adjoining areas. Many of these Friends migrated to the northern part of the Harrison tract and developed a farming community that became known as "the Purchase" and later just "Purchase." These Quaker farmers formed a meet ing and began to worship in each others' homes around 1719. One of the farmers, Anthony Fields, donated a plot ofland for the purpose of building a meetinghouse, and with the cooperation of the Friends it was erected in 1727 and opened on the present site of Purchase Meeting. T his much-loved historic building stood at the corner of Lake and Purchase Streets for nearly 200 years, until 1919 when it was completely destroyed by fire. Across the street, an elderly woman whose generation remembers that event told us that the people who were on the spot at the time of the fire carried out as many of these heavy, hand-constructed benches as they could manage, and they were pre served in neighboring barns until the new hand-painted Navajo mural was com During that time, 600 miles to the building could be raised. pletely damaged by smoke and water. In northeast the newly formed Cobscook the worship room the greatest damage Meeting was outgrowing the Tamarac Audrey Snyder, a former English teacher and speech therapist in North Carolina, New York, came not from flames but from the heavy Farm home of the Snyders and was con and Maine, joined Purchase (NY) Meeting in slate roof, which rained shards onto the templating building a meetinghouse of its 1956, moved to Maine in 1976, and founded backs and arms of the benches, cutting own. Friends from near and far came with Cobscook (Maine) Meeting in her home in into and mutilating them. The seats were hammers and saws to help make this new 1977 with the help ofothers. protected by the old brown corduroy dream a reality. With the direction and
20 january 2004 FRIENDS j OURNAL Page 20: one of Cobscook dent of the same Anthony Field who had Meeting's new old benches is unloaded after a long truck trip donated the Purchase Meeting land. It Right: Audrey Snyder tries out one was the only time I saw her; she died of the benches shortly after our strange and wonderful Below: The second Purchase encounter. Now her ancestor was to ~ Meetinghouse, probably in the become the role model for Harry and me ~ 1950s Bottom right: Cobscook Meeting, some 250 years later-we decided to give ~ with a bench on its porch the acre at the end of our property to ~ Cobscook Meeting for their building. ~ In the early 1990s Harold ~ Crosby ofWhiting loaned my hus- ~ band and our son his big, very old § farm truck to go to New York to get t ~ the benches. They got as far as New ~ Jersey when the truck's oil pump ~ failed and had to be replaced. Sara ~ Siebert, my sister-in-law, offered ~ her driveway for Harry to fix the ~ truck and her hospitality to the two ~ hungry, weary driver/mechanics. Jj When the truck was fixed, the ~ Snyders returned to New York to -~ pick up the benches-some of t.t:; which turned out to be longer than ~ the ten-foot truck bed. How they a managed to load five long, heavy ~ benches onto the truck will remain ~ a mystery. But happily it was an ·~ uneventful trip home. ~ How the benches originated in ~ the first place will remain a puz- ~ zling legacy. Curiously, the benches d:!
expertise of Ralph Cook as carpenter and meant it. She explained architect overseer, the building was ready that the rest of the to open in 1991. It was time for furnish Friends had gone to ing. We needed benches. quarterly meeting. In My family discussed with Friends the very low, sweet tones she benches we had known at Purchase described the monthly Meeting, and in New York, Purchase quarterly-yearly organi Friends generously offered to give five zation and how much benches to Cobscook Meeting ifwe could fun it was to get togeth transport them. er and see everybody While we were visiting there to make this way. We spoke then arrangements, we .shared memories of of those early Friends some of the Friends who sat with us in who had constructed worship, and we wondered also about the such a fine building 250 years and the generations of from the virgin timbers unknown Friends who had gone before. I of the Rye Woods area, recounted that one First Day in the fall of and how they must have furnished it with are constructed of different kinds of 1956, when I was a brand-new visitor to benches built for the various farm families wood and have slightly different designs, Quakerism and to Purchase Meeting, I who occupied them on First Days. Then which indicates different carpenters. The was surprised to find no one at the meet she said she was glad that she couldn't go different lengths or sizes were probably ing when I arrived. As I was about to leave to quarterly meeting this time because custom-built to fit different sized families. and go back home, a tiny, elderly lady now we could have a little meeting They stand now in our Cobscook meet arrived in a very old but well-kept together. And we did. inghouse, 600 miles and possibly 275 Cadillac, driven by an un-uniformed I later learned that she was Alice Field, years distant from their origin, silent wit chauffeur. She said that she was happy to who at that time lived on her family farm nesses to the progress and changes ofU.S. see me, and I could tell that she really in a Victorian house. She was a descen- Quaker history. 0 FRIENDS ]OVRNALjanuary 2004 21 Now that the seasonal Epiphany is behind us for another calendar year, it is interesting to think of the meaning of the word itself as it applies to life in general. Epiphany derives from the Greeks, who had a word for (almost} everything. To them it meant a religious manifestation. To Christians, it means the specal 12 days after the birth of Jesus. To the world at large, in the sense that the writer James Joyce used it in his stories of ordinary people, it means a sudden awakening or appreciation. We think we know a person until an unexpected casual comment gives us a new insight into what she's really like. We take for granted the world of nature, and, abruptly, a bird's song penetrates our consciousness and we marvel. Daybeak is daily subordinated to the necessities of the morning, but, once in a mysterious while, its magical quality strikes us and we stop to realize how blessed we are. Claire Gerber lives in Port Republic, NJ More than a vision or a dream, an epiphany in this sense is a very personal, wide-awake double take. It can come only from the Counter of Sparrows.
22 january 2004 FRIENDS joURNAL Life in the Meeting Sardines: A Meditation on latecomers by Sue Tannehill y favorite variation ofhide-and-seek, late. Who knows why they are late, say others. searching for us and had found us only now. learned in one of the many towns I And as we revisit the problem every few years As more and more of us gather in the small Mlived in as a child, was called Sar in Ministry and Counsel, we also continue co space, the silence deepens and we all are nur dines. In a reversal of the regular game, only live with it on a weeldy basis. I have heard tured by it, and those who come late probably one person hid. He or she tried to find a fairly people whisper when latecomers arrive. I have need it as much as those of us who try to be small spot to hide. The rest ofu s dosed our eyes felt people brisde as the doors open yet again. there on time. I felt that wonderful shift of and counted. At the call, "Ready or nor, here (In our meetinghouse, you must open a door, perception as a lighter, truer idea replaced the we come!" we spread our looking for the one cross an uncarpeted, wooden floored porch, darker, heavier one. The notion gripped me who was hidden. Whoever found the hidden and, in the winter, open two more doors.) I and I felt the inward shaking that propels me one tried noiselessly co hide in the same spot, discovered that the more scattered and in to my feet. I spoke about the game and said awaiting discovery by others. Soon many of us need of external silence I was, the more an that I was now trying silendy ro embrace each were packed in (like sardines), trying hard not noying it was when others carne in late. When person as they carne in, welcoming them into to giggle and give the spot away. The last to I carne prepared for meeting (in the sense that this space where we are all hidden, seeking the find us became the next to hide. I did something other than listen to National Light in each other and in ourselves. Several Though I hadn't thought of it in years, I Public Radio or the oldies station while speed people have spoken to me since that day and was reminded ofthis game in meeting one First ing co make it on time), others coming in late have said that the message I received and Day. Like many meetings, we have an ongo didn't disturb me nearly as much. Clearly shared also helped them let go of the tension ing dilemma about latecomers. We should then, part of the problem lay in my control. felt when the door opens for the fourth time shut the doors, say some; too unfriendly, say How could I see things in a different way? in ten minutes, or the same person comes in a others. We should elder those who are always As I was trying co see the positive side ofso half hour !are week after week. many latecomers, that childhood game ofSar Perhaps others will find it helpful to think Sue TannehiUisamemberofBujfalo (N. Y.) Meet dines carne back co me. In remembering that of themselves as simply the first one ro find ing and clerk ofFarmington Scipio Regional Meet game, I was suddenly able to welcome all the hiding place and to welcome others as ing. This article appeared in SPARK, the New those latecomers. The animosity and annoy they, roo, find the small space in which we are Yo rk Yearly Meeting newsletter, in March 2003. ance left me as I saw that they had been all trying co hide ... and seek. 0
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Pax World Ba~nced Fund r-3 stars lor ltle 3·year periOd, 4 stars lor 1he 5-year period and 5 stars lor ltle to-year period as rated against 625. 489 ~ 152 U.S.- FRIENDS ]OVRNALjanuary 2004 23 Memoir Gree~~~ To the Desk Clerk Out There~ "the small school that by John Bryer makes big people" y first two years at college in the bling. Were we deemed kindred spirits solely early 1970s were more like Apollo because we were white? I somehow knew that M 13 than Apollo 11: I realized thatl if our skin had been dark we wouldn't have had to abandon the mission halfway through. been welcomed into his home in the first Getting the personal maturity I needed to place. My exposure to the civil rights struggle succeed in life required a midcourse correc was dominated by media-supplied images of tion and much self-examination. My best civil rights leaders, church bombings, and pro friend and I decided to take a lengthy road test marches. To them I added this small but trip with the simple goals of experiencing the disturbing experience. Greene Street Friends School natural beauty of the United States and ex The next day our journey took us north 5511 Greene Street pectantly waiting for what lessons an experi west, into rainy Louisiana. We talked about Philadelphia, PA 19144 ence like that might teach. While my friend the previous night and were intent to see the • wanted a time of discovery and experience conclusion of that movie. Although we Pre-K through Grade 8 prior to marriage, my goal was to somehow couldn't afford to stay in a motel, we thought Founded in 1855 get my life on track. we might be able to afford to watch the re At the time, the term "road trip" hadn't mainder of the movie in one. We were aware Please call TODAY for a yet been equated with the debauchery and of how it would appear-two men walking tour. 215-438-7545 frivolity ofAnimal House. Ifanything, our trip into a cheap motel looking to rent a room for was to be more ofa low octane version ofJ ack a few hours-but we had learned that con- Kerouac's On the Road. When we set out from Pennsylvania in January WAR IS NOT r-tFC 1975 we had no destination, no real THE ANSWER UNL plans, and only enough money to FCNL.ORG carry us for a few weeks. By design, the odyssey was to be self-funding. Peaceful Prevention Is Afrer loading backpacking gear and some clothes into the truck, we lefr Free Peaceful Prevention Booklet or our parents' homes and headed to the Bumper Sticker southeastern portion of the United See www.fcnl.org or call 800-630-1 330 States. Given the prevailing stereo types and the regional history, many Friends Committee people warned us against going south, on National Legislation but our winter departure date made it an obvious choice. Highlights of the first month in The Bible Association ofFriends cluded building a homemade rafr and in America floating 75 miles of the Suwannee River, and learning how to find work since 1829 has offered Bibles, NewTestarnenrs, in unfamiliar cities. In our travels, we and Portions free or at cost to Friends institutions, individuals, and others worldwide. met a gregarious fellow in a small Write to: P.O. Box 3, Riverton, NJ 08077 Mississippi city who invited us into his home. Afrer sleeping outdoors nearly every night, the offer ofa roof, a bed, and hospitabilitywas welcome. G During the next few days this total stranger and his wife spoiled us with F their friendliness and home cooking. The night before our planned de s parture, we all sercled in to watch the first of a cern about how others viewed us was an two-parr TV movie about FBI infiltration of unaffordable luxury on the road. Germantown Friends School the Ku Klux Klan in the 1960s. Our host's A half hour before the movie aired we (215) 951-2346 subtle comments about KKK rallies he at passed through a sleepy lircle town where a Please come to our Open Houses: tended and the non sequitur about the fully neon vacancy light beckoned. We walked • Oct. 4, Saturday, 2-4 p.m. automatic M-1 rifle under his bed were trou- through the rain from our pickup truck into (registration ends at 3 p.m.) the darkened lobby of the roadside motel. A • Nov. 11, Tuesday, 8:30a.m. dozen or so African Americans were standing • May 14, 2004, Friday, 8:30a.m. john Bryer is a member ofUwch!an Meeting in Downingtown, Pa. around as though waiting for something. Judg- 24 january 2004 FRIENDS }OURNAL GuideOne Insurance is America's leading insur· er of religious institutions, and has been prcr Thank You tecting Friends houses of worship and schools for more than 20 years. In fact, since 1979, GuideOne has been the Friends Insurance Group property and casualty insurer of choice. ing by their reaction ro two longhaired and To arrange for a FREE premium quotation, and bearded white guys walking into the lobby, I suddenly felt that we were the only white to learn more about GuideOne Insurance, call r. lQ 1-877-448-4331 ext. 54 29. GuldeOne· people in town. The stereotype-fueled ten fnsur~nce sion was palpable. Out of unfounded fears, many people in our situation might have quickly departed, but we didn't. This sort of opening doesn't come along often. When we asked to rent a room for a few What it means to be hours to watch TV, the desk clerk grew ner SELECT vous and the others snickered. Testing us, the C urious clerk asked what we wanted ro watch and, Intellectual throwing caution to the wind, we said we Articulate wanted to see a movie about the KKK. It was Accomplished quiet for a moment until one man laughed at Athle tic the desk clerk's unease. This nervous artempt Diverse at humor only added to the tension. We were surprised when he said that the people in the lobby were all there to watch the same movie. FRIENDS SELECT With some hesitation, he awkwardly invited Pre-K Through Twelfth Grade us to join them. It was a small, but profound, 17th and The Parkway, Philadelphia, PA 19 103 display ofcourag e by the desk clerk. We readily 215-561-5900 exr. 104 • www.friends-select.org accepted and the tension vanished. A collection was taken, someone went out Open your child's for refreshments, and then we all settled in ro watch the movie in the motel lobby. I don't mind to the world Support remember much about the movie, but I do QUAKER HOUSE ABINGTON remember that some cried softly through the Fayetteville/Ft. Bragg, N.C. FRIENDS more poignant sections, and some made inap A front-line Friends Peace witness propriate comments that were intended ro be SCHOOL humorous. When the movie was over we Gl Counselling, Draft/CO Information offered sincere thanks, bid the others farewell A Quaker coeducational Peace Research, Education 8. Action and walked through the rain ro our truck. An day school grades 223 Hillside Ave., Fayetteville, NC 28301 hour up the road we stopped for the night, Preschool through 12 9 10-323-3912. www.quakerhouse.org once again camping at roadside. Our trip continued for five more months. For more information, call [email protected] We snowshoed on the Continental Divide, 215-886-4350 Chuck Fager, Director climbed to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, 575 Washington Lane • Jenkintown, PA 19046 backpacked throughout the W est, and found jobs that were odd in more ways than one. That September I returned to school and found the academic success that had Welcotning Nell' Friends eluded me. My midcourse correction had Prict rif/ects copies oft he .\:j he July issue of FRIENDS jOURNAL, "Wel 'i:i;i somehow worked. sam~ issue and inciutks E: The lessons that I learned that night in coming New Friends," is available for i-=-..=.::...-+=-..:..:.:...=-----1 shipping and handling. -!:! Louisiana were profound. All of the second Tsale with quantity discounts. i-=-=~=--+=-==-----1 Call for discounts on ~ hand media images of civil rights struggles Q uaker meetings around the world will want to L.:..:...:....__.L:.:.:.:..:..__ ___~ multipk issu~s. were not as powerful to me as this small, give copies to new Friends, outreach committees, r------. personal episode in which people ftom differ committees for clearness on membership, and For fastest s~m~ic~, call tollfr~~ (8oo) 471-6863. ent backgrounds reached out ro truSt each keep extra copies for future reference and future Name ______other, willing to be ridiculed, hated, or even auenders. This FRI ENDS j OURNAL issue can be an Address ------important part of a "Welcome" kit. Anticipating hurt ro share a small patch of common ground. City ------State/Zip.___ _ In a time of growing worldwide xeno continued demand, FRIENDS j OURNAL has pro phobia, don't underestimate the power of duced additional copies of this special issue. Enclosed is my check for $ _ ___ simple acts between seemingly dissimilar in Pkas~ charg~ my 0 Master Card 0 VISA dividuals. To the desk clerk out there, thank FRIENDS Account #------Exp. Date _ _ _ you for your courage. 0 ]OURf\/\L fRIENDS j OURNAL january 2004 25 Reflection Make friends, make music Friends Peacemaking: Public and Private Music by Michael True Camp n addressing this topic, I turn to the theme world in a violent century. The language we at Olney Friends School of a workshop/retreat with Bennington speak, the words that we use, have conse I (Vt.) Meeting in August 2002, as a way of quences and implications beyond the mere Barnesville, Ohio asking Friends for help in understanding and naming of things. ages 10-18 clarifYing the relationship between personal "Peacemaking" is both clarifYing and ex July 11 - August 8, 2004 transformation and social change. act, whereas "peace" is ambiguous. The latter As Quakers our basic testimony, it seems word implies that peace is something that just to me, is not "peace," but "peacemaking." happens, usually between wars, not some For brochure and camp video: Although the differences in the two words thing that must be created or it will not exist. FMC, P.O. Box 427 may appear unimportant, for our language Kenneth Boulding, among others, tried to Yellow Springs, Ohio 45387 and present needs, they are fundamental. Why? address this matter by talking about "nega Ph: 937-767-1311 or 937-767-1818 Because the English word "peace" no longer tive" and "positive" peace, in a way that was [email protected] conveys the essential weight and power once helpful. But for the common reader- the associated with that word. ordinary person, including me--this alterna Figuratively speaking, "peace" died on the tive doesn't fully meet a fundamental need to Western Front in 1916, in what Ernest name our proper work. Hemingway called "that senseless slaughter." Toward this goal, the writings of Adam Guidelines for Writers The implications of that tragedy were first Curle, British Quaker and peace researcher, recognized by Wilfred Owen, who died in provide some guidance, in a series of publica battle there two years later, after writing sev tions that deserve to be much better known in The articles that appear in FRIENDS eral extraordinary lyrics, including "Dulce et the United States than they are at present. I JouRNAL are freely given; authors Decorum Est" and "Futility." Almost a cen have in mind his pamphlet Peacemaking: Pub receive copies of the issue in which their tury later, his poems are scill essential to our lic and Private (1986) and a more recent article appears. Manuscripts submitted understanding of the horror and waste of book, Another Way: Positive Response to by non-Friends are welcome. We prefer modern warfare. articles written in a fresh, nonacademic A few years later, T. S. Eliot, style, using language that clearly in The Waste Land (1922), used includes both sexes. We appreciate a Sanskrit word shantih rather receiving Quaker-related humor. than the English word "peace" FUTILITY to name the concept that sur •:• maximum 8-10 double-spaced passes all understanding. It was a by Wilfred Owen pages (2,500 words) fundamental insight into the cor (1893-1918) •:• include references for all quotations ruption of the word, a casualty of war, and thus of our loss, Move him into the sun- •:• author's name and address should linguistically speaking. Perhaps appear on the manuscript coincidentally, the year that Gently its touch awoke him once, •:• electronic submissions are welcome T. S. Eliot published his epic At home, whispering of fields unsown. poem was the same year that •:• for the full guidelines, see Always it woke him, even in France, 26 january 2004 F RIENDS j OURNAL Lincoln School Contemporary Violence (1995). In the former, HELPING TO KEEP ALIVE THE VISION OF WORLD COMMUNITY Adam Curle says, for example, that "Public peacemaking is what we do; private peace making is what we are, the two being inter penetrating." Drawing upon his long experi ence mediating violent and intractable conflicts in West Mrica, Sri Lanka, and the former Yugoslavia, he concluded in the latter Located in Providence work, "It is an absurd illusion to consider that we can work for peace, which means to be A Quaker school actively involved with people who are behav Educating girls since 1884 ing in an unpeacefuJ way, ifwe are inwardly in Nursery - Grade 12 turmoil and ill-at-ease; or to help people change their lives for the better if our own experience For more information, visit our new website at www.lincolnschool.org is disordered and impoverished." Although one may demur at the sweeping nature of Adam C urle's conclusion, it is a useful reference point, particularly when set beside his resonant definition ofp eacemaking (1 30 I ""'"' A"'"'· Pe 28 january 2004 FRIENDS joURNAL I The Consolidated Fund New Planned Giving + A sociai!Y responsible investment fund Services for Friends Meetings and Nonprofit Friends Meetings and Nonprofit Organizations Friends Organizations can now offer deferred gift • Balanced fund (6S% stocks/3S% bonds) programs without the administrative seeks solid performance with lower risk burden. You provide the donor. Friends • Quaker beliefs and values guide proxy Fiduciary will: voting as well as investment decisions Fiduciary • Administer gift annuities and serve as + Extreme!>' low expense ratio, especial!>' trustees for remainder trusts that benefit versus other funds Friends Meetings and Nonprofit i Organizations r Friends Fiduciary Corporation is a • Handle all future annuio/ and income pay- not-for-profit corporation serving our fellow ments. tax collections. state Friends organizations. Our board of Providing registrations, reports. etc. directors and staff are all members of the + Provide coordinated gift administration. Religious Socieo/ of Friends. Financial custody of assets and investment management For information, please contact: Services Constance Brookes. Executive Director, • Assist potential donors with calculations Friends Center. ISIS Cherry Street, to Friends illustrating the benefits of a charitable gift Philadelphia, PA 19102. (21S) 24 1-7272. Organizations annuio/ or trust (or a comparison of both) Email: [email protected]. + Pay the remainder of the trust or annuio/ or visit our website at to the beneficiary organization(s) at the www. friendsfiduciary.org I time of transition Quaker Roots Run Deep. ince the mid-1700s Quakers have been changing seasons with temperate winters, and moving to North Carolina. Before you make a stimulating quality of life in an active Quaker Sa retirement decision, plan to visit community. The area is home to several Greensboro, North Carolina and find out why Quaker meetings as well as one of the so many Quakers have settled here. You wi II nation's most well respected Quaker institutions, find Friends Homes, Inc. owns and manages Guilford College. Call (336) 292-9952 two outstanding continuing care retirement for more information or to arrange a visit to communities. You will enjoy the beauty of four Friends Homes. FRIENDS HOMES, INC. Providing Retirement options since 1968 ECIUAl. HOUSING OPPORlVNITY fRIENDS JOURNAL january 2004 29 We$~ evasion, and the ways they found to nego heart of both Andre Trocme's and tiate those ethical dilemmas in hiding Dietrich Bonhoeffer's struggles. Does our Jews and other victims of Naziism. motive affect what we are saying? Is it in r.ertiftcate$ I think you and I honor them, and my self-interest to be speaking this way? those like them, who have deliberately fal Perhaps the only way we can get at the ~ J\{anJ1cJeicfU_nat1 sified Facts to save lives, but we do not do influence of our ideology, our perspective ca:r~r~~ so without misgivings. I will no doubt shaped by our desire to hold or keep www.mtcalligraphy.com disappoint Immanuel Kant, but I prom power, is to be rigorous abour sincerity, 18 Lonsdale Ave, Northampton, MA 01062 ise you, if a known murderer comes and testing it always agai nst accuracy. (413) 529 9212 E-mail: [email protected] asks me ifl know where you are, I will do A good example of such sincerity is my very best to lie skillfully and earnestly, John Woolman's searching his conscience to try for a convincing "truth-effect," but in the midst of his travel among Native not because I believe there is no such Americans. He had already given a great thing as truth or that telling the truth does deal of thought to what might happen to not matter. him on this trip. He might die, he might be captured and used as a slave by the hat the commitment to Indians. One night, he reflected on the truthfulness helps make us day's news of violent events nearby. He "When wete gone, OIU' hemts wiD still belong" suspicious of the idea of writes in his jouma~ "In this great distress truth, is all the more rea I grew jealous of myself, lest the desire of Pre-K through 6th Grade Admissions Open House: son for us to cling to those reputation as a man firmly settled to per Thurs. Jan. 15, 2004 two capital-letter virtues, severe through dangers, or the fear of dis Sincerity and Accuracy, which Bernard grace arising on my returning without 2150 rJutler Pike, PI!Jmouth Meeting Pll19462 • (610) 828-2288 Williams identifies as key tests of how we performing the visit, might have some speak and act the truth. Sincerity and place in me." That is to say, he looks hard accuracy need to go together, to test and at the purity of his motives for acting. For sustain one another. I think that is why I most of that night, he tries to bring his am so troubled by the easy formula of"my motives and all he knows about himself truth" and "your truth." I may be com into God's Light, "till the Lord my gra pletely sincere in what I believe and what cious Father, who saw the conflicts of my I tell you, but if I trust only in my own soul, was pleased to give quietness." In sincerity, my good-heartedness this passage we see John abour what I am saying, I may Woolman testing his misinform, mislead, help our one sincerity twice-first by of those undoubted certain truths that dose self-examina- ~ by my sincerely told lies. The test tion itself, and then by t of sincerity is one we must apply writing abour it so you ~ rigorously to ourselves. It is at the and I can see him not as ..§" a brave, self-assured ~ . b Q:j sa.mt ur as someone ~ ADRIENNE RICH SAYS. conflicted by what he ~ "AN HONORABLE has gotten himself into, V') "jealous of himself"-which I take to HUMAN RELATIONSHIP IS mean suspicious of and perhaps shamed by his motives-and finally only given A PROCESS. DELICATE. quietness, not even renewed confidence VIOLENT. OFTEN in his own integrity. So sincerity is one pillar of truth and TERRIFYING TO BOTH accuracy is another. Bernard Williams says that, in the territory of sincerity, we PERSONS INVOLVED. A may ask '"Shall I tell the truth?' But in the PROCESS OF REFINING territory of accuracy, there is no such question as 'Shall I believe the truth?"' THE TRUTHS THEY WILL Accuracy, he says, is the virtue that encourages us to spend more effort than TELL EACH OTHER." we might have in trying to find out the truth, "and not just to accept any belief- 30 january 2004 FRIENDS JouRNAL shaped thing that comes into [our] head." It's About Them. Accuracy requires us to devise, and restrict ourselves by, careful, precise methods of investigation that can generate truth, the Join our close-knit community of 160 students. practice of detachment, rigorous self • Grades 6-12 examination for bias. We must be, in John Woolman's words, "jealous of our • Boarding Options Available selves" about haste, laziness, wishful • 8-to-1 Student/Faculty Ratio thinking, and self-serving. To prove trust • Just 75 Miles North of NYC worthy to others, we must start by ques tioning our own motives, our evidence, our conclusions. The Latin etymology of the word "accuracy" means "done with care." The American poet Adrienne Rich says in W0men and Honor: Some Notes on Lying, "Truthfulness anywhere means a height Oalzwood ened complexity." Truth is complex; FRIENDS . SCHOOL truthfulness is a heightened complexity. That is so for all the reasons I have been Poughkeepsie, New York asking you to consider with me: truth is pluralistic, modified according to the dis 1-800-843-3341 courses it is imbedded in; what we say and believe is deeply influenced by ideology, www.oakwoodfriends.org which in turn is entangled in our wish to gain or hold onto power; and new voices get a hearing only if they can challenge what has been taken as received truth. People will tell lies to "help out a certain truth," says Samuel Taylor Coleridge. There is no such thing as truth, only the January 9-11 will to power; it is whatever the strong say Playback Theatre: it is, says the cynic, the philosopher who Community as a Process of Change deals in irony. with Sarah Halley And yet, I beljeve, through all that con tention and complexity, we must persist January 16- 18 in trying to find what is most dependably Ecology and the Soul true, we must pledge ourselves to tell what with Louise M. Tritton we believe is the truth, to try to shape our A Meditation Weekend for Educators lives as testimony to it. Julie Meadows with Richard Brady and Irene McHenry wrote to me: January 30-February 1 Quakers have understood . . . that certain Couple Enrichment truths are fragile and can only be passed with Pat McBee and Brad Sheeks between people who know and care about each other. . . . Only people who worshlp An Introduction to Islamic Mysticism together, who know each other well enough, with Zoharah Simmons and respect each other enough to take the time to listen and be changed will be able to February 6-8 dedicate themselves not just to slogans but to The Passionate Heart: A Retreat for Men casks, will grasp the kind of truth that doesn't with jesse Palidofsky and Bill Ratliff exclude all other possibilities but tries to find the best harmony of them possible in thls moment, knowing that in the next moment it PENDLE may well change. A QUAKER CENTER FOR S11JDY AND CONTE.IIIuMPU.TION I 338 Plush Mill Rd ·Wallingford, FA 19086 " ext 142 · (800) 742-3150 (US) or (610) 5664507 (worldwide) Adrienne Rich says, '~ honorable [email protected] · www.pendlehill.org human relationship--that is, one in FRIENDS JouRNAL january 2004 31 WUlU lUVC - 1:> a }Jl Ul-1:::>:>1 UCOH\-Cll<:01 VlU1Clll1 often terrifying to both persons involved, a process of refining the truths they will tell each other." What she says of the hon orable relationship between two people I believe also applies to the possible rela tionships between groups, people, even nations. "We are too ready to retaliate," says William Penn in Fruits of Solitude, rather "than forgive, or gain by Love and Information." By information he means accurate facts, dependable knowledge, workable truths. Our love must be accu rately informed; our information must be held and used in care, as the etymology of the word "accuracy'' reminds us. Start your own subscription arlier I promised I would do my and keep your copies for best to lie convincingly if a reading, reflection, and referra l. murderer came looking for you. I was making a glib joke, but FRIENDS JouRNAL is a major forum for Quaker thought and promising is a very serious act. Quaker life in the 21st Century. It's a helpful reference for To promise, to give one's word, is to say one will stand by what one conversation and contemplation. believes. The Irish use a very evocative Don't wait. Subscribe today image ofa relation to the truth when they to the journal that tells you speak of"standing over" their words. One stands over one's words protectively, but what Quakers are thinking one also takes one's stand on them as the and saying. foundation of one's being. One makes an identity between one's deepest self, the soul, the conscience, and the veracity of the acts one performs and the words one says. God help me if I make such a seri ous promise and cannot keep it. To give a Get a full year of FRIENDS JouRNAL delivered to your door for just $35. serious promise, one must be both sincere That's about $2.92 per copy, a 42% savings off the $5.00 cover price. and accurate. o Yes, send me one year of FRIENDS J OURNAL for $35 (12 issues). Remember the words of Denise (Outside North America, please add $6.) Levertov's poem: 0 I want to save even more; start my two-year subscription now for $65 (24 issues). (Outside North America, please add $12.) But peace, like a poem, is not there ahead of itself, o Payment enclosed Please bill me Charge my: 0 Master Card Visa o o can't be imagined before it is made, Card number______Expiration Date. ___ _ can't be known except Name:. ______~ in the words of its making, C) grammar of justice, Address:.______~ syntax of mutual aid. City: State: Zip: ~ A feeling towards it, we have For fastest service, log on to 32 jan'Udry 2004 FRIENDS jOURNAL Peace grows as we find the right words for the right deeds and put them together in the right order. "A line of peace might appear," Denise Leverrov says, "if we The wholesome alternative: restructured the sentence our lives are making.... Grammar ofjustice, syntax of an intellectually challenging college mutual aid." Peace comes about through treaties and promises made and kept. To preparatory program within a make peace we must make a self that is supportive Quaker community. trustworthy, a self that persists in trusting. Confucius taught that our great ethical work is to call things by their right names; to recognize and use the most accurate and truthful words for our actions, for our social inventions, and for the institutions we have created to serve us. Every gener ation has its particular struggle to reclaim and rehabilitate its most precious words from the cynical, the power brokers, and the oppressors and their tame rhetori cians. Every generation has to find ways to live by the great words, the great promise words, with courage and integrity. Truth is a complexity, but our work is to seek the truth sincerely; to listen to even the most Olney Friends School painful truth-claims and weigh them www.olneyfriends.org against our own convictions; to demand 1-800-303-4291 ofourselves sincerity and accuracy in what we say; to learn to speak the truth in love; and to speak it to each other, to the world, and in our own hearts. A cadence of peace might balance its weight on that different fulcrum; peace, a presence, an energy field more intense than war, might pulse then, stanza by stanza into the world, each act of living . . . where each resident one of its words, each word a vibration of light- facers enjoys a comfortable, of the forming crystal. 0 secure and caring environment ... where newcomers quickly feel at home and long-time residents find new delights every day A Quaker Sponsored Continuing Care Retirement Community • Independent Living • Assisted Living • Skilled Nursing Care 6300 Greene Street, Philadelphia, PA 19144 215-844-0700 Visit our Internet site at: www.stapeley.org OPPORTEQUAL""""""'UNITY fRIENDS j OURNAL january 2004 33 E Books 0 An Apology for the True motions ofGod 's life in us, however small and u humble, and live them experimentally. As • Christian Divinity with all experiments, part of the payoff is the V) time of reflection about what has happened, By Robert Barclay. Quaker Heritage Press and V) what it means for us, and what we can now see Peter D. Sippel, 2002. 536pages. $251 and do that we could not before. So the Light hardcover. is to be felt, followed, enacted, and thought ~ Since Robert Barclay's Apology was first about by each of us-in a dialogue of heart, published in 1678, it has been a central state soul, strength, and mind. c.. ment of"The Light within as thought about," Unfortunately, the Apology has only been to use Howard Brinton's famous phrase. It has available to most of us in Dean Freiday's ~ been the most widely and durably used, read, modern English version, an annotated para studied, and loaned exposition of Quaker be phrase published in 1967. Now, however, the - lief since the 18th century. If a Quaker home Quaker Heritage Press has produced a hand had any books beyond George Fox's journaL some volume, containing the original English and the Bible, the third was likely to be Rob text of the Apology (Robert Barclay wrote first ert Barclay's. in Latin, and then produced his own English But too often, the Apology is referred to as by Lon Fendall edition). The volume includes a brief intro "the" or "the only" systematic Quaker theol duction, and a long appendix by Larry $15.00 ogy. Though much of its content and ar Kuenning comparing this version with Dean rangement are due to Robert Barclay's ar~ Freiday's "modern English" paraphrase. Larry BARCLAY PRESS ing against Calvinist and other theological Kuenning makes a strong case that Dean 211 N. Meridian St, 11101, NewOO&, OR 97132 opponents in his day, the book remains a Freiday in his paraphrases made choices about powerful resource for Friends of all kinds-a 800.962.4014 wording, or deletions, and even additions, resource and a challenge. In the Apology we which in many cases make changes to what find both close reasoning and Scriptural ex Robert Barclay says himself egesis on issues like the Universal and Saving Perhaps the single most jarring point in Light; the importance of right belief; the na Dean Freiday's edition is that in his "transla ture of salvation; the Quaker views of minis tion," he chose to cite different translations of TEACH OVERSEAS try, worship, and the sacraments; and effec the Bible than the one Robert Barclay quoted. tive discussions of social testimonies and the Since Robert Barclay's arguments are often relation of the Quaker to the state. We also keyed ro particular wordings in the Scriptural find informative descriptions of Quaker prac citations, this substitution of wording can tice and customs, and we encounter some of sometimes in effect prevent him ftom making the key disputed ideas of his time. his point, or even make a point he did not However, iri addition to the healthful ex intend. On the basis of his study, Larry Europe • Asia • Africa ercise of the mind with the soul looking over Kuenning suggests that Dean Freiday's edition South and Central America its shoulder that one gets in reading Robert is most valuable for its footnotes and com Barclay, the reader comes to feel the fervency, mentary, which explain many theological and American/1 nternational Schools warmth, and joy that Robert Barclay discov Scriptural points that materially help the reader. world-wide are looking for outstanding ered in coming among Friends. His exposi Which version should you read? I have to teachers with a minimum of tion draws on the testimony of his personal confess that I have not used Dean Freiday's 2 years recent, experience in passages such as this one, speak version much since I found a copy of Robert full-time experience. ing of the power felt in the silence: Barclay's Works in an old barn one Maine summer. However, the K-1 2 positions in all disciplines for ... of which I myself, in a part, am a Apology in Modern En September 2004. true witness, who not by strength of gLish has enabled ge~erati ons of Friends to b~ arguments or by a particular disquisi come acquainted w1th the Apology, to stu.dy Jt and share it, and gain some sense of the nches www .search-associates.com tion ofeach doctrine and convincement to be found in the book. Yet it must be said sallyjogordon@ sjg-search.com of my understanding thereby, came to 1-484-356-0971 receive and bear witness of the Truth, that, since the original is available, anyone but by being secretly reached by this using Dean Freiday's version should.be aware Life: for when I came into the silent that it is flawed. Meetings should definitdy have assemblies of God's people I felt a se a copy of the new Quaker Heritage Press ver cret power among them which touched sion in their libraries, so that Friends can refer CREMATION to it ifth ey cannot afford to own two versions of my heart, and as I gave away unro it, I Friends are reminded that the the and already have purchased and found the evil weakening in me and the Apology, Anna T. Jeanes Fund come to know the modern English version. will reimburse cremation costs. good lifted up, and so I became thus {Applicable to members of knit and united unto them, hungering Now, should I not recommend Dean Philadelphia Yearly Meeting only.) more and more after the increase of this Freiday because it is easier language, "modern English"? No, I should not. As the Quaker For i_nformatioo, write Power and Life whereby I might feel OORJS C LINKSCALE H eritage Press editor, Licia Kuenning, points 15 East McPherson Street, myself perfectly redeemed. Philadelphia, PA 19119-1617 out, Barclay also wrote modern English, lin So should we all labor ro feel after the guistically speaking. It is not 20th century 34 january 2004 FRIENDS jOURNAL language, and its style is not as clear as that of your John Punshon, nor evenJoseph John Gurney. Make Yet it is not so obscure as many other theolo gians, once one is used to the length of many principles a reality. of the sentences, which sometimes require thoughtful reconsideration. The Quaker Heri tage Press edition gives some help with 17th Speak truth century peculiarities (and also cheerfUlly advises the reader who finds 17th-century English dif to power. ficult to keep reading it until it becomes easy). This begs the question, "What are we to think about 'modern' versions ofearly Quaker texts?" The Apology was the first of the great Quaker texts to be "cranslated" into Late Modern En Intern at FCNL in Washington, DC. glish, but it is not the last. Rex Ambler has produced an anthology of quotations from People needed to assist lobbyists with research, technological support, George Fox with accompanying paraphrases; citizen education, and policy reform campaigns. Modest salary, Ron Selleck modernized William Penn's No Cross, No Crown. A "modern English" para life changing experiences, start in September. phrase of Robert Barclay's Catechism and Con fession ofFaith is just out, and I have heard that there is to be a "modern version" of W illiam Penn's Fruits ofSolitude. This last gives me Friends Committee on National Legislation pause, because his meditations are notable for RFC their wit, compression, clarity, and pungency, 245 Second St, NE, Washington, D C 20002 so that a modern paraphrase of Fruits seems as Website: www.fcnl.org UNL jarring an idea as a modern paraphrase of the Gettysburg address, or of Walden-<>r of] ohn Woolman's journal. The voice of the original, the tang and taste of it is lost in paraphrase; and there can be other losses, so that one should use such versions with real care. And bear in mind that paraphrase is a com mentary. No matter how faithful and careful the paraphraser may be, he or she is still making choices in order to put things differently from the way the author did; the reader can profit from the paraphrase ifthi s is kept in mind. Para phrasers may not be under the same concern, nor responsive to the same issues, as were the original authors, so that threads, nuances, and concepts may be lost, recast, or unintention ally misshapen. Despite such inevitable losses, a paraphrase may serve as an introduction, or perhaps invite some people to read an author with a reputation for "difficulty" whom they might not dare to approach otherwise. Yet I would urge Friends to remember that we are not separated from our predecessors by so many generations, nor are we really speak ing a different tongue. If a paraphrase is all that you have at hand, then read it and meet the author on those terms, through another's interpretation. If, however, you take the op portunity to read the original, then you can hear the author speak in his or her own voice and you can make your own interpretations. -Brian Drayton Brian Drayton, an ecologist working in science education, is a member ofWeare (NH ) Meet ing and a recorded minister. FRIENDS ]OURNAL january 2004 35 Ranked among Philadelphia's Peace Comes Walking: "Top Hospitals" The Life of Donald Groom, in Mental Health Quaker Peace Worker By Victoria Rigney. Glass House Books, 2002. • Child and Adolescent 290 pages. $30/paperback. 190 Donald Groom watched his Quaker fa Programs Ways we care ther publicly shamed for his stand as a pacifist • Adult Services in Great Britain during World War I, then saw for himself the debacle of Germans trad • Older Adult Program ing the shovels of National Socialism for the guns of Fascism in Bonn in 1936, the despair • Eating Disorders Program of Spanish Civil War refugees who escaped from Barcelona to F ranee, and the spectacle of • Long-term residential care for chronic mental illness Parisian decadence leading up toWodd War II. Donald Groom was an excellent accoun • Women's Program tant and was urged by some to make his fortune as a banker before he turned to service • 24-hour evaluation, assessment and referral service for others, but he found this unacceptable for • 190 year commitment to our Quaker mission himself: "The world wants purring right mor ally and spiritually. There are plenty tO look after the material needs of the world." Intrigued by the ideas ofMohandas Gandhi Call215 .. 831 .. 6300 or 800.. 889.. 0548 and inspired by the writings of]ohn Woolman, Donald Groom and his wife Erica were sent to India by the Friends Service Council in 1940 to work, not as traditional missionaries, but "in the changing relationship between India and Britain." Working energetically for others all the while, Donald Groom served a long apprenticeship in nonviolence, continu ally embarking on political, spiritual, and per Residential and sonal quests-in his beloved India, in Austra Assisted Living lia, in England, and in the United States. Victoria Rigney uses Donald Groom's own since 1891 writing much of the time to give readers a deep sense of his locations and experiences, and she weaves them with apparent ease into a In addition to The Hickman's candid presentation of the man, his short "not too big, not too small" comings and his strengths. That helps make this a gem of a book-and one that reveals a size, Bill and Becky Mcilvain man who "showed others that simplicity, hard liked the retirement work, assertive action for peace, and a quiet community's in-town location. presence could make a difference." -Sharon Hoover "There are so many things Sharon Hoover is a member ofAlfted (N Y.) you can do within walking Meeting. distance. We're still driving now, but the day will come . ... " In Brief Quaker-Sponsored • Homelike • Affordable • Close to Town • Welcoming Diversity You Don't Have to Sit on the Floor: Making Buddhism Part 400 N. Walnut St., West Chester, PA 19380 of Your Everyday Life 610-696-1536 By jim Pym. Urysses Press, 2002. 181 pages. e-mail: [email protected] $12.95/paperback. Jim Pym is already known www.thehickman.org to many Quakers as the author of Listening to the Light(1999) and The Pure Principle: QJuzk ers and Other Faith Traditions (2000). A Brit- 36 ]anuary 2004 FRIENDS j OURNAL ish Friend, raised as a Roman AIRBORNE Catholic, but part ofth e Friends by Martin Cobin communityallhisadultlife,Jim Pym is deeply involved in Bud dhism, yoga, meditation, and Poetic commentary on current events the Friends Fellowship ofHeal 9/01-8/03 broadcast monthly on the ing as well as the World Con community radio station K GNU in gress ofFaiths. This background, Boulder, Colorado plus his years at Friends House London as manager of the Martin Cobin's poetry has appeared bookshop, then as publisher, and his many years of facilitating in in (among other publications) a terfaith workshops and retreats Pendle Hill Pamphlet, Friends Journal, for Quakers and for others, has Quaker Life, Friends Bulletin, and the prepared him well to speak to a Christian Science Monitor contemporary U.S. audience about daily practice ofce ntering A subsidized copy can be obtained into the Light. His discussion by sending your name, address, of "mindful awareness" recalls Douglas Steere's development and $1 to of the adage, "Be present where you are." Jim Pym's book is a JUMA PUBLISHING clear and gentle introduction 575 Manhattan Drive # 105 to Zen Buddhism for Friends Boulder, CO 80303 who wish to know more about another faith tradition in order to deepen their own. I appreciated the simple that affect immigrant women's daily lives, introductions to such things as "The Three such as lack of childcare and medical insur Signs of Being," "The Four Noble Truths," ance, work-related illnesses, domestic violence, and "The Noble Eightfold Path." Jim Pym racism, and difficulties ofjugglin g family obli also speaks of other aspects of Buddhism gations, long work hours, and participation in and relates the practice of meditation to communiry organizations. prayer. There are just enough exercises for the The authors' personal stories give the reader reader to begin to understand the practice and an appreciation of the significant leadership enough stories and poems that I will keep the (and untapped leadership potential) of immi book by my bedside to remind me of the grant women in improving community life gentle ways of corning back to myself and while usually remaining invisible to outsiders. thereby to God. The book was created as an "educational tool that will facilitate our attempt to take part in -Sharon Hoover the decision-making process," and it illus PENN CHA RTER trates the current absence of immigrant voices Immigrant Women: in decision-making arenas. For groups work ing on immigration issues, this book offers The oldest Quaker school in the nation, A Road to the Future/Mujeres William Penn Charter School embraces lnmigrantes: Camino al Futuro powerful examples of the importance of multiethnic coalitions, as well as the need to tradition and welcomes innovation. By OraLia Maceda, Rosa Lopez, Fide/ina draw upon the leadership potential within Espinosa, Martha Moreno, juLia Herndndez, immigrant communities in order to create Concepcion Pacheco, May Lee, Lee Lor, SaLLy change. In the authors' words, 'We came to Essential Quaker principles and practice Yan~ Pai Yan~ and Viklysouk Vee !nthaLy. realize that the experts often underestimate guide Penn Charter, a Friends school by The Pan VaLley Institute ofAFSC, 2003. 160 our level of knowledge and are not aware of birthright and conviction. Within a diverse pages. $10/paperback. EngLish andSpanish. This the effon we are making to promote and volume is a collective history expressing the secure the well-being of our communities." community, we engage students in a voices of immigrant women working for so T he collective and individual stories in this stimulating and rigorous educational cial change in the Central Valley of Califor volume illustrate that there is a tremendous program. We foster academic discipline nia. Through AFSC's Pan Valley Institute, amount ofwo rk to be done, while offering the and intellectual curiosity to prepare based in Fresno, Calif., the authors built a inspiration of positive outcomes and a clear graduates for higher education and for life. multiethnic network-Mexican, Central sense of direction for future change that in American, Mexican American, African, Afri cludes listening to immigrant voices. Call to visit our 44-acre campus in East Falls: can American, Laotian, and Hmong-to share life experiences and explore ways to solve shared -Lisa Rand 215-844-3460 problems. This book documents their collec 3000 West School House lane, Philadelphia www.penncharter.com tive educational process while drawing atten Lisa Rand, assistant editor ofFRIENDS JouR tion to the political invisibility of the issues NAL, is a member ofGoshen (Pa.) Meeting. FRIENDS ]OURNAL j anuary 2004 37 For Students with Learning Differences News Multisensory teaching strategies for diverse learning styles On October 22, 2003, Philadelphia Yearly 2-9, 2003. "There is an historic and continu Meeting filed its answer to a Justice Depart ing connection between our belief in that of DEI.A\VARE VALLEY ment lawsuit that asks a $20,000 penalty to God in everyone and our traditional work to be imposed on them and seeks to make them ensure the equal treatment of all people . . .. FRIENDS SCHOOL the collection agent for the government. The We believe that the new Canadian Anti-Ter yearly meeting's response makes dear its rorism Legislation was developed to appease intention to stand by its essential religious the anxieties of the present U.S. Administra principles, and publicly defend the free exer tion rather than to answer the evident need cise of religion on all possible grounds, in within Canada. The new legislation ... can be cluding constitutional and statutory religious used to criminalize dissent. It disproportion freedom defenses. The IRS contends that ately threatens those already vulnerable as Prospective Parent Open House PYM must garnish the salary of one of its members of minority groups: immigrants, dates for 2003-04: October 22 • November 12 employees and members who refuses-in naturalized Canadians, refugees, Muslims, and December 10 • February 11 keeping with longstanding Quaker convic indigenous peoples. We ask ourselves, at what March 10 • April14 • May 19 tions--to pay taxes that suppon war and prepa point do people lose the power to challenge Professional Open House dates: rations for war. While the IRS could easily their government's misuse ofau thority?" CYM October 15 • January 14 take other courses to collect the back taxes it will ask Canadian Friends Service Committee claims are due, instead the federal govern to undertake work on this concern. CYM also College Preparatory • Grades 7-12 ment is trying to force a church tO collect recorded its "concern regarding the particular • Summer Program these funds for it, an action that would require weight upon our neighbors in the United this Quaker organization to violate its own States who are resisting both infringement on l 38 january 2004 fRIENDS jOURNAL Vidal i Llecha Association ofSpai n to a group that promotes peace, disarmament, or ecol ogy. The Peaceforce has also received a major gram of50,000 Euros from the German For eign Ministry for their work in Sri Lanka. Two member organizations in Germany helped Peaceforce European Coordinator Rachel Julian secure this important gram the Bund fur Soziale Verteidigung (Federation for Social Defense) and Forum Civil Peace Services. Visit Friends Committee on National Legislation has resumed its Native American program work after a hiatus for evaluation and assess ment. Patricia Powers has been appointed legislative secretary for Native American ad vocacy and has been consulting with former FCNL staff on Native American issues, Aura Kanegis and Cindy Darcy, as she begins the work. Legislative intern Derek Gilliam will support her work with research and writing projects and monitoring of congressional processes. Joe Yolk, FCNL executive secre tary, writes, "In upgrading FCNL's staffmg for the Native American Program, we have taken a financial risk, but the current assaults by some in Congress on policies for Native Americans seemed to us to demand a strength ened FCNL response." For information on the program, including periodic Native Ameri can legislative updates, visit At the annual meeting of Friends Commit tee on Unity with Nature in October 2003, Friends approved changing its name to Quaker Earthcare Witness. A name change has been under consideration for many years, as a means to clarify the work of the organiza tion and to facilitate outreach. The new website is New York Yearly Meeting will undergo changes in structure and staff under a new general secretary, as recommended by an Ad Hoc Staffing and Structure Committee. The recommendation to hire a general secretary was approved during the business meeting of yearly meeting sessions July 20-26, 2003. Prior to 1999, the yearly meeting staff in cluded an administrative secretary and two field secretaries. The positions of field secre taries were ended in that year. Under the new structure, the general secretary will be the senior staff person of New York Yearly Meet ing. -Purchase (NY) Meeting and Summit (NJ) Meeting newsletters fRIENDS j OURNAL january 2004 39 Bulletin Board Reservations are required for display ads in FRIENDS JouRNAL. Display Upcoming Events Ad March issue: Reserve space by January 5. Ads must be received by January 8. • February 10-Submission deadline for Deadlines Quakers Uniting in Publications book Young April issue: Reserve space by February 9. FRIENDS Friends Experience ofQuakerism. For submis Ads must be received by February 12. sion guidelines contact Lucy Duncan at Ad rate is $38 per column inch. JOURNAL Opportunities/Resources That will be your first thought when you • A World Gathering ofYoung Friends will see Broadmead. From the lovely pond take place in August 2005, in England. The and springhouse to the expansive trees event grew out of a shared vision of young and gardens, the beauty of the natural Friends at the 2000 Friends World Committee surroundings can only be surpassed by for Consultation triennial. Friends are encour the warmth and vitality of the people aged to spread the word about this event. Input who reside here. Located in the rolling is invited from Friends who were involved with hills of Hunt Valley, Broadmead is one of the 1962, 1985, or 1991 gatherings. For details the most experienced Continuing Care Retirement contact Betsy Blake at 40 january 2004 FRIENDS JOURNAL Milestones FARM WILDERNESS Deaths ~::::::::::::::: & =~ Alexander-Anna McGiUivray Akxander, 74, on Summer Camps that Specialize in Kids July 17, 2003, in Santa Rosa, Cali£ Anna was born Five Quaker-based overnight camps and the Barn Day camp for girls and/ or boys ages 3-17 in Lafayette, Ind., on November 2, 1928, the oldest daughter of Frances and John McGillivray. "Splendid, wonderful, excellent, miraculously human and rich!" -Parent Her father accepted an appointment at University of California at Davis in 1937, and the family moved to California. Anna went to college in Farm & Wilderness. Unplugged and Unforgettable. A summer of rugged excitement. Corvallis, Oreg., where she met William Alexander, whom she married in Davis in 1950. Early in their Fun. Cooperation. Skill-building. Individualized attention. Self-awareness and self marriage they lived in Washington, D.C., where expression. Nurturing and supportive. Adventure and Community. they became members of Florida Avenue Meeting. In 1958, with their three young children, they moved to San Luis Obispo, Calif., where Will joined the faculty at California State Polytechnic College. San Luis remained their home for 40 years. Anna helped establish a local chapter of the League ofWomen Voters, served for several terms on the county planning commission, and eventu ally ran for County Supervisor, losing by a thin margin. In 1964 the family enjoyed a sabbatical year in India, returning home via Kashmir, Tashkent, Afghanistan, and Europe. In 1978 they visited 16 projects of Right Sharing of World Resources. Later, Anna and Will spent two years in the Peace Corps, where Anna used her academic training in Home Economics to help women in rural Kenya. She liked to tell of her adventures riding her motorcycle 4,000 kilometers over trails of the T aita Hills to serve her women's groups. On a return visit ten years later she was delighted to find that the women were stili making the large water storage jars she had taught them to make, and their income-producing basket weaving projects were still in operation. She and Will traveled with World Neighbors and the Mennonite Central Committee, visiting and working in the Philip pines and in Kerala in southern India. Anna also went to Togo, Honduras, and Lesotho under the sponsorship of other nonprofit organizations. In 1994-1995 Anna and Will served as wardens of Wellington meetinghouse in New Zealand, com ing back to San Luis Obispo until moving to Santa Rosa in 1997. Anna is survived by her husband of 53 years, William Alexander; three children; and six grandchildren. Figuerola Pinos-Miguel Figuero/.a Pinos, 82, on August 31, 2003, in Monteverde, Costa Rica. Miguel was born on February 19, 1921, in Barcelona, Spain, to Manuel Figuerola Vidal and Ana Pinos Pascual. As a youth he patticipated in the Spanish Civil War, taking the side of the Republicans opposing Francisco Franco. He was captured and put in a prison camp. Luckily, the war ended soon after, and he was released. Under Francisco Franco, Spain had obligarory military service. Miguel was sent to patrol the then-Spanish colony of Morocco, where he took the opportu nity to learn about northern Africa, Arab culture, and Islam, which he held in high esteem. He returned to a Spain under an embargo that caused extreme shortages and widespread hunger. Miguel had the responsibility of supporting his parents and younger brother at this difficult time. Miguel became acquainted with the Religious Society of Friends after World War II, when his stamp col lecting hobby led him to correspond with Molly Swart, a teacher at a Friends School in Holland. After two years of correspondence Molly traveled FRIENDS j OURNAL january 2004 41 to Spain to meet Miguel, and their friendship Moorestown Friends deepened into love. In early 1953, when the dikes in Holland broke, Miguel went there to participate Where Scholars are also Athletes, Artists and Volunteers in an international relief effort. He srayed on to be with Molly, and on April 8, 1953, they were married under the care ofUtrechr (H olland) Meer ing. Finding a place ro live was a considerable Age 3 through 12th grade challenge for the newlyweds. Miguel did not wanr ro continue to live in Spain under Franco, and Academic Excellence for over 200 years H olland was devasrared by the flood. Then, in Paris, they learned about a group of Quakers from Transportation from many districts Alabama who had recently emigrated to Costa Extended Day and Financial Aid Options Rica and were inviting other Quakers to join them. Miguel firsr went to Venezuela, where he worked in the oil fields for six months, and then ro Costa Rica. W ith help from the community of Monteverde he built a simple house with a view of the Gulf of Nicoya, and Molly joined him a year 2004 OPEN HOUSES later. Life in rural Costa Rica was not easy at that time, especially for a couple accustomed to an 2 p.m. Sunday, ]an. 25 urban environment. T hey had to learn carpentry, agriculrure, cooking with local ingredients, and ro 9 a.m. Tuesdays, Feb. 24 and April 6 make most of what they needed. In spite of the hardships, Miguel and Molly came to love their Tour our campus • Meet students and jaculcy Monteverde home. They baked their own bread and kepr a garden, a few chickens, and several cows. They enjoyed being surrounded by con stantly blooming flowers and a large variery of 110 E. Main Street, Moorestown, NJ 08057 birds. M iguel taught geography and European his tory at Monteverde Friends School, and Molly (856) 235-2900 • www.mfriends.org raught music and languages. In 1963 they adopted a son, Francisco, then 2 years old. During the 1980s Miguel and Molly organized aid to victims ofwar in neighboring countries. With Monteverde Meeting as a base, they visited refugee camps for Nicaraguans in Costa Rica. Later they visited the capital and conflicr zones ofEI Salvador, the high "An Adventure for the Summer • • • lands of Guatemala, and a refugee camp in H on duras. T hey became acquainted with local people and organizations, and gave support to local efforts Memories for a Ufetime" to aid victims of war. Using their own money and Unique multicultural communities where every child feels imponant channeling donations directly to victims of war, they brought international attention to refugees, provided food and school supplies to orphanages, CAMP REGIS APPLEJACK TEEN CAMP brought crafts supplies to self-help groups, and Co-ed 6-12 Co-ed 13-16 took finished crafts back to Monteverde to sell. Through a Right Sharing of World Resources grant they were able to help a community in El Family owned and operated, specializing in first time campers. Friendly Quaker Salvador build a wel l. Conscious of the danger of leadership since 1946. Mature, nurturing staff, close supervision, ratio 1 to 3. creating dependency, the couple endeavored to Rustic cabins with fireplaces overlooking a majestic Adirondack lake. help people to help themselves. They formed friend ships with many people throughout Central Warm, supponive, relaxed environment where the fun never stops. Over 50 America chat they maintained throughout and activities to choose from including sailing, water skiing (superb 3/4 mile after the wars. Molly's failing health made it in private waterfront), all land sports, tennis (7 new courts), music, dance, drama creasingly difficult to travel, so in the 1990s Miguel stayed home ro care for her. Molly died on June (large theater), art, gymnastics, wilderness canoe and mountain trips, nature/ 30, 1997. Miguel continued to live at home with ecology (farm with animals), mountain biking, and much more! the support of his family. He is survived by his son Teen Adventure Programs include tours to Canada, Cape Cod, and Maine. and daughter-in-law, Francisco Figuerola Swart 4- and 8-week sessions available with introductory 2-week program fo r and Marisela Lopez; and granddaughter, Annalissa Figuerola Lopez. The birth of M iguel's second younger, first-time campers. ACA accredited. For video and brochure: grandchild is imminent. M ichael F. Humes Gross-Otto Gross, 91 , on July 18, 2003, in Tuc son, Ariz. He was born in Vienna, Austria, on 60 Lafayette Road West April29, 1912. He encounrered Quakers there as a Princeton, NJ 08540 child after World War I. In his school the children (609) 688-0368 were given Quiiker-Speisung (meals from the Quak ers) including white bread. The children did not · • www.campregis-applejack.com know chis was bread-they were accustomed to darker, harder bread with a crispy crust- and 42 january 2004 FRJENDS JoURNAL thought it was a kind of cake. After Orro and his wife, Ann, came to New York in the 1940s, Ann Friends Academy became severely ill and was partly paralyzed. With the help of Quakers, Otto, Ann, and their young Founded 1876 Located on scenic Long Island, daughter were able to spend time in Monroe, less than 30 miles from New York City. N.Y., where Ann was able to recuperate. Otto was a machinist and an engineer. He was also an artist, painting wonderful pictures revealing light within the works, one of which hangs in Pima (Ariz.) Celebrating our 125th Anniversary Meeting. He had a passion for classical music and played the piano. At home he had a terrarium with cacti in his den and a birdfeeder in his garden for the hummingbirds he loved. He loved to play tennis, ski, and hike. He was a volunteer for the Park Service, giving guided hikes for visitors especially German-speaking ones-until he was too old to walk. Pima Friends remember with great fondness the annual meeting for worship in Saguaro National Park East, hosted by the couple. Orro had a great sense ofhumor and was very charming, bur he also had something that troubled him, and that did nor let him enjoy life fully. In German the word for this is Leiden. His family believes that in Founded in 1876 by Gideon Frost for "the children of Friends and those death he finally found peace. He was a longtime similarly sentimented," Friends Academy is a Quaker, coeducational, inde member of Pima Meeting. He was predeceased by pendent, college preparatory day school serving 750 students from age three his wife, Ann Gross. He is survived by his daugh ter, Susan Gross N ikolay; his son-in-law, Michael through the twelfth grade. The school awards significant financial assistance. Peter Nikolay; and two grandchildren, Esther and Julian Nikolay. Friends Academy • Duck Pond Road • Locust Valley, NY 11560 Hauer-StanleyA. Hauer, 78, on August 28, 2003, in Springfield, Pa. Stanley was born in New York Phone: 516-676-0393 • Fax: 516-671-2025 • [email protected] C iry on February 28, 1925, the son of Harry and Jane Hauer. H e graduated from Bronx High School in 1943 and received his degree in chemical engi neering from New York Universiry in 1950. A project engineer with DuPont Company Louviers #:.~DSlfo in Wilmington, Del., for 35 years, he retired in 1985. He became a member ofWilmington Meet Jl Century of Quaker Care ing in 1968, transferring to Arch Street Meeting in ~~~ Philadelphia, Pa., in 1988. Stanley was quiet and deep. There was always more below the surface ~v§ than was apparent at first glance. His longtime ,..~Oons-tO Featuring: Skilled Nursing Care interest in education was evidenced by his careful stewardship ofFriends schools in both Wilmington • Physical, Occupational and Speech Therapy • and Philadelphia. He is survived by his wife of 48 years, Faye P. Hauer; a son and daughter-in-law, • Activities and Special Events • Patient, supportive staff • Joe and Margie Hauer; a daughter and son-in-law, Judith and Barton Mendez; grandchildren, Medicaid/Medicare Certified Alexander Hauer, James Hauer, Aaron Mendez, and Elizabeth Mendez; and a sister, Rita Moraweic. Friends Home will soon become a Line-DavidChapman Line, 77, on April3, 2003, in Missoula, Mom. He was born in Columbus, Continuing Care Retirement Community Mont., on January 22, 1926, to Robert Campbell Line and Louise Chapman Line. In 1927 the family moved to Missoula, where David made his Coming soon: Assisted Living with Alzheimers Floor home for the rest of his life. During World War II he served as a conscientious objector, working in a Philadelphia institution for the mentally ill, then Apartments and cottages for for the Forest Service in Oregon through the Civil ian Public Service program. In 1949 he received a independent retirement living degree in Mathematics from Pomona College. For many years he was accountant and general business manager for the Line Import Business, which he co-owned with his father. David was the primary For more information on our current or future services call: caregiver for his parents for the last 15 years ofthei r lives, continuing to live on in the family home. Friends Home at Woodstown: 856-769-1500 • The Village: 856-769-5035 W ith his brother, Bob, he took pride in preserving their land so future generations of the Missoula PO Box 457 1 Friends Drive Woodstown NJ 08098 communiry could experience peace and content- fRIENDS j OURNAL january 2004 43 oihe '"Suaker NEWTOWN FRIENDS ment from viewing the wonderful open land and 1 SCHOOL timber on the hillside. David had a strong spirirual rdationship wirh the land, which for him was '(TH:~~~ much more rhan just a place to live. A member of Missoula Meeting, he frequently served on the Where non-traditional learning Ministry and Oversight Committee. He also main styles are embraced and individual tained a lifdong interest in the Theosophical Soci gifts and affinities flourish. ety of America. He kept a library of spiritual and philosophical literarure and shared it freely. He nurtured rhe inner life of orhers by acknowledging 318 Meetinghouse Road the spiritual gifts he saw in rhem. He was a gentle Horsham, PA 19044 soul whose kindness will live long in the magnifi 215.674.2875 "The accomplishments of adults cent view of the mountain on which he lived. www.quakerschool.org David is survived by his sisters, Louise Line Grout begin as the dreams of children. and Harriet Line Flaccus; brother Robert Line Jr. Newtown Friends is a place and wife Ann Line; and many nieces and nephews. where dreams begin." Radcliffe-Catherine (Kay) Neal Radcliffe, 88, on - NFS Mission Statement February 23, 2003, in Cranberry Township, Pa. She was born on March 9, 1914, in Vandergrift, Pa., to Frank and Cleo Neal. Catherine graduated Pre .. K to Grade 8 from Western College for Women. In 1938 she married John Radcliffe Jr. Carherine and John OPEN HOUSE raised three children, Elsa, Steve, and Deborah. A January 25, 2004 medical technician by training, Carherine worked to p.m. at Allegheny Valley Hospital in Natrona Heights, 2:00 4:00 Pa., and later as a medical secretary in Magee (609) 714-0100 For further information, Women's Hospital. She retired in 1979, and in 1985 Catherine and John moved from their O'Hara [email protected] call 215-968-2225, or visit Township home to Sherwood Oaks Retirement • MARRIAGE CERTIFICATES • us at newtownfriends.org Community in CranbertyTownship. Carherine's work had provided her with expertise in health • INSCRIPTIONS • SCROLLS • .4~U.,tk~.4~oj affairs rhat she used for rhe benefit of the Sherwood 22 New Freedom Rd., Medford, NJ 08055 P'li PENDLE liiLL A QUAKER CENTER FOR S11JDY AND CONTEMPlATION I 338 Plush Mill Rd ·Wallingford, PA 19086 " ext.142 · (000) 742-3150 (US)or(610) 5664507(worldwide) [email protected] · www.pendlehill.org 44 january 2004 fRIENDS j OURNAL Consider the advantages ofinvesting in the foture of With a planned gift, you can help ensure that the JoURNAL continues to be a vital resource for Friends far into the future, and realize capital gains and income tax savings while providing lifetime income for yourself and a loved one. For more information, check the items you would like to see and mail this card, or call Gretta Stone, Development Coordinator, toll free at (800) 471-6863. 0 our booklet on charitable gift planning 0 a gift annuity illustration for the 0 sample bequest language for your will birthdates below Name: ______Birthdate: _____ Name: Birthdate: _____ Ada~: ______NO POSTAGE NECESSARY IF MAILED IN THE UNITED STATES BUSINESS REPLY MAIL FIRST.CLASS MAIL PERMIT NO 35933 PHILADELPHIA PA POSTAGE WILL BE PAID BY AODRESSEE FRIENDS JOURNAL'· 1216 ARCH ST STE 2A PHILADELPHIA PA 19107-9370 1••• 111.1 ••••• 1111 ••• 1••• 11.1 •••• 11.1 ••• 111 ••••• 11.1 Forum continued from p. 4 Personalized Care in the From a denominational Quaker Tradition outsider The October issue, "Diversity Among Since 1896 Friends," is wonderful. A special issue on diversity is a resource for reflection, A Quiet, meditation, confession, and growth. I read it straight through and felt that I had had an Home-Like Setting in a experience of worship. My own denomination, Methodist, Beautifully Landscaped rarely inspires, or even challenges, except Atmosphere from prophets from the "wrong" (right) wing, although we have a lot of good people. Your articles challenge me as a denominational outsider to be a better • Private Rooms, Suites and • Recreational Activities Christian, to reflect, to listen, and to seek an Apartments • 24 Hour Security inner focus to strengthen my beliefs. Thank • Assistance with Activities of Daily you for your wimess and contribution, and • Some Financial please continue. I will continue to be Living Assistance Available impacted by the witness of Friends. • Emergency Response System At my own church, I frequently and quietly observe to myself a phrase that I • Three Nutritious, Home-Cooked For information please developed some years ago that sums up a lot Meals Served Daily in Elegant call856-235-4884 of attendees, "Never expect a professing Surroundings Christian to act like one." And then I always 28 Main Street, remember the Scripture and song that says, • Linen and Housekeeping Services Moorestown, NJ 08057 "You will know they are Christian by their love." Those words are always for me, as well as for the object of my judgment. Richard Worthen Alton, Ill. FRIENDS sCHOOL H A VERFL"")RD Our spiritual diversity I want to thank you for printing Heather Sowers's article on Quakers who practice Earth-centered spirituality (Fj Oct.). Friends should always recognize and celebrate our spiritual diversity, which includes Quakers who incorporate other religions, whether Buddhism, Judaism, Paganism, or any other into their faith. I am pleased by FRIENDS Call JouRNAL's welcoming inclusiveness. 610-642-0354 jennifer Chapin Harris for more College Park, Md. information Seeking meaning and hope I do agree with C hristopher Fowler (Forum, Fj Oct.) that some people are attracted to the Religious Society of Friends Coeducational because they think "we provide a forum in Academic Excellence which they can believe whatever they want." In fact, several years ago a friend said to me Quaker Values "You're so lucky to be a Quaker because you Age 3 to Grade 6 don't have to believe anything." But I believe that most people who choose to visit a religious congregation do so 851 Buck Lane • Haverford, PA 19041 because they are seeking a sense of meaning friendshaverford .org and a sense of hope. Those visitors who join www. FRIENDS ]OURNAL}anuary 2004 45 us in our meeting for worship and in the fellowship of our community may experience with us the energy for the life of the Spirit. Kendal-Crosslands residents nurture an Mary Lace Hurwitz array of life-affirming opportunities: Wyndmoor, Pa. •140 resident-directed interest groups •lifelong learning at the University of Does God hold back? Delaware and West Chester University Referring to Anthony Prete's "Shalom: • two 11,000-volume, resident-run libraries More T han Just Peace" (F]Nov.) and • 300 acres with trails, woods, ponds quoting him: "God is also a key player, eager • on-site concerts and lectures to enter the fray but holding back until we •local community volunteer opportunities acknowledge. . . , the need and offer the Named as one of the nation's top 25 tnvJtauon. continuing care retirement communities, No! God does not vacillate! Kendal-Crosslands is not-for-profit and God is life. All life is precious. Quoting Albert Einstein: "Our task must Quaker-related. Full services, lifetime be to free ourselves from the prison [of self] restraint-free health care. by widening our circle ofcompassio n to embrace all living beings and all of nature." KENDAL~CROSSLANDS Communities Nelson W Babb Jr. West Suffield, Conn. 610-388-7001 • 1-800-216-1920 P.O. Box 100 • Kennett Square. PA 19348 Our role is to model www.kcc.kendal.org Scott Simon 's letter (F]Nov.) speaks to us in the same voice as the Archbishop's loyal priests spoke to Thomas Beckett, who, as T. S. Eliot has it, rebuked them for their worldly pragmatism: Aw some Q!taker perspectives You think me reckless, desperate and mad. You argue by results, as this world does, on the wrong track? To settle ifan act be good or bad. You defer to facts. For every life and every act . Consequences ofgood and evil can be shown, Do you want to know what sincere Quakers think, who And as in time results of many deeds are blended truly advocate peace, justice, and helping the poorest of the So good and evil in the end become poor, but who think many Quaker perspectives are on the confounded. T. S. Eliot is right that insistence on wrong track? results leads to moral confusion. O ur role is not to set the world right, nor even to judge Try reading The QJ.taker Economist, a free weekly online news that it is in trouble and needs our help. Who are we to judge? Especially if, as in the commentary on peace, justice, and world affairs, somewhat spiritual, "He's got the whole world in H is different from the usual Quaker line. hands." Our role is to model, through our lives and actions-steadfastly, imaginatively, dangerously--creative alternatives to Over eighty letters have now been published and appear on manipulation and violence through loving thee-mails of over 600 subscribers, mostly Quakers. To see attention to the Divine that resides in each human breast. them all online, visit http:/ /tqe.quaker.org. To subscribe (free) , Friend Simon is right that our pacifism send an e-mail to [email protected]. will not set the world right. But it is not meant co and does not claim to--which cannot be said of the failure of arrogant politics and armed force to set things straight 46 january 2004 F RIENDS j OURNAL in Iraq. Like Thomas Beckett's priests, children in mass graves somehow validate or Scott Simon plays the role of a beguiling exonerate our violent acts that result in Means, not ends tempter. Like Beckett, I (we) need to insist "collateral damage." Also, the death of In Scott Simon's recent letter to the that reckoning by results to decide whether innocents is not a consequence of pacifism, Forum (F] Nov.), he defended his pro-war an act is good or evil undercuts fui.th, hope, but rather a consequence of the conscious position by wishing readers could have and love. choice to take up weapons of death in the witnessed all the suffering caused by Saddarn Pragmatism has its proper place in use of force. However, this distorted logic is Hussein. If they could have witnessed this, politics, not in religion. When my (our) soul not the source of my distress either. he conjectured, readers would come to is at stake, it is faithful witness that matters, No, I am distressed because there is still realize that the thousands of civilian lives and results must be left in other hands. no shortage of people in our world who are lost, the thousands of injuries, and the willing to take up arms to right the wrongs, Newton Garver international disgrace ofartacking an vanquish the foe, punish the wicked, and East Concord, N.Y. unarmed country were worth the price to save the world once and for all; but the make the necessary regime change and problem is that everyone has their own idea subsequent liberation. This position illustrates Beating the drums of war of just what that means. I am distressed the premise, "The end justifies the means." I am greatly distressed by the ongoing because there are still so many people who History has shown us that violence easily commentary by Scott Simon, including the are willing to beat the drums of war and spirals out of control, empires are built then latest in the November Forum ("Please comparatively so few who can stand up and destroyed, and last century's victims are this Imagine Other Faces, Too").lt is not say that this is a place they will not go century's persecutors in a never-ending because I think the expression of his views because killing is fundamentally wrong. I battle. In the many thousands of years of should be disallowed by this journal. am distressed because Scott Simon, with his human history, the Earth has experienced Whether or not he still considers himself a national recognition, has chosen to beat the very few years of peace: each warrior Quaker, he certainly has the right to express drum along with the masses. I am distressed believing they had an "end" that justified his views here and elsewhere. because of our loss of someone who could their means. Huge numbers of people It is certainly true that I find his have been such valuable asset to a Voice that perished in wars in the 20th century alone, conclusions incomprehensible and is too often drowned out by all those and most of them were innocent civilians. incompatible with the compelling logic of beating drums. Today our modern weapons assure us that our Peace T escimony. I cannot, for example, Robert N Pavlovsky we've reached a critical point in human understand how the faceless skeletons of Morris Plains, N.J. history. It seems the "end" may only occur Celebrating 10 Years of Service H. Freeman to Quaker Educational Institutions ASS 0 CIA T E S, LLC and Non-Profit Organizations AREAS OF EXPERTISE: • Capital Campaign Planning and Implementation • Development Program Audits and Evaluation • Charitable Gift (or Deferred Gift) Planning • Major Gift Identification, Cultivation, and Solicitation OUR CLIENTS: During the past ten years H. Freeman Associates has provided fundraising consulting services to educational institutions and non-profit organizations throughout the country. We have served more than 25 Quaker organizations-ranging from the American Friends Service Committee, Friends Fiduciary Corporation, Friends General Conference, and Pendle Hill in the Greate r Philadelphia area to Earlham College in Richmond, IN; O lney Friends School in Barnesville, OH; Cambridge Frie nds School in Cambridge, MA; and Friends House Retirement Community in Sandy Spring, MD. We invite you to contact us. Henry B. Freeman 765.939.6910 H. Freeman Associates [email protected] 50 l East Main Street • Centerville, IN 47330 f RIENDS ]OURNAI..january 2004 47 when there are no more humans on the Earth: a testimony to human folly. Iraq is an excellent exrumple of such folly. If a regime change and liberation were our Scattergood Friends School, founded goals in Iraq, could we not have used our in 1890, is committed to fostering billions spent in war to some more creative, life.long and self-directed learning, constructive purpose to help the people in developing a sense of personal responsibility and cul tivating global Iraq? Or was our first intention war and citi zenship. occupation? Why else would this administration have devised so many tangles • All recent graduates have gained of deceit that intended to stir up fear, anger college acceptance and retribution? It wasn't until these lies were • Student-to-teacher ratio: 4 to I • Innovative block scheduling exposed that the goal was switched from a • Community service graduation focus of"get them before they get us" to a requirement focus of "liberation" and "democracy." • Shared work program N o, this was not a "just" war and we can • Organic garden, farm no longer claim that God is on our side. All • Comprehensive, exciting Arts Department we have done so far is terrorize the populace • Daily Collection, weekly (Operation Iron Hammer seems an Meeting for Worship appropriate nrume for all our missions), put oil under lease, and privatized Iraqi assets to For information, call toll-free at 1-888-737-4636, or e-mail crony U.S. corporations. It remains to be [email protected] seen if these contracts will be honored by the puppet Iraqi government we select. 1951 Delta Avenue Perhaps Scott Simon is simply West Branch, Iowa 52358 misinformed. Recently the Program on International Policy Attitudes {please view 'IV 'IV 'IV. S C a t full report at FRIENDS ]OURNALjanuary 2004 49 Young Adult Leadership Development Program at Pendle Hill: In the interns' own words: "An amazing Real Estate opportunity to live, work, play, study, and worship for 7 Quaker realtor specializing in Bucks County, Pa., and weeks in a beautiful, resource-rich community ... a chance Concernedc5i~ Mercer County, N.J. I welcome the opportunity to exceed to learn from and alongside inspirational people, recon Concerned Singles links socially conscious singles your expectations. Mark Fulton, Prudential Fox and Roach nect with your spiritual center, and be supported in off who care about peace, social justice, race, gender Rea~ors , 83 South Main Street, Yardley, PA 19067. (215) campus social justice work." Ages 18-24, June 13-Au equity, environment. Nationwide/international. All ages, 493-D400 ext. 131. gust 1, 2004. Modest stipend. straighVgay. Since 1984. Free sample: Box 444-FJ, Buck Hill Falls: 3-bedroom house in Friends community; Social Action and Social Witness Internships: a Sept. Lenox Dale, MA 01242; (413) 243-4350; 50 january 2004 fRIENDS j OURNAL Stratford Friends School provides a strong academic pro gram in a warm, supportive, ungraded setting for children ages 5 to 13 who learn differently. Small classes and an enriched curriculum answer the needs of the whole child. An at-risk program for five-year-olds is available. The school ••, w.... ~~ also offers an extended day program, tutoring, and summer ~ "'~ SERVICES FOR OLDER PEOPLE school. Information: Stratford Friends School, 5 Llandillo One· and two-week sessions for boys and girls ages Road, Havertown, PA 19083. (610) 446-3144. 7- 14. Built on the Quaker testimonies of Peace, Edu- Kendal communities and services reflect sound man cation, Simplicity, Stewardship, Equality, and Integrity, Sandy Spring Friends School. Five- or seven-day board agement, adherence to Quaker values, and respect for our diverse community builds new friendships in a ing option for grades 9-12. Day school pre-K through 12. each individual. "family" atmosphere. We live and play together and College preparatory, upper school AP courses. Strong arts Continuing care retirement communities: learn to appreciate one another in our outdoor, resi- and academics, visual and performing arts, and team ath Kendal at Longwood; Crosslands • Kennett Square, Pa. dential camp setting. For information call Travis (609) letic programs. Coed. Approximately 480 students. 140- Kendal at Hanover • Hanover, N.H. 654-8846, P. 0 . Box 263, Medford, NJ 08055. Finan- acre campus less than an hour from Washington, D.C., and Kendal at Oberlin • Oberlin, Ohio cial aid available. Baltimore, Md. International programs. Incorporating tradi Kendal at Ithaca • Ithaca, N.Y. tional Quaker values. 16923 Norwood Road, Sandy Spring, Kendal at Lexington • Lexington, Va. MD 20860. (301) 774-7455, ext. 158. Lansdowne Friends School-a small Friends school for Consulting services for educational institutions and boys and girls three years of age through sixth grade, rooted nonprofit organizations. Fundraising. Capital campaigns. in Quaker values. We provide children with a qual~ academic Planned giving. Recent clients include liberal arts col and a developmentally appropriate program in a nurturing leges, seminaries, independent schools, social service environment. Whole language, thematic education, conflict agencies, Pendle Hill, FGC, and many other Friends resolution, Spanish, alter-school care, summer program. organizations. 110 N. Lansdowne Avenue, Lansdowne, PA 19050. (610) Advertise in FRIENDS JOURNAL 623-2548. Frankford Friends School: coed, Pre-K to grade 8; serving Summer Camps center city, Northeast, and most areas of Philadelphia. We For information contact provide children with an affordable yet challenging aca Camp Woodbrooke, Wisconsin demic program in a small, nurturing environment. Frankford Make friends, experience commun~ . develop skills, Advertising Manager at Friends School, 1500 Orthodox Street, Philadelphia, PA and learn about the environment. Daily meeting. 19124. (215) 533-5368. --= ' Quaker leadership. Ages 7- 12, 34 boys and girls, 1216 Arch Street, 2A, 2-3 wks. Brochure (608) 647-8703, FRJENDS ]OURNAL]anuary 2004 51 We. ~ "Ji'M- -u &.:~u~~~~~~~Hal The Resident Study Program Our Resident Study Program remains a unique experiment in adult education-a place to gain knowledge and insight while deepening your awareness of God and of your own path in the world. Resident students at Pendle Hill have an opportunity rare in today's world: to step back from the routine and experience life itself as curriculum. All the components of this innovative program-engaging classes, daily worship, communal work, shared meals, social action, community activities-interconnect to form an experience that is greater than the sum of its parts. Social Witness Internships Each year our Resident Study Program includes up to seven interns who take part in some classes and other campus activities while also engaging in community service and action. Some are involved in Pendle Hill's programs in urban community justice and peace activism, while others follow their individual leadings in self-designed projects. One or more internships are designated to support African-American activists. Internships last the full three terms of the Resident Prog ram year. W~- ~~P~l*/1-~ W4' As a young Quaker from England, I came to Pendle Hill to better understand my calling to live w~ ~4ft~""~ and work in Catholic Worker ~~));P~HaL communities .... Pendle Hill allowed me the chance to reflect ~4ft~~~' on my past experiences in the urban hospitality movement and in community. I have been able to discern my future direction in 2004-2005 Term Dates peace and social justice work, and Autumn: September 24-December 11 to ground my involvement in the Winter: January 7- March 19 Catholic Worker movement within the context of Quaker testimonies. Spring: April1-June 11 -Rachel Howell, Pendle Hill Resident Program student and George Gorman Bursary Scholar, 2003 Contact Bobbi Kelly to find out more: 800.742.3150 {U.S. only) ext. 137 610.566.4507 ext. 137 ~PENDLE Hlu [email protected] A Quaker Center for Study and Contemplation 338 Plush Mill Road · Wallingford, PA 19086 www.pendlehill.org