May 2000 Quaker Thought · and Life Today ~-..~
Special Issue: Frieflds General Conference An Among Friends independent magazine serving the Congratulations FGC! Religious though FGC and FRIENDS JOURNAL are two entirely independent Quaker Society of organizations, we've long enjoyed a comfortable and mutually supportive Friends relationship. When I first worked for FRIENDS JouRNAL in the late 1970s, our office was located in the basement of Friends Center on Cherry Street in Philadelphia, 'EdHorial across a brick courtyard from the historic building that housed Friends General Susan Corson-Finnerty (Editor-Manager), Kenneth Sutton (Senior Editor), Roben Dockhorn Conference. The atmosphere at Friends Center was affable, and it was common to {Assistant Editor}, Judith Brown (Poetry Editor}, pass FGC staff in the hallways or having lunch in the courtyard on balmy days, Ellen Michaud {Book Reviro~ Editor}, Christine exchanging friendly greetings as we went about our tasks. In those days Ken Miller Rusch (Milestones Editor}, Julie Gochenour, Roben Marks, Cameron McWhiner (Nro~s sported a ponytail and was the organizer of the FGC Gathering, then held on the Editors}, Jennifer Zumpf (Intern), Marjorie Schier campus oflthaca College in New York. He also served on our Board of Managers. (Volunteer) Carolyn Terrell, who later served on our staff and then our Board, was in those days Production preparing religious education materials that FGC published and distributed. Barbara Benton (Art Director), Alia Podolsky {Assistant Art Dimtor) In subsequent years, my husband, Adam, and I were co-directors of Powell House, Circulation and Advertising the retreat and conference center ofNew York Yearly Meeting. I remember how Nagendran Gulendran (Marketing and Advertising valuable FGC's book catalog was to me, as one of my tasks was to stock the small Manager), Nicole Hackel (Circulation Assistant), Carrie Glasby, Ruth Peterson, Roben Sutton, bookstore at Powell House. How extraordinary those wonderful Quaker resources Ellen Wr.ight (Voluntem) are! And how eagerly Friends perused the volumes we stacked on the shelves in that Administration little bookstore. I was filled with gratitude many times for the wide array of resources Marianne De Lange (Office Manager), available through FGC, including curriculum materials for First-day school teachers. Pamela Nelson (Development Assistant), Tom McPeak (Accounting Servius) I came to love traveling to the annual FGC Gathering while first working for Board of Trustees FRIENDS JoURNAL. At Powell House, I scheduled summer events around it, knowing · Lucinda Antrim, Aaron Buckley, Paul Buckley, that so many other Friends enjoy the Gathering too. It has become a tradition for the TylaAnn Burger (Treasurer), Susan Carnahan JouRNAL to give coverage to that wonderful event each year--<>ne of the reasons you (Recording Clerk), Sue Carnell {Assistant Clerk), Linda Coffin, Mary Ann Downey, Marsha Green, will not find a particular focus on it in this issue (even though you will find it Dan Hewitt, Barbara Mays, Larry Miller, Caroline mentioned frequently). Balderston Parry, Ruth Peterson, Ted Robinson, David Runkel (Clerk), Larry C. Spears, Larry D. Returning to the JoURNAL last year, I found the magazine located in a new building Spears, Katherine Wood, Elizabeth Yeats on Arch Street, about four blocks from Friends Center, and sharing the second floor, FRIENDS j OURNAL (ISSN 00 16-1322) was established in two separate office suites, with our old friends at Friends General Conference. This in 1955 as the successor ro The Friend (1827-1955) was not entirely coincidental, as a member ofour Board of Trustees-Paul Buckley, and Friends lntelligmcer (1844-1955). an Illinois Yearly Meeting Friend who came to us from FGC's Central Committee • FRIENDSj OURNAL is published monthly by Friends Publishing Corporation, 1216 Arch Street, 2A, recommended that we purchase the front space when it became available. It was a Philadelphia, PA 19107-2835. Telephone (215) good suggestion. One of the pleasant consequences is that we still wave friendly 563-8629. E-mail Friends)[email protected]. Periodicals postage paid at Philadelphia, Pa., and additional greetings to our colleagues in FGC as we pass in the lobby or on the stairwell. Ken mailing offices. Miller no longer sports a ponytail, and these days he's working as FGC's associate • Subscriptions: one year $29, two years $54. secretary, tending to a multitude of business details. Now it's his dad, Larry Miller, a Add $6 per year for postage to countries outside the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Individual copies former general secretary ofFGC, who sits on our Board ofTrustees. Kenneth Sutton, $3 each. our senior editor, came to us afrer several years of work with the FGC bookstore. And • Advertising information and assistance isa vailable our Board treasurer, TylaAnn Burger, served FGC for many years as treasurer and on request. Appearance of any advertisement does then clerk of FGC's Central Committee. These days she's co-coordinator of the High not imply endorsement by FRJENDS jOURNAL. School Gathering. Clearly, the mutually supportive relationship between two • Postmaster: send address changes ro FRJENDS jOURNAL, 1216 Arch Street, 2A, Philadelphia, PA independent Quaker organizations continues to thrive! 19107-2835. Given this collegial history, it has been a special pleasure to prepare this centennial • Copyright © 2000 by Friends Publishing celebration issue. We received many more articles than we were able to include-and Corporation. Permission should be received before reprintingexcerpts longer than 200 words. hope you will agree with us that the selection published here gives a flavor of some of Available on microfllm from Bell and Howell the many aspects ofFGC. We've divided the material into four sections: vision, Information and Learning. history, programs, and "FGC as seedbed." On pages 10 to 16, a timeline, with PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER photos, runs across the bottom of the pages. Looking through the materials to prepare Min. 20% post-consumer this issue felt like looking through the family scrapbook and photo albums! We hope Moving? Let us update your you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed preparing it. We salute the staff and many, many volunteers who have served on FGC's subscription and address. committees over the past 100 years! Friends everywhere are the richer for the hard FRIENDS JOURNAL, 1216 Arch St., 2A work of these good folks. We look forward with anticipation to seeing the fruits of Philadelphia, PA 19107-2835 their labor fur many}"'ll' ro come. ~ ~ ~ (215) 563-8629, Fax (215) 568-1377 E-mail [email protected]
2 May 2000 FRIENDS JoURNAL May2000 FRIENDS Volume 46, No. 5 OURNAL Vision Programs 6 Nurturing VItal Quaker Meetings 35 Enriching the Uves of Couples and Spirit-Filled Friends Shirley and Verne Bechill Bruce Birchard 38 Worship in Song History Fran Beer 40 Almost Sixty Years with FGC 10 FGC Timeline Carolyn Nicholson Terrell 11 Where We Came From 43 The FGC Bookstore Deborah Haines Liz Yeats 14 A Guiding Ught Departments Alison Levie 17 Delighting in Friends: 2 Among Friends The Legacy of J. Barnard Walton 4 Forum . Marty Walton 5 Vtewpoint 18 J. Barnard Walton Marty Grundy 44 Books 20 Times of Great Change 47 News Larry Miller so Bulletin Board 20 World Council of Churches Dean Freiday 51 Milestones 22 Nonviolence and Racial Justice 53 Classified Martin Luther King Jr. Front cover background FGC as Seedbed photo: 1896 conferences ofFriends in Swarthmore, 24 A Quaker Action Group Pa., FGC archives George Lakey Inset: 1996 Gathering of Friends, photo © Bonnie J 27 Made to Feel Welcome Zimmer Bruce Grimes Photos not otherwise credited: 30 FGC Could Be a Better Courtesy ofFGC and Mirror of the World Friends Historical Library, Vanessa Julye Swarthmore College
1998 Gathering
FRIENDS JoURNAL May 2000 3 Forum Suggestions for solving include Cooperstown on their trip. Those position is on the agricultural issues who come by plane may want to extend discussed so clearly in Morse's article. hearing difficulty their visit a day or so, to take in this Peter Bien I have often thought a significant part of landmark showing. Hanover, N.H. the problem for Friends who don't hear well Kathryn Parke Black Mountain, N.C. Thank you for "The Message of Seattle." {Forum, FjFeb) is Friends who don't speak Friends are making a significant effort to up. Our culture frowns upon foisting our john Brzostoski's review ofthis show, "Hicks's encourage and influence the constructive views on others; I think this is one reason for Peaceable Kingdom, "appears in the February discussions that must take place around those views being offered in a soft, hesitant 2000 FRIENDS jOURNAJ..-Eds. trade issues. We appreciate your effort to voice. Another reason may be that speaking keep us informed and hope that you will to a group can feel intimidating. continue to do so. Although members of our meeting Let's get the name straight! Vici Oshiro remind each other to speak up in meeting Burnsville, Minn. for business, we have not resolved the Please, please, please. problem in meeting for worship. I wonder It was difficult enough to find out in how to convey to all the message that "what your March issue that my secret flame, What would John Woolman you have to say is important, and everyone Elizabeth Gray Vining, had died (very secret, wants to hear it!" "Non-foisting" can be we never met). It was almost as difficult to do? accomplished by the speaking tone. see my meeting referred to by the wrong David Morse's "The Message of Seattle" Also, I would like to see a way for Friends name, again, in her death notice. lends great meaning to the actions of many {not just those in positions ofleadership) to Very often, when I am at the Friends well-intentioned protestors who spent days acquire experience in speaking to a group. General Conference Gathering or other in the streets ofSeattle. Although many had Many people have little opportunity to do Friends gatherings, people ask what meeting political rationales for coming, the crowds of this, nor a venue (unless they are singers) to I belong to and where I work. In both cases, people gave cover to the 200 avowed violent hear helpful suggestions about opening the the answer is the same: "Friends Meeting of protestors. If you talk to police they will tell mouth, articulating clearly, supporting the Washington." It's the only one in the you the sheer numbers of people raised the sound with breath, and projecting. Not to District of Columbia. More often than not, perceived threat potential and probably mention standing up! I am quickly eldered: "Oh, you mean The caused some police to overreact. One Friend in our meeting, who was Florida Avenue Meeting!" In closing, David Morse makes reference insufficiently audible, has shown awareness Not really. We're keeping the same name to John Woolman. I ask one thing of those of the problem and determination in we've always had since our beloved member who believe that denying freedom of training herself. Now she can be heard, and President Herbert Hoover was attending. assembly to W odd Trade Organization I for one am the better for it. We'd appreciate it if you would help us delegates was a good decision: What would judith Inskeep out by using our right name in your John Woolman do? White Plains, N.Y. publication. We, in turn, won't call you Woolman reasoned he could not play a "The Arch Street journal. "Many thanks. part with. the slave trade, so he chose not to trade in dyes or sugar. H e made a significant Major exhibit of Hicks Riley Robinson nonviolent gesture-he did not associate Washington, D.C. with the violent abolitionists of his day. paintings will be near the I would like to challenge Friends to be Gathering Our apologies to members ofFriends Meeting thoughtful and speak truth to power by ofWashington, and thanks to Riley Robinson finding nonviolent means to express Friends should be aware that a major for the reminder.-Eds. disagreement with WTO policies. This exhibition of Edward Hicks's Peaceable means associating with people who commit Kingdom paintings is currently touring in to fighting battles with spiritual weapons the U.S. An article in The Christian Science Thanks for "The Message of alone. Monitor (31312000) gives details. The Seattle" Such a commitment is what makes us exhibition will be at the Fenimore Art Friends. Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y., from June I appreciate your hesitation to publish David Newman 4 to September 4. After that (September 24 long articles, but I hope that you will feel Seattle, Wash. to January 6), it can be seen at the M.H. free to make exceptions. I say this because of deYoung Memorial Museum in San David Morse's "The Message of Seattle" (Fj FRIENDS JouRNAL welcomes Forum Francisco. Mar.), since this was the most meaningful contributions. Please try to be briefso we It must be rare for Friends to have an article I've read in FRIENDSJoURNAL in a long may include as many as possible. Limit opportunity to see these famous Quaker time. letters to 300 words, Viewpoint to 1,000 paintings. Hicks painted many Peaceable I'm taking it with me to New York to use • words. Addresses are omitted to maintain Kingdom paintings, with numerous in the meetings of the American Farm the author's privacy; those wishing to variations. School Board of Trustees, Thessaloniki, correspond directly with authdrs may It's especially important that people Greece, the school founded by Presbyterians send letters to FRIENDS JoURNAL to be attending the FGC Gathering this year from Princeton 95 years ago and combined forwarded. Authors' names are not to know about the Cooperstown exhibit. later with another school founded by British be used for personal or organizational Cooperstown is about 200 miles from Friends. Primed by David Morse, I intend solicitation. -Eds. Rochester. Many Friends may want to to ask the school's farm-director what his
4 May 2000 FRIENDS JoURNAL Viewpoint A better understanding is needed of the WfO's abilities and limitations · avid Morse's article on the protests ruled that the United States could not apply oping country member governments to de in Seattle (F] Mar.} contains a certificate requirements differently for Asian velop strategies and capacities to strengthen Dnumber of factual errors about the exporters than it does for Caribbean. It is Article 27.3(b) by linking it to the Conven World Trade Organization. The protests a fundamental principle in the WTO that tion on Biological Diversity and the UN and the article raise important concerns national legislation applying environmental Food and Agricultural Organization's com about globalization, and the article effec standards can only be challenged if it is used mitments to farmers' rights. (For Friends tively records the events surrounding the to discriminate against .foreign producers in concerned about these issues, see Patents, demonstrations. But the errors distort the favor of other foreign or domestic producers. Trade, Food, and Biological Diversity, avail nature and scope of WTO activities and Restraint of trade was not a factor in this able on the Quaker UN Office homepage: impair understanding and judgment about case.
FRIENDS JOURNAL May 2000 5 Nurturing Vztal f)uaker Meetings and spirit-Filled Friends by Bruce Birchard
his is a wonderful year for Friends and event-planning committees. The An our lack of a creed, our consequent General Conference-and not just nual Gathering of Friends-still known openness to a wide range of belief, our Tbecause of the centennial. In recent to many as "Friends General Confer emphasis on direct personal experience of years, FGC has felt a great movement of ence"-is planned and supported by sev God, our radically democratic, bottom- the Spirit, discerning more clearly its mis eral hundred volunteers, many of whom . up structure, our liberal-to-radical social sion and responding with vigor to the put in hundreds and hundreds ofhours of and political values, and a strong sense of opportunities and challenges facing un very hard work. shared community. programmed Friends at the turn of the In the past three years, FGC has dra At the same time, the number of century. We are taking significant steps to matically expanded its serviCes to Friends: meetings and worship groups has increased support the growth of a truly vital, Spirit initiating the Traveling Ministries Pro dramatically. In 1956, 371 meetings and filled Religious Society of Friends in the gram; enlarging the Conference Program, worship groups were listed by Friends coming decades. Through our many ser the FGC Bookstore, the Religious Educa World Committee in the currendy FCC vices to Friends, we help build dynamic tion Program, and our Publications Pro affiliated yearly meetings. In 1992, the communities of Quaker faith in which gram; and creating a terrific FGC website number reported was 614. That's a 65-. Friends deeply experience the Spirit and (
6 May 2000 FRIENDS JouRNAL our numbers have remained Page 6: Nurturing the steady, while many ofour meet Nurturers Conference, 1999 Left: The clerks' table, FGC ings have few seasoned Friends. Central Committee, 1999 A growing number of these Below: Young Quakes Friends and meetings are out gathering, 1999 side of the northeastern United States, where the four relatively large yearly meetings are located: Philadelphia with 11,700 members; and Baltimore, New England, and New York, each with approximately 4,000. We are indeed blessed by the results of these trends. Thousands of new Friends and attenders have brought energy and ideas to our meetings. We have been par ticularly fommate to have an influx of openly lesbian, gay, and bisexual Friends, many ofwhom have joined Quaker meet ings because we welcome them, their gifi:s, and their ministries. There is also a trickle of new Friends of color-a trickle that I pray will become a flood as we recognize and shed old racist assumptions and hab its ofwhite privilege. Many meeting com munities are enriched by Friends who come from or practice faiths outside Chris tianity, includingJudaism, Buddhism, and other spiritual approaches. These trends also present challenges. We are widely dispersed, many in meet who could help them nurture spiritual materials, the bookstore/distribution efforts, ings of 10 to 30 active members. Many growth, improve clerking and meetings yearly meeting visitors, the Gathering, and small or new meetings have few seasoned for business, deal with conflicts within the the other programs of FGC. In the past, we Friends who can convey the fundamental meeting, find ways to share diverse experi were able to send two Friends to the Religious practices, values, and understandings es ences ofthe Spirit in an open and support Educators' Institute .... My own monthly meeting benefited greatly from the long so sential to a vital, Spirit-centered Religious ive manner, and feel more connected with journ of Connie McPeak, which originated Society of Friends. In some meetings other meetings and the larger world of out ofa [Religious Education] supponed visit both old and new--direct experience of Friends. by Marty Grundy about three years ago. In the living Spirit in meeting is rare. Our In 1994, feeling led to respond to these my personal opinion, the growth and increas suspicion of any kind of authority--even requests but constrained by limited re ing strength ofour yearly meeting parallels the spiritual authority-has caused many sources, FGC engaged Allen Oliver from suppon that we have received from FGC over meetings to fail to discern and nurture Louisville (Ky.) Meeting to travel as a pan the years. spiritual gifts in their members. This weak time volunteer among Friends for four Also in 1998, with a clearer sense of ens us in the long run. years. Allen led workshops and retreats, mission, an approved "Long-Term Plan," spoke, facilitated conflict resolution, and and more funds, FGC's Central Commit listened, listened, listened. In the process, tee initiated a new and larger effort to Nurturing Meetings and he met other seasoned Friends who were provide direct nurture and support to open to traveling in similar ministries. We Worship Groups meetings and worship groups: the Travel realized that the fields were already planted, For most ofour 100 years, support for ing Ministries Program. With a network the seed was in fertile meeting soil, and of hundreds of current and former com the life and growth of meetings and wor God was providing the gardeners. mittee members, workshop leaders, writ ship groups has been at the core ofFGC's In 1998, I received a marvelous letter ers, speakers, and other gifted Friends, mission. As pan of that support, we have from an active member of Central Alaska FGC helps meetings find a seasoned Friend enabled hundreds ofFriends-some staff, Friends Conference (CAFC). He wrote, who can "speak to their condition." Since but many more volunteers-to visit, wor in pan: ship with, and talk with Friends and meet networks need clear "access points," FGC ings spread over much of North America. CAFC Friends are particularly apprecia hired a full-time staff coordinator for this If anything, the need for this kind of tive for the ongoing suppon of our yearly and program. Soon she was in phone and e nurture and support is increasing. In re monthly meetings by FGC. We have ben mail conversations with hundreds of cent years, meetings have asked for visitors efited greatly from the religious education Friends, responding to a large variety of
FRIENDS JoURNAL May 2000 7 VISion concerns and requests. In 1999, she ar these important ways, FGC helps to de Committee on Unity with Nature. ranged for visitors, all of them volunteers, velop servant leadership for our religious During the past 25 years, FGC has to visit 35 meetings and worship groups, society. made this experience available to more and she visited several others herself Other and more Friends, regardless of their fi FGC programs were involved in 25 addi nancial resources and geographical loca tional visits. Building VItal Community, tion. We have taken the Gathering to During one three-week period, FGC Nurturing Spiritual Growth many different areas ofthe continent, from traveler Nancy Middleton visited 15 meet Ontario to Oklahoma, from Minnesota ings and worship groups in North Pacific Our best-known program, and the one to North Carolina. FGC is currently ex Yearly Meeting as part of our new pro from which we took our name, is what we ploring the possibility of holding a Gath gram. In her report, she described the now call the "Annual Gathering of ering in the western part of Canadian experience: Friends" (to distinguish it from the name Yearly Meeting, perhaps in Vancouver. of the organization, We have also increased the amount of "Friends General money available for financial aid. A thank Conference"). It pro you letter from a first-time Gathering vides a great variety attender and financial aid recipient sug of workshops, speak gests that the Gathering is a seminal expe ers, worship experi rience for many new as well as old Friends: ences, and discussion and study groups. It This week I have done things that I've regularly brings to never done. I have felt included, accepted, gether 1,500-2,000 and affirmed exactly as I am in a way that Friends from most surprised and amazed me. I have slowed down, states of the United even as I rushed from one satisfying event to the next, so that God had a chance to walk States and several with me. I chanted, flew on a giant eagle's provinces of Canada. back, forged my own melody while singing {a Programs include a daring first!), and nestled comfortably in God's week-long "Junior soft, warm, welcoming lap. The other gifts of Gathering" for several FGC are still settling into my spirit, slowly, Some meetings and worship groups had a hundred children and a special program but definitely, smoothing out the wrinkles clear sense' of topics they wished to engage for 150 high-schoolers. In addition, scores there. with during my visit. At other times, Friends of meetings and discussions are organized were comfortable having me create a query and led by Gathering attenders. It is this Recognizing that many Friends cannot around which we could have worship sharing feature that has made the Annual Gather attend the week-long Annual Gathering, or discussion .... It was as if I needed first to ing an incubator for many new Quaker we recently initiated a program ofsmaller, connect with the spiritual energy of the group groups and organizations, such as Friends regional conferences held over extended before I could be guided to know what was needed. . . . There were times when a topic for Lesbian and Gay Concerns and Friends weekends. The first of these was the "Nur- was raised as we gathered, providing for the wonder ofspo ntaneity guided by the Spirit.... The movement of the Spirit within me, in Responding to the Challenges others and in the groups gathered, as I experi enced it, was profound. Only the moment In 1993, Friends General Confer -Faith is based on direct experience became important. And in that moment, the ence initiated a process of "Discern of God. engagement with others was always in the ment in Long-Term Planning" that -Our lives witness to this experience context of the Unquestionable Presence. helped us develop a Minute of Pur individually and corporately. pose and eventually a Long-Term Plan. -By answering that of God in every Of course, each meeting has members This in turn led to the establishment one, we build and sustain inclusive with their own gifts of ministry. The sec of the Traveling Ministries Program community. ond major goal of the Traveling Minis and many new and expanded services Friends General Conference pro tries Program is to assist meetings to dis within existing programs. Our Minute vides resources and opportunities that cern, encourage, and support gifts ofmin of Purpose states: educate and invite members and istry in their own communities. FGC helps attendees to experience, individually meetings to consider an appropriate, Spirit Friends General Conference is a and corporately, God's living presence, led clearness process for Friends who be Quaker organization in the unpro and to discern and follow God's lieve they may be experiencing a spiritual grammed tradition of the Religious leadings. Friends General Conference leading. Meetings should nurture and Society of Friends which primarily reaches out to seekers and other reli guide such Friends as they move along a serves affiliated yearly and monthly gious bodies inside and outside the path involving the exercise of their God meetings. It is our experience that: Religious Society ofFriends. given gifts in appropriate ministries. In
8 May 2000 FRIENDS joURNAL Member Yearty Meetings with year ofaffiliation and approximate current membership neys, as well as how they carry back new understandings and stronger commit 1900 1968 ments to their home meetings. Baltimore Yearly Meeting New England Yearly Meeting 4,542 members 4,300 members Canadian Yearly Meeting (formerly Genesee) 1972 Teaching and 1,000 members Southeastern Yearly Meeting Communicating Illinois Yearly Meeting 1,000 members 927members As "good Quakers," we are not entirely 1974-79 comfortable with the word "teaching," New Yon Yearly Meeting which implies a hierarchy ofexperience or 3,500 members Central Alaska Friends Conference knowledge. Yet from Quakerism's earliest Ohio Valley Yearly Meeting (formerly Indiana) 370members . days, our religious society has recognized 860members Northern Yearly Meeting gifrs of ministry and teaching. We do not Philadelphia Yearly Meeting 750members equate this with formal religious training 11,771 members or with professional, paid clergy. It is clear Piedmont Friends Fellowship 1962 that teaching and learning go both ways; 975members the most seasoned Friends learn from less Central Yearly Meeting South Southern Appalachian Yearly experienced but Spirit-led folks. Through 588members Meeting and Association the Annual Gathering, regional confer 1967 1,362 members ences, publications, and visits by seasoned lake Erie Yearly Meeting Total Friends, FGC constantly communicates, 1,000 members 32,945 members teaches, and models core experiences, val ues, and principles of Friends, while it also learns from them. turing the Nurturers Conference" in South Spirit-centered web. Many committee The Young Quakes Conferences are Carolina in March 1999; it drew 157 members emphasize the ways in which intended to present the Christian and uni Friends from 3 1 states and Canadian prov FGC committee service both challenges versalist roots of contemporary Quaker inces. In October 1999 our Religious Edu and nurtures them on their spiritual jour- ism to high school Friends. One of the 20 cation Program held a adults at the 1999 conference noted: special "Young Quakes Conference" in western Some Friends had their first experience Maryland for 70 high reading Hebrew and Christian scriptures .... school Friends from 17 In some plenary sessions and workshops, as well as in family groups, Friends explored states and provinces. In what God and Jesus meant to them. Young 2000, FGC will hold a Friends were challenged to verbalize matters second Young Quakes sometimes left unexpressed in the non Conference in Illinois programmed tradition. This was good pre and a three-day Reli paration for YouthQuake, where talking gious Educators Insti about the historical/living Christ and the tute in Virginia. Through our T rav eling Ministries Pro gram, FGC also nur tures spiritual growth and spins a web that unites us in an extended Quaker community. This web is reinforced in many addi tional ways: by sending committee and staff visitors to the annual ses sions ofmost NotthAmerican yearly meetings in the unprogrammed tra dition, through local programs on religious education, couple enrich ment, and many other topics, and Page 8: Religious Educators Institute, late 1980s through the hosting of FGC com Top left: Traveling Minstries mittee meetings by more than a Program, 2000 dozen monthly meetings each year. Above and left: FGC Gathering, Committee service itself can spin a 1997
FRIENDS JoURNAL May 2000 9 VISion
Bible are central, and where those unaccus prepared and published more First-day Gonna Help This Garden tomed to the language of biblical faith may be school materials and curricula than any at a disadvanrage. other organization of unprogrammed Grow Friends. We publish a wide range ofbooks Many Friends know the song, Inch by FGC works extensively with young and materials by and about Friends for Inch, Row by Row, the second line of people to nurture their development as adults as well. The FGC Bookstore carries which is "Gonna m"ake this garden grow." Friends and as eventual Q uaker leaders. the largest selection of books, pamphlets, With typical Quaker independence, I have Each year, panicipants in the High School and materials in North America on Quak always sung that line, "Gonna help this Program at our Annual Gathering iden erism and related topics of interest. D ur garden grow"-because I have learned that tify several who could serve as clerks for ing the past 12 years, the volume ofbook the yearly miracle of vegetables and flow the following year's High School Program. store sales-almost all of which are to ers is not under my control. At the same During the ensuing year, FGC arranges Friends and meetings-has increased time, without my work, my garden be for these high school Friends to attend a nearly tenfold. Our newsletter, FGCon comes an unrecognizable mass of weeds. weekend workshop at Pendle Hill on nections, and our web site provide addi My help is essential. clerking. FGC volunteers work closely with tional, important links to Friends. We So it is with our efforts to tend the these young Friends who then clerk the have begun publishing useful shon items Quaker garden. The action of the Spirit is high schoolers' business meetings during online that Friends may download and absolutely essential. Without this, noth the Gathering, thus performing impor print easily, and anyone may use a credit ing. But it is through the exercise of our tant mentoring functions with their peers. card to order books directly from
ChautauqUA, N.Y. Henry Wilbur first FGC (1,200 present) staffperson, secretary of B-elay conforence O.Edward Advancement Committee in Swarthmore, Janney, presiding Asbury Park, N.j. Mountain LaM Pa. clerk 1,500 attending 1905-1914 Park, Md. (3,000 p resent) RkhmonJ, Ind. 1900-1920 scattered all over town Toronto, Ont. 2,500 p resent • • • • • • 1902
10 May 2000 FRIENDS joURNAL Histoty Where~ Came From by Deborah Haines
n the beginning, Friends General Con ans and, after the Civil War, a ten-year idea: religion could only be experienced, ference was primarily a grassroots move experiment in which Friends served as not learned from books. Nevertheless, by Iment, not an association ofyearly meet Indian agents, administering federal pro the 1860s some Friends in Philadelphia ings. Biennial conferences came first; the grams on some reservations. Until 1878, and Baltimore were holding First-day organization followed. There were, of the Hicksite yearly meetings had joint school classes in their own homes, for course, yearly meetings in the 19th cen responsibility for the Northern Super anyone in need of religious instruction, tury-seven of them in the Hicksite or intendancy, centered in Nebraska; the including the children ofFriends. In 1867, liberal branch of Friends. Five had split Orthodox yearly meetings jointly man the Philadelphia First-day School Associa from their Orthodox namesakes during aged the Southern Superintendancy in tion held a "general conference" for all the great schism ofl827-1828: New York, the Oklahoma Territory. Hicksite Friends involved in the move Philadelphia, Baltimore, Ohio, and Indi This extraordinary experiment opened ment. Before long, all seven yearly meet ana. Genesee was formed to serve Friends the door to joint action among the Hicksite ings had their own First-day School Asso inupstateNewYorkandCanadain 1834; yearly meetings, but the initiative rested ciations, and conferences were being held Illinois was organized in 18_75 by joining with individual Friends. The four streams biennially in locations ranging from New the western section of Indiana (Hicksite) that converged to form FGC began with York City to Richmond, Indiana, to Goose with the meetings planted in Nebraska by Friends gathering across yearly meeting Creek, Virginia. Outreach was always a Baltimore Friends working with Indians. lines around issues of common concern. concern. In 1886 there were 7,400 stu- Concern for Native Americans was a The result was a network of longstanding Q uaker testimony. Each yearly meeting committees, yearly meeting had its committee on In like the old Indian Affairs dian Affairs, and joint action made sense. committees, bound together There were joint petitions to the govern in their work. ment for more humane treatment oflndi- The first of these four Deborah Haines, a se/femplcyed historian, is a streams was the First-day member ofSwarthmore (Pa.) Meeting now liv school movement, which had ing in Arlington, Va. She is clerk ofthe Ad Hoc begun in England in the late Committee to Coordinate FGC Centennial Ob- 18th century. For decades Hicksites resisted the whole FRJENDS GENERAL CONFERENCE CAPE MAY. N.J. SI:VI:NTH MONTH. 7th to 14th. 1900 Prog,.. m Unuauall,y lntereatinll ud lnapirlnfl p.t,S1011fS .ouuoa An r;YUMCIS ltcUATIOie MTtaltOCih ...ltCW. PLAII* r'C* TM ~at 0CCA110N UGHtTtCANT 101 SH.tAOIMG f'llt: NCUAGe OP QUAna11M
Left: Historical pageant, 1914 Above: 1920 Gathering poster
Small secretarUd Saratoga Springs, N.Y. con.formce he/J Ocean Grove, N.j. ChataUIJtul, N.Y. ]. Barnard Walton, at George School, W.E.B. DuBois WnY "light festivities advancemn~t secretary m4nyabroad Winonll Lake, Ind. speaks on NAACP no kJnger taboo" 1914--1951 N.j. because war
1910
FRIENDS j oURNAL May 2000 11 dents in Hicksite First-day schools, 40 istry and rediscover the energy that had ferences of 1896 were planned by a 16- percent of them non-Friends. mobilized the Valiant Sixty. member "Central Committee" drawn, for The second stream was the Friends The fourth stream was the Friends Edu the sake of convenience, from New York, Union for Philanthropic Labor. As early cation Conference, which brought together Philadelphia, and Baltimore Yearly Meet as 1878, Jonathan Plummer of the newly those working in Friends schools and col ings. It had a budget of $10,000. As one organized Illinois Yearly Meeting called leges. The need for such a conference was Friend observed: 'Thirty-six or thirty-seven for a general conference on social reform presented to the conference of First-day thousand meals [have been] freely given; concerns. The first conference was held in School Associations in 1894 by Dr. Ed fourteen hundred guests have been kept 1878, drawing Friends from Ohio, Indi ward Magill, formerly president of and lodged; probably not less than six ana, Illinois, and Baltimore Yearly Meet Swarthmore College, founded in 1869 as thousand Friends have been here as ings. Within a decade all seven yearly the Hicksite response to Orthodox sembled, and enjoyed these conferences." meetings had created committees on phil Haverford. It was an enormous undertaking, and a anthropic labor to carry forward the work In 1896, all four conferences came to great success. between biennial conferences. From 1890 gether at Swarthmore College. The 20th At Swarthmore, a new Central Com on, the Philanthropic Union scheduled its session of the First-day School Confer mittee, drawn from the western yearly sessions in cooperation with the First-day ence was held August 18-19. The first meetings, was created to plan the 1898 School Association. By then there was an General Educational Conference was held . conferences in Richmond, Indiana. Al Executive Committee of60 Friends over August 20--21, followed by the second though much smaller in attendance, the seeing 11 subcommittees. These were re Friends Religious Conference August 21- Richmond conferences were just as pow sponsible for publicizing Friends' testi 22. The Friends Philanthropic Union, the erful. Having so many Friends come to monies in areas such as: peace and arbitra largest of the four, held its ninth confer gether to share their concerns and vision tion, temperance, social purity, prisons ence August 24-26. The keynote address was an almost intoxicating experience, es and asylums, lotteries and gambling, capi on "The Past and Future of Quakerism" pecially for those from small and isolated tal punishment, Indian was given by John Will meetings. It was dear that Friends were affairs, the education of iam Graham ofLondon onto a good thing. A permanent organiza colored people, tobacco, Yearly Meeting, a mov tion was needed to ensure that the move dependentchildren,and ing spirit behind the in ment would continue. improper publications. fluential Manchester At the Chautauqua conferences of The third stream to Conference of 1895. 1900, Friends General Conference was feed into the formation The Swarthmore con- formally established. There would be a ofFGC was the Friends Religious Conference. This grew out of the World's Parliament of Religions held at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Jonathan Plummer was again at the forefront. He addressed the parliament on behalf of Friends and challenged others to share Friends' message with the world. Begin ning in 1894, a Religious Conference was held in conjunction with the biennial con ferences of the First-day School Associa tion and the Friends Union for Philan thropic Labor. It had no yearly meeting committee structure, but brought together Friends longing to revitalize Quaker min-
FGCdrafts FGC Education Cape May, NJ. a recommended . Faith and Practice Committee Arthur C jackson, for its year!J launches the presiding clerk meetings Cape May, NJ. Friends Council 1920-1941 JUclmwtul, Itui. Ocean City, NJ. Ocean City, N.J. 1928-1962 (even years) on Education • • • • • • • 1930 • 12 May 2000 FRIENDS J oURNAL permanent Central Committee of 100 Associations met monthly to provide ing way to a new spirit of active witness. Friends, appointed by the yearly meet speaking and leadership experience for One leading spokesman for this new ings. The yearly meetings would divide younger Friends. The idea quickly spread era was Henry WuburofNew York Yearly the cost. Quotas for representation and to New York and Baltimore Yearly Meet Meeting. In 1901, Wubur brought to the financial responsibility were based on size, ings, and general conferences of the Asso FGC Executive Committee his concern ranging from Philadelphia (47 percent) to ciations were held semiannually begin that distinctions between religious teach New York and Baltimore (18 percent each) ning in 1895. The Friends Associations ing and social testimoJ;ty were artificial. down to Ohio (2 percent). The First-day were never absorbed into FGC, but they The single duty ofFriends, he said, was to School Association, the Friends Union for were a valued and active adjunct, channel witness to Quaker beliefs and principles in Philanthropic Labor, and the Education ing fresh energy and a new generation of both word and deed. The work of the Conference would become standing com Quaker leaders into the conferences and FGC committees should be driven by this mittees of Friends General Conference. the Central Committee. sense of mission. Inspired by Wilbur's Friends active in these concerns would be Although FGC originated in four sepa vision, the Central Committee created a the pool from which yearly meetings chose rate conferences (five if the Friends Asso new standing Committee on the Advance their representatives to the Central Com ciations are counted), there was from the ment of Friends Principles, to oversee the mittee. Ideally each of the three was to beginning a strong sense ofcommon pur work of the other committees. Two years have 30 representatives on the Central pose. The unifying thread was outreach. later, Henry Wilbur was hired as secretary Committee. Each of the conferences-First-day of the FGC Advancement Committee. The final ten members of the Central Schools, Philanthropic Labor, Education, The hiring of a staff person was a radi Committee represented a new element in and Religious-was seeking in its own cal act in those days. To many Friends it the mix: young adult Friends. These were way to communicate Friends beliefs and seemed the first dangerous step toward a to be appointed not by the yearly meet testimonies to those outside the Religious paid ministry. But Wubur believed that ings, but by the Executive Committee of Society of Friends. The quietism that had he would be acting only as a servant. Freed the General Conference of Friends (or characterized Hicksite Quakerism was giv- to travel, correspond, write, and reflect, he Young Friends) Associations. This was yet could devote all his energy another grassroots movement, born in the to advancing the work of Philadelphia area in 1888. Part social Friends. In 1908, the Friends mixer, part debating society, local Friends Associations asked Wubur to serve as their secretary as well. Until his death in 1914, he was a beloved and inspira tional leader, particularly among young Friends. Wuburwas succeeded as ad vancement secretary by J. Barnard Walton, who served until1951.
Left to right, pages 12-13: Poster for 1932 Gathering; Cape May, 1946, 1956, 1956; Tom Bodine and general secretary Larry Miller, 1970 Bliss Forbush, presU/ing clerk, 1941-1949 George A. Walton, presUiing clerk, 1949-1954 ]. Barnard Walton,fie/J secretary, 1951- 1963 Earle Edwards, gennal secretary, 1951-1954 Lawrence McK. Miller, gennal secretary, 1954-1965 Cklrence E. Pickett, presUiing clerk, 1956-1958 Barrett Hollister, presUiing clerk, 1959-1969 Industrial Columbia. Mo. Rekltions Social Services Traverse City, Mich. Lawrence McK. Milkr, Wdmington, Ohio Committee helps George Corwin, gennal secretary Ocean Grove, N.j. found Friends Traverse general secretary 1967-1971 Committee on City, Mich. Lloyd Bailey, Natrona! Cape May, N.J. presiding clerk property Legiskltion Cape May, N.J. Cape May, NJ. 1970-1976 c •• c •• • • • • • • • • • 1934 1940
FRIENDS JoURNAL May 2000 13 From the beginning, the Advancement forward Quaker concerns, including A Guiding Committee was responsible for raising American Friends Service Committee, funds to support its staff. An annual ap Friends Committee on National Legisla propriation for advancement was included tion (which FGC helped organize in 1940), in the FGC budget beginning in 1913, and Friends Coordinating Committee on Light but it did not cover costs. Through 1950, Peace. In 1968 the Committee on Peace the only fundraising done by FGC was to and Social Order was laid down. by Alison Levie support the "Advancement and Office" The Education Committee also gave budget. The rest ofthe costs of the organi way to a better-staffed successor. In 1930, "ane Rushmore ( 1864-1958) is not zation were supported by yearly meeting the committee created Friends Council one of the names that dominate quotas, regularly adjusted to reflect changes on Education as a specialized forum for J20th-century Quaker history. M in membership. Quaker schools and Quaker educators. ter a little research into her life, one Meanwhile, the rest of the committees Continued_ on p. 16 wonders why she remains largely un had no assigned staff. known. That Jane Rushmore was a The Philanthropic powerful mover and shaker among Committee, renamed Friends is clear. She played an active Social Services in the role in the development of Friends 1920s, relied totally on General Conference, had great influ volunteers. Over the ence in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting years, its concerns re (Race Street), and may well have been flected the interests of one of the most influential Friends in those most active--race religious education during the first half relations from the 1920s of the 20th century. She also wrote 1:~ on, economic problems extensively, yet most Friends today look ~ in the 1930s, and peace vague or blank when they hear her ~ in the 1940s and 1950s. name. ..,s. By this time a host of As early as 1894, Jane was an active new organizations had participant in the joint conferences been created to carry that culminated in the formation of FGC. Her earliest involvement was with the Young Friends Association and the Philanthropic Committee, but her greatest contributions to FGC were in the area of religious education. In 1907, she became the general secretary for the First-day School Committee, where she encouraged the develop ment ofFirst-day schools and wrote or
Alison Levie, a member of Goshen (Pa.) Meeting; works part-time at The Other .Side magazine.
FWCC Conference ofFrinuls ofthe Americas, Wrchita, Kans. Berea. Ky. Rklmwnd, Ind. Stephen L Angell, presiJing Sheila Bach, interim PYM ana FGC Religious clerk 1977-1979 general secretary Education programs . Dwight Spann-Wtlson, general Slippery Rock, Pa. Berea. Ky. secretary 1977-1981 Ithaca. N.Y. separated Lloyd Lee Wtlso Howard Bartram, Ithaca. N.Y. Ithaca. N.Y. general secretary general secretary, George Webb, presiding George Webb, presiJing 1982-1985 1972-1977 Ithaca. N.Y. clerk Ithaca. N.Y. clerk 1980-1984 • • • • • • • • • • • 1974
14 May 2000 FRIENDS JoURNAL provided oversight for and distributed from her legacy does not bear her name. It is graded lesson plans. Bet the office, and staff woven into the fabric of our organiza ter training and prepara projects were often in tions and our heritage as we move tion ofteachers remained valuable to FGC. forward. a concern throughout Jane served on While I cannot help but feel that her years as a public FGC's Central Com her relatively low profile today may be Friend. mittee for a total of25 influenced by the fact that she was a In those formative years, maintained a woman and that some of her greatest years of joint endeavors strong presence with contributions were in religious educa between Hicksite yearly the First-day School tion, which has not received the great meetings, Jane's personal Committee, and con est attention in the Religious Society of visits to meetings on be tinued writing. At the Friends, in studying her life I find many half of the First-day time of her death, other unfamiliar names. Many Friends School Committee, first in the East where Swarthmore Alumni reported that "if one have worked tirelessly to strengthen, Friends were concentrated, but eventually picks up a Quaker tract or study outline of nurture, and heal the Religious Soci throughout FGC, were well received. By Quakerism, the Bible, or social concern ety of Friends and the world. Many September 1911, the committee minutes with no indication as to who wrote it, Friends continue to operate behind report that Jane had visited all ofthe FGC most likely the author was Jane P. the scenes, and perhaps these are some affiliated meetings in Indiana. Unpro Rushmore." ofour greatest role models and teach grammed meetings in the largely pastoral And therein lies the answer to my ear ers-some ofour greatest strength. environment of midwestern Friends were lier question, why more people don't rec When Jane Rushmore received an often small and isolated, making visits and ognize the name ofJane Rushmore. Un honorary degree from Swarthmore ~upport critical. like many of her well-known contempo College in 1952, President John Nason By 1911, Jane stepped down as general raries such as Rufus Jones or Clarence said, secretary to the First-day School Commit Pickett, she did not have a Ph.D. or oper tee to be appointed secretary of Friends ate in a college setting. She did not really Jane Palen Rushmore, as teacher, min Central Bureau of Philadelphia Yearly write for posterity. She wrote for the daily ister, and writer, thee has devoted thy life Meeting (Raee Street). In her new role, and weekly sustenance of Friends. She to the seiVice of God and of thy fellow Jane did much to promote cooperation served as secretary and clerk to Friends men through the Society of Friends. and support between FGC and PYM. organizations, not as chair, and she worked Staunch in the defence of ancient Quaker principles, honest and courageous in Her yearly meeting office served both or largely behind the scenes. That she was a recognizing the new demands of a chang ganizations, as publications could be stored weighty and respected Friend is clear, but ing world, old in wisdom and young in spirit, thy voice has been one of the guiding lights during this century of the Race StreetYearly Meeting.
Welivevvith the legacy of Jane Rushmore and many others like her. We honor her with our own commitment and spirit. 0
Page 14 (both photos): 1976 Gathering Left: 1986 Gathering Top of page: Jane Rushmore Slippery Rock, Pa. Canton, N.Y. Marty Walron, FGC11Unles to 1216 Boone, N.C. general secretary Oberlin, Ohio Arch Street Stillwater, Okla. 1985-1992 Northfield, Minn. Northfield, Minn. Tyla Ann Burger, Canton, N.Y. Betsy Munu:h, presiding presUling clerk Bruce Birchard, Canton, N.Y. clerk 1986-1990 Boone, N.C. 1990-1996 general secretary 1992- • • • • • • • • • •
FRIENDS joURNAL May 2000 15 Thereafter it served as a liaison with the agenda. A rudimentary program for chil towns-since the 1920s. By 1980, FGC FCE, until being laid down in 1966. dren was offered beginning in 1916. By consisted of not seven but founeen yearly The First-day School Committee had 1930 it had expanded into a full-fledged meetings and associations and offered di begun to. pay Jane Rushmore a small sti "Junior Conference" under the leadership rect affiliation to meetings that had not pend to publish and distribute its litera of E. Vesta Haines of Philadelphia Yearly yet formed yearly meeting ties. Beginning ture in 1907. When she became Philadel Meeting. Soon high school- and college in 1963, off-year conferences were held phia Yearly Meeting's first paid secretary age programs were added as well. A regis away from the East Coast to help nurture in 1911, she took her FGC responsibili tration fee of $1 per person was charged these new relationships. Ties with Phila ties with her. For more than 50 years, beginning in 1926 to help cover the cost. delphia Yearly Meeting were loosened as FGCwouldcontractwithPYM tostaffits In 1950, FGC had a staffof three and a FGC took control of its own publishing First-day School Committee, renamed Re budget of just over $20,000 a year. The and distribution programs. ligious Education in the 1920s. With this next 30 years would witness a period of Much has changed in the past 100 support it developed and distributed an dramatic reorganization and growth. The years. Gone is the Friends Philanthropic expanding list of publications to Friends reunification of the eastern yearly meet Union, with its enormous network ofvol meetings across the country, including ings in the 1950s healed old wounds and unteers committed to publicizing Friends' the popular Friends Hymnal, first pub injected Orthodox sensibilities and con social testimonies. Gone is the aversion to lished in 1919. cerns into FGC. No longer simply a hiring staffto carry out the work ofFriends. .... Meanwhile, there were the biennial con "Hicksite" organization, it was better po The Advancement Committee-the cor ~ ferences. During the 1920s, they became sitioned to reach out to the new, indepen nerstone of the work of FGC for half a &.:: seaside conferences, finally settling in Cape den.t ~onthly meetings that had been century-has slipped into relative obscu i May, New Jersey, in 1928. Committee spnngmg up rity. But there are still the Gather ~ business by this time occupied little of the largely in college ings-annual now-which inspire us and bind us together. There are still committees to carry on the work of religious education and revitalization. There is a renewed commitment to traveling ministry. There is a new effort to shed our prejudices and welcome diversity in our midst. We may be on the verge of a new era of renewal. By looking at the past, and the visions which shaped it, we may find new ways of imagining our next century. 0
Above: tents at 1992 Gathering; Right (top to bottom): high schoolers, 1996; discussion, 1999; Janice Domanik, current presiding clerk
Ka/A,_o, Mich. Harrisonburg, Va.
Blacksburg, Va. Hamilum, Ont. Janice Domanik, Amherst, presiding clerk Mass. 19~ River Falls, Wis. Rochester, N.Y.
1994 2000
16 May 2000 FRIENDS JoURNAL Investing in Our Future marker value as an income tax charitable deduction, and avoid the capital gains tax. A Gift In Your Will or Uving Trust We have sample language for a specific, proponional, or residual bequest to the jOURNAL. A Ufe Income Gift Receive a lifetime income, a current income tax deduction for a ponion of the gift, and reduce the capital gains tax on long-term appreciated assets. A Charitable Gift Annuity: A simple contract between you and FRIENDS jOURNAL to provide a fixed income (now or later) based on your age and the value of the cash or marketable securities given. Part of the annuity payment may be tax-free. A Charitable Remainder Trust. Similar to the gift annuity bur a lot more flexible in terms ofwhat it can do in your particular situation. A Gift of a Ufe Insurance Polley Donate an existing policy and receive a charitable deduction for its cash value. Delighting in Friends The Legacy of J. Barnard Walton, General Secretary and Field Secretary of FGC, 191>1963 by Marty Walton itting in the creaky old wooden chair and who was visiting whom. Stories about full of trust, humor, and appreciation of at the general secretary's desk when his litde black books abounded, those in life and natural beauty. This dual perspec SI first joined the staff of Friends valuable aids to carrying messages and tive, both personal and FGC, gave me an General Conference in December 1985, I news from one Friend or meeting to an insight into the nature of his success in keenly missed the wise counsel of my other. His visits created a living sense of encouraging meetings and building a great great-uncle, J. Barnard Walton. I felt close Quaker community even in the most iso and far-flung network of Friends: he to him-he died more than 20 years ear lated regions. thought ofeach person as a member ofhis lier, but that chair could well have dated The J. Barnard Walton I discovered in family! from his era! my travels through the rich tapestry of My own years working closely with My memories of Barnard were all the Quaker meetings across the continent was FGC, first as a Central Committee mem more poignant because, though I knew clearly the same person I remembered as ber and then as general secretary, began to him as a beloved relative, I had never my kindly great-uncle Barnard. I knew play out the same theme of family and thought, during the 1950s and early 1960s, him from family gatherings and visits, community, although we approached it to ask him anything about his work among knew about his keen interest in gardening somewhat differendy. Barnard was a doer Friends. He had a lifetime of experience and his lifelong love of birds and morning of community like no other in FGC's nurturing and supporting new meetings walks. I have read family letters penned by history, planning months ahead by hand and worship groups from Canada to Barnard and his three brothers, George, written letters to Friends he wanted to visit. Florida, and I, an unfocused teenager and Jesse, and Lewis, over the first half of the His "territory" was wide-ranging because young adult during those years, was far 20th century; they are imbued with a of the movement of Friends across the too involved in my own universe to have sense of awareness of family connections, continent, butitwashis thorough ground- any imagination about the Friends he loved and the move ment that was his passion. We carried on a dialog, nev ertheless, throughout my term of service within FGC. I saw him reflected in the eyes of Friends in New York, Geor gia, Illinois-anywhere he had traveled. I heard how he lis tened, and how he was able to offer solid and practical sug gestions for dealing with all manner oftroubling questions, both personal and corporate. People spoke about his early morning swims in Lake George, his friendly banter with Young Friends, and the twinkle in his eyes. I learned that he asked about each person's family and remem bered who was having a baby
Marty Walton, a member of Bellingham (Wash.) Meeting and a publisher of personal histories, was general secretary ofFGC from 1985 to 1992. J. Bamard Walton and friends on the boardwalk at Cape May, 1930s
FRIENDS JoURNAL May 2000 17 HIGtLUIY. .... @' Moorestown ing in Quakerism that provided the wis- therefore, he was inspiring in his role as dom and gentle guidance. My own anen- FGC's first field secretary. FGC followed ~ ~ F . d EDUCATION ~ f lefi S inAction cion necessarily was more focused on the his field secretary model for decades after- community within the FGC organization, wards, appointing Friends to travel to Educational Excellence for CNer 200 YeatS Age three through 12th grade FGC having grown substantially as a re- meetings and worship groups to nurture sult of Barnard's encouragement through and support. As the newer yearly meetings 199912000 OPEN HOUSE DATES November 7, 1999. January 23, 2000 the decades. began to take this responsibility, however, Februaly 29, 2000 • Aprll4, 2000 The budget during the early years of a broader role for FGC began to emerge May2,2000 FGC was minimal. Without an automo- during my tenure: supporting and bile, ingenuity was required to accomplish strengthening the yearly meetings them- Moorestown Friends School visits, and to Barnard's great delight, he selves rather than focusing directly on in- www.mMends.atg found he was able to travel throughout dividual meetings. The annual gatherings 110 £ *'. Aloot8sbtJI, NJ (S)fjf •1156-235-2900 Ohio and Indiana entirely by interurban of yearly meeting field secretaries, begun trolley, visiting meeting after meeting in in 1988 and facilitated by FGC, were a towns along the way. Office equipment first step in this direction. Instead of ap- was archaic (a hand-crank adding rna- pointing a field secretary in 1992, FGC chine was used in the office well into created the position ofcoordinator, some- the 1980s). But somehow, FGC held it one who would get to know and work ' One pathway to peace together. directly with Friends in positions of re- leads right through the J. Barnard Walton had a vision for sponsibility within yearly meetings. UUI Hi halls of Congress Quaker meetings and worship groups; I am sure that my great-uncle Barnard
~ (all 202 547-6000 Ask how you can help bring Friends' concern for j Barnard Waltan peace andjustice to Capitol Hill
FRIENDS COMMJTI'EE ON NATIONAL LEGISLATION by Marty Grundy 245 Second Street N.E. Washington, D.C. 20002-5795 J oseph llama 18 May 2000 FRIENDS JoURNAL would be well pleased by the maturing that has taken place throughout the Quaker world he knew and loved. The recent (j) Broadmead development of the Traveling Ministries ./t~ff~ddi Vpto.[Hltl?t£ia?rff! Program, for instance, has roots in the work of J. Barnard Walton as well as within my time as general secretary. A • Picturesque 84-acre country campus offering an reading of the earliest proceedings of active lifestyle, near the attractions of Baltimore. Friends General Conference shows fur thermore that the passion for Quaker com • One-story, garden style apartments. munity supporting Quaker faith and prac • Well ness program tice was present and bearing fruit in the very formation of the General Confer • A good value In retirement living· your meals, ence, which in turn grew out of a whole weekly housekeeping, prescriptions, medical bill range of concerns held by Friends over a processing, health care, long-term care and century ago. The legacy of J. Barnard much more are Included In the basic monthly fee. Walton is a living one, passed from Friend link to Friend through the generations, Broadmead is an Accredited, Not-for-Profit ing meetings, hearts, and minds, all with the loving inquiry, "How does the truth Continuing Care Retirement Community fare with thee, Friend?" 0 Founded and operated in the caring Quaker tradition. 13801 York Road, Cockeysville, Maryland 21030 410-527-1900 www.broadmead.org ! QUAL HOUI INQ O~~OIIT UN ITY signed to encourage new groups and nurture older meetings. T he report noted, "We ask for help in adding further information about the ways of Daniel Berrigan connecting the right person to each THE B RIDE Images ofthe Church piece ofservice." Icons by William Hart McNichols In 1951, Barnard became field sec Conveys the diverse faces of the church - each "an icon of retary. FGC instituted a special pen divine love, a particular path of discipleship, a glimpse of the sion for him and budgeted for some of face of Christ written in human flesh, among us still." his travel expenses. For the next de - M EGAN MCKENNA cade he spent nearly all his time visit Walter Wink, editor l ·S707S-30S-9 paper $22.00 ing meetings, except for when he was PEAcE Is TilE WAY caring for the grounds at Pendle Hill, Writings on Nonviolence near his home. from the FelhJwshtp of Reconciliation Barnard served his local meeting in From Mahatma Gandhi to Dorothy Day to Thich Nhat Hanh, whatever capacity was asked of him. an indispensable collection of writings from the greatest He also served on a host of Quaker peacemakers of our time. t -S707S-31S-6 paper $2o.oo committees in his yearly meeting, AFSC, FWCC's Section ofthe Ameri Leo D. Lefebure cas, and Pendle Hill. REvElATION, TilE RELIGIONS, He had a genius for making and AND V IOLENCE keeping friends. Through his years of Foreword by Ewart Cousins visits, he wove the Religious Society Examines the basic human dynamics that produce violence of Friends closer through his intimate and how the diverse experiences of Christianity, Judaism and contacts. For nearly half a century, Islam, Chinese and Indian religion, address this universal until his death on May 24, 1963, he problem. 1-S707S-300-8 paper $20.00 personified FGC. 0 At your bookseller or direct 30 Years of Books that Matter ORBIS BOOKS www.orb is books.com NY 10545 FRIENDS JOURNAL May 2000 19 ~i§§'eb'bt~ limes cfGreat Change ~ ~rritlcare~~ by Larry Miller 'l\i"~~·.r.¥ic~ hen I became general secretary of Barnard Walton, who had been gen v'Carb~§ Friends General Conference in eral secretary for several decades, was FGC's W1954, the FGC office was lo fidd secretary. Religious Education ser (413) 529-9212 cated in one room on the second floor of vices were competently provided by Phila 1+ Hooker Ave., 'Nord\amyton, MA 010&0 1520 Race Street in Philadelphia. There ddphia Yearly Meeting. were two full~time staff members in addi A major continuing staff responsibility tion to me: Mary Middleton, a cracker was the biennial conference in Cape May, jack secretarial assistant, and Hebe Bulley, New Jersey. These gatherings, for which bookkeeper, typist, and general factotum. all attendees made their own housing and With the building heated by hot air from eating arrangements, were only possible shovel-stoked coal furnaces in the base because of a host of devoted volunteers ment, the FGC staff would be "frozen who followed policies set by multiple com An Interfaith Dialogue out" on the coldest winter days. mittees. Advance programs spelling out The Challenge of Teaching Our the evening events, roundtables, and plans Children Lany Milkr, a member of Doylestown (Pa.) for children were mailed to all members of Led by religious leaders of the Meeting, is the author ofWitness for Human FGC yearly meetings, but there was no Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Jewish, ity: A Biography of Clarence E. Pickett. advance registration. The high point in Jain and Christian faiths June19-20 The Labyrinth World Council ofChurches Beth Haynes June 19-21, M-W n spite of the critics, the best ecu~ something to say on matters central to menical setting for implementing faith and are not just a quaint little Celebrating Yourself Into IQuaker concerns has proven to be "sect," as some would see us. A dd the Future the World Council ofChurches. While egate to Canberra in 1991 suggested Sister Jose Hobday its central focus is the ultimate goal of that the Historic Peace Churches June23-25 a single Christian church, progress to~ should propose countermeasures for ward that is unbelievably slow and violence at all levels: domestidmarital, Summer Sabbath requires endless retracing of earlier urban centers, military action. The Carole McCallum steps. Friends are not alone in having program has become a major initiative July17 -20 serious reservations about the goal and oftheWCC. the process. Ecumenical work at world confer KIRKRIDGE on the beautifUl Kittalinny RiJie of ences has its lighter and unexpected -tem P~lvanio, ei6hty-ff.ve mila from Britain Yearly Meeting did such a New Yon't CityandPhilodelphla. fine job of explaining and justifying moments. When Howard Brinton was For information contact Kirkridge: our lack of sacraments in To Lima about to march in an opening proces 2495 Fox Gap Road, Bangor, PA 18013 With Love that even those least in sion at a World Conference on Faith TeL (610) 588. 1793 www.kirkridge.orr clined to take Quakerism seriously and Order at Lund, Sweden, in 1952, perked up their ears. That publication he looked around for someone else was a response to the WCC's Bap~ who was not in clerical garb (proces DISCOVER QUAKER PHILADELPHIA tism, Eucharist, Ministry study, which sion was two by two). Spotting some Two-hour walking tours of William Penn's original city of brotherly love. For sale: culminated in a pronouncement from one, he introduced himself as from a paperweight created to honor Penn's work Lima, Peru. In 1993, it led a WCC Quaker study center near Philadd and crafted in Olde City. sponsored World Conference on Faith phia. The other person replied, "I am Send a SASE for information to: QUAKER and Order to view the Quaker stance Gustav from Stockholm, king ofSwe TOURS, Box 1632, Media, PA 19063. as a constructive warning that such den." When Howard apologized, the rites should not be valued too highly king insisted that he march with him; or mechanically. he also had been looking for someone The Bible Association of Friends Other members of the WCC are without clericals. in America just catching up with Friends on -Dean FreU!Ay since 1829 has offered Bibles, NewTestaments, and Portions free or at cost to Friends women's participation. To our sur Dean Frdday is a member ofManasquan institutions, individuals, and others worldwide. prise, we are finding that we do have (N.J) Meeting. Write to: P.O. Box 3, Riverton, NJ 08077 20 May 2000 FRIENDS JoURNAL attendance was 3,200 in 1958, many of Life-Work: A Winding Road A\ ,Jil,lhll' Junl' 2000! whom were pan-timers. This was the year A Career Guide to Freedom when Norman Cousins and Martin Luther for Idealists The Poetry of John King Jr. were among the evening speak Greenleaf Whittier: ers. There were 1,000 children that year. By William A. A Readers' Edition FGC, ever since its establishment in Charland 1900, has had a Central Committee com 216 pages Edited and Introduced by posed of ap~intees of member yearly $15.00 William Jolllif meetings (and a few monthly meetings). 275 ·pages This committee always met during the $18.00 Set in biennial conferences and then once in the Ohio and William Jolliff, Professor of alternate year. Beginning in the 1960s, Kentucky, English at George Fox there was a strong pressure on the officers this adventure features a University, has selected 55 of savvy black abolitionist John Greenleaf Whittier's of FGC to hold a business session during network, Levi Coffin, and more than 500 poems. New the biennial gathering in order to issue a of the introductory notes to each statement on some burning peace issue. It poem include specific always seemed somewhat inevitable to me historical that during the last week of June there would be an international crisis. I remem ber the U.S. bombing of Hanoi as one of these incidents. During my years as general secretary- 1954 to 1971-the programs and staff of FGC grew. The Conference developed its own religious education office with a full time staff member, the Meetinghouse Fund was established, and the Christian and Interfaith Relations Committee ma tured, particularly in respect to FGC mem bership in the World Council ofChurches. A full-time staffmember picked up on the almost legendary ministry that Barnard Walton had performed right up to the year of his death. This growth was en Teach children how hanced by the move of the FGC office to solve conflids down to a renovated space on the first floor of the 1520 Race Street building, with offices and space for the shelving of .,.I'W'I... !!! of Peace 2: literature--and warmth in winter and air conditioning in summer. To some extent this growth came about because of the reunion of Hicksite yearly meetings with their Orthodox counter parts. But more significant, as I look back, were the changes within the Conference derived from the forward thinking ofsome individual Friends who provided leader ship within FGC committees. For ex ample, the inauguration of off-year gath erings would never have occurred were it not for the initiatives of Green Pastures Quarterly Meeting, resulting in the first Midwest gathering. In my mind's eye, I see and honor those pioneering Friends who envisioned a future for Friends Gen eral Conference beyond what it was dur ing my tenure as general secretary. 0 FRIENDS JoURNAL May 2000 21 Nonviolence and Racialjustice by Martin Luther King Jr. Excerpts from an address delivered during temptation of becoming bitter or indulg seeks nothing in return; it's an overflow Friends General Conference to an overflow ing in hate campaigns. We must some ing love. Theologians would say that it is ing crowd in a hall on the pier in Cape May, how come to see that this leads us only the love of God working in the lives of New jersey, on june 27, 1958. (/1 foller text deeper and deeper into the mire; to return men. When we rise to love on this level, ofthis speech appeared in FRIENDS j OURNAL, hate for hate does nothing but intensify we love men not because we like them, july 26, 1958.) the existence of hate and evil in the uni not because their ways appeal to us; we verse. So somehow people in the universe love them because God loves them. We ow I cannot say that violence never must have sense enough and morality come to the point that we love the person wins any victories; it occasionally enough to return love for hate. who does the evil deed while hating the Nwins victories. Nations often receive Now when I speak of love, I am not deed the person does. And I believe that their independence through the use of talking about some sentimental affection this is what Jesus meant when he said, violence. But violence ultimately only ate emotion. I'm talking about something "Love your enemies." .. . achieves temporary victory; it never can much deeper. In the Greek language there The problem of race is certainly the achieve ultimate peace.... are three words for love. The Greek, for chief moral dilemma of our nation. We The other method that is open to instance, talks about eros, a sort of aes are faced now with the tremendous re oppressed people as they struggle for racial thetic love. . . . It has come to us as sponsibility ofsolv ing this problem before justice is the method of nonviolent resis romantic love. . . . And the Greek lan it is too late. The state of the world today tance, made famous in our generation by guage talks about philia, which is also a does not permit us the luxury of an ane Mohandas K. Gandhi oflndia, who used type of love we have experienced. It is mic democracy, and the clock ofdestiny is it effectively to free his people.... [l]t is intimate affection between personal ticking out. We must solve this problem not a method of cowardice, of stagnant friends; it's a reciprocal love . . .. Then the before it is too late. We must go out once passivity; it does resist. The nonviolent Greek language comes out with another more and urge all men ofgood will to get resister is just as opposed to the evil that word for love, it calls it agape, creative to work, urge all the agencies of our na he is resisting as the violent resister. He understanding, redemptive good will for tion, the federal government, white liber resists evil, but he resists it without vio all men. It is spontaneous love, which als of the North, white moderates of the lence. This method is strongly ac South, organized labor, the church tive .... The mind is always active, and all religious bodies, and the constantly seeking to persuade the Negro himsel£ And all these agen opponent that he is wrong.... cies must come together to work This method does not seek to hard now to bring about the ful defeat and humiliate the opponent fillment of the dream of our de but to win his friendship and un mocracy. Social progress does not derstanding. Occasionally, the non roll in on the wheels ofinevitabil violent resister will engage in boy ity. It comes only through persis cotts and noncooperation. But non tent work and tireless efforts of cooperation and boycotts are not dedicated individuals. Without this ends within themselves; they are persistent work, time itselfbecomes merely a means to awaken a sense of the ally ofthe insurgent and primi shame within the oppressor and to tive forces of irrational emotional awaken his dozing conscience. The ism and social stagnation. I think end is redemption; the end is recon of the great work that has been ciliation. And so the aftermath of done by the Society of Friends. It nonviolence is the creation of the gives all of us who struggle for beloved community, while the af justice new hope, and I simply say termath ofviolence is bitterness.... to you this evening: continue in The nonviolent resister not only that struggle, continue with that avoids external physical violence, but same determination, continue with he avoids internal violence of the that same faith in the future. 0 spirit. He not only refuses to shoot his opponent, but he refuses to hate him. The oppressed people of the Martin Luther King Jr. at world must not succumb to the Cape May, 1958 22 May 2000 FRIENDS JoURNAL Quaker Roots Run Deep. ince the mid-1700s Quakers have been changing seasons with temperate winters, and Smoving to North Carolina. Before you a stimulating quality of life in an active Quaker make a 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 will 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. EQUAL HOUSING Providing Retirement options since 1968 OPPORTUNITY Wood brooke Quaker Study Centre "AN AVENUE TO A FULLER LIFE IN GOD" Since 1903, Woodbrooke has supported the spiritual development and educational nurture of Friends from around the world. In the 21st century, our programme of courses continues to give you the opportunity to: • explore your Quaker roots • meet Friends from Britain Yearly Meeting and around the world • work with our Quaker tutors and enjoy their expertise in the fields of Quaker and Biblical studies, practical theology and social justice • use the extensive material in our library, much of which dates from the mid-17th century • visit one of the most interesting areas of Britain- from the Industrial Revolution to cutting-edge arts provision, and much more besides • share in the welcome and worship of our community Have you the time to offer as a Friend in Residence? Or teaching gifts you would like to share with us? Woodbrooke, We welcome enquiries. 1046 Bristol Road, Contact our Administration Office for full details of the 2000 programme. Birmingham, PLEASE QUOTE F) 003 WHEN YOU CONTACT US ON: B29 6LJ, UK e-mail: [email protected] • fax us on +44(0)121 472 5173 ring on +44(0)121 472 5171 • or visit our website on www.woodbrooke.org.uk/woodbrooke FRIENDS JouRNAL May 2000 23 FGC as Seedbed Quaker faith & practice are at the core AQuaker ofour daily lives Action Group Working farm, small classes, grades 9-12 & PG, day/boarding, financial assistance available. Offering experiential and traditional academics, peace studies, visual arts, drama, organic by George Lakey gardening and animal husbandry. A Quaker Action Group ~QAG) developed 56 Thomas Road, Rindge, NH 03461 a ~ker style of direct action beginning during the FGC Gathering in 1966 and www.mv.com/ipusers.tms telephone: (603) 899-3366 email: [email protected] continuing until 1971. Among its actions and accomplishments were sailing medical supplies to North Vietnam, participating in the civil rights movement, and working in solidarity with Puerto Ricans to stop U.S. Navy target practice on the island ofCulebra. In its various activities, AQAG clarified for people aU over the world the fuU extent of ~ker passion for peace. The following is excerpted ftom an interview with George Lakey by Roger Hansen on July 5, 1999. George Lakey: We saw the FGC forum its meeting for business-as an opportu CoNSIDER BIBLICAL STUDIES AT ESR. .. nity to educate Quakers about what the real issues were, to develop a kind ofhealthy WHERE MINISTRY AND LEADERSHIP cynicism toward the U.S. government, to consider that maybe the Society ofFriends is a more reliable instrument ofGod's will than the U.S. government ever can be, and therefore to rely on ourselves and our MASTER OF DIVINITY/MINISTRY AND MASTER OF ARTS Unprogrammed Tradition • Quaker Studies • Peace &: own-the information, the researchers, Justice • Pastoral Care • Ministry of Writing • Biblical and the intuition that we've got-and to Studies • Pastoral Ministry • Spirituality • Teaching lean on the Holy Spirit as to what we Flexible opportunities • Full and Part-time degree should do, rather than get tangled up in programs • Theological Reflection Year • Intensive Classes (two weeks, three weekends) • Audit availability our citizenship. . . . And a marvelous, marvelous time for that was [in 1966] .._,.,.,...... li'1LI ... , ScHooL oF REuGION when the United States started bombing Among Friends Haiphong Harbor during Friends General Conference at Cape May. It was so stark. info111nat1ior\lco:ntact: Sue Axtell, Director of Admissions 47374·4095 Roger Hansen: And this was still in the early years of the war, before there was much of a mobilization against the war? GL· Exactly. So it was really a time for Friends to be way out in front, and there Reservations are required for display ads in FRIENDS JoURNAL. Display were a lot of Friends who didn't want to July issue: ReseiVe space by May 8. Ad George Lakey, author of Moving Toward a Ads must be received by May 15. Deadlines New Society, PowerfUl Peacemaking, and August issue: ReseiVe space by June 5. FRIENDS Grassroots and Nonprofit Leadership, is a Ads must be received by June 12. JOURNAL teacher and nonviolence trainer. After AQAG, Ad rate is $32 per column inch. he joined Movement for a New Society, and most recento/ he founded Trainingfor Change. Call (215) 563-8629 now with your reservation or questions. Roger Hansen is a member ofNorthside (IU.) Meeting. 24 May 2000 FRIENDS joURNAL be out in front, and other Friends did, saying, "Do something folks!" So the last I Penney who loved to be out front. So we went to saw before we left was Larry Scott on the Retirement the assembled body during meeting for platform explaining to Friends that the business and urged that FGC come out time had come to create something like A Community immediately against the bombing, and Quaker Action Group that was focused Penney Farms, that it send as many Friends as could leave on direct action, and that it wouldn't be Florida Cape May immediately to Washington necessary to insist that AFSC take some to go into the Senate gallery and hold a form of 2000 Congrarulations to Our 16QLSP Admission Office Graduates! 5800 Wcsr Friendly Avenue Greensboro, NC 274 10 GoForth 336.316.21 00 andSeroe! 1.800.992.7759 FAX 336.316.2954 Quaker Education www.guilford.edu Since 1837 171SO 'Wilen we're gone, OIU' ltecuts wiU stiU belong" Summer Camp 2000 June 12 through August 18. AIJe Kthrough 6th Grode Protest In Cape May against U.S. bombing of Haiphong Harbor, 2150 rJiltler Pike, PIJittOIIth ftfeetillg VIetnam, 1966 Pit 19~62 • (610) 828-2288 FRIENDS JoURNAL May 2000 25 Seedbed dience; FCNL had a different style, it would not be able to do that either. And Larty explained that though these differ WILLIAM PENN CHARTER SCHOOL Est. 1689 ent Quaker agencies were used to doing Over 300 Years of Quaker Education their thing, what we needed was a new one that would enable Friends who were The William Penn Charter School is a Quaker college-preparatory school acting maybe in the more prophetic tradi stressing high standards in academics, the arts, and athletics. Penn Charter is committed to nurturing girls and boys of diverse backgrounds in an tion of Woolman and others to get on atmosphere designed to stimulate each student to work to his or her with it. fullest potential. Kindergarten through twelfth grade. RH: So that was the origin of A Quaker Earl J. Ball ill, Head of School Action Group? 3000 W. School House Lane, Philadelphia, PA 19144 (215) 844-3460 GL: That was the origin, exactly. Cape May was the launching pad. And we had our meeting for worship, and we did in deed get arrested, and we did spend some FRIENDS JoURNAL announces the publication of time in jail, and tremendous publicity was gained by it, and A Quaker Action Group just then went on to a lot ofgloty (laughs). So I think this is something FGC can BENJAMIN really be tickled with, that it had a forum, The Meetznghouse Mouse :l it had an arena in which those things could be faced, that it doesn't actually by Benjamin, as told to Clifford Pfeil, :I have today. It was neat that we had that. with illustrations by John D. Gummere It's not really possible now to get that kind II ofattention, that kind ofhard, level atten tion of the whole FGC, the way things are Ifyou remember the Benjamin stories now set up. in past issues, you will be happy to share them-now in book form-with your RH: It's partly that the FGC Gathering does not conduct business now. children, grandchildren, and Friends! Look for Benjamin in Friends bookstores or order directly from FRIENDS JoURNAL: GL·That's exactly right. Please send me __ copies of Bmjamin @ $6.00 each, plus $1.00 shipping and handling RH: And when did that change? ($3.50 for shipping and handling outside U.S., Canada, and Mexico). My check is enclosed. Name ______GL· Well, after that-it happened after that. My impression is that it was so outra Ad~~------geous from the point ofview of the leader City------State ____ ZIP ______shipofFGC. ThatyearafteryearatFGC's Gathering, the meetings for business Country, if other than U.S.------ would-! think maybe from their point Please mail to FRIENDS JoURNAL, m6 Arch Street, 2A, Philadelphia, PA 19107-2835· of view-be hijacked by Young Turks If any questions please call (115) 563-8619. who would want to, you know, like push, push, push, and it was just not the FGC meeting for business of old. It was these very contentious, controversial things. And instead of FGC only being a wonderful Quaker Inner City School family time and a time for deepening our spiritual life and getting more informa Endowment Fund (QICSEF) cion about the Bible and so on, there were also these heartrending times, these times Contribute stock or cash to QICSEF. You'll increase revenue for for soul-sized issues being fought out. 0 Quaker Schools serving lower income inner-city children for years to come. It's tax exempt. Contact Richard B. Angell, Clerk, 150 Kendal Drive Kennett Square,~A 19348 (610) 388-0935 26 May 2000 FRIENDS JoURNAL Made to Feel Welmme Central by Bruce Grimes Committee for ot too long ago, most heterosexuals would be protected, that they would not Conscientious were unaware of homosexuals and receive mail with a return address that Ntheir needs. Gay men and lesbians screamed "GAY Friend" that their post were for the most part invisible, and their man could read and talk about. A gay Objectors concerns were not discussed. This silence Friend would feel safer requesting meet pervaded the Religious Society of Friends ing space at yearly meeting for an innocu into the early 1970s. But society was about ous "Committee of Concern," and like to take freedom of expression to new lev wise the first -time attendee might feel safer Object for Free! els. In that matrix, Friends General Con walking into such a place. ference was able to embrace gay and les There were a few brave, openly gay or bian Friends in a way that was uncommon. lesbian Friends who brought the issue of FGC was able to model what could be. civil rights for homosexuals to their yearly Receive a free copy of Within the Religious SocietyofFriends, meetings. A series of minutes were ap CCCO's 50th Anniversary the first crack in the wall of silence was proved by several unprogrammed yearly Toward a Q!uzker View ofSex, published meetings. The Committee of Concern Objector. Just call (888) by a roundtable of British Friends about and American Friends Service Commit 236-2226 or email 1963. In the larger society, a routine police tee kept track ofthese and published them. raid on a gay bar in Manhattan in 1969, The minutes generally stated that regard [email protected]. largely unnoticed by the general public, less ofhow one may regard homosexuality took on symbolic importance to gay men morally, homosexuals should have the Read profiles of conscien and lesbians. The patrons of the Stonewall same rights as all other citizens. Inn had resisted arrest-something un The Committee of Concern decided tious objectors from yester heard of-and the Stonewall riot became the FGC Gathering would be a good day and today -WW II, a symbol of the gay rights movement. venue to come together as a group. For the Korean War, the Viet Following on the heels of the women's the 1972 Gathering in Ithaca, N.Y., the movement, the civil rights movement, the committee put out the word that if one nam War, the GulfWar antiwar movement, and the sexual revolu wished to be housed with other members and young people object tion of the 1960s, it seemed that now it ofthe committee, one should request hous was time for gays and lesbians to be heard. ing with senior or elder Friends. The FGC ing to war today. In the early 1970s, gay men and lesbians office became aware that the "H-factor" were forming caucuses within various in the elder housing was somewhat high, mainline churches. In 1971, there was but were supportive. Since worship and much excitement for a young man to be worship sharing were by one's housing, the first openly gay person ordained in the the Committee ofConcern enjoyed a week [email protected] United Church of Christ. of worship together. Aware of these events, a gay Quaker at The thrust of the Committee of Con (888) 236-2226 Minneapolis Friends Church, Ron cern in the 1970s was twofold: to provide Philadelphia, PA • Oakland, CA Mattson, decided it was time to form a a safe place where gay and lesbian Friends caucus for gay and lesbian Friends. Ron could gather for worship and fellowship, was widely traveled and knew Friends in and to increase the awareness ofgay Friends many places. He approached five he knew among heterosexual Friends. The com objector.org or suspected were gay, and collectively mittee requested a display table for educa they placed a notice in FRIENDS JoURNAL tional books and newsletters and hosted a inviting others to make contact. They de public time when all Friends were invited • Military Out of Our Schools veloped a mailing list, and Ron sent out to meet gay Friends, with time to ask • Draft Registration the first gay Friends newsletters under the questions of them. The committee had auspices of the new caucus, named Com the support ofFGC staff, throughout the • Conscientious Objection mittee of Concern. Many gay and lesbian '70s, however, they remained a minor and other Military Discharges Friends would not come out. Initially, group at FGC Gatherings. • Before You Enlist. .. they had to be assured their anonymity In 1978, the committee decided it was • Questioning JROTC Bruce Grimes, a member ofUnami Meeting in time to come out of the closet with its Pennsburg, Pa., served as FLGC newsletter edi name, so it became the Friends Commit • Objector of the Month tor from 1976 to 1995. tee for Gay Concerns. (We put FCGC on FRIENDS JoURNAL May 2000 27 Seedbed the envelope so that the postman in the and the worship continued into our meet small town would not know any better.) ings for business. Our first co-clerks, a man Soon, lesbian Friends let it be known that and a woman, were careful to surround if the committee wished to attract and our business in worship in which we sought include them, it should put "lesbian" in Divine leading in the manner of Friends. the name, so the committee became Our worship went deep, and we experi "Friends for Lesbian and Gay Concerns." enced firsthand what Robert Barclay de Concerns for greater inclusivity and nam clared: that" revelation is the main purpose ing have continued to rise up, as not only of faith." Out of our experience as a de gays and lesbians, but bisexuals, trans spised minority, we shared our hopes and fears, our visions and dreams for the future. presented by: gendered people--and even heterosexu als!-have become involved with FLGC. We sought leading and clarified our con The 1981 Gathering in Berea, Ken cerns. We learned how to articulate these. Friends Association for Higher Education tucky, became a stressful week for the Our worship was a powerful experience and Friends community. Certain Quaker ways that changed lives. It empowered and sus Friends Council on Education seemed at variance with the local conser tained us when we returned to our monthly and vative (Baptist) community, and local meetings and home communities. Earlham Berea College staffwere upset by the pres In the early 1980s a heterosexual Friend ence ofso many out gay men and lesbians . made known her desire to worship with • A local Baptist minister threatened to pro us. After prayerful consideration, FLGC at Earlham College & test the Gathering. Emergency meetings agreed that meetings for worship ought to Earlham School of Religion, were held to calm the situation. be open to all. Subsequently, many het Richinond,Indiana This was a period of "corning of age" erosexual Friends chose to join FLGC not for FLGC. In the aftermath of the Berea only for worship, but for meeting for busi Gathering, gay Friends had to recognize ness as well. For many ofthem, this became on June 22-25, 2000 and take responsibility for their actions. a special occasion, an opportunity to be in FLGC came to realize that it was no longer the company ofgay and lesbian people and • a small, marginal organization; it was be to know our concerns. Friends ofall sexual coming more open and integrated with orientations would go home and report Keynote Speaker: the rest of the Gathering and had to give what a unique experience it had been to more thought to the consequences of its spend a week at the Gathering ofFriends, PARKER PALMER actions. Also, the Friends who plan FGC where gays and straights were living to Gatherings realized that they would have gether in ways that it seemed they should. Noted Quaker to take more care in selecting sites that FLGC has been fortunate that it did Teacher and Writer would be compatible with our diverse not have to fight an established church community of Friends. hierarchy. Many of the gay caucuses in The presence of FLGC at the Gather other denominations had to confront hos • ing grew throughout the 1980s. Entering tile church establishments that dictated Who should attend? the decade, FLGC had daily meetings for policies meant to curtail such groups. The Gathering, on ·the other hand, does not K-12 and higher worship, but these and our business meet education professionals. ings were closed in order to protect the dictate policy to yearly meetings. It is sim anonymity ofcloseted Friends. Our meet ply a Gathering of Friends, and to its Those who educate in ings for worship were very special to us, credit we were made to feel welcome. 0 Friends settings. Those who educate in public schools. remember a Gathering in the late ing the passing of his own life. He was 1980s when AIDS was still taking grieving that there were many people Those who are fellow travelers. I Friends away easily and quickly. dying simply because it was too hard to There was a grieving circle for FLGC stay in the world, it hurt too much to • one evening; an empty chair near the be here, the cruelty and inhospitality For more information, contact: head of the circle was open. One by of the world was so complete that one people sat there and named their people died every day alone and afraid. web: losses. One witness was particularly This was his grieving. The depth of http:llwww.earlham.edu/Q/qeducators stunning. Keith Gann sat in the chair silence at that moment was a gift ofthe and warned us that his breathing was Presence, a moment of brilliant light email: too fragile to have anyone come close and truth, a call to prayer and service. qeducators @earlham.edu and hold him. He said that even though he was dying of AIDS he was not griev- -john Calvi 28 May 2000 FRIENDS JoURNAL FRIENDS~ ~ ~ FRIENDS ~~ ~ JOURNAL ~ JOURNAL ~ ,..,._,.... ToftHolp/u!Hmtsloo-Stam"Q • on ER.div. Quok., Youtft Program -Greoe Frion Friends journal is dedicated to global peace, human rights, environmental awareness, and economic justice. It addresses these and other concerns with the spiritual insight and nonviolent approach that distinguishes Quaker faith and practice. It speaks from the heart to the heart through articles and poetry that inspire. It offers practical ideas for improving life in the meeting. And throughout each issue are resources, letters, and news of Friends around the world. If you're not currently a subscriber to Friends journal, we have a special offer for you: Subscribe now and pay only $22.0G-a 24% reduction below our regular subscription rate of$29.00. For our current subscribers we have a different offer: Send two new subscriptions* (at the special celebration rate of $22.00) and we'll extend your subscription for one yearfor free. Please check one box below: r------, I I 0 I'm not currently a subscriber. Sign me up for one year at the celebration rate of$22.00. I 1 1 CJ Check enclosed CJ Bill me 1 I Name Charge my CJ Mastercard CJ Visa I I Address Credit Card No. 1 I ) ~~ ~ I r------,L------~ 0 I'm a subscriber. Enclosed is $44.00 for two new subscriptions (their checks or mine). Sign me up for a one-year free extension of my own subscription. Extend my subscription-FREE Gift #1 Gift #2 Nrure.______~------~------Address.______Address.______Address.______tip ______rip ______zip _____ CJ Check enclosed CJ Bill me "The second offer is good onfx when two new subscriptions are received (renewals do not Charge my CJ Mastercard CJ Visa 'Tiew''). both qualifY as For o)Jers your order must be received in our office by june IS, 2000. credit card No.------Exp.Date,______L~~------~ Return to Friends journal. 1216 Arch St., 2A, Phlladelphia, PA 19107-2835 FRIENDS JoURNAL May 2000 29 Seedbed A Pendle Hill Summer. .. Spiritual FGC Could Be a Better Mirror Enrichment by Vanessa Julye od is a source ofstrength, hope, and I felt as though I had been smacked in the Massage and Energy Work challenge. Why am I called to em face. Are they mutually exclusive? The Gbrace a religion that expects me to title implied that in order for an African John Calvi May 26-29 let go of many of the cultural traditions American to become a Quaker, you must that stand at the foundation of my life? give up your cultural identity. Must I now Making a Difference: One of my challenges has been to find a adopt this culture, forsaking my own? Is A Creative Approach to way to set myself free within Quakerism, that the only way I will truly be a member to feel that I am equal and have a right to of the Religious Society ofFriends? Is this Conflict (AVP I) express who I am here. culture an intentional part ofour religious Darrell and Susan Hefte June 15-18 I envision a day when I can attend practice, or is it something Friends are FGC Gatherings with absolutely no willing to analyze and adapt? And God Said Thank You thought or concern for my safety or wel In 1994, a group of people of color fare; when I can stop looking over my participating in the "Internalized Oppres Nancy Frommelt July 7-9 shoulder and being afraid ofstanding out sion" workshop submitted a letter that because of the color of my skin; when I proposed several .things Friends General Spiritual Life Enrichment can stop waiting for Retreats someone to behave dif ferently around me; when Nancy Bieber June 25-30 I can stop wondering if July 30-August 4 each white Friend who August 6-11 approaches me is hiding August 13-18 an agenda or is going to say something unkind that unnerves me. Then I can take all of that en ergy, free it from its cur rent use, and focus it on having a good time while strengthening my rela tionship with God. I will even take this vision one step further and say that I will feel safe in my reli gious community, the Religious Society Conference could do to help make Gath of Friends. erings more desirable and a safer experi When I saw a Gathering workshop ence for us. Establishing a Center for entitled "How can I be Quaker and Black?" People of Color was one of the more important and easily addressed requests. Vanessa julye is a member ofCentral Philadel- When several of us returned to the phia(Pa.)Meeting, wheresheconvenesamonthly Gathering in 1995, our first task was to worship group for people ofcolor . She is clerk of determine the mission of the center. We Fellowship ofFriends ofAfrican Descent. · · chose to use the center as a place for -~~=~~::_ 338 Plush Mill Road Wallingford, PA 19086 ext.142:(800) 742-3150 (US only) or Above and left: (610) 5664507 (available worldwide) Center for www.pendlehill.org People of Color, 1997 Gathering 30 FRIENDS J oURNAL ofthe World Medford Leas Quaker-Directed Housing and Services for Older Adults people of color to come, talk, meet other people of color, see images of ourselves, Security ... with freedom, time, and opportunities and feel supported. The second part of our mission was education: we wanted the to build upon your Quaker connection. center to be a place where white people would feel comfortable to come, talk, and begin to learn about some of the chal lenges we face as people of color in this Religious Society and in the United States ofAmerica. · Various people take responsibility for the center each year. Since 1995, the cen ter has met our first goal. However, we were greatly disappointed and frustrated when only a handful of white Friends participated in the center during the first two years. We did not know how to reach into the Gathering and get people to cross the threshold. During the 1996 Gathering in Hamilton, Ontario, we were presented with a conflict centered on the Under ground Railroad game. It was painful and costly for many Friends, both white and of color. However, it was the opening we needed to increase the visibility of the Center for People of Color. I, and other Friends of color who had been participat ing in the center, came to the 1997 Gath ering with anxiety, fear, and trepidation. Ironically, the year we attended the Gath NURTURING ering carrying hurt and anger was the year we began to see the results of this seed we THE BODY ... THE MIND ... THE SPIRIT planted within the Religious Society of Friends. Medford leas • Lumberton leas • Woobnan fAmunom • The Quaker House Deborah Saunders, the Sunday night offering continuing care, or membership and rental housing with available health plenary speaker, began the week by lifting care services, conducted by the Estaugh, a not-for-profit, Quaker-directed Friends' awareness, telling us we were on corporation, since 1914. holy ground. By the end of the week many felt the truth of her words. This Gathering was healing for many. On Monday afternoon the center sponsored a meeting for worship with a concern for racial healing. It was a powerful worship and way to begin the week. After that worship, our center was filled for each and For additional infonnation call every program. At times the room was 1-800-331-4302 or 609-654-3000 actually too small. Friends were listening Infonnation Office located at Medford Leas to our experiences and sharing theirs. For Route 70, Medford, NJ 08055 a lie the first time, our full mission for the Flulld41 asslst•ru:e Is •••1/llble to IJIUIII.fkd •PPikil11ts. Medford L FRIENDS j OURNAL May 2000 31 Seedbed Bound for Boston? Stay at Walker Center! in River Falls, Wisconsin, was calm and 144 Hancocl< Street, Newton, MA 02466 quiet? No! An antique-store owner in River (617) 969-3919 Falls had an offensive sign over the back www.walkerctr.org entrance of her shop. The il\')ensitivity of Our staff can help you design sign shocked many people attending work-study/mission retreats! this the Gathering. It further amazed us that the sign had been there for 18 months and B&B $40-$50 Double only one person had complained. A meet 5 blocks Rt. 95/MA Pk ing was held to develop strategies to 3 blocks MBTA Train heighten the store owner's awareness. This 20 min Ctr/Boston action provoked further growth, and the center began to evolve: it was not only a safe space for people of color and an edu cational space for whites, but it became a place where we were working together to address a racial conflict. We developed a strategy, implemented it, and reconvened for a report. After the report, while we were talking about the Our strong curriculum encourages students to stretch racism this woman was exhibiting, a white academically and develop fully their unique talents. Friend expressed discomfort with the Quaker values promote respect for the individual and scapegoating occurring in the room. This responsibility for others. The rich diversity of our comment shifted the focus from racism in the world to racism within the Religious school community prepares our students Society ofFriends. A group was formed to for the 21st century. begin examining white privilege and its effects within Quakerism. A steering com Please TODAY mittee was established, whose task was to call for a tour. schedule and organize a weekend where Admission Office we could all come back together to share (215) 438- 7545 our ideas and resources and develop steps to begin work within the Religious Soci ety of Friends. This group of Friends put together a conference, "Friends Gathering with a Greene Street Friends School Concern for Issucl of Racism, Diversity, and Inclusiveness," which was held April 5511 Greene Street +Philadelphia, PA 19144 9-11, 1999, at Burlington Youth Center Pre-K through Grade 8 +Founded in 1855 in Burlington, N.J. An equal number of people of color and whites participated. "the small school that makes big people" Because there were so many white Friends who wanted to participate in the confer ence but were not able to attend, a follow up meeting was held at the 1999 Gather ing in the Center for People of Color. Friends did not have the energy to com Excelling mit to organizing another conference, but they wanted to continue the open dialog IN A CHANGING WORLD that had been established between whites and people of color about racism. The idea of a list-serve was generated, and a FRtLNDS Su.Lc r few individuals agreed to create one. (609) 714-0100 This growth is spreading into the core callighrf@ aol.com Pre-K to 12th grade of Friends General Conference. Several • MARRIAGE CERTIFICATES • other Friends of color and I have been 17th & Benjamin Franklin Parkway • INSCRIPTIONS • SCROLLS • appointed to Central Committee. We are Philadelphia, Pennsylvania I9103-1284 working with the general secretary and the 22 New Freedom Rd., Medford, NJ 08055 215-561-5900 clerk of Central Committee to address institutional racism within FGC. 32 May 2000 FRIENDS JoURNAL An example of this work was the relo cation of the 1999 Gathering. A proposal was presented to hold it in a location uncomfortable for many people of color, Columbia, South Carolina. University of South Carolina-Columbia is located a few blocks away from the state capitol build ing, which flies the Confederate battle flag. The Long Range Conference Plan ning Committee was under great pressure to suggest a site to Central Committee for approval that weekend. This was the only new site that would accommodate the Gathering's needs. After several hours of discussion, the alternative of returning to Kalamazoo, Michigan, was chosen. The Center for People ofColor is evolv ing. More people of color are feeling sup potted at Gatherings, and white Friends are learning about our struggles. The cen Our services change ter gave binh to a new group of Friends whose goal is to uncover and eradicate and adapt with the needs racism within the Religious Society of Friends through our work together. And of each person. FGC is changing. Central Committee has established an ad hoc group that is educat Wellness Clinic Mrs. Fox wanted a more interesting place to ing its members about ra€ism. This year spend her day. Together, she and her children Central Committee devoted a full after Home Health Care noon to examining racism within FGC. decided on Chandler Hall's Adult Day Program. The executive director ofthe Green Circle Aquatic Programs N ot only did her interest in life improve, Mrs. Program, Niyonu Spann, led us through Fox came to feel so comfortable with the people several different exercises to focus us on Adult Day Program and programs, she asked to live there. O ne of the this task In one, small groups were as Assisted Living signed an incomplete sentence that we \ unique advantages of C handler Hall is our ability needed to finish. One group was given the Memory Care to change and adapt to the needs of the people sentence, "Ifw e (Friends General Confer we care for as they change. O ur person alized ence) were a diverse group. ..." The Nursing Care approach to aging sets us apart. We believe in life .words they chose to complete this sen Hospice Care tence were so powerful! involving activities-from crafts classes with our If we were a diverse group: on-site daycare children to swimming in our -we would be healed of the spiritual indoor pool- we make life interesting and more wounds that privilege visits on white like home. Visit us and meet our staff of caring, people. compassionate professionals who give every life - we would be changed by the experience of getting to where we are. they touch more meaning. - we would be living out what we believe. Ev e ry Lift Ifas Mtan i n g .. . -we would be owning the other in our- --• sdves. -we would be a better mirror of the CHANDLER world. l ~ur l>q';tlhk,l LL I look forward to the time when Quak ( :l lllllllllllll \ Livi n g T n t Q11aatr Traditio" erism grows into an inclusive and wd coming religion where you do not have to Ll\111~ Ftltllt\ Information Center: forsake your cultural identity. Then the l ~J'l'll'- ~l )(\I)~ 1--888--603--1973 Center for People ofCo lor will no longer be needed as a safe space for people of \'1,11 l ~ur A nonprofit, nondiscriminatory QUAKER facility color to receive suppon; the Rdigious So 99 Barclay Street, Newtown, PA ~~l),kl T~)'L"~ ( 215) 860-4000 ciety of Friends will be whole because it www.chandlerhall.org will be a better mirror of the world. 0 F RIENDS j oURNAL M ay 2000 33 SANDY SPRING FRIENDS ScHOOL Congratulating FGC on its 1OOth year! FIVE or SEVEN DAY BOARDING Grades 9 through 12 n PRE-K THROUGH 12 DAY S cHooL n AP couRsEs Jl TRAVEL ABROAD OPPORTUNITIES Jl STRONG ARTS, ATHLETICS Jl COLLEGE PREPARATORY Jl TRADITIONAL Q UAKER VALUES 16923 NoRwooD RoAD, SANDY SPRING, MD 20860 Phone: (301) 774-7455 Fa?<: (301) 924-1115 WWW.SSFS.ORG 34 May 2000 FRIENDS JoURNAL Programs Enriching the lives ofCoupki; FRIENDS by Shirley and Verne Bechill HOSPITAL n the late 1960s the FGC Religious Fortunately for us, Lake Erie Yearly Education Committee, under the clerk Meeting did appoint us, and our monthly Iship of Dorothea Morse, was exploring meeting supported us by providing three how our committee could be more help weekends of childcare for our four chil Healing ful to local monthly meetings in minister dren, including our very challenging 2 ~ ing to members. The committee had over year-old. We truly felt cared for and led by sight of the annual Rufus Jones Lectures, the Spirit. Nothing was written in stone the which served as a vehicle for the commit since there was so little experience upon tee to present a thoughtful challenge for which to draw, but it represented the best FGC Friends. At this time the committee of experiential education. Although the was especially concerned with nurturing Maces were our trainers and helped for relationships and the spiritual care of mulate a procedural structure for leading monthly meetings. David Mace, a Friend marriage enrichment events, they too were and distinguished leader in promoting fam learners in the process. They modeled well ily counseling, was selected as the 1968 the role of participatory facilitators. Rufus Jones Lecturer to speak about the Perhaps the most significant event in marriage relationship. His chosen title was the training occurred when a couple from Hospital has been "Marriage as Vocation: An Invitation to California described a couples group that Relationship in Depth." I (Shirley Bechill) met weekly for a few months. They had served on the Religious Education Com devised a means ofs haring in which couples mittee at this time, and I attended the spoke on a particular issue from their own lecture and committee's weekend work experience. This was an "aha" moment shop that followed, with David Mace and for our training, and we experimented his wife Vera as our resource leaders. with it. The results were electrifying Late in the workshop David and Vera dynamic, full of energy-and more im shared their experiences with experimental portantly, they gave each of us an unex enrichment programs for married couples pected opportunity for growth. This on weekend retreats. Way seemed to be "couple dialog" has become the heart and opening for a marriage enrichment retreat soul of the Quaker program. pilot project; the Maces agreed to put to Our experience at that first retreat was gether a proposal, lead the pilot group of so profound that we rediscovered the for those experiencing mental and leaders in training, and evaluate for FGC. power of the energy oflove. We found we In the fall of 1969 the first group of did not need the airplane to fly us home as emotional illnesses. couples gathered at Pendle Hill. to be we were already flying! This remarkable trained to go back to their yearly meet energy sustained us for a full six months. ings, lead a couples retreat, and return to There was no doubt that we were com For further information about outpatient, Pendle Hill in the spring for an evaluation mitted to this project, which some years and further training weekend with the later became a recognized program of inpatient, or residential treatment, call for Maces. The Religious Education Com FGC. At the FGC Gathering in 1970, we a free brochure: 215-831-4770. mittee members agreed to go back to their tried implementing marriage enrichment individual yearly meetings ·and promote events during the workshop periods. It their participation. It was hoped that ev worked, and these workshops have been a ery yearly meeting in FGC would select a part ofeach Gathering ever since. qualified couple to send for this training. The Religious Education Committee The FGC staff, Joe Vlascamp and Larry nurtured the project through its early years, Miller, got funding to help with the trans tested to assure that the format could suc portation and housing costs. Yearly meet cessfully be adapted as a workshop for the ings were asked to provide 50 percent of Gathering, and then sponsored a second 4641 Roosevelt Boulevard the cost. round ofleadership training by the Maces Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19124 at Pendle Hill in 1971-72 before passing Shirley and Verne Bechilllive in Alma, Michi 215-831-4600 gan, and are founding members ofPine River the care on to the newly organized FGC Meeting in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan Ministry and Nurture Committee. FRIENDS JoURNAL May 2000 35 Quaker United Nations Office • For more than 300 years, Friends have worked for a just and non violent society. Since the 1940s the Quaker UN Office in New York (with its sister office in Geneva) has been dedicated to supporting the United Nations in its charter goals: saving succeeding generations from the scourge of war; reaffirming faith in fundamental human rights; establishing conditions under which justice and the respect for international law can flourish; and promoting social progress. We engage diplomats and non governmental organizations in meetings designed to stimulate new thinking and provide in-depth, off-the-record discussions. We publish In and Around the UN three times a year, plus occasional briefing papers. We have two year-long internships. We speak to Friends Meetings and school groups. Quaker United Nations Office • Our current focus issues are control of small arms, peacebuilding in 777 United Nations Plaza conflict and post-conflict situations, women's roles in peacebuilding; New York, NY, 10017 financing for development, support for the 2001 UN Conference on Tel: 212-682-2745 Racism, and on-going conflicts in the Korean Peninsula, Iraq, Fax:212-983-0034 Central Africa and Former Yugoslavia. Web: www. quno.org • We represent you. We invite your suggestions. We depend on your Email: qunony @pipeline. com donations. 0LDJORDANS Roots & Revelation In portncr',hrp with Jorrlun, Mcctrnq Old lorclcrw, Oucrkc'r Centre rs h()strng o rllC IJ Or series of weekend c onfcrcnc c'" rntcndcxl tn clc;vclop fu~:,h trncler ',tCJn cl tr1~J'· of the O ucrkt'r cxperrc;ncc fClr our own tmws Within the theme Roots & Revelation, the weekends are: William Penn Lecture This innovation arises from the Jordans' Joint Outreach Jlly 7·9 David and Anthea Bou~on, Authors of In Fox 's Footsteps, broadcasters, Committee's commitment to foster radical and prophetic publishers and members of the Sea of Faith developments of the Quaker tradition. This annual event is Jllly 21·23 Max Carter, Director of Friends Center, Guilford College, N.C dedicated to Penn because of his close association with specialist in the Middle East, the Amish and Quaker History Jordans, and 'remarkable ability to demonstrate the Sept 22·24 Doug Gwyn, Lecturer at Pendle Hill, Pennsylvania, author of transformoto'Y power of new understandings of the light within. ' Apocalypse of the Word and Covenant Crucified The Committee is delighted that Doug Gywn has accepted Oct 27·29 Larry Ingle, refired Professor of History at the University of its invitation to give the inaugural lecture. Tennessee-Chattanooga and author of First Among Friends: A Place to Be George Fox and the Creation of Quakerism. Old Jordans is a wonderful base for visitors. Half an hour from both Heathrow and Central London, it shares its rural The September weekend will include the inaugural William Penn Lecture. site with the historic Jordans Quaker Meeting House and the burial place of the Penn Family. Milton's Cottage, and the The conferences will be from Friday evening to Sunday Chiltern Hills are nearby. lunchtime with a fully inclusive residential cost of $160. En-suite B&B is available from $56 single to $90 double. Df'tutl', ,'\ 11, '"krnq f"rr11. cr rc· crvcrr lulllc' f""'l Dovrd Bnrtletl Old Jordnns Ounker Guest House und Conference Centre Jordons t1enr Benconsfreld Buckrnghamshrre HP9 2SW Reser vntrons con be mode by cnwrlto dnvrd u oldtoiCinns org uk 01 by phone on 44 (0) 1494 876850 1'11'1\'1 old1ordans org uk 36 May 2000 FRJENos JoURNAL Couple enrichment leaders began meet ing at least twice a year, once during the Gathering (where one to four sections of THE JOURNAL the couples enrichment workshop were filled) and again for a weekend in the win GEORGE FOX ter. The early years of these meetings were for sharing ofour growth as couples and as Edited with an Introduction leaders, and the growing edges for more training. So our advanced training carne . and Notes by Nigel Smith from these winter workshop gatherings and from staying connected with the Maces' ROM THE FATHER OF QUAKERISM, International Association for Couples in F a fascinating autobiographical account Marriage Enrichment (ACME). of his work, struggles, hardships, and In 1975, we changed the name of our successes. Four appendices-extracts from program from "Marriage Enrichment" to "Couple Enrichment," because we wanted Fox's letters, descriptions of his travels in our program to be more inclusive in reach Ireland and America, and William Penn's ing couples who were in committed rela Preface to the first printed edition-supple tionships. This enabled us to have non ment Smith's selections from The JournaL married heterosexual couples as well as 576pp. gay and lesbian couples. Our ministry has been deeply enriched by this expansion of Penguin Classic 0-14-043399-6 $14.95 . focus. The FGC Couple Enrichment Pro gram was certainly the first national pro gram in the United States to be open to gay and lesbian couples, and we believe it I P E N G U I N P U T N A M I N C. is the only one in the country to train gays ACADEMIC MARKETING DEPT • 375 HUDSON IT• NY NY 10014 3657 • www pengu1nputnam com and lesbians as leaders. Other groups have encouraged us to continue to do this be cause their own constituencies will not allow them to do so. While our goal is to strengthen com mitted relationships, and to make good ones even better, we do realize that some Must you sacrifice your principles to be a times a couple who has been in one or successful investor? We don't think so. In more ofour events will decide to break off fact, we believe that principled investments the relationship. It is always difficult, but can be sound investments. the skills learned and common experi So we've created the Pax World Fund Family, four mutual funds that subject ences shared have oftentimes allowed for a potential investments to rigid social- and more amicable parting of the ways. environmental-responsibility screens as well One ofour goals is to have at least one as rigorous financial scrutiny. leader couple in each yearly meeting; we Principles can be profitable. For example. now have 19, covering most of them. We our flagship Pax World Fund is ranked in the have our own formal training and recog top 10%of,....------~ balanced Average Annual'lbtal Return (as of1:v.l1Al9f nition process ofleader couples who meet ~ ~ ~ .2.(b:w our standards. We've come a long way, trafundckse d by ...._17.23% ______21.1 2% 13.52% 13.67% _. and we look forward to meeting the chal Lipper for the 1- 3-. and 5-year periods lenges of the future. Two things are cer Pollution. ended 12/31/99.1 tain: change will continue to play a more For more information. including charges and significant role in the lives of couples, 1Ne're not expenses. please call us or visit our Website requiring considerable skill to meet the for a prospectus. which should be read challenge; and we will continue to work buying it. carefully before investing. with couples in a Spirit-led and support ive atmosphere, which will allow couples to draw upon their God-given strengths. Principle• +Performance. Couple Enrichment changed our lives! 1·800-787·1728 www.paxfund.com And it has had a profound impact upon 1. Lipper Balarml Fund rings~ of 12/31139; 1-Yr: 139 of 448; 3-Yr.#18 of 333; Hr. #17 of 223; 11>-Yr./7 of 60. 2. FigUreS irdlD! reinvested dividerx!s, ~ilal gains dislritxAions, and c:OOnges inpriocil)al val~. and ~ past perfOOTlirol, v.llich is no guarnee of Uure resulls.lnveslmer't raum and prioci hundreds ofother couples over the last 30 pal val~ may rise or fall so that shares,lltien rOO!miOO, may re WOI1h more or less 11m treir original cost Ma'. 200l. DislriOOior: H.G. Wellingtoo &CO ., lrt. years. 0 F RIENDS JoURNAL May 2000 37 Programs Worship in Song by Fran Beer riends General Conference has a long their worn-out music. The history of attempting to integrate FGC Publications Commit Fmusic into the life of the meeting. tee appointed a committee to The first effort occurred in 1919 when the investigatereprintingthe 1955 First-day School Committee published a hymnal or publishing a new paperback with 39 hymns for use in First one. A survey confirmed the day schools, summer schools, and confer need for a new, more com ences. By 1924 the two paperbacks in use prehensive hymnal, but the gave way to the first hardback, Hymns and questions kept arising: why a Songs, consisting of 122 hymns. Over the Quaker hymnal? and what next three decades several editions and would constitute a Quaker supplements appeared, culminating in A hymnal? and subheads to suit Friends usage. Fi Hymnal for Friends in 1955. While that However, during a conference of re nally, to make Worship in Song more ac beloved volume went through four print gional representatives at Pendle Hill in cessible to Friends, historical notes and six ings, the need arose for 1989 where these ques indexes were included. more informal song tions were again posed, In September 1996, Worship in Song books. During the the exciting possibility was put into the hands of long-waiting 1970s differing views ofa truly Quaker hym Friends. Creating Worship in Song was a on gender (relating to nal began to emerge. joyful, Spirit-led experience for all the many God, Spirit) and the As Friends from many Friends involveq along the ten-year jour ology (universalist and religious backgrounds ney. It united us in Spirit, and we hope Christo-centric lan shared their different and believe it is doing its part in uniting guage) had seemed in traditions ofmusic and Friends throughout Friends General Con surmountable. Thus, language of the Spirit, ference. 0 Songs ofthe Spirit, the there was increasing very popular 1978 awareness that this va songbook, was born, riety should be not sim not as a replacement, ply tolerated, but val but as a supplement to ued for the richness it the 1955 hymnal. brings to our Society. ~ All during these Above all, worshiping 1:: years Friends tried to in song was recognized ~ come to grips with the and affirmed as a sig ·~ meaning of music for nificant part of our ex ~ Friends and how mu- perience of God. Out sic should be used. In of that discussion and troductions in the early hymnals recog worship came a set of"Guiding Principles nized that Friends were singing in settings for Hymn and Song Selection for a Friends such as First-day schools and informal Hymnal" that would attest to the Light in gatherings. Rather than struggle against its many forms. this situation, an effort was made to pro A Music Selection Group, theologi vide "suitable" music. By the 1940s, there cally, musically, and geographically di was a more positive outlook, and both the verse and willing to take on these difficult 1942 and 195 5 hymnals were accompa issues, worked for several years, culling nied by paperback guides consisting of hymns and songs from over 1,000 sub essays on how to use the hymns and his missions, singing and worshiping together torical notes on each piece. as they considered how both music and By 1986, A Hymnal for Friends had lyrics would meet the needs of a broad long been out ofprint, and some meetings spectrum of Friends. The emphasis was were pleading for something to replace always on inclusion rather than exclusion, Top and middle: strumming and each member trying to meet the spiritual shape note singing, 1998 Gathering Fran Beer, a member ofNewark (DeL) Meeting, needs of others than themselves. Hymns Bottom: trying the new songbook, war clerk ofthe Hymnal Oversight Committee. and songs were organized under headings 1996 38 May 2000 FRIENDS JoURNAL A Quaker Sponsored Retirement Community. ... To Friends General Conference: In recognition ofa century ofservices and programs that support and nurture the Religious Society ofFriends 6300 Greene Street Mary Ann Davis Philadelphia, PA 19144 Director of Admission EQUAL HOUSING www.stapeley.org OPPORTUNITY 215-844-0700 FRIENDS }OURNALMay 2000 39 Almost Sixty Years with FGC by Carolyn Nicholson Terrell y first experience with Friends trations, a work General Conference was in the sheet, and a mes M1940s in Cape May, New Jer sage for parents sey, where Orthodox young adults associ about the lesson. ated with Hicksite young adults for the Subjects covered a first time. I remember fun on the beach in wide span of the afternoons, walking the boardwalk at Quaker interests, night, and dancing on the piers. Presum including the Bible, ably we attended lectures and workshops Quaker history, as well. Quaker beliefs, Then in the 1950s and '60s I remem community build ber heartwarming visits from Barnard ing, service, and Walton in our hilltop home in upstate ecology. Eventually New York He was traveling for FGC to there was material for two years of study. help remote Friends feel in touch with the I made many trips to Richmond, Indi wider circle of Friends. ana, and FUM Friends came to Philadel When I joined the FGC staff in 1973, phia. It was a new experience for most of my responsibilities included religious edu us, often joyful, sometimes difficult. I re cation; editing and publishing pamphlets, member a time in Philadelphia when a books, and the FGC ()Jtarterly, and the small working group had come to an im children's program at annual Gatherings. passe. Someone suggested we have a pe Howard Bartram was executive secretary. some curriculum produced jointly by riod ofquiet and then each share our own He was a wise and seasoned Hicksite Friends United Meeting and FGC?" concept of God. I remember thinking Friend; I was a younger Orthodox Friend. Friends who had agreed that it couldn't be that if we did that the sky would surely I benefited from many good lunch done decided to do it anyway! The Living fall. We did settle into silence, and we did time discussions about Quaker faith and Light curriculum emerged. Manuscripts share. The tension disappeared, and the practice. produced by individuals from both FGC sky didn't fall! I wonder how many meet Members of the Religious Education and FUM were circulated for comment ings have some Living Light materials hid Committee had recently spent many hours among readers from both FGC and FUM. den away on their shelves. developing a mission statement. The rigor Final editing and production were done Finding staff for the children's pro of this effort resulted in a strong bond by Joyce Mardock, an FUM staff mem gram during FGC Gatherings was a re among the members of the committee. ber. Materials for Fall, Winter, and Spring warding challenge. One year a group of New, at that time, was an expansion ofthe for different ages were prepared. Each middle schoolers was in disarray. Later scope of religious education to include course had a teacher's manual and four that summer, while representing FGC adults. page leaflets for the children to take home during sessions of a yearly meeting, I The strong and energetic committee each week The leaflets had colorful illus- watched a young man transform a group met often, since most of the members lived within easy traveling distance. Their vitality was strength ened, rather than harmed, by strong differences of opinion about what cur riculum should contain. Meetings were always lively! Some Friends had been asking "Why not have Carolyn Nicholron T~ell is a member of Mount Holly (NJ) Meeting. 40 Tell me more I am interested in ways I can invest in the future of FRIENDS JouRNAL. Please send me: 0 your booklet on charitable gift planning 0 a gift annuity illustration for the ages below 0 sample bequest language for my will Please send the information indicated above to: Name______~_Birthdate: . ______Name.______Birthdate: ______Address: ______City:______.State: _____.Zip: ____ Telephone: ( __ ) ______Mail this form or call Mike Johnson at the Planned Giving Office: (765) 962-3760. NO POSTAGE NECESSARY IF MAILED INTilE UNITED STATES BUSINESS REPLY MAIL FIRST-CLASS MAIL PERMIT NO 35933 PHILADELPHIA PA POSTAGE WILL BE PAID BY ADDRESSEE FRIENDS JOURNAL 1216 ARCH ST STE 2A PHILADELPHIA PA 19107-9370 1••• 111.1 ••••• 1111 ••• 1••• 11.1 •••• 11.1 ••• 111 ..... 11.1 of teenagers and hired him immediately for the Gathering the following year. When I visited his group the next summer I found him leading an important discus About sion with 60 middle schoolers, sitting on the floor, in a gym. Many of the children were those I had observed the year before. Them. Our children and those who nurture them are a vital part of the future ofQuakerism .• After I retired from FGC, I was pleased to be invited to join the Religious Educa tion Committee. It had changed from my early FGC days. Since it was made up of • Grades 6·12, Boarding & Day men and women from all the FGC yearly • 8-to·l Student/Faculty Ratio meetings, travel distances were greater and • Excellent College we met less often-three times a year and Placement Record during the Gathering. Meetings were • 75 Miles North of NYC scheduled in different yearly meetings, giv ing us a unique chance to stay in Friends' homes and worship with them. We often enjoyed bountiful poclucks. We looked forward to "show and tell" on Friday Oalzwood nights, when each of us presented materi FRIENDS f SC H OOL als we wanted to share. Careful minutes of 515 South Road, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601 · www.o-f-s.org that session provided us with ideas about curriculum, projects, and resources to take 1-800-843-3341 home to our own meetings. It is hard for me to find words to express the value of working with people with similar interests from different yearly meetings. This value is the essence of FGC. The work that is done on these com mitteeweekends remains the same--evalu Olney Friends School ating curriculum, resolving differences, and A co-educational, co/lege-preparatory, boarding high school with deep Quaker roots. making decisions about publication. In recent years a retreat for personal spiritual Nurturing: renewal has been included. At one time there was increased emphasis on seeking divine guidance while making decisions. I Intellectual curiosity remember a tense time when we had a brand new dilemma, whether to publish a Communication poem by Paul Lawrence Dunbar in the original dialect or translate it into -regular Self-confidence English. What did God want? Though not comfortable with that question, I did Leadership understand it. I felt clear that the dialect should be preserved but realized I needed Creativity to yield to the contemporary desire to avoid such language. It was a profound Integrity learning experience for me. Although I have retired from Religious Education Committee and Central Com mittee, I will never retire from my love for FGC. It has undergirded my life! 0 Olney Friends School Barnesville, Ohio 43713 Telephone: 740-425-3655 Top to bottom, page 40: Religious Education display, 1960; Junior [email protected] Gatherings, 1985 and 1950s FRIENDS }OURNAL May 2000 41 .Neh' and .Nota6le ;;:::, u6llcatlons Spiritual Classics: Selected From FGC Publications Readings for Individuals and George Fox's Groups on the Twelve Spiritual Disciplines · 'Book of Miracles' Henry J. Cadbury, ed., with forwards edited by Richard J. Foster and by Rufus M.Jones,Jim Pym and Paul Emile Griffin IHarper, 2000, 3 78 pp., paperback $16.00 Anderson. DUE IN MAY. FGC, 2000, paperback $17.00 Amazing Fact of Worship In Song: A Friends Quaker Worship Hymnal by George H. Gorman FGC, 1996, 404 pp., hardcover or spiral QHS, 1973, I 58 pp., paperback $20.00 ON SAL£ for $5.00 Opening No Cross, No Crown byWilliam Penn Doors to Quaker Sessions, 1999, 4 70 pp., paperback Religious Education $20.00 by Mary Snyder FGC, 1999, 182 pp., paperback Let Your Life Speak: Ustening $14.95 for the Voice o(Vocation by Parker J. Palmer .. jossey-Boss, 2000, 118 pp., cloth For Adults __. ... $18.00 L--...... ;..l Nourishing the Spiritual Life by Paul Lacey Brotherly Love: A Poem QHS, 1999, 5 I pp., paperback $6.00 by Daniel Hoffman • Univ. of Penn., 2000, 175 pp., paperback Abby Hopper Gibbons: $15.95 Prison Reformer and Social Activist For Children by Margaret Hope Bacon SUNY, 2000, 217 pp, paperback $19.95 American Quakers: Perspectives on History series The Bam at the End of the by William Coleman, editor World: The Apprenticeship of Discovery Enterprises, 1998, 66 pp., a Quaker, Buddhist Shepherd paperback $6.95 by Mary Rose O'Reilly Milkweed, 2000, 320 pp., cloth $22.95 William Penn: Quaker Colonist Tall Poppies: Supporting Gifts by Kieran Doherty of Ministry and Eldering in the Millbrook Press, 1998, 192 pp., cloth Monthly Meeting $22.40 by Martha Paxson Grundy Pendle Hill, 2000,32 pp., paperback $4.00 Mim and the Klan: a Hoosier ~, Quaker Farm Family's Story . Spiritual Simplicity: Simplify by Cynthis Stanley Russell Your Ufe and Enrich your Soul Guild Press, 1999, 122 pp., cloth i !l by David Yount $18.95 Simon & Schuster, 1999, 208 pp., paperback $11 .00 Earth Care: World Folktales to Talk About A Plain Life: by Margaret Read MacDonald Walking My Belief Shoe String. 1999, 162 pp., paperback by Scott Savage $17.50 Ballantine, 2000, 208 pp., cloth n•tt•••••• $22.00 42 May 2000 FRIENDS JoURNAL Programs The FGC Bookstore by Liz Yeats rimed resources have always been made materials available, none was able to essential to Friends. Early Friends carry extensive tracts, pamphlets, and reli Preferred to them as the "second gious education materials. With help from order ministry." As Quakers moved across Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, FGC ex North America, tracts, pamphlets, and panded its capacity to serve Friends, creat books were an important element in pre ing a full-service source of books and ma serving our unique identity and spreading terials by, for, and about Quakers and the Friends' faith and practice. issues in which they are involved. The FGC When I came on staff with FGC in Bookstore now serves Friends with mail The 1989, we were re order service around the world. The _, sponding to this 64-page catalog lists materials from Storehouse need through lim Quaker and other publishers that help Collection ited catalog sales of thousands ofFriends and their meet ·-- otMemories ings understand better what it is to be a Quaker and grow closer to God. A Life Story service to help you That's the facts of how the FGC tell your story, Bookstore became what it is today savor your memories, but without any of the fun, excite and aeate a beautiful book- ment, or human floundering through a cherished legacyfor your family. which it grew. So let me share some Marty Walton and linda Lyman of the queries and quandaries that 1311 Sudden Valley, Belllngham, WA came along over the years: 98226 • 36Q-738-8599 [email protected] Where will we find enough shelves for www.storehousecollectlon.com aU those books and pamphlets? Member, Association of Personal Historians mwmmmwm Who wiU count aU the nickels that feU on the foor at midnight at the Gather ing Store? What is that brown, sticky stuffaU over EACH LEAF Poems EACH LEAF the books in those boxes we tried to send Poems by • UPS to !Uinois Yearly Meeting? SarahMook How could we have sent Living with David Mook Above: Bookstore at the Gathering, Death and Dying when that weighty 1997 Quaker ordered Living with Oneself and Sarah Gail Mook was a Sanh Mook navld Mook member of Buckingham curriculum materials and a few books, Others as a wedding gift for her daughter? Meeting and a student in almost all ofthem FGC publications. FGC Why is there a copy ofBuns of Steel in this the third grade at Buckingham Friends staff and committee agreed that this effort shipment from Doubleday, ·and which School when she died suddenly on December was expensive and inefficient and began 14, 199!5. Inspired by Sarah's poems and also Quaker wiU buy it? by Elizabet h Watson's book, Guests ofMy looking for ways to improve and expand Life. Sarah's father, David , began writing the service. Meeting with other Quaker Which panicked parents found their child poetry. EACH LEAF is a celebration of publishers and booksellers that year, we reading under a table at the 1982 Gather Sarah's life. ing Store? recognized that the move to expanded "Heartfelt, heartbreaking and extraordi space at 1216 Arch Street combined with How many staffand volunteers wiU be here narily life affirming-it tackles, in a remark able way, the question: how does one go on the closing ofthe Philadelphia Yearly Meet at 11 A.M. to help carry 150 boxes ofhymnals ing bookstore opened an opportunity to living in the face of such grief and sorrow?" up from the truck to the loft? -Cheryl Baldi better meet the needs ofFriends . Although other Quaker bookstores Some Friends who have worked hard with • A wonderful tribute to Sarah and to poetry and to life." -Christopher Bursk Liz Yeats, a member ofAustin (Tex.) Meeting, us over the years know some of the an swers to these questions. Others, we'll never To order EACH LEAF, send now serves FCNL and the National Council of a check for $25 to: know! May the FGC Bookstore grow on Churches. She is co-clerk ofQuakers Uniting in Sarah Gail Mook - Outreach Fund Publications and a FRIENDS j OURNAL Board into the new century helping FGC serve P.O. Box 20, Lahaska PA 18931 member. Friends. 0 FRIENDS j OURNAL May 2000 43 Books Residential and Assisted Living Life-Work: A Career Guide man since 1891 for Idealists By William Charland. Friends United Press, 1999.216pages. $15/paper. Anne and Tom Moore "This is not just a book on how to get a moved to The Hickman job, but a career guide for idealists." (p.62) and gave up food There are many books that promise more than they can deliver, especially those that shopping and cleaning might be described as "self-help" books, but house. They didn't stop this is not one of them. Life-Work delivers. William Charland, a member of Moun traveling or tain View (Colo.) Meeting, is a specialist in volunteering. changing careers, having transformed his own several times. In the latest ofhis five books, he starts with the question, ''Why do we work?" "We wanted to focus on But instead of the usual answers that focus on the things in life that are an individual's needs, Charland invites the important to us." reader to build an answer that starts with his or her values. • Quaker-Sponsored • Homelike • Affordable • Close to Town • Welcoming Diversity This is a kind of pie-in-the-sky approach that would get most writers in trouble--you 400 N. Walnut St., West Chester, PA 19380 read the book and think, "Great theory, but 610-696-1536 it'll never work!'' Charland has anticipated www.thehickman.org this reaction and illustrates each of his points with a short vignette. Each sketches the story of an ordinary person, in an all-too-ordinary job, who breaks out and establishes a new career doing work he or she values and en joys-andgetting paid for it. Our natural skep ticism can't resist. This is a book for young people just out of school and for people in mid-career who find themselyes stuck in the wrong job. But be l ~ndal at Longwood Crosslands Let Your Life Speak: Continuing Care Listening for the Voice of Retirement Communities Vocation Coniston By Parker J Palmer. Josey-Bass Publishers, Cartmel 1999. 117pages. $18/hardcover. Retirement Communities Learning to listen to-and actually hear with Residential Services the voice within is the key to finding a voca tion true to one's nature, writes former Pendle 610-388-7001 Hill teacher and dean ofstudies Parker Palmer. P.O. Box 100 • ~nnett Square, PA 19348 Equal Housing This is in sharp contrast to the voices www.kcc.kendal.org Opportunity without. The popular recommendation to "Be anything you want to be," fails to recognize 44 May 2000 FRIENDS JoURNAL that some choices may not be a good match for our innate gifts, and finding a path that nurtures the spirit requires more than just choosing a vocation and blindly pursuing it. Palmer relates some of his own experi Scattergood Friends School, founded ences-getting fired from a graduate student in 1890, is committed to fostering job, dropping out ofseminary, happily spend lifelong and self-directed learning, ing ten years at Pendle Hill- to illustrate how developing a sense of personal responsibility and cultivating global he finally found his own calling. Through his citizenship. missteps, he learned that although he was a gifred teacher and writer, he was not destined • All recent graduates have gained to be an academic. And he describes how he college acceptance • Student-to-teacher ratio: 4 to 1 gleaned as much from failures as the way • Innovative block scheduling closed, as from opportunities as way opened. • Community service graduation I found the experiences Palmer shared to requirement be helpful both in following my own leadings • Shared work program and in gaining a better understanding ofcen • Organic garden, farm • Comprehensive, exciting tering. During his tenure at Pendle Hill, Palmer Arts Deparrment was invited to apply for the presidency of a • Daily Collection, weekly small college. H e called a clearness commit Meeting for Worship tee, and he describes not only the process this For information, call mll-&ee at committee used to help him find his own 1-888-737-4636, or e-mail answers, but how this time-honored Quaker [email protected] tradition can make a positive difference in personal decision-making. 1951 DeltaAvenue Palmer's thoughts and insights about his West Branch, Iowa 52358 life have led me to evaluate my own travels, and they should help other Friends do the \IV \IV \IV. S C at same. -joy Pile joy Pile, a member ofSouth Starksboro {Vt.} Meeting, is a librarian at Middlebury College. Citizen Action for Global Change: The Neptune Group and Law of the Sea WESTTOWN By Ralph B. Levering and Miriam L. Levering. Syracuse University Press, 1999. 189 pages. $19.95/paperback. Objectively, Citizen Action is a case study of the effectiveness of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in international and national arenas. It describes and analyzes the work of The Neptune Group and their suc cessful efforts during the Third UN Confer ence on Law of the Sea (1973-82). Subjec tively, the book is the Quaker-led story of the Leverings, Sam and Miriam, in their seem ingly Quixotic quest on behalf of the global establishment of the rule of law. As a result, the book is both history and memoir and should appeal to Friendly readers on both counts. For me there is a personal connection: I attended a few of the many Quaker UN Of fice {QUNO) briefings described and held at Quaker House in New York, and I now live there as a Quaker Representative to the UN. In addition, the Leverings utilized Quaker House in Geneva and FCNL as bases for their FRIENDS j OURNAL May 2000 45 work and attended the conferences they de Alwa.tjs renewing. Alwa.tjs improving. scribe with credentials from Friends World Committee for Consultation, which QUNO Now re-creating state-of-the-art Skilled Nursing, officially represents at the UN. Their book is first about the experience of flssisted Living and community areas. an NGO working to influence a UN confer ence, but its real purpose is more profound, namely, to inspire others to devote their lives as the Leverings have done--to strengthen the international laws and institutions that "offer the best hope for a more just and peace ful future." The authors sought to show that ordinary people can be empowered to address global issues, and they have been successful. Any reader who shares their goal, yet despairs of the power of voluntary action to achieve li non-profit retirement community anet such ends, will find new strength and wisdom healthcare provicter operatect by members to attempt great things. of the Religious Society of]riencts. The book has two foci: work at the na tional level in Washington to influence U.S. feesictentiallipartments • lissistect policy on ocean issues, and work at the inter Dving!Personal Care • Ski/lee/ Nursing Care national level through the UN Conferences on Law of the Sea. The first describes in 1120 Meetinghouse Road • Gwynedd PA 19436 dramatic detail the work of a handful of citi fgwynedd@ aol.com • www .foulkeways.org zens through four administrations (Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan) and the challenges For more information, call Nancy B. Gold, Director of Admissions, of each. Essentially, they had to counter the at 215-643-2200. "unilateralist" approach of the U.S. govern ment in relation to multilateral negotiations of international law. Initially, the Leverings arrived on the scene with few contacts. They quickly found their greatest asset to be their universalistic point of view-which meant that they could take com peting interests into account, including those Friends Home at Woodstown of U.S. government and mining interests as well as those of developing countries. In fact, their greatest acceptance--and their greatest A Century ofQuaker Care for Older Adults influence--occurred when they were seen as Simply put, Friends Home at Woodstown provides friendly and affordable helping the process ofsear ching for a compro mise that both developing and developed coun care to older. adults. Nestled in the heart of rural southern New Jersey, tries could accept. Ultimately, their task be Friends Home has maintained a stable presence in the community for over came one offacili .tating negotiations and prob 100 years. Some of our primary services include: lem-solving rather than propagating any par ticular message or position. And as a result, • Private, homelike residential living perceptions of them evolved from "gadflies" • Independent apartment living to "participants" in the policy process, work • Health care facility with 24-hour services ing directly with State Department officials • Patient and supportive staff and policymakers close to presidents. Those who aspire to global change will • Attention to the individual's spiritual, social, and physical needs find more than solace in this collective work • Closeness to the community of many-they will find and be inspired by • Medicare and Medicaid Cenificate truly visionary work grounded in savvy and persistence. Rated one ofthe best care homes in the U.S. - jack Patterson For a tour or more information, contact our Admissions Office at jack Patterson is a Quaker Representative to the 856-769-1500 United Nations in New York. Friends Home at Woodstown P.O. Box 457 • Friends Drive • Woodstown, NJ 08098 46 May 2000 F RIENDS JoURNAL News Steven J. Baumgartner will be the new direc tor of Pendle Hill. He succeeds Dan Seeger, who is retiring in September 2000 after nine '1found the most wondetfol people at years at the Quaker center for study and con templation in Wallingford, Pennsylvania. Friends' Central, including my best friends Steve, of Gwynedd Valley, Pa., joins Pendle who are both students and teachers. Hill after a 25-year international business career. I became very close to coaches, faculty members, and cktssmates. I loved being able to Burlington {Vt.) Meeting, in a letter to Gov. Howard Dean of Vermont, affirms its "cel walk across campus and be personaOy ebrations of marriage for both opposite-sex greeted by everyone I passed. " and same-sex couples." Approving the recent ruling by the Vermont State Supreme Court, which opens the door for legislative sanction Calinda Lytton '99 of same-sex marriages, the letter from HAVERFORD COLLEGE Burlington Friends states, "As a community MEMBER OF PROVIDENCE MONTHLY MEETING of faith we have long supponed the principle ATTENDER OF HAVERFORD MONTHLY MEETING of equality. We therefore believe that bias has no place in the affording of protections and Cum Laude Award • Senior Editor, Yearbook opponunities by the State ofVermont." The Co-President, Student Admission Committee letter urges Gov. Dean "to sponsor and/or Benjamin V. Ogden Award for Citizenship suppon legislation that grants the status of Co-Captain, Varsity Soccer and Softball civil marriage to all couples who choose to Habitat for Humanity • Religious Life Committee marty, regardless oftheir gender." -Burlington Friends Meeting Newsletter Grades Pre-K • 4 Grades 5 • 12 Call:(610) 642-7575 Call: (61 0) 649-7440 Friends Committee on legislation of Cali fornia has issued a policy statement on re cent agreements by the governor with 57 tribes in the state to allow gambling on tribal lands. T he statement reiterates "Friends' tra ditional opposition to gambling on moral grounds" and opposes "State operation or Forgiving Justice: the 2000 Swarthmore Leaure sponsorship of gambling" or its use "as a BY TIM NEWELL means of producing revenue for the State." A detailed assessment of the penal system and Friends' testimony on However, the statement continues, "The is criminal justice for today by Tim Newell. One of our annual Swarthmore sue of Friends' attitude toward gambling on Lecture series of Quaker thought on current major issues. QHS, 2000, 120 f>P., paperback $16.00 Indian reservations is very complex because it involves conflicting values. While we share Faith In Action: Quaker Social Testimony Faith in our testimonies with legislators against gam-· A colleCtion of essays and contributions from Friends action bling, we do not feel it is right to impose our on how our lived witness is an integral part of our faith-with a major essay from Jonathan Dale. will upon sovereign Native American nations. Quaker QHS, 2000, 292 f>P., paperback $20.00 social FCL decries the economic and political ineq testimony uity in which organized gambling is often And ha11e 'fOU seen these? perceived to be the most viable form of busi ness enterprise. FCL supports legislation and Let Your Words Be Few: Symbolism of Speaking programs that encourage alternative forms of and Silence Among Seventeenth-Century Quakers economic development that generate sustain BY RICHARD BAUMAN Classic analysis of early Friends. able benefit to Native Americans." -FCL QHS, 1998, /68f>P., paperback $20.00 Newsletter, February 2000 Paths of the Spirit: meditations for a journey Friends Medical Society, founded 50 years ARRANGED BY HARVEY GILLMAN ago to give voice to the medical implications A collection of quotations from notable Friends with Paths photos. QHS, 1998, 48 f>P., paperback $12.00 of the of traditional Quaker principles, is requesting Spirit abstracts by June 15 of papers for its confer • Contact the Quaker Bookshop, Friends ence on October 21, 2000, in Philadelphia. House, 173 Euston Rd, London NWI 2BJ Contact J. Norris Childs, Program Chair, England ([email protected]) for our at (215) 482-3511, e-mail FRIENDS JoURNAL May 2000 47 Bulletin Board Consider a nurturing community for your loved one with special care needs. Upcoming Events •May 14--The Million Mom March to end gun violence, Washington, D.C. For more '- informacion, visit 50 May 2000 FRIENDS JoURNAL Milestones building and grounds committee, as assistant trea Births/Adoptions surer, and then treasurer. In the 1980s he was aaive in the Kent County Peace Fellowship and Bietz-]onas Bim;, on July 5, 1999, to Karl and participated in the Nuclear Freeze Movement. An Tracey Bietz. Tracey is a member of Madison active board member of the Dover Att League, Jim Witness (Wis.) Meeting. was truly an artist at heart and loved his work. Jurgenson-]mt MiUs ]urgmson, on March 27, Shottly afrer his retirement he studied in the Uni Tour 2000, to Patricia Garrett Jurgenson and Mark versity of Delaware Arts Department and earned Jurgenson. His mother and grandparents Edythe another degree. He was a yoga teacher for over 40 and Daniel Garrett are members of Abington years and had many faithful students. In the sum Nicaragua 2000 (Pa.) Meeting. mer of 1999 he participated in interracial circles August 3-13 $500 per person sponsored by theY and the League of Women Vot plus airfare ers. He was respeaed for his willingness to bring up Deaths thorny topics in a helpful and meaningful way. He DISCOVER NICARAGUA. Tour community based projects that ProNica supports and Aston-Bonita (Bonnie) Aston, 98, on January 22, died peacefully at home, with his wife by his side. 1999, in Chapel Hill, N.C. She was born on He is survived by his wife, Mary Lou; his sons, Gus meet the people who are working to Oaober 10, 1900, in Chilliwack, British Columbia, and Jeff, daughter Kristie; and five grandchildren. improve the conditions of the poor and the daughter of Henry and Margaret Stanislavsky. Mil.l.s-Eiizabtth Morgridgt MiUs, on September marginalized. Includes accomodations at Bonnie's mother was an active Friend in the early 12, 1999, at Mt. San Antonio Gardens, Claremont, Quaker House in Managua, meals, all in women's suffiage movement, worked during the California. She was born in Sierra Madre, Califor First and Second World Wars for AFSC, and was nia, on June 10, 1916. She grew up surrounded by country travel and translation. For info one of the first proponents of the Heifer Projea. music because her mother, a graduate ofth e School & reservations - [email protected] Bonnie grew up in Bellingham, Washington; Reno, of Music of University of Southern California, (727) 821-2428 or -.pronlca.org Nevada; and Santa Rosa, Oakland, and Berkeley, gave piano lessons at home. As a toddler, Elizabeth 130 19th Avenue SE, Saint Petersburg, Florida 33705 California. In Berkeley she met her husband, Jack would sometimes complain from another room Toge 52 May 2000 FRIENDS JoURNAL Seeking job or apprenticeship in oooking or hospitality North Pacific Yearly Meeting (NPYM) represents the Classified field and supportive living environment. Currently incarcer Northwest's unprogrammed Friends meetings in Oregon, ated for drug charge. Attended Friends Meeting for two Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Sheridan, Wyoming. A For Information call (215) 563-8629. years in Athens, Ohio, while out on bond; maintained con yearly meeting is held each summer, including July 20- tact with Friends while incarcerated. Possible parole in Sep 23, 2000, in Corvallis, Oregon. Contact: Helen Dart, Classified rates 65¢ per word. Minimum charge Is $15. tember. Have B.S. in Holistic Health Counseling, course logo is additional $15. Add 10% if boxed. 10% NPYM Secretary, 2675 Baker Blvd., Eugene, OR 97403, work in culinary arts and hospitality, experience in organic (541) 485-6589, FRIENDS jOURNAL May 2000 53 RMident Friend: Orange Grove Monthly Meeting in Pasa Tr11ve1for the Socially Concerned Philadelphia YMrly Meeting Is seeking a full time Coor· dlnetor of Adult Rellgloua Education Progr11ma to: 1) dena, Calff., beginning midsummer 2000. If interested, please Join Quaker couple touring Four Comers Anasazi sites 9/ contact Ann Harwood, 2235 Lorna Vista Place, Los Angeles, 4-15, 2000; Guatemala 2113-24, Sweden/Finland 612o- Inform Friends in PYM about the depth and breadth of aduij religious education: Quaker faith and practice, spirituality, CA 90039. Telephone: (323) 660-1771. E-mail: <&harwood 7/11, and Nova Scotia In September 2001. Three de @earthlink.nel>. cades of Hinshaw family traveVstudy/residence In all four history, social concerns, and outreach; 2) encourage and areas, Including 30 previous tours. For small-group travel oversee the development of adult religious education re· with an anthropological focus, write: Hinshaw Tours, 2696 sources, i.e., courses, retreats, curricula, conferences, Web Real Estate W. 160 Terrace, Stilwell, KS 66085. (913) 685·2808. page, etc.; and 3) handle the logistics and publicity of such resources so that they are readily available to monthly Frlenda achool teacher would like to rent or purchase a Guatemala: Spanish immersion, volunteer work, internship. meetings in PYM. Oualnications necessary for this pos"ion small house or carriage house on the Main Une. (215) 843· College credit. FRIENDSJoURNAL May 2000 55 ·we want Quakerism to Growl Friends General Conference C Offers Traveling M inistries to Meetings throughout N orth America C Provides Religious Education and O utreach through Workshops, Publishing, the FGC Bookstore, and our Website (www.fgcquaker.org) C Brings Friends Together at our Annual Gathering, R egional Conferences, and our new Young Quakes conferences for Quaker teens A Wellspring for Quakerism For 100 years, FGC has tended the Quaker garden, promoting the growth of Quakerism and Quaker leaders. This summer, to help fund our expanded programs and services, FGC will launch: Nurturing Quakerism: The Campaign for Friends General Conference. Please join us in celebrating our history and growing Quakerism for the future! For more information, please contact: Michael Wajda, FGC Development Manager 1216 Arch Street, 2B Friends General Conference Philadelphia, PA 19107 (215) 561- 1700 [email protected]