Quakers in the News

Belonging to both Jewish and Quaker Communities and what happens if Obama wins

2008-05-07T07:32:00.025-11:00

"I was raised Jewish," she said. "I have never stopped being a Jew. That is my community. That is my culture. But my religion is Quakerism." ……The New York Times, May 2, 2008

Read the previous essay and NYT News Feature

I am a Quaker of a religious background in the United Church of Christ. I have no qualms with people of a Jewish background who have also become Quakers, and who choose to retain aspects of their Jewish culture to mix with their newfound Quaker culture. Who would argue with a Quaker for having Seder on Passover?

Although, since I changed my Faith, I haven’t found it necessary to stand up and confess my sins in public in unison, as was done when I was in the UCC Faith. But, I like to sing hymns and hear a well done sermon now and again. So, I guess I still have part of my UCC culture with me. I wouldn't deign to serve on the Trustees or Lay Ministry Committee of a UCC Church just to convince myself I haven't betrayed my Communion, and the folks I went to church with at age 12.

There is however, a delineation when the quoted one at the top of this page, so clearly has trouble truly ‘belonging’ to one community or another. By her quote, she is either straddling both, or denying the Quaker community, which must be easier than betraying the Jewish community from whence she came. The New York Times quote above is duplicitous. The statement about her singular Jewish community when she is unmistakably a member of the Quaker community is either self-deception or a sad, politically-driven pretense. It makes her at best, unwittingly untrue to herself - or maybe still someone who might be yet working toward full convincement as a Quaker and full integration in the Quaker community. At worst it makes her an inauthentic, insecure, self-betraying gamer who wants to have her cake and eat it too. She is a widely recognized Friends minister. Period. Friends don’t push anyone to become a member. Many times new attenders take as much time, usually years, before they become ‘convinced’ and take up full roles in Quaker Society, as has this quoted Jewish person.

She is also, co-incidentally a member of what have been called the ‘Aquarian’ generation, similar to the ‘Boomers’. Aquarians were described as being economically entitled (to use other people’s money) and politically righteous after the shape-shift in moral authority which occurred in the late 1960s.

See: Some words of Advice to Friends under 50

A clarification for my previous essay – “The Quaker Culture, the Quaker Community and the Quaker Faith” is needed based on some valuable reader feedback. We might also see a very interesting parallel as a valuable lesson in the racial ‘belonging’ in the person of Barack Obama. Instead of the scientifically false concept of ‘race’, let’s substitute ‘community’ with ‘race’ - related to the above mentioned delineation.

Shelby Steele, in his latest book A Bound Man - Why we are excited about Obama and why he can’t win describes the black political pressure Obama endured and once capitulated to, in his own self-betrayal, as a person of mixed community. Like Obama, Steele’s mother was white-skinned, and father was black-skinned.

An interesting concept is that Steele, also an Aquarian, came of age in the late 1960’s and describes his own experience, on page 30:

“Clearly I did not believe in ‘blackness’. I thought it was little more than a style of clenched fists, Afros, and right-on phrases. It sought redemption in what had been a mark of shame, but it had no relationship to accomplishment [of Martin Luther King, Jr. and civil rights of the early 1960s]. Yet to reject it, implied collaboration with white supremacy [the moral authority before civil rights], the most disgraceful sort of Uncle Tomism. To avoid this horror, the second option was simply to pretend, to go along with blackness despite my true feelings.”

Could this paragraph, if some of the words transposed, describe what our Jewish Friend was trying to say in “That is my community”?

Steele goes on:

“In East St. Louis (where he grew up), I was still too much in need of authenticity to risk the first option. So I became immersed in an irony: I would pursue authenticity through pretense. I would go along with a ‘blackness’ I did not really believe in so as to gain the acceptance I could claim as authenticity. I did not consciously do this, but this is what I did.

And in fact, my mixed-race background was only an additional pressure toward this kind of duplicity. All blacks of my generation came under pressure to join the new militant identity. And many became immersed in the same irony – going along with an unexamined ‘blackness’ simply to belong. Whenever collective identities become self-conscious, sharply defined, and highly politicized, people begin to survive them through duplicity. Still, for the mixed-race black, both the need to belong and the inability to believe are likely to be more pronounced. Racial ‘authenticity’ will require even more duplicity and pretense.”

The illusion is that such people are less encumbered by the black identity than others. And this may be true for those mixed-race blacks who choose to distance themselves from the black identity. But for those who don’t, this identity is more encumbering than for other blacks because it forces the personality to accommodate more blatant contradictions – acceptance of the racial categories in identity politics, for example, when one is in fact of two races. For the mixed-race black, today’s highly politicized black identity is reachable only through a degree of self-betrayal.”

Read the above book excerpt again. If we wonder about our Jewish Quaker Friend, quoted in the New York Times, replace the word ‘black’ with ‘Jewish’, and replace 'race' with 'community'. Will this exercise help us discern if all the tribes of this world have a chance at unity if Obama wins the presidential election?

In Friendship,

Glenn R.

Read the previous essay and NYT News Feature

Summary - 11.1.2007

2007-10-25T17:21:00.000-11:00

Dear Friends,

Welcome back to QiN.

There is good news and bad news this period.

William Penn's 23 ships landed at Chester
near Philadelphia in October 1682 - 325 years ago.
Please see Quaker History

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Good and sad news come together with the passing of Quaker Friends from this earth. Bittersweet are these reports, in that living generations hopefully learn timeless truths from the description of the lives of those Friends who have passed away. Please see Obituary. We might also learn from unexplainable and tragic losses of life in Nickel Mines, PA and Blacksburg, VA. Please also see Religious Faith.
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Now for the bad.

The membership decline of modern day Quaker Friends may be the result of political polarization. The Quaker Church has relied upon diversity of experience and independence of opinion in decision making and self governance for centuries. Yet, a recent study by Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (PYM: Who We Are) says that almost of all of its members are politically 'liberal'.

P otential financial and governmental malfeasance within the American Friends Service Committee might be a sign that the few remaining politically polarized Friends, cannot properly oversee their 'institutions' any longer. The AFSC, now largely a communications committee of non-Quakers, may have become or is becoming the de facto mouthpiece for the Quaker Church considering its 500+ employees, and its $43 MM annual operating budget. The Editor of QiN has also noticed its substantial public relations efforts, and of affiliating itself with what is left of Friends' membership, when expedience calls.

If you'd like to read the Editor's comments with links to various 'bad' news articles, please click on the following links:

AFSC Editorial and News links:

The Latest Questionable Conduct by the AFSC

Is the AFSC still a 'Quaker' institution?

Is the AFSC hiding behind the historic integrity of Friends?

How are the AFSC and the Philadelphia Quakers Doing a Year After their Laundry was aired in the News?

Questions Friends might ask themselves about the AFSC

Why is this public exposure of AFSC needed?

AFSC's change in self-description between 2005 and 2007

Previous private attempts to help the AFSC heed external data

2007-10-25T17:09:00.002-11:00

Below is a part of a meeting outline delivered to AFSC representatives by the Editor of Quakers in the News - handed to the Asst. General Secretary and the Communications Director in a meeting in New York City on 10/24/2005.

The outline below shows a potential benefit to the AFSC as a 'Quaker' organization - to heed external data which will provide feedback as to how the informed public sees the Friends. (In order for the AFSC to to better anchor themselves to actual Friends)

Irregularities were discovered in how AFSC presents itself in 'Blue' or 'Red' states. Where AFSC would potentially be criticized (in Red states) , it called itself a 'Quaker' organization, where it was less likely to be criticized, (in Blue States) it left out the 'Quaker' label.

The Editor also asked the AFSC representatives to consider how the word 'Integrity' might be substituted for 'Justice' in AFSC's communications, in order to have the public be able to 'listen' to the AFSC. 'Justice' is a word which cannot be 'heard' by middle America.

Here is the relevant text from the report on Inequality Matters, included in the above link:

"In a breakout session that day, I heard speakers give feedback from focus groups on words that the general public finds palatable and non-threatening when social issues are being discussed. The words ‘Equality’ and ‘Justice’ are threatening or possibly too confrontational in the ears of the general public. Words like ‘fairness’, ‘opportunity’, and ‘stewardship’ were evidently more sonorous words in the minds of the public. I believe ‘the public’ was defined as focus groups from all over the country, including the Midwest, and the South."

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October 24, 2005

Quakers in the News 2005

General Report

A Total of 2200 published reports on approximately 1800 unique news events / features have been gathered as of 10/15/2005. (wire service stories are picked up by local newspapers, and TV )

A sub-total of 245 unique email addresses was collected of news/feature reporters who wrote about Quakerism.

The most widely and intensely reported story of 2005 is about a male Earlham College student who threw a pie in the face of a male guest speaker, William Kristol, at a speech at the College. (101 published reports in the U.S. and U.K.)

A geographic distribution of published news reports is:

US Published Reports – 1,988 (91%)

UK Published Reports - 116 ( 5%)

Other Published Reports – 95 ( 4%) (Includes Canada)

AFSC Report

There is a total of 494 published reports about the AFSC on approximately 400 unique events/features. (wire service stories are picked up by local newspapers, and TV )

A sub-total of 195 of 494(40%) total separate reports featured the word ‘Quaker’ in the story (usually mentioning that the AFSC is a ‘Quaker’ organization).

A sub-total of 55 unique email addresses was collected of news/feature reporters who wrote about AFSC.

US Published Reports – 475 (96%)

UK Published Reports - 5 ( 1%)

Middle East Reports - 4 ( 1%)

Oceania Reports - 2 (0.5%)

Africa Reports - 3 (0.5%)

Other Reports 5 ( 1%) (Includes Canada)

Larger AFSC Stories

Eyes Wide Open / Boots - traveling exhibit/protest/memorial

QiN shows 105 published news stories covering approximately 60 unique news events. One news event in California (written by the Associated Press) generated 45 published stories with negative criticism of the AFSC around the world.

AFSC /War/Public Revilement/Boots/Calif. Anti-War Memorial Stirs Passions/Guardian/London/England/UK/11-Mar-05/ Laid out in rows stretching longer than a football field, 1,513 pairs of black military boots gave a sunsplashed park the quiet, somber mood of a cemetery. The traveling exhibit, a reminder of the U.S. troops lost in Iraq , arrived on the West Coast this week as divisive as the war itself -- especially for the families of the fallen men and women. To some of the families, it is a cathartic, fitting memorial in a nation they say seems largely anesthetized to the pain of a distant war. For others, it's an outrage tormenting them in their grief. "There's a difference between honoring our fallen and using them as pawns," said Georgette Frank, who believes the exhibit defamed the memory of her son, Marine Lance Cpl. Phillip Frank, by linking him with an anti-war agenda he never would have supported........ The "Eyes Wide Open" exhibit, created by the American Friends Service Committee, a branch of the pacifist Quaker church, began its nationwide tour in Chicago ../AP/Hettena, Seth

Other individual negative criticisms published in the news, of the exhibit came out in Texas and in Arizona (Red States), where local organizers shielded themselves with leveraged ‘Quaker’ historical pacifism.

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AFSC/Protest/Civil Rights/ACLU/Peace Group Sues Chicago Police Over Infiltration Documents/

The NewStandard/Syracuse/NY/USA/26-Apr-05

…The organizations pointed to a February 2004 internal Chicago Police Department audit that showed the department had placed undercover officers in small meetings in whichAFSC members planned peaceful demonstrations during the 2002 Trans-Atlantic Business Dialogue (TABD) meeting held in Chicago. According to the ACLU, the audit suggested that police had "insufficient basis" for officers to attend the meetings organized by AFSC and other protest groups.

___________________

Hawaii / Military Research / Public Schools / Sit-in

A Total of 35 unique news reports were published in the US and UK.

AFSC/Military Research/Public Schools/Sit-In/Protesters occupy president's office at Hawaii university/Guardian Unlimited/London/England/UK/3-May-05/HONOLULU (AP) — The seven Hawaii state flags outside the University of Hawaii administration building are flying upside down in a symbol of distress. But the flags raised on temporary poles outside Bachman Hall only hint at the frustration some students, faculty and community members feel about plans for a proposed Navy research center on campus. Protesters have occupied the office of the university's interim President David McClain and delivered new demands on Monday, asking him to take immediate action that would stall or stop the project. Citing Native Hawaiian concerns, protesters say the proposed University Affiliated Research Center, which would be the Navy's fifth on a U.S. college campus and the first in 58 years, would further militarize a state that is home to several military bases, including the Navy's Pearl Harbor and headquarters for the U.S. military's Pacific Command…."He took 31 hours to get back to us and there are a lot of folks to consult with," spokesman Kyle Kajihiro said yesterday, barring reporters from the meeting as the protesters sat cross-legged on McClain's carpeted floor or lounged against the walls to debate their next move after the president released a concessionary statement. "They'll be here tonight discussing it long into the night," said Kajihiro, a community activist with the American Friends Service Committee.

Protest/Privacy

A Total of 35 unique news reports were published in the US and UK.

AFSC/Protest/Privacy//ACLU, others suing FBI to release records/Duluth News Tribune/Duluth/MN/USA/

18-May-05/...The ACLU has been seeking FBI files on a broad range of individuals and groups that have been interviewed, investigated or subjected to searches by the task forces. The requests also sought information on how the task forces are funded, to determine if they are rewarded with government money by labeling high numbers of cases as related to terrorism. The ACLU provided a list of examples, including the Quaker-affiliated American Friends Service Committee that had been monitored by Denver police and was listed as an "active case" by a local terrorism task force. The FBI did release some records sought by the ACLU. They concern two political activists in Colorado, one of them a 21-year-old intern for the Friends group. Sarah Bardwell has no criminal record, according to a partially censored report from the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force in Denver. The report said her Denver residence was "found to be associated" with two groups that were of interest to the FBI. Bardwell said one of the groups, Food Not Bombs, distributes vegetarian food to the hungry. "They are stretching as far as they can to insinuate that these organizations are doing something wrong," she said. The other person whose FBI file was released is Scott Silber, 29, a former labor organizer for the Service Employees International Union. "The FBI was engaging in a campaign to intimidate people who were working on progressive causes," he said. The FBI, in a statement, said it sought to interview Bardwell, Silber and others in Colorado "based on a specific and credible threat" of violence at last summer's Democratic National Convention in Boston, Massachusetts.

AFSC/Civil Rights/Police Monitoring//ACLU accuses FBI of 'spying' on activists/Christian Science Monitor/ALL/ALL/USA/20-May-05/...The Boston Globe reported Wednesday that "The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts is seeking FBI files on behalf of four advocacy groups and 10 activists in the state, saying it believes they have been targets of surveillance because of their politics."

The ACLU, in Freedom of Information Act requests it plans to send out today, is requesting all records kept by the FBI and antiterrorism agencies on the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker group in Cambridge; the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, which has a state chapter in Boston; the International Action Committee Boston, an antiwar group, and the ACLU itself. The letter also seeks government files on 10 activists and political dissidents, including such liberal heavyweights as Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky.

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Subject: Re: American Friends Service Committee as a 'Quaker' Organization?
Re: American Friends Service Committee as a 'Quaker' Organization?
Date:
Mon, 05 Mar 2007 23:12:16 -0500
From:
"Glenn R."
To: AFSC

Dear Ruth (as Associate General Secretary and Quaker Liaison),

Although I agree that immigration is indeed an important issue in the United States, the picture and article included in the New York Times article Friday, March 3, cited below, is troubling to me for its obvious loud, contentious and potentially divisive portrayal of members of the AFSC.

I've been troubled for some years about the issue of 'red state' and 'blue state' and the 'boots' exhibit, that I made below. I was personally put off by the creator of the 'Eyes Wide Open' exhibit when I met him in New York City during the Republican primary of August 2004.

I made my concerns, of potentially divisive witness activities, and language that the public can and cannot 'hear' by AFSC, known to you in a meeting we had in October 2005, here in New York City. I there offered to share Quakers in the News data with AFSC once it had intentions to develop a knowledge database. We met again in Philadelphia in January 2006 and you mentioned that no progress was made with regard to the knowledge database.

Information systems aside, I'm wondering if AFSC truly cares how the public perceives or 'hears' or doesn't 'hear' AFSC's witness language or activities?

I forward this to you today for your information, which I sent to journalists on my Quakers in the News list. Reading over the letter again, I might have used ' the AFSC board is responsible for long term guidance only' in more Friendly terms, rather than saying in worldly terms - 'toothless'. For that I apologize to anyone who is upset with that worldly language.

In Friendship,
Glenn R.

Is AFSC still a 'Quaker' institution?

2007-10-25T17:09:00.001-11:00

A reasonable Friend, as the Editor considers himself to be, in a mirror universe, would be as observant and vocally critical of any Quaker organization if it were polarized to the 'right' and show evidence of corruption. The lack of integrity, we know - is exclusive to no country, nor political party, nor status, nor level of wealth, nor ethnic group. Of late, even the Quaker religious faith, once a politically diverse, growing and thriving church, and a bastion of transparency, simplicity and integrity, has been sullied as it declines in membership, and has become politically polarized - with 'activism' as its reason-to-be.

"As a Jew", according to one journalist with whom the Editor has corresponded, "I’m very aware that political activism is a way of replacing genuine religion with feel-good gestures."

The General Secretary of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, one Quaker church, sometimes jokingly called the Quaker Vatican, has apparently sent an unpublished letter to Quaker members trying to reassure the body that the AFSC headquarters, whith whom Philadelphia Quakers share their offices on Cherry and 15th St., has everything regarding this potential scandal, under control. So the lines are being blurred, and the press doesn't really get it. Its easy for reporters to call the AFSC a 'Quaker' institution when a story or an event needs a unique descriptor.

As hard as the AFSC tries each year, to further finesse its public statement defining itself as 'Quaker' yet also distancing itself from 'Quakers' the more dubious the statement and the organization become.

AFSC's Slogan
AFSC = Quaker Values in Action (from the AFSC.org website)

Aren't values outward expressions of beliefs? Then how can something already expressed, not already be in action? Isn't Quaker Values in Action a sound-byte, in corporate-speak?

AFSC's self definition on many news articles / as is distributed in their press releases:

The American Friends Service Committee is a Quaker organization that includes people of various faiths who are committed to social justice, peace and humanitarian service. Its work is based on the belief in the worth of every person and faith in the power of love to overcome violence and injustice.

Do Friends understand AFSC's stance on violence when we look at the photograph published March 7, 2007 in the New York Times? Click on 'enlarge this image' to imagine the 1000 words describing the peace and non-violence that the photograph of mouths wide open behind the bullhorns shows. (somehow this article does not refer to the AFSC as 'Quaker')

The AFSC seems to do very little face-to-face ‘service’ work - it mainly finances non-Quaker groups, organizes war and immigration protest marches, and maintains a slick website.

Money – in the large budgets, the large trust funds, and small group of wealthy donors to support the large staff of our Quaker 'institutions' - is either a cruel mirror to our own malfeasance of governance, and or it is part of the problem. Consider the example of Major League Baseball, where the modern exponential infusion of advertising and licensing money has sadly made the sport just another part of the entertainment business. This metaphorically might be similar to how AFSC began as part of a humble and volunteer Quaker faith, but is now sadly over-grown to something co-opted by politically larger forces, requiring more money to support more paid employees - but out of the realm of the living but declining Religious Society of Friends.

The AFSC, like a raft adrift is now attempting to tether itself to another free floating raft - large expensive Quaker prep schools - themselves freely adrift off the shore of the Religious Society of Friends’ mainland. The AFSC is attempting this apparently at its Annual Public Gathering Nov. 3, in Philadelphia. There they both possibly might also like to tether to the celebrity status and wealth of Oprah Winfrey.

Please see AFSC.

How are the AFSC and Philadelphia Quakers Doing a Year After their Laundry was aired in the News?

2007-10-25T16:40:00.005-11:00

An article appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer, August 22, 2006, reprinted by 20 newspapers across the United States, in which the AFSC and Philadelphia Yearly Meeting seemed to be linked together - of one mind. The news then was controversial in that their laundry had been aired in public. However the news was not new.

What since then has been done, or what progress has been made, since this article was published on August 22, 2006? Click here to read this article originally published in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

New York Yearly Meeting and Philadelphia Yearly Meetings are declining, Baltimore and New England are growing. Click here to view the statistics.

The Latest Questionable Conduct by the AFSC

2007-10-25T16:40:00.003-11:00

The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) has apparently been blemished.

Is this latest occurence or disconnection, likely due to a lack of oversight, due to a bureaucracy of non-change, due to ongoing and unquestioned staff size, or due to a lack of direct financing by the declining members of the Religious Society of Friends?

The membership decline of modern day Quaker Friends may be the manifest evidence and or the result of political polarization – to the ‘left’ from what was once a religious group which relied upon diversity of opinion and experience to maintain integrity of self-governance. A recent study by Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (PYM: Who We Are) says that almost of all of its members are politically 'liberal'.

Now potential financial and governmental malfeasance within the American Friends Service Committee might be a sign that the few remaining politically polarized Friends, cannot properly oversee their 'institutions' any longer. The AFSC, now largely a communications committee of non-Quakers, may have become or is becoming the de facto mouthpiece for the Quaker Church considering its 500+ employees, and its $43 MM annual operating budget. The Editor of QiN has also noticed its substantial public relations efforts, and of affiliating itself with what is left of Friends' membership, when expedience calls.

Money – in the large budgets, the large trust funds, and small group of wealthy donors to support the large staff of our Quaker 'institutions' - is either a cruel mirror to our own malfeasance of governance, and or it is part of the problem. Consider the example of Major League Baseball, where the modern exponential infusion of advertising and licensing money has sadly made the sport just another part of the entertainment business. This metaphorically might be similar to how AFSC began as part of a humble and volunteer Quaker faith, but is now sadly over-grown to something co-opted by politically larger forces, requiring more money to support more paid employees - but out of the realm of the living but declining Religious Society of Friends.

A reasonable Friend, as the Editor considers himself to be, in a mirror universe, would be as observant and vocally critical of any Quaker organization if it were polarized to the 'right' and show evidence of corruption. The lack of integrity, we know - is exclusive to no country, nor political party, nor status, nor level of wealth, nor ethnic group. Of late, even the Quaker religious faith, once a politically diverse, growing and thriving church, and a bastion of transparency, simplicity and integrity, has been sullied as it declines in membership, and has become politically polarized - with 'activism' as its reason-to-be.

"As a Jew", according to one journalist with whom I've corresponded, "I’m very aware that political activism is a way of replacing genuine religion with feel-good gestures."

Please see Integrity.

Questions Friends might ask themselves about the AFSC

2007-10-25T16:40:00.001-11:00

Shouldn't Friends ask now:

Is the AFSC a Quaker organization anymore?

Should a Quaker organization use bullhorns and scream with 'Mouths Wide Open' even when it doesn't report itself as a 'Quaker' organization?

Should the AFSC and news reporters writing about the AFSC refrain from using the descriptor 'Quaker' anymore?

Should anyone resign from the AFSC leadership or its board after this latest occurence?

Is the AFSC Hiding behind historic integrity of Friends?

2007-10-25T16:39:00.003-11:00

One might think that Friends would to go to their Monthly Meeting, the basic unit of Friends Society, and repudiate the AFSC, as either a parachurch in and of itself?

Or, embrace the AFSC, and work with it to see what has happened to this once admirable ‘service’ organization? Or is it something that has outgrown the Friends and will go off in its own direction, as other witness projects have in the past?

The General Secretary of AFSC, or the reporter quoting her, has again ‘utilized’ the 'Quaker' name in a recent article in the New York Times. The article is about the AFSC's controversial embrace of a slippery Islamist politician (The President of Iran). Wouldn't we equally criticize AFSC if it hid behind the Quaker name on the embrace of a shady Zionist politician, or of a disreputable politician from a Christian-state, if then the AFSC would be in danger of public or polarized criticism.

The evidence shows that when the AFSC promotes divisive issues, and it knows the result will bring it criticism from the polar political opposites, it hides behind the 'Quaker' shield. The AFSC tries to get more and more mileage from its 'Quaker'-ness, by leveraging the more and more distant historic integrity of Friends. This is to promote its own temporal corporate agenda - which mainly is - to exist and to pay salaries - no matter what it actually does, or what connections it actually has to the Quaker Faith.

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The AFSC was exposed as leveraging the ‘Quaker’ name when it was convenient, and faced criticism or potential criticism from conservative Americans. This after private meetings were held unsuccessfully to ask AFSC to consider and possibly utilize external data such as QiN news reports showing the 'face' it presented to the informed public.

Please see QiN January 2007.

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The AFSC seems to do very little face-to-face ‘service’ work - it mainly finances non-Quaker groups, organizes war and immigration protest marches, and maintains a slick website.

The AFSC, like a raft adrift is now attempting to tether itself to another free floating raft - large expensive Quaker prep schools - themselves freely adrift off the shore of the Religious Society of Friends’ mainland. The AFSC is attempting this apparently at its Annual Public Gathering Nov. 3, in Philadelphia.

I was for many years a part of a large public for-profit corporation's 'Annual Meeting' production process, which this event must parallel in the non-profit world. These are nothing more than public relations, tightly orchestrated and controlled information sharing sessions. There both large Quaker schools and the AFSC apparently would like to tether to the celebrity status and wealth of Oprah Winfrey.

Please see AFSC.
Please also see FCNL.

Shame on a Large Wealthy Quaker School

2007-10-25T16:39:00.001-11:00

Friends Seminary is a large (650 students) Quaker prep school located in 'ultra liberal' land - the East Village of New York City. The school's tuition costs $30,000 per year. Movie actors’ children attend. One such film family (albeit very talented) lives across the street from me here in Manhattan and the Head of School also on my block, lives in a fancy condo next to my old building.

There is a news report about a modern war-protest adaptation of a Greek play. The subject of this report is an affront to Quakers and to working parents of children everywhere, who need their jobs and the love of their children. And this report would show the situation at Friends Seminary as even more pathetic, if more of the public and more Friends knew of this ridiculous and elitist waste-of-time being produced. Isn't there more important and useful work in the manner of Friends to be done at Friends Schools? The Friends Seminary play apparently ended with the children holding up an upside-down American flag.

Compare the Friends Seminary (New York City) story emphasizing the use of 'force' and 'cold-shouldering' with the Scattergood Friends School (West Branch, Iowa) story, which emphasizes young people learning applied horticulture, and taking on useful responsibility.

Please see Quaker Schools.

Also....The AFSC, like a raft adrift is now attempting to tether itself to another free floating raft - large expensive Quaker prep schools - themselves freely adrift off the shore of the Religious Society of Friends’ mainland. The AFSC is attempting this apparently at its Annual Public Gathering Nov. 3, in Philadelphia. There they both possibly might also like to tether to the celebrity status and wealth of Oprah Winfrey.

The AFSC's change in description from 2005 - 2010

2007-10-21T21:02:00.002-11:00

From the AFSC.org May 2010 homepage:

AFSC is a Quaker organization devoted to service, development, and peace programs throughout the world. Our work is based on the belief in the worth of every person, and faith in the power of love to overcome violence and injustice.

From the link from the May 2010 homepage (full description):
The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is a Quaker organization that includes people of various faiths who are committed to social justice, peace and humanitarian service. Our work is based on the principles of the Religious Society of Friends, the belief in the worth of every person, and faith in the power of love to overcome violence and injustice.

From 2007 Press Releases on AFSC.org:

The American Friends Service Committee is a Quaker organization that includes people of various faiths who are committed to social justice, peace and humanitarian service. Its work is based on the belief in the worth of every person and faith in the power of love to overcome violence and injustice.

From the 2005 AFSC.org Website:

The American Friends Service Committee is a practical expression of the faith of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Committed to the principles of nonviolence and justice, it seeks in its work and witness to draw on the transforming power of love, human and divine.

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Note: 11/2007 - Note how AFSC has changed its description in 2007 : Actually calling itself a 'Quaker Organization' and removing 'divine'. (Possibly to include those of the atheist faith?) AFSC has also switched from its emphasis on the positive in 2005 (nonviolence and justice) to an emphasis on the negative in 2007 (violence and injustice).

AFSC Employees in a meeting the QiN Editor attended in October 2005 declined to consider the word 'Integrity' instead of 'Justice', in the self-description of AFSC. Integrity was suggested to convey day-to-day right action of everyday people, versus, 'justice', which conveys something lofty and never really achievable - pursued in the courts by lawyers and other elite.

War

2007-10-21T19:16:00.000-11:00

War/Protest/Divisiveness/Protest vs. protest boils in W. Chester/Philadelphia Inquirer/Philadelphia/PA/USA/18-Oct-07/…Rich Davis said last Saturday's rally was the "most confrontational."

"I'm not saying it's been total kumbaya," he said. "Some tempers flared. A couple of F-bombs went off. If one of their guys insults one of our guys, things are going to happen. I don't condone it, but for the most part I'd give both sides high grades for keeping tempers in check.

"These are not bad guys," he said of his fellow counterprotesters. "These are patriotic bikers. It's a cheap shot to say that a bunch of jack-booted motorcycle thugs are bullying a bunch of old Quaker ladies."

Charges of intimidation are "totally bogus," said Wayne Lutz, 53, of Glenside, an Army veteran and Pennsylvania coordinator of the Gathering of Eagles. He showed up for the victory rallies on his Harley.

"Maybe some people are intimidated by my appearance," he said. He described himself as 6-foot-1, 250 pounds, with a shaved head, a long mustache, tattoos and an earring. He usually wears biker leather, camo and a vest.

"People see somebody like me and immediately assume the worst," said Lutz, a church administrator. "They make judgments based on their preconceptions and bigotries." ….

AFSC/War/Protest//War Costing $720 Million Each Day, Group Says/Washington Post,/Washington/DC/USA/22-Sep-07/........ according to the American Friends Service Committee, which displayed those statistics on large banners in cities nationwide Thursday and Friday. ..."The wounded are coming home, and many of them have severe brain and spinal injuries, which will require round-the-clock care for the rest of their lives," said Michael McConnell, Great Lakes regional director of the AFSC, a peace group affiliated with the Quaker church.

War/Torture/Wilton Friends Meeting/Wilton screening of 'Ghosts of Abu Ghraib' is tonight/Wilton Bulletin/Wilton/CT/USA/26-Oct-07/... Wilton Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and Social Justice Council of the Unitarian Church in Westport are together ...

War/Humanitarian Assistance/Gainesville Friends Meeting/Merrill, Noah/Alternate to trick or treat: Iraqi refugee crisis/Gainesville Sun/Gainsville/FL/USA/29-Oct-07/… Wednesday, October 31 7:00p
at Gainesville Friends Meeting, Gainesville, FL

Noah Merrill will speak on his work with Iraqi refugees in Jordan and Syria. Over 2 million Iraqis have fled, a burden on their hosts. Merrill now helps provide medical aid ….

Peace Activities/Rochester Friends Meeting/'Oasis of Peace' speaker visits to share an Arab-Israeli vision/Rochester Democrat and Chronicle/Rochester/NY/USA/23-Oct-07/This free event starts at 7 pm It is hosted by Downtown Presbyterian Church, Spiritus Christi Church, the Society of Friends, the Jewish Community ...

Religious Faith / Diversity

2007-10-21T19:15:00.002-11:00

Religious Faith/Amish/Quilt/McNamee, Mark/Overcoming October's grim anniversaries/The Virginian-Pilot/Richmond/VA/USA/6-Oct-07/…The other story was datelined Nickel Mines. Describing how the Amish went stoically about their business on Oct. 2, the account also mentioned Virginia Tech and bonds formed between the two communities in the wake of the April 16 tragedy there.

Catching up with Tech Provost Mark McNamee, I learned some of the details.

Last summer, a busload of the Nickel Mines Amish traveled from Pennsylvania to Blacksburg to pass on a comfort quilt, created by Ohio schoolchildren to commemorate child victims of violence after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The chain of connection led through Pennsylvania to Virginia.

At a private luncheon, mourners shared personal stories. "What could have been very sad turned out to be very uplifting, even though it was emotional and there were tears shed," said McNamee, who finds some kinship with the Amish perspective on forgiveness and community as a member of the Religious Society of Friends. ….

Religious Faith/Peace Activities/Mormonism/Fox, Tom/Anarchy and Mormonism/Salt Lake Tribune/Salt Lake City/UT/USA/19-Oct-07/In 2005, Van Wagenen traveled to Iraq with a Christian Peacemaker Team, where he roomed with Quaker activist Tom Fox. After Van Wagenen returned home in November, Fox was kidnapped and murdered.
The young Mormon returned to Iraq in January 2007, where he, too, was kidnapped with two others and held for nine days. After his release, Van Wagenen promised himself he would continue to work for peace. He published one of Fox's essays on peace in the Mormon Worker. But, for the sake of his parents, Van Wagenen won't go back to Iraq. ...

Religious Faith/Education/Jones, T. Canby/T. Canby Jones Meetinghouse/Wilmington News Journal/Wilmington/OH/USA/10-Oct-07/WILMINGTON — Wilmington College will recognize T. Canby Jones for his life’s work as a Quaker theologian, educator, mentor, scholar and peacemaker Oct. 19 ...

Religious Faith/Columbia (SC) Society of Friends/Quakers quietly mark a milestone/The State/Columbia/SC/USA/20-Oct-07/But as the Columbia Society of Friends gather Sunday to remember their modern history, they also celebrate their place in society as witnesses to peace. …

Religious Diversity/Spirituality/Death and Dying/Spring, Barbara/Lama shares gentle acceptance of loss/Albany Times Union/Albany/NY/USA/7-Oct-07/Barbara Spring, a gerontologist from Albany and a Quaker, said Samten's message appealed to people of all faiths because it focused on the spiritual aspects ...

Religious Diversity/Peace and Social Concerns/Friends Meeting of Washington, DC/INTERFAITH GATHERING/Washington Post/Washington/DC/USA/7-Oct-07/"Abraham's Tent," an interfaith gathering that will be hosted by the Peace and Social Concerns Committee of Friends (Quaker) Meeting of Washington, begins at 1:30 p.m. tomorrow at the Friends Meeting House, 2111 Florida Ave. NW. There will be a discussion of the film "Three Faiths, One God: Judaism, Christianity, Islam." Free.

Religious Faith/Graham Friends Church/From rules of the road to God’s law/Burlington Times News/Burlington/NC/USA/20-Oct-07/Beginning Sunday, he’s preaching a series of five messages at Graham Friends Church. He’s preaching as part of revival services that are open to anyone. ...

Quaker Schools - period ended 11.1.2007

2007-10-21T19:15:00.001-11:00

Quaker Schools/Arts/Theater/War/ Youth give modern twist to 'Lysistrata'/New York Daily News/New York/NY/USA/9-Oct-07/…When the ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes wanted to write a comedy about the not-so-funny subject of war, he wrote "Lysistrata," in which women threaten to withhold sex to prevent their husbands from going to war.

When Philip Suraci, who directs theater at Friends Seminary, the two-century-old Quaker school on Stuyvesant Square, wanted to dramatize young people's concern about the war, he decided to update "Lysistrata." …. Last year he and his students improvised "Lysistrata's Children," in which children withhold affection from their parents to force them to take some action.

Suraci had the kids brainstorm to create the script.

"What's the one thing our parents want from us?" one of the kids asks.

"To shut up," one suggests.

"To change the kitty litter," says another.

Eventually, they concoct a plan to cold-shoulder their parents.

Agriculture/Farming/Quaker Schools/Scattergood Friends School/Farming goes uptown as prep schools add/High Plains Journal/Muscatine/IA/USA/15-Oct-07/At Scattergood Friends School, a Quaker boarding school in West Branch, Iowa, students have been required to spend several hours a week on farm chores since ...

Quaker Schools/Sex ///Sex, according to Isabel Allende / El sexo, según Isabel Allende/El Nuevo Diario/Santo Domingo/Dominican Republic/Carribbean/4-Oct-07/En 1956 mi familia se había trasladado al Líbano y yo había vuelto a un colegio de señoritas, esta vez a una escuela inglesa cuáquera, donde el sexo…. In 1956, my family had moved to Lebanon and I had become a college ladies, this time to an English Quaker school, where sex simply did not exist, had been removed from the universe by the British phlegm and the zeal of preachers. ...

Quaker History - period ended 11.1.2007

2007-10-21T19:13:00.000-11:00

Quaker History/Jury/Penn, William//When Pennsylvania Was the Earthly Paradise/American Heritage/New York/NY/USA/29-Oct-07/“My prison shall be my grave before I will budge a jot; for I owe my conscience to no mortal man.” Freed at the king’s behest, he continued to preach the Quaker faith. He was tried and acquitted in a landmark case that established the independence of English juries. ...

Quaker History/Tolerance/Boone, Daniel/Daniel Boone was a man. Yes, a big man./Washington Post/Washington/DC/USA/12-Oct-07/Like Washington, like Lincoln later, Boone inspired the craving for an ideal self, with Quaker tolerance for others, reliant and integrious, ...

Quaker History/Religious Faith/Puritans/Nudity/The Hampton Historical Society presents/Hampton Union/Hampton/NH/USA/10-Oct-07/The Hampton Historical Society presents Dianne Rapaport at its annual meeting on Friday at 7 p.m. Rapaport will do a presentation from her new book: The Naked Quaker: True Crimes and Controversies from the Courts of Colonial New England. The story involves a 17th-century Quaker woman from Hampton, who showed her contempt for Puritan authorities by taking her clothes off during church. The meeting and speaker are free. Call Betty Moore at 926-2543.

Quaker History/Quaker Schools/Applied Knowledge/Cornell, Ezra/Ezra Cornell's legacy provides theme for trustee meetings/Cornell Chronicle/Ithaca/NY/USA/18-Oct-07/Quaker-born Ezra Cornell, a curmudgeonly pacifist, might well approve of study with the potential to reduce conflict. "This is a very exciting time to be ...

Quaker History/Quaker Schools/Applied Knowledge/Cornell, Ezra/The Man Behind the University/Cornell University/Ithaca/NY/USA/11-Oct-07/…It is hard to miss the bronze statue immortalizing Ezra Cornell that stands across from Goldwin Smith Hall in the Arts Quad. Daily, hundreds of students pass by the numerous tributes to Ezra Cornell spread around the campus. This year marks his 200th birthday, yet many students here know little about Ezra Cornell. Who was he? Why is Cornell named after him?

He was born on January 11, 1807 in Westchester New York; Ezra Cornell would later found Cornell University. The oldest of eleven children, Ezra Cornell only attended school for three months a year, in order to help with his father’s pottery business. Cornell developed an interest in carpentry as a teenager and traveled considerably as a carpenter. He was charmed by Ithaca and Cayuga Lake and moved to Ithaca permanently in 1828.

Cornell, who was a Quaker, married Mary Ann Wood, an Episcopalian, in 1831 and was promptly excommunicated from the Society of Friends. He worked as a carpenter, a farmer, and a mechanic before he began stringing telephone lines. Cornell founded Western Union Telegraph Company with Samuel Morse, the inventor of the telegraph and Morse code. It was with this company that Cornell accrued his initial wealth. ….

Quaker History/Non-competitiveness/Stubbornness/El guardia/ABC Madrid/Madrid/Spain/E.U./6-Oct-07/... teniendo dos caballos ganadores como Rato y Gallardón, prefiere hacer la carrera, y perderla, en mula cuáquera, entendiendo por mula cuáquera a todos …..prefer to enter the race and lose, like a Quaker mule, like a stubborn Quaker …

Quaker History/Natural Science/Gardening/Glorious gardens/Wilmington Morning Star/Wilmington/NC/USA/14-Oct-07/Glendurgan's history is all about the Foxes, a well-known Quaker family who built their first residence at the top of the valley in 1826 and whose ...

Quaker History/Natural Science/Astronomy/Miller, John Fletcher/In memory of the starman/News & Star/London/England/UK/18-Oct-07/The son of a well-to-do Quaker family he was the first to record rainfall in the Lake District and his research on meteorology and astronomy is ...

Quaker History/Abolition/Suffrage/Farmington Meetinghouse/Kuhl seeks to preserve Farmington meetinghouse/Elmira Star-Gazette/Elmira/NY/USA/11-Oct-07/John R. Kuhl Jr., R-Hammondsport, introduced legislation to request that the National Park Service consider the 1816 Farmington Quaker Meetinghouse as a ...

Quaker History///Who lived here? House sleuths find clues/MiamiHerald.com/Miami/FL/USA/12-Oct-07/…Scigo learned the name of her house's original owner -- Ross Hammond -- from a printout the Fremont deed office gave her listing all transactions related to the property.

A Google search revealed Hammond was the editor of the town paper, which his family owned.

Scigo then went to the historical society. The lives of prominent citizens are more likely to be chronicled in newspapers, but even short obituaries and marriage notices can offer insights. She learned that Hammond was raised a Quaker, married in 1885, had four children, and was active in civic organizations and politics.….

Quaker Earthcare Witness/Woolman, John/Swennerfelt, Ruah/Cox, Louis/Couple to take six-month spiritual journey/ BurlingtonFreePress.com/Burlington/VT/USA/24-Oct-07/... an 18th-century Quaker, walked from meeting to meeting to express his concern about the spiritual health of the Religious Society of Friends. ...

Quaker Council for European Affairs

2007-10-21T19:12:00.000-11:00

Quaker Council for European Affairs/Consejo Cuáquero de Asuntos Europeos/EUROPEAN UNION: Failed Constitution reborn as a "treaty" / UNIÓN EUROPEA: Constitución repudiada renace como "tratado"/IPS Noticias/Madrid/Spain/E.U./12-Oct-07/...Martina Weitsch, del Consejo Cuáquero para los Asuntos Europeos, una organización antibélica, siente que el nuevo tratado podría no estar a tono con los puntos de vista expresados por el jefe de política exterior de la UE, Javier Solana, entre otros políticos del bloque.

A comienzos de este mes, Solana reconoció que la prevención de crisis "no puede basarse exclusivamente sobre la seguridad".

Tras señalar que la industria militar y de armas facturó en Occidente un billón de dólares al año y que la asistencia al desarrollo era de menos de 100.000 millones, se preguntó: "¿Acaso no hay un margen allí para un cierto reequilibrio?".

"Hoy, muchas amenazas no son puramente militares, y puede haber un resquicio de luz en cuanto a que las cosas se están moviendo y que los políticos están reconociendo esto", dijo Weitsch a IPS.

"Así que tener un artículo en el tratado que compromete a los estados miembro de la UE a mejorar continuamente la capacidad militar es una medida muy mala. Una vez que esté en el tratado, será muy difícil sacarlo de nuevo", agregó. ..Martina Weitsch from the Quaker Council for European Affairs, an anti-war organisation, feels that the new treaty could be out of step with views expressed recently by leading EU politicians.

Earlier this month, for example, the Union's foreign policy chief Javier Solana acknowledged that the prevention of crises "cannot be exclusively based on security." After pointing out that Western countries shower 1,000 billion dollars each year on the military and the arms industry, yet less than 100 billion dollars on development aid, he asked: "Is there not a margin there for a certain rebalancing?"

"Many threats today are not purely military and there might be a chink of light that things are moving on and policy makers are recognising this," Weitsch told IPS. "So having an article in the treaty that commits (EU) member states to continually improve military capabilities is a seriously bad step. Once you have it in the treaty, it is going to be very difficult to get it out again."

Some of the treaty's supporters have argued that the inclusion of a Charter of Fundamental Rights in the text weds Europe to social protection. But Susan George, a Paris-based writer and former head of Greenpeace, has pointed out that the provisions on workers' rights and equality in the charter go no further than those already guaranteed at national level in many EU states. In any event, the United Kingdom has secured an opt-out from the charter -- at the behest of the Confederation of British Industry which argued that it "would pose an unacceptable risk to the UK's flexible labour market."

"This appears to mean that while competition and market freedom are compulsory for all EU member states, even the most meager social rights are optional," said George.

Politics and Economics

2007-10-21T19:11:00.001-11:00

Immigration/Friend, Rex//Pledge of resistance' to be presented to Gov. Henry/NewsOK.com/Oklahoma City/OK/USA/25-Oct-07/Lance Schmitz, minister of social justice at Oklahoma City First Church of the Nazarene, and Rex Friend, a Quaker leader and immigration law attorney. ...

Politics and Economics/Quaker History//Obama's diverse forebears a common ancestor with George Bush/Boston Globe/Boston/MA/USA/7-Oct-07/… Free Plug, I: Here is an interesting news hook. Last month, the Chicago Sun-Times claimed to have found among Senator Barack Obama's diverse forebears a common ancestor with George Bush.

Another of Obama's curious ancestors features in a new book "The Naked Quaker: True Crimes and Controversies From the Courts of Colonial New England," by Diane Rapaport of Lexington. Obama's great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, Jonathan Singletary, a 17th-century Plymouth resident also known as Jonathan Dunham, was something of a wildcat. Probably a freelance Quaker or Baptist minister, he showed up in 1683 court records for "drawing away another mans wife . . . against her husband's consent." With yet another woman in tow, he burned down another man's house, killed his dog, and nearly killed his children. The Plymouth authorities whipped him and then banished him to New Jersey, where I suppose, then and now, this kind of conduct isn't necessarily frowned upon.….

Politics and Economics/Quaker House/Fager, Chuck/‘Leftist’ columnists don’t lean far/FayObserver.com/Fayetteville/NC/USA/3-Oct-07/Chuck Fager is director of the Quaker House in Fayetteville

Outreach

2007-10-21T19:09:00.000-11:00

Outreach/Wilmington (DE) Friends Meeting/Fox, George/Chase, Susan Mulchahey/Rediscovering our old Friends/The News Journal/Wilmington/DE/USA/29-Sep-07/That was an insight of 17th-century English mystic George Fox, a visionary who inspired the Religious Society of Friends to gather and sit in silence, ...

Obituary - period ended 11.1.2007

2007-10-21T19:07:00.000-11:00

Obituary/Suicide///Man Shot Wife, Then Self, Officials Say/Washington Post/Washington/DC/USA/27-Sep-07/He was treasurer of the Goose Creek Religious Society of Friends in Lincoln for 40 years. Margaret Nichols was found dead about 2 pm Friday after ...

Obituary/Financial Responsibility/Town Mourns For Nichols Family/Leesburg Today/Leesburg/VA/USA/28-Sep-07/... lion's Club for more than 50 years and was a birth-right member of the Goose Creek Friends Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends in Lincoln. ...

Obituary/Socially Responsible Investing/Friends Fiduciary /AFSC/He gave violins a better sound with mobile lab/Philadelphia Inquirer/Philadelphia/PA/USA/23-Sep-07/For 25 years, Mr. Rodgers served on the board of the American Friends Service Committee and was a past treasurer. He had a particular interest in international projects and socially responsible investments, his son said. He was cofounder of the Friends Board Training Service and served on the boards of the Friends Fiduciary Corp.; the Hickman, a Quaker retirement residence in West Chester; and Pendle Hill, a Quaker studies center in Wallingford.

Obituary////Mary Dyer Baizley, 90, WWII Navy veteran, volunteer and athlete/Philadelphia Inquirer/Philadelphia/PA/USA/11-Oct-07/… Mary Dyer Baizley, 90, may not have been a rebellious Quaker like her famous relative, but she had the conviction and feistiness of the 17th-century martyr Mary Dyer, whose statue represents defiant contemplation at the entrance to Friends Center at 15th and Cherry Streets. Mrs. Baizley died of pneumonia Oct. 5 at Roxborough Memorial Hospital.

She had lived at Cathedral Village in Upper Roxborough for 11 years, but was a longtime resident of Chestnut Hill - and she was not a Quaker.

Mrs. Baizley was a direct descendant of Dyer, who was hanged in Boston by Puritans in 1660 for practicing her religion. The seated bronze figure in Philadelphia is a copy of the original in Boston Common.

Mrs. Baizley was born Mary Dyer in 1917 in Hoopeston, Ill. Never a "girly girl," she rode a pony and was a tomboy, her daughter Doris Baizley said.….

Obituary///Fred Allen Wood/Indianapolis Star/Indianapolis/IN/USA/29-Oct-07/Mr. Wood was a lifelong member of Hinkle Creek Friends Church. He played the saxophone and the keyboard, and participated in both jazz band and orchestra. .

Obituary///Dairy Queen owner liked teaching kids/Indianapolis Star/Indianapolis/IN/USA/21-Oct-07/Calling will be from 2 to 6 pm Sunday at Leppert Mortuary, Smith Carmel Chapel. Services will be at 10:30 am Monday at Gray Friends Church. ...

Religious Diversity/Spirituality/Death and Dying/Spring, Barbara/Lama shares gentle acceptance of loss/Albany Times Union/Albany/NY/USA/7-Oct-07/Barbara Spring, a gerontologist from Albany and a Quaker, said Samten's message appealed to people of all faiths because it focused on the spiritual aspects ...
----

Natural Science - period ended 11.1.2007

2007-10-21T19:06:00.001-11:00

Natural Science/Commune/Ramberg, Edward/Quaker Schools/A unique life shapes a unique outlook/Salt Lake Tribune/Salt Lake City/UT/USA/9-Oct-07/….Mother and son settled in a commune near Philadelphia that Edward Ramberg, a Quaker and talented physicist who developed the first lens for the electron microscope, helped start. Lucy Ramberg was psychologically devastated as a result of her years at Dachau, and Capecchi's care fell to his aunt and uncle.
''I was given few material goods but every opportunity to develop my mind and soul,'' Capecchi said in 1996.
At his Quaker high school, Capecchi was a ''not-serious student.'' He loved sports and played football, soccer, baseball and was ''particularly proficient at wrestling.''
Capecchi went on to Antioch College, where he has said he found ''great pleasure in the simplicity and elegance of mathematics and classical physics.''
Antioch required students to spend every other quarter working. Capecchi's first assignment was teaching sixth-graders at a public high school in Long Beach, Calif. As time went on, he spent those quarters in scientific work; a stint at MIT introduced him to molecular biology. ...

Natural Science/Commune/Quaker Schools/George School/Ties to the Prize/Philadelphia Inquirer/Philadelphia/PA/USA/9-Oct-07/"It juxtaposed two opposites," the soft-spoken molecular biologist said yesterday by phone from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, where he is a professor of genetics. "Initially, I led an asocial life. Then I joined a community started by the Quakers that was more like a commune. It was very social, and everybody knew everything about everybody. It was a terrific place to grow up.

Natural Science/Botany/Morris, Albert/Powerhouse Museum Presents 'Greening The Silver City'/HULIQ//NC/USA/6-Oct-07/Albert Morris, the Quaker and self taught amateur botanist developed a passionate interest in plants from a young age and founded the Barrier Field ...

Natural Science/Quaker History//Big Changes in our Worldview / Grandes cambios en la visión del mundo/El País/Andalusia/Spain/E.U./5-Oct-07/ Darwin era un señorito inglés. Muhammad ibn Musa al-Jwarizmi (del cero al infinitésimo) era un árabe elegante y generoso. Alfred Lothar Wegener (la tectónica de placas) era tan valiente y desprendido que murió tratando de llevar comida a sus compañeros. John Dalton (los átomos) era un cuáquero insoportable... Cada uno refleja a la propia humanidad. Lo que sí hicieron todos fue trabajar mucho y amar a la ciencia por encima de muchas cosas", explica Lozano Leyva....Darwin was a childish Englishman. Muhammad ibn Musa al-Jwarizmi (from zero to infinitesimal ) was an elegant and generous Arab . Lothar Alfred Wegener (plate tectonics) was courageous and detached. John Dalton (atoms) was an unbearable Quaker ... Each reflected humanity itself. What each did was all work hard and think of themselves first as scientists, "says Lozano Leyva.......

Quaker House - NC

2007-10-21T19:04:00.000-11:00

Quaker House/War/Torture/Fager, Chuck/Activists protest CIA detention program/University of North Carolina The Daily Tar Heel/Smithfield/NC/USA/29-Oct-07/... Smithfield, about an hour's drive southeast of Chapel Hill, was chosen for the site of the protest because of a company called Aero Contractors' use of the Johnston County airport as part of the CIA "extraordinary rendition" program, said Chuck Fager, director of the Fayetteville chapter of the Quaker House organization and one of the organizers of the anti-war demonstration.. ...

Men/Women/Domestic Violence Awareness Month/Fager, Chuck/Woman seeks healing in memorial service for mom/FayObserver.com/Fayetteville/NC/USA/29-Sep-07/She has worked locally with the Quaker House’s Chuck Fager, and the two are using the ceremony to kick off Domestic Violence Awareness Month. ...

Quaker House/Fager, Chuck///Quaker House needs a fix-up/FayObserver.com/Fayetteville/NC/USA/25-Sep-07/The repairs will cost about $200000, according to Chuck Fager. He is the head of Quaker House, which has been at the forefront of the antiwar movement in ...

Men/Manliness/Quaker House/Fager, Chuck/Crazy for Chuck/FayObserver.com/Fayetteville/NC/USA/16-Oct-07/Chuck, short for Charles, derives from the Middle English “chukken,” meaning to throw.

The name carries manly connotations. Think about it. Who’s the manliest Chuck of all? Chuck Norris, of course.

“It’s also one syllable,” says Chuck Fager, the director of the Quaker House in Fayetteville, “which is shorter and punchier” than Charles.

Fager, technically a Charles, started calling himself Chuck as a teenager.

“Chuck just sounded much better,” he says. “Charles always sounded like it was more formal.”

And, he admits, Chuck did feel “like it was a little more macho.”. ...

Membership Decline

2007-10-21T19:02:00.000-11:00

Membership Decline/Business/Fry, Cecil//SHOCKED COMMUNITY RALLIES AROUND WORKERS/Bath Chronicle/Bath/England/UK/11-Oct-07/The factory was set up by the Frys, a Quaker family from Bristol, and Mr Nicholls added that Cecil Fry, the last man from the family to run the factory, ...

Integrity

2007-10-21T19:00:00.003-11:00

Integrity/AFSC///Quaker charity sued over a doctor's legacy/ Philadelphia Inquirer/Philadelphia/PA/USA/8-Oct-07/

....Manion's seven years as a fund-raiser for the Friends committee ended last month, when his contract wasn't renewed.

According to Manion, 43, he and the charity had a falling out for a couple of reasons. He said his bosses wouldn't accommodate him after his feet got painful - and were unhappy when he raised complaints in-house about the use of Eloesser's money.

… Dr. Leo Eloesser planned his legacy down to the last exacting detail.

"I direct that my corpse be buried as cheaply as possible in whatever town or place I may happen to die," he wrote in his will on Feb. 14, 1975.

A celebrity doctor of his day, a friend of left-wing artists like Pablo Casals and Frida Kahlo, Eloesser insisted on the simplest of send-offs: His casket should be a "plain wooden box." His grave marker should cost $5 or less. The only extravagance: $500 for "a decent string quartet" to play a Mozart quartet in C major.

As for the rest of Eloesser's considerable family fortune from stock, real estate and businesses, he set it aside for loans to needy medical students. The bequest was in keeping with his twin devotions - public health and progressive politics.

As it turns out, Eloesser could not exercise the same kind of control over his money as he did over his funeral.

Thirty-one years after Eloesser's death at age 95, the Pennsylvania Attorney General is suing the American Friends Service Committee, saying the Quaker charity misspent Eloesser's bequest.

The Philadelphia charity has already paid back more than $1 million to an Eloesser endowment. It says it's still searching its books for a full accounting of how it spent the doctor's money - more than $8 million in all.

"Where are the Quaker values? Misappropriation of funds is not a Quaker value," said Patrick Manion, a former employee of the charity who says he alerted authorities to how the Eloesser funds were being used.

The charity insists that it spent Eloesser's money on worthy health-care causes, albeit not always precisely on medical training.

Indeed, the Attorney General's Office says there is no suggestion that anyone personally ripped off the fund. The purpose of the suit, a lawyer said, is to make sure Eloesser's wishes are honored.

Still, charity experts are troubled.

"A bedrock principle of well-managed nonprofit organizations is to honor the intentions of your donors," said Daniel Borochoff, president of the American Institute of Philanthropy in Chicago.

"These other programs may be completely noble, but if the donor wants it used for Purpose A, it cannot be used for Purpose B. It's not good. It does not help current or future supporters of the AFSC to have confidence."

The dispute amounts to a strange and sad coda to a long life filled with adventure, high culture and political passion.

Unlike most such estate disputes, this imbroglio is noteworthy for the cast of characters: a whistleblower with painful feet, a Quaker group thought to be the soul of probity, and a long-dead doctor so short he had to stand on a milk crate to operate.

According to one in the dwindling number who actually knew him, the doctor had no time for chitchat.

"It was hard to have a social conversation with him," recalled Arthur Campbell, 83, younger brother of Eloesser's longtime companion, Joyce Campbell. "If you had something of substance to say, he would talk about it."

Maybe that's because he had so much to do.

Born in 1881 into a wealthy San Francisco society family, Eloesser built a busy practice in the Bay City while pursuing the leftist causes of the day.

He was a medic for the Republican side during the Spanish Civil War and a physician with communist forces in China just after World War II.

An amateur violinist, he played with the famous cellist Casals; he had his portrait painted by Kahlo, who also dedicated a famous self-portrait to him, "my doctor and my best friend"; and he gained notoriety as friend and physician to Tom Mooney, the socialist who became a cause celebre after his rigged conviction for a fatal San Francisco bombing in 1916.

Over his long career, Eloesser also was a pioneer in public health in developing countries, writing a manual on midwifery with medical drawings by Joyce Campbell. The work was translated into Chinese and Spanish.

He invented a surgical technique called the "Eloesser flap" to drain fluid from chest infections, still in use in modified form.

"Here's a man who at every point was where things were happening," said retired archivist Elena Danielson, who helped acquire Eloesser's papers for the Hoover Institution in California.

"In China, he would save lives in the morning, play the violin in the afternoon, and go to the Chinese opera in the evening."

Though his biographer insists Eloesser was no communist, his name came up in hostile reports during the Red Scare of the 1950s. His decades-younger companion, Campbell, faced grilling in 1952 from the Senate Internal Security committee.

According to his biography, this helped spur Eloesser and Campbell to move to a rural part of Mexico, where he operated a clinic for the poor. Eloesser died in Mexico in 1976.

Eloesser never married or had children. As for other relatives, they had "sufficient wherewithal to eat, clothe and house themselves comfortably," he wrote in his will. Any more money would be "superfluous."

Most of his money he set aside to "establish loan funds for medical students." Campbell picked the Friends to administer the fund, though Eloesser was not a Quaker.

Over the years, the $1 million endowment threw off about $6 million in interest that was distributed by the charity.

John Treat, a charity spokesman, said he believed the grants went to health care in Latin America - though sometimes directly for medical care instead of training.

Sometimes, charity officials go to court to try to free themselves from a will's restrictions. For example, the Barnes Foundation fought for years to win permission to move Albert Barnes' collection of art masterpieces from Lower Merion Township to Center City.

The Quaker charity never did that.

Treat says he believed Eloesser's executors informally agreed to permit wider latitude in how the money was spent.

"We thought we were acting in accordance with the executor's wishes," he said, though he could not document any such conversations.

According to a letter on file in Philadelphia Orphans Court, which hears disputes over wills, the charity did tell Campbell early on that it would spend only interest from the fund, leaving the principal untouched.

But in the late 1990s, the charity decided to abandon that pledge.

Auditors gave an opinion that the charity could spend down the principal as well, said Treat, who could not explain what prompted that decision. Whatever the reason, the fund was almost wiped out as a result.

The charity has no records showing that executor Campbell was consulted about the change, even though she was alive at the time, living in California.

Over the years, the Friends committee each year kept up to 20 percent of the fund's disbursements for administrative costs. In 2004, that unaccountably ballooned to 45 percent, Treat said.

"We're getting to the bottom of that," he said.

In 2004, Campbell died, at 89. Her death triggered a big new influx of cash into the Eloesser fund and, ultimately, an internal review of what the AFSC had been up to.

In his will, Eloesser had decreed that Campbell should get the rental income from his interest in a building in the heart of San Francisco. After she died, Manion, then a charity staffer, traveled west from Philadelphia to sell the Eloesser real estate, netting another $1.1 million for the fund.

According to Treat, this caused the charity to dust off Eloesser's will, leading to internal questions about how it had been spending Eloesser's money.

As a result, the committee halted all spending from the fund. According to a court filing, in 2005 the charity paid $1.14 million "to replenish the fund for any expenditures that may have exceeded the purposes stated in the will."

The whole mess might have stayed within the walls of the committee's Center City headquarters except for the plantar fasciitis - foot inflammation - of Patrick Manion.

Manion's seven years as a fund-raiser for the Friends committee ended last month, when his contract wasn't renewed.

Though he won't confirm that he contacted the Attorney General's Office, Manion says he complained about the matter to the "appropriate outside authorities" earlier this year.

"When you receive restricted funds, that is the only way you can use the money," he added.

"You can't just translate it into what your wishes are. If someone's dead, they have no advocate. The only advocate that a dead person has is the Attorney General's Office."

Treat declined to respond to Manion's comments, saying the job history was a private personnel matter. He did say: "AFSC would never discipline someone for asking questions."

He also stressed that the charity halted spending from the fund on its own volition.

"When we thought there might be a question about this fund, we stopped and set it right," he said.

"Integrity is very important to the Quakers, and we try to always act according to the highest ethical standards."

In response to the lawsuit, the AFSC has pledged to turn over an audit in December of all the spending from the fund. As a precautionary step, the auditors will also scrutinize 13 other endowments worth about $8 million.

The Attorney General's Office is waiting for the audit results. The goal, an attorney said, is to make sure the wishes of Eloesser and other donors are honored.

"The remedy is up to the court," said Mary C. Kenney, a senior deputy attorney general. "Our job is to make sure the intent is carried out, that there is no diversion of assets. And if there has been, that everyone is made whole."….

........
Integrity/Arts///Ex-museum director faces sentencing/Cape Cod Times/Barnstable/MA/USA/30-Oct-07/….By then, his health had deteriorated along with his Quaker morality, Carter wrote.. He has glaucoma, coronary artery disease, hypertension, diabetes and chronic back pain, among other maladies. He had triple bypass surgery after a 2003 heart attack.

"In retrospect, I am sure the health issues have much to do with my general loathing of myself for my actions," he wrote. He also blamed stress. ….

Marriage

2007-10-21T19:00:00.002-11:00

Marriage/Self-Unifying//Legality of some Pa. marriages is questioned/Philadelphia Inquirer/Philadelphia/PA/USA/10-Oct-07/…In addition, couples may have "self-uniting" ceremonies, at which two witnesses take the place of a member of the clergy.

But some interpret the "self-uniting" provision narrowly, saying it was established for faiths that do not use ministers, such as Quakers, Baha'i, and the Amish, so at least one member of the couple must belong to one of those faiths.

So in Bucks County, someone who asks for a self-uniting license is asked about his or her religion. And that, says Witold Walczak, legal director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania, is a violation of the U.S. Constitution.

In fact, the ACLU recently intervened in the case of a Pittsburgh couple who were refused a self-uniting license in Allegheny County - and won.

Reilly said she was aware of the federal ruling but would continue to put limits on self-uniting licenses because she suspects it will be overturned.

"Besides," she said, "my office received complaints from the Quaker membership who felt that people were getting married claiming to be Quakers when in fact they were not," she said.

In Philadelphia, where Ronald R. Donatucci is the register of wills, nothing is changing as a result of Cook's ruling.

The ruling could well be challenged and overturned, said Caren Martin, Donatucci's deputy.

And in Philadelphia, Martin says, self-uniting licenses are issued to those who seek them.

"We don't ask them their religion," she said. ...

Humanitarian Assistance - period ended 11.1.2007

2007-10-21T18:58:00.000-11:00

Humanitarian Assistance/Homelessness/Long Beach Friends Church/ALWAYS POLITICAL, SOMETIMES CORRECT, RARELY POLITICALLY CORRECT .../The Daily Titan/Long Beach/CA/USA/29-Oct-07/As I drove the two miles home from Long Beach Friends Church Sunday evening, my heart filled with compassion and my mind swarmed with questions. Two miles. ...

Humanitarian Assistance/Hunger/Mercer Street Friends/Worth its weight in gold/The Times of Trenton/Trenton/NJ/USA/19-Oct-07/Mercer Street Friends, a 50-year-old Quaker-directed, nonprofit social service agency, distributes food through its food bank to agencies such as the ...

Humanitarian Assistance/Dover Friends Meeting/Kenya//Friends Meeting presents slide show/Foster's Daily Democrat/Portland/ME/USA/19-Oct-07/Like many other denominations, the Society of Friends finds itself being reshaped by growth throughout the Third World. There are, for instance, ...

FCNL

2007-10-21T18:57:00.001-11:00

FCNL/Volk, Joe///Dan Carpenter Brier patch politics/Indianapolis Star/Indianapolis/IN/USA/2-Oct-07/As executive director of the Quaker lobby Friends Committee on National Legislation, he has met extensively and intensely with Ahmadinejad as part of ...

AFSC/Politics and Economics/Christian/McNish, Mary Ellen/Ahmadinejad Meets Clerics, and Decibels Drop a Notch/New York Times/New York/NY/USA/27-Sep-07/...

“My heart was broken that there was so little support from other religions to be here,” said Mary Ellen McNish, general secretary of the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker group that helped sponsor the event. “If we don’t walk down this path of dialogue, we’re going to end up in conflagration.”

…….One critic said that these religious leaders were well intentioned, but naïve.

Malcolm I. Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said in a telephone interview: “They’re not going to convince him. Their very presence there gives him respectability.”

Ms. McNish, of the American Friends Service Committee, said the reverse was true: “The more we isolate him, the more support he gets at home.”

Crime and Punishment

2007-10-21T18:55:00.001-11:00

Crime and Punishment/Theft/Retirement//Milford woman charged with stealing over $400000 from retirement .../Allentown Morning Call/Allentown/PA/USA/19-Oct-07/Foulkeways at Gwynedd is a non-profit Quaker community of 430 residents. Doug Tweddale, chief executive officer, said the problem was discovered about a ...

Integrity/Arts///Ex-museum director faces sentencing/Cape Cod Times/Barnstable/MA/USA/30-Oct-07/….By then, his health had deteriorated along with his Quaker morality, Carter wrote.. He has glaucoma, coronary artery disease, hypertension, diabetes and chronic back pain, among other maladies. He had triple bypass surgery after a 2003 heart attack.

"In retrospect, I am sure the health issues have much to do with my general loathing of myself for my actions," he wrote. He also blamed stress. ….

Church-State / Mary Dyer

2007-10-21T18:54:00.001-11:00

Church-State/Quaker History/Dyer, Mary/JAMES EVANS: Separation priceless protection/Montgomery Advertiser/Montgomery/AL/USA/21-Oct-07/Mary was a Quaker. In 17th century Massachusetts only one religion was allowed -- the official version of Christianity as established by the state. ...

Book Review/Quaker History/Dyer, Mary/Reason, faith, and American politics/Boston Globe/Boston/MA/USA/2-Oct-07/When Mary Dyer, who'd been exiled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for her Quaker beliefs, and the public nuisance she made defending them, ...

-------

From: QiN Book Review

Wills’ review caption on the NPR show ‘Fresh Air’ broadcast of his interview states – “separation was meant as "the great protector of religion, not its enemy." Click on the above link to listen to Garry Wills interview, and to read a chapter from his book, which describes how the Quaker, Mary Dyer was hanged.

Business - period ended 11.1.2007

2007-10-21T18:53:00.000-11:00

Business/Law/Egalitarianism/Collaboration/At Firms With 'No Jerks' Rules, Abusive Attorneys Need Not Apply/Law.com/New York/NY/USA/17-Oct-07/…Likewise, many firms have made the rule a part of their internal culture since their inceptions. At Duane Morris, which was founded on the Quaker values of egalitarianism and collaboration, the firm has made protecting its culture from jerks a priority.

Partners who have been abusive with co-workers or territorial with clients, both well-established and highly discouraged taboos at the firm, have seen their leadership roles diminished or taken away and in some cases were asked to leave the firm. ...

Business/Simplicity/Raised-a-Quaker/Youngjohns, Robert/MORTGAGE MELTDOWN/San Francisco Chronicle/San Francisco/CA/USA/8-Oct-07/… Youngjohns suggests that complex commission structures often lead to what he calls "bad behavior."

"I was raised Quaker, and so I was taught to see the good in everyone," he says. "Until it comes to people's commissions - then you have to assume they're fundamentally evil." ….

Book Review - period ended 11.1.2007

2007-10-21T18:52:00.001-11:00

From: QiN Book Review

...Wills’ review caption on the NPR show ‘Fresh Air’ broadcast of his interview states – “separation was meant as "the great protector of religion, not its enemy." Click on the above link to listen to Garry Wills interview, and to read a chapter from his book, which describes how the Quaker, Mary Dyer was hanged....

Book Review/Pacifism/War//Review: 'King's Gambit,' by Paul Hoffman/Newsday/Long Island/NY/USA/7-Oct-07/Still, some of his father's parental crimes ("dragging" him to Quaker meeting as a child so that someday he can stay out of a draft on religious pacifist grounds, for example, or "imposing" "experimental New Age braces") can surely be seen as loving, if not always especially considerate.

Book Review/Natural Science/Meteorology/Howard, Luke/Clouds from Both Sides Now/Washington Post/Washington/DC/USA/7-Oct-07/... modern meteorology, particularly Luke Howard, an early 19th-century Quaker who loved clouds and developed the classification system we still use today. ...

Quaker History/Religious Faith/Puritans/Nudity/The Hampton Historical Society presents/Hampton Union/Hampton/NH/USA/10-Oct-07/The Hampton Historical Society presents Dianne Rapaport at its annual meeting on Friday at 7 p.m. Rapaport will do a presentation from her new book: The Naked Quaker: True Crimes and Controversies from the Courts of Colonial New England. The story involves a 17th-century Quaker woman from Hampton, who showed her contempt for Puritan authorities by taking her clothes off during church. The meeting and speaker are free. Call Betty Moore at 926-2543.

Agriculture

2007-10-21T18:49:00.001-11:00

Arts

2007-10-21T18:48:00.001-11:00

Arts/Literature/Quaker History/Penn, William/Potter books cover more than religion/Los Angeles Daily News/Los Angeles/CA/USA/18-Oct-07/… Was Rowling aware of the Catholic League's protest of Philip Pullman's "The Golden Compass"? Did she have any thoughts about how that mirrored her own experience with religious groups?

Why did she start "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" with a passage from American Quaker William Penn's "More Fruits of Solitude"? ….

Arts/Animals/Quaker History/Hicks, Edward/San Pedro animal shelter/Daily Breeze/San Pedro/CA/USA/29-Oct-07/Working off of photographs of pets that were submitted to her, the artist used "The Peaceable Kingdom" and "Noah's Ark" (by Quaker preacher and painter ...

AFSC - period ended 11.1.2007

2007-10-21T18:45:00.000-11:00

AFSC/Politics and Economics/Christian/McNish, Mary Ellen/Ahmadinejad Meets Clerics, and Decibels Drop a Notch/New York Times/New York/NY/USA/27-Sep-07/...

…….One critic said that these religious leaders were well intentioned, but naïve.

Ms. McNish, of the American Friends Service Committee, said the reverse was true: “The more we isolate him, the more support he gets at home.”

AFSC/War/Protest//War Costing $720 Million Each Day, Group Says/Washington Post,/Washington/DC/USA/22-Sep-07/........ according to the American Friends Service Committee, which displayed those statistics on large banners in cities nationwide Thursday and Friday. ..."The wounded are coming home, and many of them have severe brain and spinal injuries, which will require round-the-clock care for the rest of their lives," said Michael McConnell, Great Lakes regional director of the AFSC, a peace group affiliated with the Quaker church.

AFSC/War///War tab hits home as 5000 rally/Chicago Sun-Times/Chicago/IL/USA/30-Oct-07/... school lunches and health care for 163525 people, according to estimates by the American Friends Service Committee that were highlighted at the rally. ...

Integrity/AFSC///Quaker charity sued over a doctor's legacy/Philadelphia Inquirer/Philadelphia/PA/USA/8-Oct-07/Thirty-one years after Eloesser's death at age 95, the Pennsylvania Attorney General is suing the American Friends Service Committee, saying the Quaker … Manion's seven years as a fund-raiser for the Friends committee ended last month, when his contract wasn't renewed.

The suit claims that the American Friends Service Committee used millions for purposes other than those specified in his will...John Treat, a charity spokesman, said he believed the grants went to health care in Latin America - though sometimes directly for medical care instead of training....

AFSC/Immigration/Humanitarian Assistance/Wildfire Relief Efforts Leave Some Behind/CBS News / The Nation/New York/NY/USA/30-Oct-07/…Meanwhile, some who do are not being allowed to leave. "Some farmers are not following evacuation orders and have kept workers in the fields despite orders being given to evacuate," says Christian Ramirez of the American Friends Service Committee.

But if they stay they should know that, as Ramirez explains, "the atmosphere conditions are not safe to be working in." His organization has been sending volunteers into the fields to supply farmworkers with eye drops, face masks and goggles. ….

AFSC/Quaker History/Humanitarian Assistance/RIVESALTES, FRANCE; Paying Tribute To the Persecuted/New York Times/New York/NY/USA/14-Oct-07/…By July of 1941, French Jewish activists and Red Cross officials visiting Rivesaltes and other camps were revolted by the conditions.

There were rats, lice, a contaminated water supply -- and death. Jewish groups desperately attempted -- sometimes successfully -- to pull children from the camps. Some were spirited out by the American Friends Service Committee, the Quaker organization. ….

Summary - period ended 5.15.2007

2007-05-15T11:56:00.000-11:00

Dear Friends,

One of the insurgent leaders possibly associated with Tom Fox’s abduction and death was reportedly killed by US forces in Iraq.
Please see War

----

For two interesting short portraits of Quaker women, as mothers to two US Presidents:
Please see Women

----

For a television review of what appears to be an interesting historical account of the Quaker ship captain George Anthony, involving Australia, England, and the United States - to be broadcast this Wednesday:
Please see Arts

----

For more complete coverage of the natural disaster in Kansas USA relating to Friends:

Please see Humanitarian Assistance

----

In Friendship,

The Editor

For an up-to-the-moment snapshot of the face of modern Friends, please click on the following links:

Youth

Women

War
Religious Faith
Quaker Schools
Quaker History
Politics and Economics

Obituary
Membership Decline

Immigration
Humanitarian Assistance

Environment
Crime and Punishment

Business

Arts

Previous Digests:

4.15.2007 News Summary

3.15.2007 News Summary

3.1.2007 News Summary

2.15.2007 News Summary

2.1.2007 News Summary

Arts - period ended 5.15.2007

2007-05-15T11:42:00.001-11:00

Arts/Television/Quaker History/Anthony, George/New Bedford whale ship Catalpa is subject of documentary/SouthCoastToday.com/New Bedford/MA/USA/15-May-07/George Anthony, master of the Catalpa, was a New Bedford Quaker. An old salt, he was living ashore with his wife and a new baby and working at Nye ...

Business

2007-05-15T11:41:00.002-11:00

Business/Humanitarian Assistance//Investor forces ethics on to Tesco agenda/Guardian Unlimited/London/England/UK/14-May-07/He has had several large shareholders pledge their support, including the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, an independent organisation based on Quaker values which is committed to "philanthropy which changes the existing power imbalances in society to effect real change"....

Crime and Punishment

2007-05-15T11:41:00.001-11:00

Crime and Punishment/Conflict Resolution//Legal woes not over for convicted killer/DesMoinesRegister.com/Des Moines/IA/USA/1-May-07/In Milo, Pastor Keith Smith of the Motor Friends Church, who supported Lyon and family members throughout both trials, said the most recent decision was a blow to the family.

"We'd interpret this as a defeat," he said. "This wasn't what we were expecting."

As in 2003, he said, the community will band together - not for wounds that had reopened, but for wounds that "hadn't healed yet."

"We're going to move on," he said. "We've dealt with it. Everybody understands, I guess. I would say tomorrow's another day. There's going to be new challenges, new things."...

See the background on this story.

Environment

2007-05-15T11:40:00.001-11:00

Environment/Monte Verde, Costa Rica//Biological diversity, wealth of reserves make eco-tourism rewarding/Louisville Courier-Journal/Louisville/KY/USA/7-May-07/It became attached to another watershed reserve founded in the 1960s by a Quaker community, and later added a Tropical Science Center to facilitate ...

Humanitarian Assistance - period ended 5.15.2007

2007-05-15T11:39:00.001-11:00

Please see Friends Disaster for information how you can help.

Humanitarian Assistance/Haviland Friends Church//Greensburg buzzing with activity/Pratt Tribune/Pratt/KS/USA/11-May-07/The funeral was for 79-year-old Claude Hopkins at the Haviland Friends Church. Graveside services for Hopkins was set for 10 am this morning at Fairview ...

Humanitarian Assistance/Natural Disaster/Riverton Friends Church/Area organizations ready to help Greensburg tornado victims/Joplin Globe/Joplin/MO/USA/8-May-07/By Nammi Bhagvandoss. Representatives of Riverton (Kan.) Friends Church and the American Red Cross’ Southwest Missouri Chapter are prepared to help ...

Humanitarian Assistance/Natural Disaster/Riverton Friends Church/In our view: Answering the call for help/Joplin Globe/Joplin/MO/USA/8-May-07/It’s likely that most of the members of Riverton (Kan.) Friends Church have spent very little time in Greensburg, Kan. But that didn’t stop them on Monday ...

Humanitarian Assistance/Natural Disaster/Barclay College/Tips and Info: things to know/Pratt Tribune/Pratt/KS/USA/7-May-07/One is at Haviland High School, 44 N. Topeka and the other is at Barclay College at 607 N. Kingman Street. Residents and businesses can apply for federal ...

Humanitarian Assistance/Natural Disaster/Haviland Friends Church/Barclay College/Haviland café a rallying place for storm refugees/Hutchinson News/Hutchinson/KS/USA/6-May-07/The town set up three temporary shelters at Friends Church, Barclay College and Haviland High School, where displaced Greensburg residents slept, ...

Please see Friends Disaster for information how you can help.

Business/Humanitarian Assistance//Investor forces ethics on to Tesco agenda/Guardian Unlimited/London/England/UK/14-May-07/He has had several large shareholders pledge their support, including the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, an independent organisation based on Quaker values which is committed to "philanthropy which changes the existing power imbalances in society to effect real change"....

Immigration

2007-05-15T11:37:00.002-11:00

Immigration/Politics and Economics/San Diego Friends Meeting/Inspiring, and here illegally/San Diego Union Tribune/San Diego/CA/USA/8-May-07/... today at Plymouth Congregational Church in North Park, Castillo will be offered sanctuary by the San Diego Friends Meeting, a local Quaker congregation. ...(interesting first comment)

Immigration/Politics and Economics/Barrow, David//San Diego Churches to Harbor Immigrants Facing Deportation/KPBS/San Diego/CA/USA/9-May-07/David Barrows, who leads a Quaker congregation called San Diego Friends, announced it would provide symbolic sanctuary for the Castillo family. ...

Immigration/Politics and Economics//Broad Religious Movement Offers Shelter to Immigrants Facing .../KPBS/San Diego/CA/USA/10-May-07/He stepped forward to accept the support from a Quaker congregation that has offered to support and shelter him as he fights for legal status to remain in ...

Membership Decline

2007-05-15T11:37:00.001-11:00

Membership Decline/Quaker History//Historic inn has new owners/Newsday/Long Island/NY/USA/7-May-07/He said he and his wife "were always in love with" the Maine Maid Inn, but they never expected they would own it. The inn building is part of a historic Quaker community that was mostly destroyed in the 1950s to make way for the intersection of Jericho Turnpike and Routes 106 and 107. Located on a small preserve of open space, its attic once provided a resting place for slaves fleeing to freedom along the Underground Railroad.

Membership Decline/Quaker History//Delay of demolition urged/Rochester Democrat and Chronicle/Rochester/NY/USA/7-May-07/(May 7, 2007) — FARMINGTON — A citizens group trying to save a historic Quaker meetinghouse in Farmington from demolition will ask for an extension beyond ...

Obituary - period ended 5.15.2007

2007-05-15T11:36:00.001-11:00

Obituary/Haviland Friends Church//Tornado victim Harold Schmidt, 77, dies/Kansas.com/Wichita/KS/USA/15-May-07/A viewing has been scheduled from 4 to 7 pm on Wednesday at Larrison Mortuary in Pratt; the funeral service is 2:30 pm Thursday at Haviland Friends Church. ...

Obituary////Gertrude Welch, tireless activist/San Jose Mercury News/San Jose/CA/USA/5-May-07/Mrs. Welch, who was raised a Lutheran, became a Methodist when she married and a Quaker before she died. She believed in interfaith cooperation and ...

Obituary/Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Young Friends/The entire Upper Bucks community mourns./Philadelphia Inquirer/Philadelphia/PA/USA/14-May-07/"She was just an amazing young woman," said Ralph "Cookie" Caldwell, program coordinator of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Young Friends, a Quaker group in ...

Obituary////An abrupt end to a young life/The Express Times/Nockamixon/PA/USA/13-May-07/She took an interest in the Quaker religion and was an accomplished musician -- despite being deaf in one ear. And she was by no means the quiet sort she ...

Politics and Economics

2007-05-15T11:35:00.001-11:00

Politics and Economics/Religious Faith//The Religion Test/TIME/New York/NY/USA/11-May-07/It plainly means that a candidate can't be barred from running because he or she happens to be a Quaker or a Buddhist or a Pentecostal. ...

Politics and Economics/Nixon, Richard//The Oddest Couple/Newsweek/New York/NY/USA/7-May-07/A southern California Quaker, Nixon was shy. Kissinger, a former Harvard professor tied to the East Coast elite, fostered the improbable image of statesman ...

Quaker History - period ended 5.15.2007

2007-05-15T11:34:00.001-11:00

Quaker History/Plain Speech/Arts/Film/Authors used thou and thee appropriately/Belleville News-Democrat/Belleville/IL/USA/7-May-07/It's also why you'll find the same in "Friendly Persuasion," a 1956 classic film about an Indiana Quaker family during the Civil War. ...

Quaker History/Paine, Ruth///A Single Bullet/Atlantic Online/New York/NY/USA/1-May-07/... a singular account of the event, centering on Ruth Paine, the virtuous Quaker woman who became, quite innocently, enmeshed in the assassination. ...

Quaker History/Humanitarian Assistance//The 'rare and wonderful' love of a mother/Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal/Jackson/MS/USA/13-May-07/My sister, Inge, and I were born in Linz, Austria. Our family came to America looking for a better life. We were sponsored by a Quaker family and arrived in Pennsylvania in 1952 with a trunk and $10. My sister and I never realized we were poor. We were loved and doted upon. We felt so secure we never knew how terribly homesick our parents were.. ...

Quaker History/Genealogy///Brown is featured speaker at Wrightsboro homecoming/McDuffie Mirror/McDuffle/GA/USA/5-May-07/Some of the graves in the historic Quaker cemetery are more than 200 years old, and their descendants may have left the area. But many return, year after ...

Quaker History/Cannibalism///DON NOBLE: 'Mayflower’ tells story of the Pilgrims/Tuscaloosa News/Tuscaloosa/AL/USA/12-May-07/….Also, the men in the lifeboats of the Essex, starving to death, turned to cannibalism for survival. Apparently it was not all that rare. In fact, the Quaker leaders on Nantucket quietly acknowledged that in survival circumstances, cannibalism was permissible. It remains, however, as Philbrick quotes one scholar on the subject, “a cultural embarrassment."

Cannibalism among Nantucketers, interrelated families on a small island, offered special problems. Capt. Pollard’s first cousin Owen Coffin was one of those consumed in the whaleboat, making Pollard guilty of something we might call “culinary incest." ...

Quaker History///Friends Church plans 125th anniversary/Muncie Star Press/Muncie/IN/USA/15-May-07/PORTLAND -- The Portland Friends Church will celebrate the 125th anniversary of the establishment of the church this Sunday. ...

Quaker History/Women/Hoover, Huldah/Nixon, Hannah/Powerful Mothers Shaped US History/NewsMax.com/Miami/FL/USA/13-May-07/...... Herbert Hoover's mother, Huldah, a devout Quaker, was a tower of strength after the death of her husband. She raised her family with stern values, refused charity, sewed for food and became a popular minister in the Quaker church. Huldah refused to spend a single penny of her husband's life insurance, saving it instead for her children's education. One night, exhausted after preaching a sermon, she walked twenty miles home in a cold rain, caught pneumonia and died. Herbert Hoover was suddenly an orphan at the age of nine, but he was empowered with a remarkable heritage......Hannah Nixon was a calm, understated woman who, as in the case of so many other presidents' mothers, was deeply religious. Unpretentious and nonjudgmental, she was a stark contrast to her choleric, loud husband. When Richard Nixon was in political trouble he would call her and she would say, "I will be thinking of you." It was her signal that she would be praying, for as a humble Quaker she took literally the admonition not to pray publicly or make a pretense of one's prayers. In 1974, when Richard M. Nixon gave his tearful farewell to the nation he declared, "My mother was a saint."

Quaker Schools - period ended 5.15.2007

2007-05-15T11:32:00.001-11:00

Quaker Schools/Swarthmore College/Arts/Music/Schickele is a serious musician, really/Lancaster Newspapers/Lancaster/PA/USA/12-May-07/"Originally, you know, Swarthmore was a Quaker College, and Quakers aren't really known for their love of music." Schickele dedicated much of his time at ...

Quaker Schools/Peace Activities/Raised-a-Quaker/Sustaining life through peace/Greater Milwaukee Today/Milwaukee/WI/USA/8-May-07/"I attended Quaker schools where my dad was an administrator. I grew up hearing my parents discuss community issues. We lived outside Philadelphia and took ...

Religious Faith - period ended 5.15.2007

2007-05-15T11:31:00.001-11:00

Religious Faith/Divine Intervention/Burbank, Beth//Curing vs. healing/Wednesday Journal/Oak Park/IL/USA/7-May-07/Beth Burbank, director of Clinical Pastoral Education and a Quaker, used the unique vocabulary of Friends when she said, "Many Friends believe in divine intervention. On the North Side of Chicago, we have a meeting for healing once a month in which we center down and hold friends in the light. Many people say they have been healed." ...

Religious Faith/Conscience/Politics and Economics/Following your God means losing job?/Mountain Mail Newspaper/Denver/CO/USA/14-May-07/The United States has a history of protecting claims of conscience - from the Quaker exemption from combat to the Amish exemption from compulsory school ...

Religious Faith/Conscience/Politics and Economics/Constitution protects religion/Statesman Journal/Salem/OR/USA/14-May-07/Mary Dyer was hung for proselytizing her Quaker beliefs in Massachusetts and Roger Williams founded Rhode Island as a refuge from Massachusetts. ...

War

2007-05-15T11:27:00.001-11:00

War/Peace Activities/Fox, Tom//US Forces Kill Senior Al-Qaeda Member Near Taji, Army Says/Bloomberg/London/England/UK/2-May-07/Fox was an American Quaker peace activist kidnapped in Baghdad in November 2005. His body was found in March 2006. To contact the reporter on this story: ...

To see a reverse chronological history of news about Tom Fox on QiN, please click here.

War/Mental Illness/Cobb, Loren//War, trauma, and society/Morning Review/San Francisco/CA/USA/1-May-07/The subject was war, trauma, and society. To hear this 15-minute interview, click the Play button:

Women - period ended 5.15.2007

2007-05-15T11:26:00.000-11:00

Women/Prayer/Peace Activities/A vision of motherhood/Napa Valley Register/Napa/CA/USA/12-May-07/As a Quaker, she worked and prayed for peace, but she also simply embodied it in her everyday life. In her 70s, my mother did something typical and also ...

Youth - period ended 5.15.2007

2007-05-15T11:25:00.001-11:00

Obituary////An abrupt end to a young life/The Express Times/Nockamixon/PA/USA/13-May-07/She took an interest in the Quaker religion and was an accomplished musician -- despite being deaf in one ear. And she was by no means the quiet sort she ...

Tornado Victims Need Friendly Assistance

2007-05-07T15:00:00.000-11:00

Please see the most recent update on giving needs:
http://friendsdisaster.blogspot.com

Dear Friend,

To send monetary contributions to the survivors:

Greensburg Fund

C/O Haviland State Bank

P.O. Box 348

Haviland, KS 67059

001 620 862 5222 (call to inquire about wiring instructions)

To send monetary donations to Barclay College,

please mail them to:

Barclay College

607 North Kingman

Haviland, KS 67059 USA
(each donor will receive a letter of thanks)
College Website

To send in-kind donations as per directions by Haviland Friends Church:

Haviland United Methodist Church
322 North Main Street
Haviland, KS 67059

(as of 5/8/07 @ 10 am they need socks and underwear the most)
------

News Accounts:

Humanitarian Assistance/Natural Disaster/Riverton Friends Church/Area organizations ready to help Greensburg tornado victims/Joplin Globe/Joplin/MO/USA/8-May-07/By Nammi Bhagvandoss. Representatives of Riverton (Kan.) Friends Church and the American Red Cross’ Southwest Missouri Chapter are prepared to help ...

Humanitarian Assistance/Natural Disaster/Barclay College//Tips and Info: things to know/Pratt Tribune/Pratt/KS/USA/7-May-07/One is at Haviland High School, 44 N. Topeka and the other is at Barclay College at 607 N. Kingman Street. Residents and businesses can apply for federal ...

See news story with photograph.

See the previous Quakers in the News digest –

4.15.2007 News Summary

Summary - period ended 4.15.2007

2007-04-15T16:24:00.000-11:00

Dear Friends,

An update on the attack and injury of a Quaker Friend in Kenya, we have news of the incredible faith of this Friend.

Please see Religious Faith

----

For those interested in an unwavering stance against the war in Iraq, read how money talks:

Please see War

----

In Friendship,

The Editor

To make sure your Religious Governmental body lives within its means and doesn't become disconnected from the constituency, like has New York Yearly Meeting, click here.

For an up-to-the-moment snapshot of the face of modern Friends, please click on the following links:

Youth
War
Religious Faith
Quaker Schools
Quaker History
Peace Activities
Obituary
Humanitarian Assistance
Friends Committee on National Legislation
Arts

Previous Digests:

3.15.2007 News Summary

3.1.2007 News Summary

2.15.2007 News Summary

2.1.2007 News Summary

Arts - period ended 4.15.2007

2007-04-15T16:04:00.002-11:00

Arts/Music/Newcomer, Carrie/Indiana musician draws on memories as waitress for album/Terre Haute Tribune Star/Terre Haute/IN/USA/14-Apr-07//Newcomer became a Quaker after volunteering for a six-month service assignment in Costa Rica during her days as a student at Mennonite-based Goshen College. ...

Arts/Literature/Theater/Ishmael sings tale of great white whale/St. Petersburg Times/St. Petersburg/FL/USA/13-Apr-07//Drew Culler plays Pip, Ahab's cabin boy; Kellen Whiting plays Starbuck, the Quaker who recruits sailors. Lesley Dennis plays Queequeg, a traveling harpooner ...

FCNL - period ended 4.15.2007

2007-04-15T16:04:00.001-11:00

FCNL/War/Taxation/Too much spent on wars/Post-Bulletin/Rochester/MN/USA/7-Apr-07//The Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) estimates that in 2005 the US spent $783 billion for all military-related activities. ...

FCNL/Native Americans/WWII//History shows apology helps heal/Atlanta Journal Constitution/Atlanta/GA/USA/25-Mar-07//... ask the US government to apologize to Native Americans, says Pat Powers, a Native American lobbyist for the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). ...

Humanitarian Assistance - period ended 4.15.2007

2007-04-15T16:03:00.001-11:00

Humanitarian Assistance/Mooreland Friends Church /Dublin Friends Meeting/Dinner planned to help former Dublin pastor fighting leukemia/Palladium-Item/Richmond/IN/USA/25-Mar-07//He serves as pastor at Mooreland Friends Church and previously served as pastor of Dublin Friends Meeting. The Italian supper benefit will be 4-7 pm April ...

Humanitarian Assistance/McMechan, Bill and Rosemary/Rwandan anniversary reminds Hastings couple of lost friends/Northumberland Today/Canada/USA/10-Apr-07//It would have meant a lot to the Quaker couple to hear of his experiences in Rwanda, since they have spent much time in Rwanda and elsewhere in Africa over ...

Humanitarian Assistance/Crime and Punishment/Briggs,Carol/Beyond the bandages, forgiveness/OregonLive.com/Portland/OR/USA/11-Apr-07//Over the years, she had volunteered there through the Tigard Community Friends Church. When she retired, she gave away all she had and left in November for ...

Obituary - period ended 4.15.2007

2007-04-15T16:02:00.000-11:00

Obituary/Baker, Laurie//The last Quaker in India/Hindu//India/Asia/14-Apr-07//In fact, the Quaker connection to this country long predates Gandhi. As related by Marjorie Sykes in her book An Indian Tapestry, the first Quaker came to ...

Obituary/Baker, Laurie//India's maestro of mud and coconut thatch/Asia Times Online/Bejing/China/Asia/12-Apr-07//Born Laurence Wilfred Baker to Quaker parents in Birmingham, England in 1917, Baker served in an ambulance unit at the start of World War II, and later as a ...

Obituary////Laurie Baker, 90; built homes for India's poor/Los Angeles Times/Los Angeles/CA/USA/11-Apr-07//A Quaker and conscientious objector in World War II, he worked with a medical team in China and Burma. A chance encounter with Mohandas K. Gandhi on his way ...

Obituary////Baez was father of folk singers/Denver Post/Denver/CO/USA/23-Mar-07/AP/A Quaker, Baez was an active supporter of Bread & Roses, a nonprofit that brings free live entertainment to hospitals, prisons and other institutions. ...

Obituary/Pacifism//Albert V. Baez, 94; physicist and father of Joan Baez, Mimi Farina/Los Angeles Times/Los Angeles/CA/USA/23-Mar-07//Joan Baez admired her father — a Quaker and pacifist — for valuing teaching and turning away from potentially lucrative defense work.

"We would never have all the fine and useless things little girls want …. Instead we would have a father with a clear conscience," she recalled in her memoir. "Decency would be his legacy to us.". ...

Peace Activities

2007-04-15T16:01:00.001-11:00

Peace Activities/Peace Pole/Valley Friends Meeting/Moore, Sam/Dayton Gathers ‘Round The Peace Pole/Rocktown Weekly/Rocktown/VA/USA/12-Apr-07//So, upon his return to Rockingham County, Moore pitched the pole idea to his Quaker church, the Valley Friends Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. ...

Quaker History - period ended 4.15.2007

2007-04-15T16:00:00.000-11:00

Quaker History/War/WWII/Humanitarian Assistance/A narrow escape/Durango Herald/Durango/CO/USA/11-Apr-07//After he spent 2Â½ years at a home for Holocaust refugees outside Paris, a Quaker group arranged for Greene and a hundred other children to come to the ...

Quaker History/Humanitarian Assistance/War//"Bus-eum" comes to Pontiac/Pontiac Daily Leader/Pontiac/IL/USA/14-Apr-07//From 1939-43, 186 refugees came to Scattergood Hostel, a Quaker boarding school near Iowa City. He also interviewed 55 German soldiers who had been POWs in ...

Quaker History/Business//Open house at rescued historic house/SalemNews.com/Salem/MA/USA/14-Apr-07//The Samuel Pope House, 69 Boston St., which was built around 1740 by a Quaker blacksmith, was nominated four years ago for Historic Salem Inc.'s most ...

Quaker History/Abolition/Clarkson, Thomas/Amazingly graceless remarks by dull critics/Times Online/London/England/UK/30-Mar-07//It depicts allies like Thomas Clarkson, James Stephen and Pitt himself; and acknowledges the Quaker letter-writing campaign, the vast petition and the slave ...

Quaker History///Miami County celebrates history/Dayton Daily News/Dayton/OH/USA/12-Apr-07//The museums offer displays on topics from railroad history to rural living, education and Quaker heritage. "We thought this would be a good way to do it, ...

Quaker Schools - period ended 4.15.2007

2007-04-15T15:58:00.000-11:00

Quaker Schools/Greenwood Friends School/Kindergarten screening set in Millville/Williamsport Sun-Gazette/Willamsport/PA/USA/7-Apr-07//Greenwood Friends School, founded in 1978, is an independent Quaker school and is accredited by the Pennsylvania Association of Independent Schools. ...

Quaker Schools/Business/Olney Friends School/New Age shop honors world of difference/The Republican/MA/USA/11-Apr-07//As a teenager at the Olney Friends School, a Quaker educational institution in Ohio, she was drawn to the study of religions and spirituality. ...

Religious Faith - period ended 4.15.2007

2007-04-15T15:57:00.000-11:00

Religious Faith/Humanitarian Assistance/Crime and Punishment/Briggs,Carol/Beyond the bandages, forgiveness/ OregonLive.com/Portland/OR/USA/11-Apr-07//Over the years, she had volunteered there through the Tigard Community Friends Church. When she retired, she gave away all she had and left in November for ...

Religious Faith/King, Martin Luther/MLK speech from 1967 will be read/Akron Beacon Journal/Akron/OH/USA/30-Mar-07//Wednesday is the 39th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., and community members are invited to participate in the reading of his Beyond speech.

The reading is at 5:30 p.m. at Zion Temple Baptist Church, 515 Ardella Ave., Akron.

The speech was delivered by King in New York City one year to the day before his assassination. It addresses the issues of race, poverty and war.

The local program, called ``What Would King Say? Silence is the Voice of Complicity'' is sponsored by the Coalition for a Safe Community, Million Man March and the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee....

Religious Faith/Easter/West Community Friends Church/Corona pastor follows winding path to pulpit/Press-Enterprise /Corona/CA/USA/2-Apr-07//Jeff Jernigan, senior pastor at West Community Friends Church, was recruited to take the position by his neighbors. Jernigan, who had not been a member of ...

Religious Faith/Easter/Stony Run Friends Meeting/Quaker take on Easter varies widely/Baltimore Examiner/Baltimore/MD/USA/7-Apr-07//... the Quaker difference is highlighted in a colonial colloquy between a Catholic priest and an outspoken adherent of the new Religious Society of Friends. ...

War - period ended 4.15.2007

2007-04-15T15:55:00.000-11:00

For those interested in an unwavering stance against the war in Iraq, read how money talks:

War/Protest/Taxation/War protesters withhold taxes/Houston Chronicle/Houston/TX/USA/8-Apr-07/SFChronicle/Even though Leeds, who is also a Quaker, has had his wages garnisheed by the government because of his refusal to pay his taxes, he said he will not waver. ...

War/Protest/Quaker House (NC)/Why peace rallies belong in Fayetteville/FayObserver.com/Fayetteville/NC/USA/15-Apr-07//Wendy Michener is a member of Fayetteville Peace with Justice, the Fayetteville Peace Rally Committee and the Quaker House Board. ...

Youth - period ended 4.15.2007

2007-04-15T15:54:00.000-11:00

Youth/Religious Diversity/Quaker youth in Richmond learn about Passover Seder/Palladium-Item/Richmond/IN/USA/14-Apr-07/It's been an exciting week among Quaker youth in Richmond. While the High School Young Friends left for a week of fun, fellowship and learning in New York ...

Youth/Ben Lomond Center/QUAKER YOUTH CAMP/Santa Cruz Sentinel/Santa Cruz/CA/USA/14-Apr-07/…QUAKER YOUTH CAMP: For those entering fifth, sixth or seventh grades. Activities include community-building exercises, games, swimming, hiking, campfires, storytelling, community service, a trip to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, local beaches and parks and more. $360 standard rate with sliding scale $325-$425. June 17-24. Quaker Center, Ben Lomond. Call 336-8333 or e-mail mail@quakercenter.org.. ….

Summary - period ended 3.15.2007

2007-03-15T06:23:00.000-11:00

Dear Friends,

After drinking and violence at Guilford College, North Carolina (USA) in January 2007, it appears that the local charges against the athletes have been dropped. No mention was made of how this conflict was resolved regarding potential Federal civil rights violations, or if this conflict has been resolved internally at Guilford. Guilford's action was originally to precede any action by local law enforcement.

Please see Quaker Schools

----

The latest news about the injury and recovery of a Friend in Nairobi, Kenya (Africa), and the continued need for contributions has been published.

Please see Religious Faith / Diversity

----

In Friendship,

The Editor

For an up-to-the-moment snapshot of the face of modern Friends, please click on the following links:

War
Religious Faith / Diversity
Quaker Schools
Quaker History
Prison Reform
Obituary / Marriage
Natural Science
Environment
Arts

Previous Digests:

3.1.2007 News Summary

2.15.2007 News Summary

2.1.2007 News Summary

1.15.2007 News Summary

War

2007-03-15T06:08:00.001-11:00

War/Protest/Quaker House (NC)/Fager, Chuck/Peace rally may move next year/News 14 Carolina/Fayetteville/NC/USA/14-Mar-07//"We'll just have to adjust,” said Chuck Fager of the Quaker House, which organizes the peace rally. “Fayetteville has more parks." ...

War/Humanitarian Assistance/Yorba Linda Friends Church/Guard troops head to Iraq/Orange County Register/Huntington Beach/CA/USA/6-Mar-07//She watched her husband Endhir, a 35-year-old Army Captain, nuzzle their 5-year-old son Emilio and push a stroller carrying their 2-month-old daughter Elianna – some of the last moments they would share as a family for more than a year.

Endhir prepared Sunday to leave for a year-long deployment to Iraq. He and his wife endured two prior overseas deployments and the upcoming separation would be no less painful, they said.

"I knew eventually he'd be deployed again, but not so soon," said Elizabeth Esteban, 34, a Northridge resident.
Family members, who flew and drove in from all parts of the state, enjoyed time together and ate lunch under a hangar. Members of the Girl Scout Council of Orange County, which donated hundreds of boxes of cookies, also attended. In addition, the Yorba Linda Friends Church prepared hundreds of care packages for soldiers. ...

Religious Faith / Diversity

2007-03-15T06:06:00.000-11:00

Religious Faith/Stewardship/Briggs, Carol/Cammack, Dan/Briggs returns from Africa/The Times/Tigard/OR/USA/15-Mar-07//The Tigard Community Friends Church, where Carol is a member, has been busy raising funds for the medical and travel expenses of the two women and their ...

Religious Faith/Stewardship/Briggs, Carol/Tigard woman returns from Kenya to recover from shooting/OregonLive.com/Portland/OR/USA/15-Mar-07//Donations for Carol Briggs and Elizabeth Bwayo may be made to the Tigard Community Friends Church, PO Box 230117, Tigard, OR 97281, or for Carol Briggs in ...

Religious Faith/Prayer/Silence/Foster, Richard/Contemplative prayer branches out from Catholicism to all Christianity/Peoria Journal Star/Peoria/IL/USA/3-Mar-07//While contemplative prayer has been taught over centuries by Catholic mystics like St. Bernard, St. Teresa of Avila and Thomas Merton, its most recent revival came through people like the Rev. Thomas Keating, a Trappist monk, and the Rev. Henri Nouwen, a Catholic priest who died in 1996.

Its spread to non-Catholic corners has been spurred by Protestant thinkers like Richard Foster, a Quaker teacher; the Rev. Rick Warren of "Purpose-Driven" fame; and Brennan Manning, a former Catholic priest popular among evangelicals....

Religious Diversity/War///Celebration fosters trust between faiths/Enterprise-Record/Chico/CA/USA/12-Mar-07//Janet Leslie, a Quaker, said she is committed to interfaith activities, especially after Sept. 11, 2001. "I saw all that was happening to Muslim people in ...

Quaker Schools

2007-03-15T06:05:00.001-11:00

Quaker Schools/Violence/Guilford College/Charges dropped against six in brawl at Guilford/News & Observer,/Charlotte/NC/USA/15-Mar-07//The accusations in late January put the Greensboro school, with its rich heritage in the pacifist Quaker faith, on an international stage. ...

Quaker Schools/Violence/Guilford College/Resolution Appears Likely in Assault at Guilford College, Lawyer Says/Chronicle of Higher Education/Washington/DC/USA/12-Mar-07//Last week the lawyer for three Palestinian students who said they were assaulted by four football players at the Quaker college said his clients would drop ...

Quaker Schools/Violence/Apology/Guilford College/Lawyer: 3 athletes apologize for attack/Bradenton Herald/Bradenton/FL/USA/6-Mar-07/Associated Press/Six football players from the Quaker school were charged with assault, but Rossabi said his clients had already asked that charges against two of the ...

-------

Quaker Schools/Humanitarian Assistance/Friends Peace Teams/Zarembeka, David/Education Beat/Baltimore Sun/Baltimore/MD/USA/11-Mar-07//Harford Friends School will host Quaker peacemaker David Zarembka tomorrow in meetings with students as a follow-up to a recent unit on Africa and conflict ...

Quaker Schools/George Fox University/Northwest Yearly Meeting /Saxton, Colin/Robin E. Baker Named 12th President of George Fox University/Salem-News.Com/Salem/OR/USA/15-Mar-07//“I am very pleased with the selection,” said Colin Saxton, superintendent of the Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends Church and a member of the selection committee. “Dr. Baker knows the inner workings of the university better than anyone else on campus. He is passionate about Christ-centered higher education and is deeply committed to the mission of George Fox. We feel like he will be an excellent spokesperson for the community and will help the university move into the future in creative and faithful ways.”...

Quaker Schools/Arts/Theater//'Producers' dancer hopes to inspire others to follow performing dreams/Kansas.com/Wichita/KS/USA/10-Mar-07//Kadel, who was schooled at her mother's private Quaker school, Wichita Friends, and later at the Independent School, is the first member of her family to ...

Quaker History

2007-03-15T06:04:00.001-11:00

Quaker History/Slavery/Woolman, John/How to change the world/Sri Lanka Daily Mirror /Sri Lanka/Asia/14-Mar-07// Another behind-the-scenes innovator was John Woolman, an eighteenth-century American Quaker whose impact on American society remains largely unrecognized. Among those most active in the campaign to end the slave trade in the United States were the American Society of Friends, or Quakers, who voluntarily emancipated all their slaves between 1758 and 1800. Although individual Quakers had been preaching against the evils of slavery since 1680, Quakers did not actually abandon the practice of slaveholding in large numbers until Woolman, a tailor and part-time preacher living in Mount Holly, New Jersey, took it upon himself to travel the country talking them out of it.. ...

Quaker History/Plain Dress/Arts/Film/Language: Are you age-appropriate? Show ankle and go figure/International Herald Tribune/Paris/France/E.U./11-Mar-07//One of my Times colleagues reporting on the trial, Jim Rutenberg, who went to a Quaker school for 13 years, recalls a movie about Quakers (probably ...

Prison Reform

2007-03-15T06:03:00.001-11:00

Prison Reform/Sex Offenders/Circles of Support and Accountability/Drewery, Helen/Pioneering Quaker project wins community award/Inspire Magazine/London/England/UK/15-Mar-07//Helen Drewery, who manages the project on behalf of Quaker Peace and Social Witness said: "We're delighted that our work is being celebrated by the local ...

Obituary / Marriage

2007-03-15T06:02:00.000-11:00

Obituary///Winthrop Jordan, 75; scholar put race relations in new light/Los Angeles Times/Los Angeles/CA/USA/12-Mar-07//His mother was Lucretia Mott Jordan, a descendant of a well-known Quaker family who were outspoken abolitionists during the era of slavery. ...

Obituary///Albert Schaeffer/News-Herald.com/Cleveland/OH/USA/2-Mar-07//A Celebration service for the life of Albert Schaeffer, 80, of Mentor-on-the-Lake, will be 11 am Friday at Willoughby Hills Friends Church, 2846 SOM Center ...

Marriage/Williamsburg Friends Church/Hartman, Mary/Greens Fork woman to mark 90th birthday/Palladium-Item/Richmond/IN/USA/12-Mar-07//Mary Hartman of Greens Fork is celebrating her 90th birthday March 20.

She was born March 20, 1917.

She worked in food service at Reid Hospital and Earlham College, and retired as a dietician from Richmond State Hospital. She also was a home economics teacher at Greens Fork School and Whitewater School, and a home demonstration agent in Fayette County.

She and her husband, Paul Hartman, were married in the Williamsburg Friends Church in 1946 after he returned from World War II. They have been members of the church all of their lives and she was the meeting's clerk for 36 years.

They have four children, six grandchildren and two-great-grandchildren....

Natural Science

2007-03-15T06:01:00.000-11:00

Natural Science/Whales/Silence//Krista Tippett/St. Louis Post-Dispatch/St. Louis/MO/USA/10-Mar-07//…Recently, I interviewed an acoustic biologist; she studies whale songs, elephant songs. She's a Quaker. We talked about how her work informed her Quaker sensibility, what she learned about what it means to be human, how her regard for silence has made her a better scientist. I'm looking at religion in different ways. ….

Environment

2007-03-15T06:00:00.000-11:00

Environment/Global Warming/Frederick Friends Meeting/Darnell, John/Friends seek peaceful solution to global warming/Frederick News Post/Frederick/MD/USA/10-Mar-07//Frederick Friends is a local Quaker congregation. Chemist John Darnell, a Frederick Friends member, said oil is not a renewable resource and there is no ...

Arts - period ended 3.15.2007

2007-03-15T05:57:00.000-11:00

Arts/Theater//'Producers' dancer hopes to inspire others to follow performing dreams/Kansas.com/Wichita/KS/USA/10-Mar-07//Kadel, who was schooled at her mother's private Quaker school, Wichita Friends, and later at the Independent School, is the first member of her family to ...

Arts/Television/Fox, George/Durham, Geoffrey/Purple patch for Swarthmoor Hall/NW Evening Mail,/Lancaster/England/UK/9-Mar-07//“They were filming at Swarthmoor Hall looking at it from the point of view of an old building connected with the Quaker religion. …“They also interviewed me about George Fox coming here to Swarthmoor Hall,” added Mr Shaw.”

The hall was built about 1586 by George Fell, a local landowner.

His son, Thomas, inherited the hall and in 1652 George Fox, the founder of the Religious Societyof Friends, or the Quakers, gained the support of Margaret, Thomas’ wife.

For several years Swarthmoor Hall was the “powerhouse” behind the movement, which spread all over the country, to the Americas and continental Europe before the end of the century.…..

Summary - period ended 3.1.2007

2007-02-28T20:14:00.000-11:00

Dear Friends,

In response to the drinking and violence at Guilford College in January 2007, Quaker Schools are in the news this period with three articles from North Carolina (USA) and one from Haverford, PA (USA) Please see Quaker Schools

On a heartwarming note, Friends in Portland, Oregon (USA) have contributed part of their church rebuilding fund to a neighboring church which had their building burn down. Please see Religious Faith

Some memorable Friends have left us this period. Please see Obituary

In Friendship,

The Editor

For an up-to-the-moment snapshot of the face of modern Friends, please click on the following links:

Religious Faith
Quaker Schools
Quaker History
Obituary
Immigration
Environment
Conflict Resolution
Book Review
Arts

Previous Digests:

2.15.2007 News Summary

2.1.2007 News Summary

1.15.2007 News Summary

1.1.2007 News Summary

Arts

2007-02-28T20:00:00.002-11:00

Arts/Literature/Michener, Mabel/Reconsidering Michener: His legacy is a proud one/The Register-Guard/Eugene/OR/USA/18-Feb-07//Michener often recounted the story of how he'd been found as an infant and raised in Doylestown by Mabel Michener, a Quaker widow who made a living doing ..

Book Review

2007-02-28T20:00:00.001-11:00

Book Review/Religious Faith/Conscientious Objection/Stanley, Phil/New book tells the story of smoke-jumping COs/Whitefish Pilot/Whitefish/MT/USA/22-Feb-07//tanley said growing up in China as the son of Quaker missionaries prepared him for being a minority in the pro-war climate in America during the 1940s.

When drafted in 1942, he requested a 4-E classification based on the teachings of his faith, as a member of The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).

"It's a very simple faith," Stanley said. "The main belief is we can talk directly to God. We don't need intermediaries or priests or pastors. I had a tremendous emotional struggle over this issue of war. I knew my draft number was coming up soon. All the benefits of being a veteran, I would lose if I wasn't a soldier -- free education, discounts on meals, and on and on." ...

Book Review/Quaker History/Tuke, James Hack/Recalling the Great Famine/Mayo News/Mayo/Ireland/E.U./27-Feb-07//When famine strikes, music, laughter and dancing are the first casualties. The landscape is shrouded in the dank grey of despondency and, ultimately, the darkness of death. Every community in Ireland has its stories of starvation from 1845-8. They are most vividly grim along the western seaboard. James Hack Tuke, the inspiring Quaker philanthropist, wrote on conditions in the Mullet peninsula, where I now work.
In his book, ‘A Visit to Connaught in the autumn of 1847’, he described an eviction that took place, just before Christmas, in the villages of Mullaghroe, Tirrane and Clogher. The occupants were tenants of Mr John Walshe, an absentee landlord, who in one of the ironies that make Irish history so complex, was actually a Roman Catholic. His drivers, with the help of the 49th regiment of soldiers, sent forth over 600 men, women and children into the cold and rain of winter. ...

Conflict Resolution

2007-02-28T19:59:00.002-11:00

Conflict Resolution/War/Bonner, Charles/Mediation center gives nod to peacekeepers/Lancaster Newspapers/Lancaster/PA/USA/26-Feb-07//….Charles Bonner, a Vietnam vet who has become a Quaker, is a member of the organization Veterans for Peace and works locally as a psychiatric nurse for homeless veterans of war.

"I was very surprised to be nominated," he said Friday. "I just believe war is not the answer, and that for every conflict there's a solution that honors both parties."

Bonner practices what he preaches.

When he was in his 30s, he recalls a time when a vagrant under the influence of alcohol entered his home without warning.

"He was in our kitchen, and naturally my first thought was to protect my family," he said. "I gave him a ride home in my car. I'm glad it turned out that way." ...

Environment

2007-02-28T19:59:00.001-11:00

Environment/Greenpeace/Stowe, Dorothy/Stowe, Irving/The sham of nuke power & Patrick Moore/Columbus Free Press/Columbus/OH/USA/28-Feb-07//According to Dorothy Stowe, an American Quaker, who immigrated to Canada in 1966 and founded Greenpeace with her husband Irving Stowe and other Canadian ...

Immigration

2007-02-28T19:58:00.001-11:00

Immigration/Quaker Quest//Campaign to help refugees/Sheffield Today/Sheffield/England/UK/20-Feb-07//Sheffield Quakers are to run a series of evening meetings, called Quaker Quest, starting in March and running throughout the year for people to find out ...

Obituary

2007-02-28T19:57:00.000-11:00

Obituary/Women///Pioneering Alaska lawyer Mahala Ashley Dickerson dies at 94/Biloxi Sun Herald/Biloxi/MS/USA/21-Feb-07/McLatchy/Sons John and Chris planned to attend a private Quaker graveside service Wednesday. A memorial will be held at a later date.

KTUU/Anchorage/AK
Biloxi Sun Herald/Biloxi/MS
Charlotte Observer/Charlotte/NC
Bradenton Herald/Bradenton/FL
Belleville News-Democrat/Belleville/IL
San Luis Obispo Tribune/San Luis Obispo/CA
Myrtle Beach Sun News/Myrtle Beach /SC

Kentucky.com/Lexington/KY
Monterey County Herald/Monterey/CA
Kansas City Star/Kansas City/MO
Columbus Ledger-Enquirer,/Columbus/GA
Contra Costa Times/Contra Costa/CA
The State/Columbia/SC

Obituary/Women///Mahala Dickerson, Alaska's first black lawyer, dead at 94/Anchorage Daily News/Anchorage/AK/USA/20-Feb-07//Dickerson will be buried on her land. Sons John and Chris will attend a private Quaker graveside service Wednesday. A memorial will be held at a later date.

Obituary/Women///In memory of Ashley Dickerson/KTUU/Anchorage/AK/USA/21-Feb-07//She was a Quaker woman of discipline; one who strived for peace. As was reported yesterday, 94-year-old Malahala Ashley Dickerson passed away Monday at her ...

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Obituary/Quaker Schools/Olney Friends School/'Bud' Mott, first director of Camp Jorn, dies/Waukegan News Sun/Waukeegan/IL/USA/22-Feb-07//He grew up in a Quaker household and attended a Quaker boarding school in Barnsville, Ohio. After graduating with a bachelor of science degree in physical ...

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Obituary/Arts/Literature/Quaker Schools/Elizabeth Jolley, WA treasure, dies at 83/The West Australian/Perth/Australia/Oceania/19-Feb-07//Both her parents were Quakers — she was educated in a Quaker boarding school — and her mother was the daughter of an Austrian general. ...

Quaker History

2007-02-28T19:56:00.001-11:00

Quaker History/Business/Smiley, Alfred/Smiley, Albert/How the Smileys came to Redlands/San Bernardino Sun/San Bernadino/CA/USA/27-Feb-07//When the Smiley family came to settle in Redlands in the late 1880s, they helped to instill a sense of grace, culture and philanthropy in the San Bernardino Valley.

The Smiley brothers, Alfred H. and Albert K., were identical twins born March 17, 1828, on a farm near Vassalboro, Maine. Daniel Smiley, a half-brother to the twins, was born at the family home on Nov. 29, 1855.

The Smileys were Quakers of Scottish heritage, and the boys were brought up with a solid understanding of the social concerns supported by their religion. The twins' parents also instilled in them a respect for nature and a deep appreciation of beauty and its importance in daily life. . ...

Quaker History/Abolition/Wilberforce, William/Abolitionists Then and Now/The Nation/Washington/DC/USA/23-Feb-07//... of the end of slavery in Britain, portraying the British abolitionist movement as led by Quaker activist and Member of Parliament William Wilberforce. ...

Quaker History/Abolition/Arts/Raws, Charles/Two centuries of a victory against slavery/Times Online/London/England/UK/20-Feb-07//…As a Quaker, should I feel aggrieved that the Society of Friends gets one dismissive reference in the screenplay, although it was a committee of 12 Quakers who initiated the campaign for abolition in 1783? Should I be upset that we have not been given a place on the Government’s bicentenary planning committee in spite of the many practical ways in which Quakers sustained the campaign from then until the abolition of slavery in the British Empire in the 1830s?

Surely it is better to welcome the opportunities offered by the bicentenary to raise awareness of the many forms of slavery today and to work for their abolition with the help of the educational and campaigning resources that are freely available with the film. ….

Quaker History/Abolition///Black History comes to life in Warsaw/Keokuk Gate City Daily/Keokuk/IA/USA/27-Feb-07//“A lot of the white abolitionists were of the Quaker religion, called Friends. They certainly were friends to escaping slaves. The railroad was a network of ...

Quaker Schools

2007-02-28T19:54:00.000-11:00

Quaker Schools/Temperance/Haverford College/Making college safe by monitoring parties/Glens Falls Post-Star/Glens Falls/NY/USA/26-Feb-07/Phila. Inq./One of the 'Quaker bouncers,' she watches out for fellow students by monitoring parties and checking for trouble. To order your very own reprints of this ...

~20 Instances in the U.S.

Quaker Schools/Violence/Tradition/Guilford College/Guilford College has teach-in to discuss campus altercation/FayObserver.com/Fayetteville/NC/USA/19-Feb-07/AP/Guilford College officials have again turned to Quaker tradition in the wake of a campus fight between football players and three Palestinian students. ...

Quaker Schools/Violence/Guilford College/Campus looks for catharsis after incidents racially motivated, and not/Yes! Weekly//NC/USA/20-Feb-07//Topics included divisions between athletics and academics, stereotypes, Quaker testimony and the history of Guilford College. Shields and Erickson started ...

Quaker Schools/Violence/Conflict Resolution/Guilford College/Apology could halt fight case/Greensboro News Record/Greensboro/NC/USA/24-Feb-07//"They believe that reconciliation is the Quaker way," Rossabi said in a statement he read during a news conference. "My clients forgive their actions and ...

Religious Faith

2007-02-28T19:52:00.000-11:00

Religious Faith/Stewardship/Second Street Community Church/Lamm, Gregg/The spirit of church appears, wherever they are gathered/OregonLive.com/Portland/OR/USA/25-Feb-07//The morning dawned equally gray Sunday as members of Second Street Community Church made their way to the old National Guard Armory in Newberg.

Lamm jokes that the notion of peace-loving Quakers holding services in an armory is like the Communist Party meeting at Neiman Marcus. And it's that easy, open spirit that he brings to the 300-member congregation, a part of the Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends.

The church band -- complete with horn, keyboards, guitars and drums -- warms up the congregation in this gymnasiumlike room with rollicking Christian rock tunes.

Lamm, a fleece vest pulled over his flannel shirt and a small silver hoop in one ear, sits with his mostly jeans-clad flock.

He walks to the front with a microphone clipped to his vest. He speaks of the differences between pride and humility, lies and truth. And he leaves them with Bible passages about the proper path.

"As followers of Jesus Christ," he says, "let's be an example of doing good and invite others to join us on that road."

He closes with the $2,500 gift.

The men and women taking in his words smile, nod and murmur their approval. And as they gather afterward over coffee, the sentiment overflows.

"It's true we don't have a lot," said Nance Drill, a single mom and full-time student who keeps the church's books. "But from my viewpoint, to give is amazing." ...

Summary - period ended 2.15.2007

2007-02-20T18:14:00.000-11:00

Dear Friends,

An humanitarian volunteer and member of Tigard Community Friends Church in Oregon, USA, was wounded in an attack in Nairobi, Kenya, Africa. The church asks for donations for her medical care. Please make checks payable to the church. Friends and meetings are of course welcome to send letters and cards in care of the church also. Please send these to the Church’s post office box listed in the newspaper articles. Please see Humanitarian Assistance

On a brighter note, an interesting story, related to Spanish-speaking Friends, comes from Yorba Linda, California, USA. Please see Religious Faith / Diversity

The Joseph Rowntree Trust, a Quaker UK financier of progressive projects, is in the news as it has divested of a war stock. Please see Business

In Friendship,

The Editor

For an up-to-the-moment snapshot of the face of modern Friends, please click on the following links:

War
Religious Faith / Diversity
Quaker Schools
Quaker History
Politics and Economics
Outreach
Obituary
Non-Violence
Membership Decline
Humanitarian Assistance
Business
Business / Quaker History
Book Review
Arts
AFSC / Immigration
AFSC / War

Previous Digests:

2.1.2007 News Summary

1.15.2007 News Summary

1.1.2007 News Summary

12/31/2006 News Summary

12/15/2006 News Summary

12/01/2006 News Summary

War

2007-02-20T17:41:00.001-11:00

War/Civil Rights/GI Counseling/Workshops to explain legal options for GIs/Kalona News/Kalona/IA/USA/8-Feb-07//CCW, sponsor of the Hotline, was formed in 1940 by representatives of Mennonite, Brethren, Quaker and other churches, to establish and defend the rights of ...

Religious Faith / Diversity

2007-02-20T17:40:00.002-11:00

Religious Faith/Wedding/Yorba Linda Friends Church/Marriage times seven/Orange County Register/Yorba Linda/CA/USA/11-Feb-07//…So for the first time, the Yorba Linda couple wed during an afternoon ceremony Sunday at Yorba Linda Friends Church, which was packed with applauding friends and family members.

"We were not thinking about it until God put it in our hearts," said Josefina Guzman, 54.

But like their union, the ceremony was far from conventional. The couple shared the altar with six other couples who, one by one, lit candles, exchanged vows and rings and shared a beso, or kiss.

Applause broke out as 35-year-old Gaby Leon, seven months pregnant with her third child, teetered down the aisle towards her husband, Miguel, 37.

"We feel different than before," Miguel Leon said of renewing his vows. "We were married, but getting married in the church is not the same. I feel wonderful now." ….

Religious Faith/Religious Diversity/Christian//Shared faith is the heart of the matter for Christians looking for .../Inspire Magazine/London/England/UK/13-Feb-07//…
Jackie Elton, Managing Director of Christian Connection, says: “We don’t ask people to sign statements of faith. Most members prefer to describe themselves as ‘just Christian’. While the second largest group are Anglicans, we have people from a wide range of traditions including Evangelicals, Liberals, Pentecostal/Charismatic, Catholic, Quaker and Orthodox.” ...

Religious Faith/Quaker Schools//Faith Notes / New Brighton / Scrapbooking fundraiser for ailing baby/Pioneer Press/Minneapolis/MN/USA/10-Feb-07//Quaker-Christian Worship, part of Friends Worship Group, 9:30 a.m., Friends School of Minnesota, 1365 Englewood Ave., St. Paul. Not sponsored by Friends School of Minnesota. 651-695-1304. ...

Religious Faith/Gay-friendly/Arts/Theater/Some Tormented by Homosexuality Look to a Controversial Therapy/New York Times/New York/NY/USA/12-Feb-07//… Peterson Toscano, 41, spent years in ex-gay ministries, including LIFE, during the 1980s and 1990s and eventually got married, only to see his marriage fall apart after he was unable to keep his homosexual urges in check.

He finally decided: “If you keep trying this, you’re fooling no one.” Now openly gay, Mr. Toscano lives in Hartford, attends a gay-friendly Quaker meetinghouse and performs solo comedy sketches around the country, including one that pokes fun at his experiences in the ex-gay movement. ….

Religious Diversity/Quaker History//A sign of the times marks First Parish/Bolton Common/Bolton/MA /USA/1-Feb-07//Since 1931, the town’s oldest church had been known as the Bolton Federated Church, the result of the town’s three churches — Unitarian, Baptist, and Quaker ...

Religious Diversity/Emmi, Elaine//Faith Groups Foster Friendship/BYU Newsnet/Salt Lake City/UT/USA/1-Feb-07//As one of 100 Quakers in Utah, Emmi, chair of the Salt Lake Interfaith Roundtable, said everything Quakers do as a Quaker is interfaith. ...

Religious Diversity/Ben Lomond Quaker Center/Religion/Spirituality Calendar/Santa Cruz Sentinel/Santa Cruz/CA/USA/10-Feb-07//FRIENDLY ZEN: BEING WITH WHAT IS': Practice zazen, kinhin, bowing and chanting. With Catherine Lucas. $110-$190 sliding scale $160 standard rate. Feb. 16-18. Quaker Center, Ben Lomond. Call 336-8333 or visit www.quakercenter.org. ...

Quaker Schools

2007-02-20T17:40:00.001-11:00

Quaker Schools/Violence/Unresponsiveness/Guilford College/Guilford College says it’s open as can be/Greensboro News Record/Greensboro/NC/USA/8-Feb-07//The forum came in the wake of a fight that involved football players and Palestinian students at the Quaker school. Aaron Fetrow, the college's dean of ...

Quaker Schools/Violence/Unresponsiveness/Guilford College/College won’t discuss issues, speakers say/Greensboro News Record/Greensboro/NC/USA/7-Feb-07//Bryan Dellinger, who graduated from Guilford in May, alleged during the meeting that violence at the historically Quaker-affiliated school has gone ...

Quaker Schools/Usefulness/Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trade/Williamson, Isaiah Vansant/William's Finest: The Trade school's students help Katrina victims/The Delaware County Times/Middletown/PA/USA/11-Feb-07//Williamson grew up poor himself, but even as he worked as an apprentice at a dry goods store in Philadelphia, he noticed others were struggling with hardships greater than his own.

The common sight of young boys, "ragged and barefoot," with "no idea of usefulness," stuck with Williamson his entire life. When he was 85, and had established himself using the disciplined work ethic of the Quaker doctrine as one of the wealthiest men in one of the 19th century's wealthiest cities, the successful businessman and savvy investor decided to give the young men of the Philadelphia region an opportunity to learn skills that would, with hard work, forever free them from the constraints of poverty.

With a $2 million gift, Williamson established the school in 1888, one year before his death. Built on a 220-acre campus in Middletown, the school remains true to the vision of its founder....

Quaker Schools/Scholarships/Barclay College/Williams, Kate/Kansas Bible college offers free tuition for full-timers/Kansas.com/Kansas City/MO/USA/4-Feb-07/AP/Most of the rest are affiliated with Quaker churches in Idaho and Southern California, Kendall said. Frazier said the college would fund scholarships ...

Quaker Schools/Malone College/Evangelical Friends International/Williams, John/Speakers, lectures/Akron Beacon Journal/Akron/OH/USA/11-Feb-07// Malone College Chapel -- Johnson Center for Worship and Fine Arts, 2600 Cleveland Ave. N.W., Canton. John P. Williams, general superintendent of the Evangelical Friends Church's eastern region, will speak at 10 a.m. Wednesday. Free. ...

Quaker Schools/Haverford College//Stephen Emerson ‘74 Named Next HC President/Bi-College News/Haverford/PA/USA/13-Feb-07//Emerson is the fifth Haverford alum to serve as president and the first since Tom G. Kessinger from 1988-1996.

Editorial Note:
The Print Edition of this article incorrectly stated that Dr. Emerson is a Quaker ...

Quaker Schools/Good/Breckenbrough School/Fox, George/In search of lost boys/Guardian Unlimited/London/England/UK/12-Feb-07//Breckenbrough is a very special school - so how come it is having to market itself for the first time? …Run by Quakers in one of those country mansions that have seen better days (a slight whiff is the after-effect of the latest anti-mouse campaign, one of the governors explains), the school has a credo put simply by George Fox.

"Walk cheerfully over the world," said the original Quaker, "answering that of God in everyone." Bring out the best in people, in other words, which sounds easy, but isn't when you are dealing with a child who has crept into his shell like a hermit crab, emerging only to flare up violently; or one who lives in the partially separate world of Asperger's syndrome or severe dyslexia.….

Quaker Schools/Friends School of Charlotte/School Notes/Charlotte Observer/Charlotte/NC/USA/11-Feb-07//….The Friends School of Charlotte, an independent Quaker school opening this fall, has announced its location at 7001 Wallace Lane.The school plans several open houses in coming months at that location, including one from 10 a.m. to noon Feb. 24. Other dates include: March 17; April 14; and May 7.

Details: www.friendsschoolofcharlotte.org or 704-877-8043. ...