Community Companion. Quaker House: 3960 Winding Way, Cincinnati, OH (513)

Transcription

1 Community Companion Quaker House: 3960 Winding Way, Cincinnati, OH (513) Volume 17, Issue 12 December, 2011 Presiding Clerk: Frank Huss Assistant Clerk: Kate Anthony Recording Clerk: Ken Bordwell Treasurer: Mary Anne Curtiss Ministry and Counsel: Eileen Bagus Erin Bagus (SA) Byron Branson Lisa Cayard Rachel Ernst Evie Hoffmann Frank Huss (ex officio) Tim Leonard Sunny Rhein (SA) (SA) is special assignment Newsletter: Deborah Jordan Editor and photographer: Jean Crocker-Lakness Submissions for the January, 2012 newsletter due by: Monday, December 26, 2011 Calendar All events and meetings take place at the Meeting House unless otherwise noted. Singing 9:45 am, Meeting for Worship 10 am Second Hour or Carry in 11:40 am Dec. 4 Carry in Meal after Meeting for Worship FUN Committee appreciates and encourages locally grown food when possible Dec. 10 Lobbying training with FCNL'S Matt Southworth, 10:00-2:00, potluck lunch: see page 6 Dec. 11 Meeting for Worship with attention to Business Dec. 17 Play Practice Dec. 18 Second hour: Children s Play Memorial for Sterling Olmsted, 1:30-2:30 PM, Wilmington College Campus: see page 9 Dec. 25 Merry Christmas: no second hour In This Issue: Page 2 Summary of Minutes, 11 th month, Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business Page 3 Worship at Piatt Park, Second hours for 2012 Page 4 MARCC Page 5 Cartoon, Message from Stewardship, Tour of Quaker Cincinnati Page 6 FCNL Lobbying training, Face from the meeting Page 7 Faces from the meeting Page 8 Sketches by Jennifer, Quaker Quest Page 9 Sterling Olmsted, Quaker House News Page 10 OVYM, Minute on the plight of Coptic Christians in Egypt Twelfth Query from OVYM Book of Discipline, 1978: Stewardship; Business Relations Do you regard your possessions as given to you in trust and do you part with them freely for the needs of others? Are your means of livelihood in keeping with your ideals as Friends? Are you concerned that your business be primarily a service to people? What are you doing to foster upright practices in business relations? Do you maintain strict integrity in all business transactions? Do you bear a faithful testimony against all forms of gambling?

2 Community Companion December, 2011 page 2 Summary of Minutes (draft) of Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business Eleventh Month 13, 2011 The meeting opened with a period of silent worship Minutes of the Tenth Month: APPROVED with one correction. Items from The Clerk s Table: o The Clerk announced that there will be a lobbying workshop with Matt Southworth of the FCNL staff at the Meetinghouse on December 10. It will run from 10 AM till 2 PM with a potluck lunch. o The Clerk has received thank you letters for the Meeting s contributions to Quaker Music Camp and Quaker Earthcare Witness (QEW). Action Items: The Clerk reported that the Clerk s Committee nominated Wilhelmina Branson, Sue Brungs, Dylan Cahalan, David Funck, Evie Hoffman, and Richard House to be on the Nominating Committee. APPROVED. The Peace and Social Concerns Committee presented their list of suggestions for meeting contributions for APPROVED. The Peace and Social Concerns Committee presented a minute proposed by Cincinnati Friends Meeting on the plight of Coptic Christians in Egypt. (see page 10)The Clerk read the minute, and after discussion, as a matter of reaffirming our commitment to religious liberty, the Meeting APPROVED the minute. A minute was proposed by the Peace and Social Concerns Committee to support the Occupy movement. After discussion, it was referred back to the Committee for further seasoning, to make it a stronger minute and to cite Quaker bases for supporting it. Marjorie Isaacs urged those present to examine the goals of Occupy and to follow their consciences and be acting now. The 2012 Budget: The Treasurer presented next year s budget. After discussion, it was APPROVED. Treasurer s Report: The bank balance: budget ratio stands at 11 %( goal is 10%). The Treasure reported that generous contributions have come in, but that we still do not have the additional amount needed for giving generous year s end contribution. The treasurer s report was ACCEPTED, with gratitude. Committee Reports: FUN Report (Bill Cahalan): Invasive plants are now pretty much in check and the caretakers will be working toward maintaining that status. Further energy independence, especially solar, is now being investigated by the Committee. Ministry and Counsel (Lisa Cayard): working mostly on Quaker Quest House and Grounds (Eric Wolff): There are a variety of opinions regarding the elevator. At any rate, it is now working. Also, we are now on a regular inspection schedule with the City. Religious Education (Lisa Cayard): Activity in many areas, notably Pam has offered to teach the children American Sign Language. Adult Education: The Christmas Play will be on December 18. Discussion of Quakerism: A Theology for Our Time is every other Sunday morning in the library from 9:00 to 10:00. There is some controversy around using the library in the time slot before worship. Community Committee (Mary Anne Curtiss): It is reported that some of the children missed having a Halloween party this year. The Committee will be looking into those kinds of activities. Web report (Eric Wolff): The website is being worked on. Stewardship (Marjorie Isaacs): presented a written report describing the General Fund. Wider Quaker Bodies: Miami Quarterly Meeting (Bill Cahalan): 51 people showed up for the meeting in Dayton, including representatives from the Englewood Meeting. Englewood s membership in the Yearly Meeting was discussed. They are a semi-pastored meeting. They were accepted into the Quarterly Meeting. The next meeting, on February 19 at Lexington. The Quarter decided to work on making the meetings more interesting. FCNL (Ken Bordwell): reported on the early November annual meeting in Washington DC. Ken Bordwell, Mary Anne Curtiss, Sid Morriss, and Frank Huss attended and lobbied Sen. Brown and Rep.Chabot directly, and met with the staff of Sen. Portman. The meeting closed with silent worship. Ken Bordwell, Recording Clerk

3 Community Companion December, 2011 page 3 NEWS FROM COMMUNITY FRIENDS: Alternative Worship at Piatt Park, Sunday, Nov. 6 Community Friends Meeting invited all Friends (and friends of Friends) in the Cincinnati area to a joint Meeting for Worship on Sunday, November 6 at Piatt Park. We wanted to demonstrate that the Religious Society of Friends in Cincinnati stands with the Occupy Movement in its protest of structural economic and political injustice. We were joined by members of all three Cincinnati Meetings and members of Occupy Cincinnati. Second Hour Plans for 2012 The Adult Education Committee is planning to schedule several once-monthly second hours in the early months of 2012 to focus on core Quaker Quest themes, such as Peace, Equality, and Worship. These second hours will be an opportunity for Friends to clarify and articulate their own truths in respect to these themes, since the Quaker Quest outreach will call on all of us to be well prepared to speak about these themes with visitors. The committee hopes in this way to support the meeting's process of preparing for Quaker Quest, and of discerning whether to move to the outreach stage of QQ. These second hours have yet to be scheduled, and we'll make an announcement of dates once we get them on the calendar.

4 Community Companion December, 2011 page 4 METROPOLITAN AREA RELIGIOUS COALITION OF CINCINNATI (MARCC) Six Friends from 2 Cincinnati Meetings attended MARCC s annual Planning Conference on Tuesday evening, November 15. The purpose of the meeting was to select two important social issues for special focus during Approximately 90 attendees from 17 Judicatories were divided into 5 groups, with each group to examine one of five earlier identified issues. The issues studied were Education, Employment/Job Creation & Training, Homelessness/Affordable Housing, Immigration, and Regional Governance & Development. Delegates then met in groups within their own religious denominations to discuss these issues and vote as individuals to rank the issues. Each denomination/judicatory then summarized their rankings to arrive at a single ranking offered as representative of that denomination. These were then combined to yield a total ranking, with the top two then identified as the issues that MARCC will focus on. The two issues identified for 2012 are Immigration and Homelessness/Affordable Housing. Although two issues have been identified for special focus, which does not mean that the other issues will be completely ignored. MARCC will be monitoring issues and may schedule meetings on additional items such as public school funding or unemployment.

5 Community Companion December, 2011 page 5 Cartoon by Jennifer Wolff FROM THE STEWARDSHIP COMMITTEE: This is the first of several descriptions which Stewardship Committee is providing for members and attenders to help everyone know what Funds we have and how they serve our community. Additional information about our restricted donation funds and endowments will follow. The General Fund Community Friends has a General Fund for unrestricted donations. The General Fund includes all items in the monthly Treasurer's report, discussed as "budget." Total approximate current annual costs: $30, per year Sources: 1. Unrestricted donations 2. Sale of fair trade coffee, olive oil 3. Rental of the Meetinghouse 4. Occasional bequests - may be stocks, bonds, cash, etc. Purposes: 1. Meetinghouse expenses, $9,000.00/year Utilities - gas and electric, water, sewer, Church (similar to homeowners') insurance for apartment Real estate taxes - for caretakers' apartment; the remaining house space is not taxed due to our nonprofit status 2. Committees and Programs $8,000.00/year 3. Support for Parent Quaker bodies $11,600/year These regional and national Quaker organizations help give us prospective, continuity, support, when we ask. Ohio Valley Yearly Meeting Friends' General Conference Joint Teen activities with other local Meetings 4. Charitable Contributions to other organizations $1,900.00/year historically These are paid as Way Opens each month. Examples: American Friends Service Committee, Pendle Hill, etc. This idea was submitted by Paulette Meier based on a tour of Quaker Philadelphia for Florida Friends Have you experienced the full range of Quaker sights, historic and contemporary, in Cincinnati and the surrounding area? Have you ever visited the other Meetings in Cincinnati? Or visited Historical Meeting houses? Quaker sights related to the Underground Railroad? Do you know the history of the three meetings and how they are all related? If you think that this is a great idea, talk with Paulette.

6 Community Companion December, 2011 page 6 COMMUNITY FRIENDS MEETING, 3960 WINDING WAY, CINCINNATI, OH SATURDAY DECEMBER 10, 2011; 10:00 AM TO 2:00 PM STOP FEELING GUILTY, DISGUSTED, OR OVERWHELMED ABOUT THE POLITICAL CLIMATE, START DOING SOMETHING THAT WILL NOT TAKE VERY LONG AND IS LIKELY TO MAKE A NATIONAL DIFFERENCE SIMPLIFY YOUR CHRISTMAS SHOPPING BY AVOIDING IT COMMUNICATING WITH CONGRESS: EFFECTIVE POWERFUL LOBBYING, EVEN IN OUR CURRENT POLITICAL CLIMATE While serving active duty in the US Army in Iraq, Matt Southworth, a Wilmington College graduate from our corner of Ohio, became convinced that "War is Not the Answer." After he returned from Iraq, Matt became a pacifist. Now he serves on the staff of Friends Committee on National Legislation, the Quaker presence on Capitol Hill. Although it seems that Congress is deadlocked on most issues, Matt says, "Ohioans are in a position to make all the difference, and this is especially true with [our own] Senator Rob Portman." Sen. Rob Portman is a moderate who will listen to his constituents about cutting Pentagon spending, Southworth explained. Portman was appointed by President George W. Bush to be Director of Budget and Management. His experience in that role before he became a senator makes him very familiar with the political landscape in Washington, and he has been a leader on budget issues for years. The national news coverage of Ohio's recent resounding defeat of Issue 2, the legislation which would have destroyed Ohio unions collective bargaining rights, is a reminder: Time and again, As Ohio goes, so goes the nation. Come meet Matt Southworth. He promises to help make your written and personal contacts with Senator Portman truly effective on this vital bipartisan issue of cutting Pentagon spending. Even in our current political climate. Included activities: Writing effective letters, practicing how to make your visit to Senator Portman's local office count, and naturally Pot Luck Lunch. Community Friends has good ones. (You are welcome but not required to bring a dish, drink, or snack to share.) Matt promises we will have "a lot of fun." Faces from the Meeting Sherry Marshall has been attending Community Friends Meeting on and off for almost 20 years. She wanted her son, Bret, to grow up Quaker. She especially likes the quality of the first day school and the efforts to keep the teens engaged in community service. She has many connections with the people of Community Friends. She went to college with Emily Stoffregen (daughter of Jean and David) and David Hyde. (ask her about Phil Stoffregen and plumbing) She worked with Ken Bordwell for many years when she was a Pup. She also worked with Byron Branson on North Avondale Community planning projects in the late 70 s and early 80 s. She is the President of the Southwest Ohio Region workforce Investment Board and attended the recent MARCC planning meeting as a resource person for the Employment/job training and training concern group. She has served as the clerk of Religious Development, Recording Clerk, Newsletter editor, and on the stewardship and community committees. She is a Quaker who speaks her mind.

7 Community Companion December, 2011 page 7 Faces from the Meeting Debbie Harris Debbie found Quakerism on Belief-O-Matic - Beliefnet.com. She has been a member of Community Friends for 6 months. She stated that she agreed with the Quaker testimonies and thought that becoming a member would help her to become more connected with the meeting. She likes the diversity and spiritual practice of coming to meeting. Cynthia Sibrel Cynthia has been a member of the Annapolis monthly Meeting in Baltimore Yearly Meeting since She has attending Community Monthly Meeting on and off for 8-9 years. She has attended various meetings in Maryland, Virginia, Columbus OH and Oxford Ohio. She has served as Clerk of the Teen Program for OVYM. She moved to the Western side of Cincinnati in late June and is getting to know a variety of people. She is currently unemployed and rehabbing a house. What she especially likes about Community Friends is that some of the people are very spiritually deep and there is a lot to learn from them.

8 Community Companion December, 2011 page 8 Sketches by Jennifer Wolff Erin Bagus Quaker Quest Quaker Quest was held at Community Friends on Saturday Nov It was led by Keira Wilson who is from State College Meeting in Philadelphia and has been a volunteer with Quaker Quest for 1 year. It was also led by Margaret Fraser who is a member of Friends of the Light in Traverse City, Michigan. She is retired from FWCC and has just begun volunteering for Quaker Quest. It was a very enjoyable day and well attended.

9 Community Companion December, 2011 page 9 News from other Quakers Sterling Olmsted A Memorial for Sterling Olmsted will be on Sunday, December 18, 2011 at 1:30-2:30 PM in the McCoy Room of Kelly Center on the Wilmington College Campus. The Service will be under the care of Campus Friends Meeting with a reception to follow. Sterling's ashes will be spread in the College Arboretum. Sterling Olmsted was formerly Dean of Faculty at Wilmington College of Ohio and had been active in the Religious Society of Friends for thirty years. He was a member of Campus Meeting at Wilmington, which belongs both to Wilmington Yearly Meeting (FUM) and Ohio Valley Yearly Meeting (FGC). He had served on various committees of both Yearly Meetings, and also on committees of the Friends Committee on National Legislation, the Friends World Committee for Consultation and the Friends Association for Higher Education. He had been a teacher of English and administrator at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, and at Wilmington College, and he continued to teach part time at Wilmington. His course in Nonviolence and Social Change, which he taught both on campus and in the college s prison program, was part of a Peace Studies concentration and focused on Woolman s Journal, Gandhi s Autobiography, and Thich Nhat Hanh s Being Peace. Quaker House News, submitted by Lynn Newsom Quaker House News Our Director, Chuck Fager, was diagnosed with a blocked artery and underwent an angioplasty & had a stent inserted in the one blocked vessel. He is now recovering from a procedure to open the artery. Please hold him in the Light. On October 22, he took part in the second peace conference sponsored by NCYM-FUM, in Greensboro. He went to Zuccotti Park in New York City, the flashpoint of the Occupy Wall Street movement after conducting a peace workshop for Newton Meeting in Camden, New Jersey. He feels the activist movement has been resurrected; but the PEACE movement has not yet become a part of it. He believes this creates an opportunity for Quaker House. The first effort in that regard is to "connect the dots" between rising income inequality and the effects of the war economy in movement messaging. He calls it Occupy for Peace. Quaker House continues to provide invaluable help to conscientious objectors Through November calls about conscientious objection remains our largest source of calls. Given the widespread downsizing it would seem that the military might be more lax about allowing conscientious objectors to get out, however it still appears they want a high standard. It would be a serious threat to morale if everyone thought they could get out on a CO discharge. Consequently the military continues to scrutinize. We are there with helpful information that ensures that all of our serious applicants succeed. At this point, our work often consists of keeping after administrative personnel to ensure that the application keeps moving and in writing rebuttals to final endorsements as needed. Another theme people have contacted us about is petty misconduct discharges. People facing these discharges are often concerned about losing benefits. The loss of medical benefits for someone who has been deployed can be quite serious. And many injuries, especially psychological ones like PTSD, don t always fully manifest themselves for months or years. Contributions to Quaker House were down considerably during the summer months. Please consider donating to help us continue this important work. Checks can be sent to: Quaker House, 223 Hillside Avenue, Fayetteville, NC, 28301, or donations can be made on the website: Click on the Donate Now box. For more complete news of Quaker House, there are current copies of the newsletter available at the Meeting house and/or it is available on line at the website.

10 Community Companion December, 2011 page 10 What is OVYM? Submitted by Deborah Jordan I won t even pretend to answer that question in a short article but rather give a few facts and where to look for more information. OVYM or Ohio Valley Yearly Meeting is our regional Friends organization of 19 Monthly Meetings in Indiana, Kentucky, and Southwestern Ohio. Not to confuse matters further, but our meetings are also divided geographically into 2 quarters: Miami (our quarter) which consists of the meetings in Kentucky and Ohio and Whitewater, which has the meetings in Indiana. Quarters meet quarterly; Yearly Meeting meets annually. There are over 750 members of the Yearly Meeting. In the recent visioning survey done of the Yearly Meeting, 268 Friends responded with 34 of those from Community. Friends thought that the most valuable service of the Yearly Meeting was to foster spiritual growth, personally and communally, followed by supporting strong youth programs. I was reminded at the recent second hour on the OVYM visioning survey how many of Community Friends have been involved in OVYM in a variety of capacities. While some have served on committees, executive committee, youth groups, and as representatives to wider Quaker bodies (Friends Committee on National Legislation for example), there are some who just enjoy attending the Yearly Meeting sessions. Community Friends usually has one of the biggest contingents in attendance. If you ve never attended the Yearly Meeting sessions, talk to someone who has. It s a great place to meet more Friends; attend workshops, interest groups, worship groups, and worshipful business meetings; enjoy the variety (not talent) show and good meals. In fact, some of us, or is it only me, want to plan ahead for a Community skit at the variety show. Next annual meeting is July 25th to 29th at Earlham College in Richmond, IN. Jamie Fota is on the Planning Committee so we know it will be good, and Eric Wolff is the registrar so registration will be easy. For more information about OVYM or to read the results of the visioning survey, go to MINUTE on the plight of Coptic Christians in Egypt Cincinnati Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends notes with sadness the conflict between Coptic Christians and Muslims in Egypt. News media have reported that since 2010 this conflict has led to violence perpetrated by both Coptic Christians and Muslims against each other. Remembering that 17 th century Friends ministered without prejudice to Protestants, Catholics, Jews, and Moslems [sic] (p. 11), and Recognizing that the steadfast insistence [of early Friends] on the right of the freedom of conscience, peaceable assembly, and worship did much to gain religious liberty for citizens of both England and America (p. 38), and Agreeing That conscience should be free, and that in matters of religious doctrine and worship man [sic] is accountable only to God, are truths which are plainly declared in the New Testament (p. 128), and Acknowledging that Friends regard the state as a social instrument to be used for the cooperative promotions of the common welfare, (p. 39) We feel led to reaffirm our spiritual commitment to religious liberty and to the right of all religious people freely to worship and practice their religious principles, so long as that worship and practice does not infringe on the religious liberty of others, and does not imperil the lives, health, and economic welfare of others. We further affirm that it is the responsibility of just governments to encourage and support religious liberty and the right to worship and to practice religious principles according to conscience. Faith and Practice of Wilmington Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. (1977) Approved by the Peace and Social Concerns Committee 9/25/11 Approved by Cincinnati Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends 10/9/2011