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This month's introduction comes from Sarah Gant (Beacon Hill), who is clerk of the Yearly Meeting's Meeting Accompaniment Group.
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Dear Friends,
I am a slow processor. I would like to think that during religious practices, I am present; reflection comes later, as lingering thoughts come together in contemplative moments. Repetitive rituals suit me because the context of my reflection changes over the years. With Easter now just past, I am having a think about Lent and Holy Week.
 There is something new for me each year as I ponder the 40-day progression of Lent, from Shrovetide and Ash Wednesday to Maundy Thursday, and the Holy Week remembrances of Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter.
As a child, I loved attending Stations of the Cross with my mother, never tiring of her trying again to explain to me what was “good” about Good Friday. My mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, each educated by nuns, loved church— the candles, incense, prayer and chanting—officiated in pre-Vatican II Latin with the priest’s back to the congregation.
If you examined the lives of these women against church policy they would not have stacked up as “good” Catholics. I spare you the details. They just loved church, fully at ease with the rhythms and rituals of the liturgical year without much concern for dogma, doctrine, or policy. That seems about right to me; Jesus’s thoughts on who and what was “good” were also topsy-turvy in the context of his day. Jesus seemed not overly concerned about hanging out with “good” people as defined by status or doctrinal knowledge.
My foremothers were hard-working women. Church provided contemplative space, time for their own thoughts carried by mystery. These women paved my path to Quakerism, pro-mystery and self-reflection. My take on Gospel narratives and the rituals that arise from them is perhaps idiosyncratic. I am easy with that.
Here’s what I am pondering this year:
Lent recalls Jesus’s 40 days of fasting, prayer, and temptation prior to the start of his public ministry. Moses and Elijah (Mohammad, too) took a similar sit-down before God. My take-away this year: Speaking out might best follow an extended period of profound quiet, self-searching, and reflection. (Further instructions at Jas 1:19-21).
Read the rest of Sarah's thoughts on the Yearly Meeting website.
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Support for Friends in leadership roles
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The Yearly Meeting offers monthly check-ins for Friends serving in leadership roles in their local meetings via Zoom, generally the second Tuesday of the month, from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m.
These calls are for Friends—especially local meeting clerks, members of ministry and counsel, or Friends doing pastoral care—seeking support on decisions facing their Quaker community, to pray and worship with one another, and to accompany one another in this service.
Our next call will be April 9. To join in, email the office to request the link.
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Contributions Criteria Working Group listening sessions
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In 2023 the Yearly Meeting Permanent Board established a Contributions Criteria Working Group to establish simple criteria to choose organizations—if any—for financial contributions from NEYM. The criteria will align with the Yearly Meeting's minuted core purposes and priorities and take into consideration what rises during regular discernment of the Funding Priorities Process and Meeting for Listening.
To begin the working group's task of gathering wider input from New England Friends to help us discern these criteria (to be brought to Permanent Board in December of 2024), we are holding listening sessions via Zoom in this time before Sessions 2024. These listening sessions will not be a time of any discernment or decision-making; we hope to simply provide opportunities in this way for Friends to offer their reflections and suggestions on behalf of themselves or their monthly meetings.
These initial Zoom meetings are one first step, and we will announce other ways for Friends to offer input in the coming months. If you would like to register for any of these Zoom listening sessions, you may do so at the following links:
Tuesday, April 16, 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, April 20, 11:00 a.m.
Tuesday, April 30, 1:00 p.m.
Tuesday, May 14, 8:15 p.m.
If you have any other questions or concerns, you may submit them to Kathleen Wooten and Liesa Stamm at Kathleen@neym.org.
Updates on our progress, with more announcements about additional listening sessions in the coming months, and other updates to the charge of the working group, can be found here.
in faith and service,
Liesa Stamm (Hartford, CT, Friends Meeting), Kathleen Wooten (Lawrence, MA, Friends Meeting)
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Whither Sessions? Exploring 2025 and beyond
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Dear Friends,
As you likely know, we are in a process of reflection and discernment about Sessions. In parallel with that discernment, we are looking at various sites around New England that could potentially host Sessions in 2025 and beyond.
I will be holding two listening sessions to hear from Friends what they hope Sessions sites will provide. This conversation will be about the physical space in which we hold Sessions; the reflection on what Sessions is is happening separately.
If you would like to join, there are three options:
Attend the listening session on Sunday, April 21 at 3:30 p.m. via Zoom
Attend the listening session on Wednesday, April 24 at 7:30 p.m. via Zoom
Or send in your thoughts through this form.
Looking forward to talking about this with you more!
Elizabeth Hacala
Events Coordinator
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Local youth minister support
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Does your meeting have crayons in the foyer? Stuffed animals in the pews? A cozy corner in the worship room? Clear signage that leads to a smiling face in the First Day School room? Information for families on your website?
Whatever your approach, welcoming children and families is the first step in growing a youth ministry. Even though many of our meetings have a small and inconsistent number of children in attendance, it’s important to be ready and open whenever they arrive, whether it is their first time ever, their 50th time, or their first time in weeks, months or years.
I hope you will join us for our next LYMSE session, where Local Youth Ministers Support Each Other. On Monday, April 22nd we will convene virtually at 7:00 p.m. to share and discuss ways to make children feel welcome in our meeting.
Come and share what you are already doing, get ideas from others and brainstorm some fresh approaches together! Let us know that you’re coming by registering here.
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Registration is open for our second annual Meeting for Listening: the Spiritual Life in Our Local Meetings gathering. On Saturday June 1st, join us for a day of worship, prayer, celebration, and discovery. Come together (at Concord Meeting, via Zoom, or with a local cluster) to explore the gifts and paths that our meeting’s challenges have offered us the past year. Let’s see where Spirit is alive in our communities.
We will reflect on the life in our local meetings to see where we can inform the Yearly Meeting on how to best support local meetings through programmatic priorities.
Together we will:
- Dream together
- Identify the resources meetings have to offer each other
- Unpack themes in State of Society reports as well as trends from statistical reports
- Explore what’s possible now
Learn more and register here.
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United Society of Friends Women Northeast Region spring gathering
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Getry Agizah will be the keynote speaker at the USFW Northeast spring gathering, May 24 to 26, 2024, in Poughkeepsie, New York. Getry is now Programme Director for Friends United Meeting in Africa Ministries Office, where she coordinates the Friends Church Peace Team, manages FUM relationships with Samburu and Turkana, and oversees the Girl Child Education Program. She will be giving her testimony on how she was able to help her country remain peaceful during their most recent presidential elections.
Find more information here.
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Gathering for Friends with a concern for Gospel ministry
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Photo: Kathleen Wooten
Brian Drayton (Souhegan) and Noah Merrill (Putney), following a concern, invite Friends active in gospel ministry to gather for worship and conversation at the Durham (Maine) Friends Meetinghouse from 10 a.m. to mid-afternoon, June 8th, 2024.
You may travel in ministry, or your service in speaking as led in worship may be primarily in your own meeting. If you contribute to the vocal ministry under a sustained sense of duty and concern, you are invited to join us.
If you hope to attend, or have questions, please email Brian and Noah.
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Other events coming soon
- Every Tuesday, online: FWCC Prayer for Peace
- Every Friday, online: Meeting for Worship with Attention to Peace in Palestine and Israel
- April 6, North Dartmouth, MA: Living Faith Gathering
- April 12–14, online: FGC Encountering Spirit Retreat
- April 12 & 13, online: Living within your New Call: Discovering Vocational Joy In Retirement
- April 22, online: Local Youth Minister Support
- April 25, online: An Introduction to the Foundations of Reconciliation Leadership
- April 27, Westerly, RI: Yielding to the Power of the Living Seed
- May 24–26, Poughkeepsie, NY: USFW Northeast Region spring gathering
Quarterly meetings
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We will once again be able to joyfully gather together in person and on Zoom, at Castleton University for the 364th Annual Sessions of New England Yearly Meeting of Friends, August 2–7. All of us are looking forward to welcoming Friends, new-comers and oft-comers, adults, children, youth, and their families.
Our theme for this year’s Sessions is “Let us faithfully tend the seed.” Rich with i magery, our theme both calls us to act in the world in ways that give voice to the Inner Light and also to let go of our individual truth and listen for the voice of God in others.
Lloyd Lee Wilson will be our Sunday afternoon plenary speaker. Lloyd Lee has been active in the public ministry since his youth on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, becoming a Methodist Certified Lay Speaker at age 14. He has been a recorded minister of the Gospel in four different monthly meetings and has written a great deal on Quaker faith and practice. He and his wife Susan presently live near Greensboro, North Carolina.
Genna Ulrich will present the Bible half hours. Genna (t hey/them), a member of Portland Friends Meeting, has a complicated relationship to the Bible. For a long time they didn't touch it, but then they got curious about being in conversation with other people witnessing to God, including far back in time. Genna has found stories in the Bible which challenge and inspire them, stories which speak to Genna's own condition and to our collective condition today.
 Toussaint Liberator will lead an all-ages drumming circle event on Monday night filled with performances, audience participation, and dancing.
We are grateful to the many Friends who do the work of planning for the several-day event in-person and on Zoom. Together we are moving forward thanks to the efforts of these many dedicated Friends. There's more news to come—stay tuned!
Rebecca Leuchak, Presiding Clerk, clerk@neym.org
Phillip Veatch, Clerk of Sessions Planning, sessions@neym.org
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Help make Sessions happen!
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Annual Sessions depends on the work of dozens upon dozens of Friends, from staff members like me and members of the planning team who work on it year-round, to those who fill more focused roles. It simply cannot happen without the hard work of Friends in all types of roles. Volunteering at Sessions is a great way to meet new people, be a part of the gathering, and learn a bit more about all that Sessions has to offer.
John Fuller, former bookstore co-manager, writes:
Sara and I ran the General Bookstore from 2017 to 2023. Our younger kid was in high school and didn’t need us as much as before, so we were at loose ends. We needed a niche to fill at Sessions. The bookstore was perfect—community focused, creative, and in need of volunteer managers. Several friends were excited to help, which only made it more fun. Last year, the Children’s Bookstore joined us under the same roof. It’s been great, and now Sara and I have passed the torch to new talent. You should volunteer and help the new bookstore managers! Bring a friend if you’re shy. You’ll get to know Friends of all ages, learn about books, meet Quaker authors, make lattes. Whether it’s a single 90-minute shift on the register, or making engaging signage, or helping shoppers find the right book or consignment craft item for the right price, you’ll love it.
To find out more about the Sessions roles available, please visit the website here. On that page, you will see the list of roles being recruited for now, with more to be added in the coming weeks. There is no obligation to commit right now, but if an area of work seems of interest to you, please fill out the form linked from the page to let us know!
In gratitude,
Elizabeth Hacala, Events Coordinator
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Update on Quaker Indigenous Boarding Schools research
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Shawnee Mission Church, built 1885; supported by New England Friends. Photo by Gordon Bugbee, 2024
The Yearly Meeting's Working Group on Quaker Indigenous Boarding Schools has been diligently researching and compiling information on the schools under the care of New England Yearly Meeting. It presented an interim report to the Permanent Board in February, and expects to have a fuller report for NEYM Sessions in August.
As part of the nationwide network of Friends engaged in this research, it has formed a good working relationship with staff at the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition (NABS), to better understand their priorities for the research and for the best format for presenting the information we compile to be useful to boarding school survivors and descendants. Andrew Grant (Mt. Toby) spent the month of March assisting NABS in scanning boarding school-related records at Haverford and Swarthmore Colleges. In February, Gordon Bugbee (Beacon Hill), accompanied by Suzanna Schell (Beacon Hill) as elder, traveled to Texas and Oklahoma with funding from the Legacy Gift Fund. They did archival research on the NEYM-run schools and visited school sites and tribal cultural centers of tribes whose children attended the schools.
QIBS Research Working Group: Betsy Cazden (Providence), Andrew Grant (Mt Toby), Janet Hough (Cobscook), Gordon Bugbee (Beacon Hill), Merrill Kohlofer (North Shore)
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News from Ramallah Friends School
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Messages from graduating students are among the contents of the latest issue of the Olive Press, the Ramallah Friends School newsletter.
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Black Quaker Project explores Bayard Rustin's legacy
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In honor of Bayard Rustin’s birthday (17 March), the Black Quaker Project has released a recording of “The Bayard Rustin Legacy Forum." Lauren Brownlee, Deputy General Secretary at the Friends Committee on National Legislation, explores what Rustin's legacy means for Quaker communities in the present; Dr. terrance wiley focuses on the evolution of Rustin's politics; and Dr. Hal Weaver reflects on his personal convergences with–and from–Bayard Rustin. The three panelists also have a conversation facilitated by Dr. Sa’ed Atshan, and an audience Q & A session.
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Camp jobs are exciting, fulfilling, challenging, fun, and inspiring. For the 9-week summer season Camp will hire about 40 people. If you plan to apply to work at Friends Camp as a first-time staff person this summer, please be available for the full 9 weeks. One-third to one-half of our staff are returning staff each year. Please feel free to ask questions about working at Friends Camp at any time—contact the Camp Director.
The Camp is also looking for a substitute Camp Nurse and a Health Hut counselor!
If you would like to apply to be a counselor-in-training (also called Rising Leaders), please visit this page on FriendsCamp.org.
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For K-through-8th-grade youth
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Child and Family Ministries Coordinator Kara Price regularly sends updates on events for youth in kindergarten through 8th grade. Click here to see the most recent issue.
Want to be on the mailing list for youth programs? Update your subscription preferences here.
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Our hopes for this newsletter
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The staff communications team has the following intentions for this newsletter:
- We seek to inspire Friends and encourage life-giving connections among Friends by sharing news, messages, and more from meetings, individuals, and Quakers around the world.
- We seek to inform Friends about upcoming events sponsored by the Yearly Meeting, local meetings, Quaker organizations and institutions, and individual Friends.
- We seek to speak to both new and long-time Friends by avoiding Quaker jargon.
- We seek to make more visible and accessible opportunities for service, faith formation, and engagement within the wider Yearly Meeting
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Are you aware of Friends or Friends Meetings featured in the media? Email us so that we can share the news!
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