Hartford Monthly Meeting
Religious Society of Friends
May 2006

"The intent of all speaking is to bring into the life, and to walk in, and to possess the same, and to live in and enjoy it, and to feel God's presence." -- George Fox

Calendar

April 29 10-2 pm Meeting Work Day
April 30 Family Sunday
11th Hour "Torture as a Moral Issue," led by John Humphries
May 6 NEYM Christian Education Workshop at Hartford Meeting (see below)
May 7
May 14 Fellowship Lunch
May 15 9-3 pm Development Workshop at Woolman Hill
May 21 Meeting for Business
June 4 11th Hour with Hartford Meeting Development Committee

Meeting for Worship is held every First Day at 10 am. First Day School for children begins at 9:50 am. On Fifth Sundays, we have Family Meeting when all children and adults worship together.
Mid-week Worship--every Thursday at 7 pm in the Williams Room.

ALL ARE WELCOME TO THE SILENT PRAYER VIGIL FOR PEACE EVERY THURSDAY IN THE MEETINGHOUSE; 7 PM

MEETING WORK DAY:

SATURDAY, APRIL 29 from 10 AM to 2 PM
We will be ordering mulch, which needs to be spread. Also the usual pruning, raking, clean-up. Please bring a wheelbarrow, if you have one, shovels, pruning shears, rakes, etc.

Meeting for Worship for Business 4/09/06 Hartford Monthly Meeting

At 11:35 a.m. 21 Friends gathered in worship to begin the Meeting for Business.
Committees:
Worship and Ministry-Diane Weinholtz announced that Quakerism 101 mini-sessions will next be held in May. "Holy Silence" will be the focus.
May 30 is Family Sunday, and Earthcare Witness will be the topic. The Committee is led to expand the Peace Vigil, which will be held every Thursday this month. The Committee supported a letter of affirmation for Lynn Johnson's ministry for pastoral outreach through her Center for Serenity. That letter reads as follows:

Hartford Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends Letter of Affirmation
By the Committee of Oversight For the ministry of pastoral counseling of Lynn Johnson
April 6, 2006

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. - Matthew V, 9.

Lynn Johnson is a blessing to our Hartford Meeting. She brings peace to us and our children. Since Lynn transferred her membership in 1995, she has shared her wisdom and teaching gifts, serving as Co-Clerk on our Worship and Ministry and Religious Education Committees. Lynn follows the leading of the Divine Light of Christ within her, and seeks that Light within the hearts of others. We give thanks for her presence among us.

We know that through her work as a pastoral counselor Lynn seeks to bring peace into the hearts of the men, women and children who come to her for guidance and solace in their difficult times. Helping each person experience the presence of the Divine Light within is at the core of her ministry. Following that Light, in 1996 Lynn was led to found the Center for Serenity, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide counseling and education with a spiritual base to anyone in the community seeking her help. She sees a diverse group of people from varied ethnic backgrounds, economic levels and with varying degrees of psychological conflict. All are welcome, despite their ability to pay, which means Lynn often receives little for her services. Therefore, Lynn's ministry is dependent on the generosity and financial support of the wider community.

We know that Lynn has been faithful to her calling despite many challenges. We witness the strength of her belief in God and the healing power of Christ. Lynn's gift to the world is her capacity to follow the leadings of the Spirit. We affirm her continuing ministry of pastoral counseling.

Debbie Humphries Chris Robinson Bobbie Taylor Jamie Taylor

Friends approved the letter, which will be circulated to the Baptist Church, which houses the Center, to consider the Center for Serenity as one of their outreach missions.

Pastoral Care-Eric Stamm reported updating the Good Samaritan and Phone Tree services of the Committee.

Buildings and Grounds had no formal report, though it was noted that instructions for operation of the new front door will be posted by the door and added to the handbook. Questions were raised about ways to express appreciation for individual Friends, as well as the issue of Friends' names appearing in Minutes, which is not the custom in many Meetings. Our precedent has been to Minute thanks to individuals, and Worship and Ministry will take up this issue.

Finance-The Committee will meet on the Maplewood Properties on 4/19. The issue of contributions to the Meeting will also be addressed, Jim Reik reported.

Nominating-no report.

Treasurer--It was noted that Robert Batson has agreed to take over as Treasurer on June 1st, and that Tim Allen will help Robert with the transition of financial responsibilities.

Development-Mary Lee Morrison thanked Friends for the quick and thorough responses to the survey on Finances and Development. An 11th hour on 6/4 will discuss the results of the survey, which, she noted, showed pretty good understanding of the Meeting's finances, and the sense that we should educate Friends how to give to the Meeting within the context of our sense of Worship. Responses about how to use the Hicks bequest were forwarded to the Finance committee. Friends Organizations of New England is sponsoring a Development Workshop on 5/15 at Woolman Hill.

Peace and Social concerns-the Committee, together with Pax Educare, is sponsoring the film "Weapons of the Spirit" on 4/15. A 6 p.m. potluck precedes the film.

Religious Education-Lynn Johnson thanked the teachers of the Bible Unit for First Day School. They are Deborah Kidder, Lynn Johnson, Eileen McCarthy-Reynolds, Diane Randall, Linda Smith, Debbie Humphries, Marty Donovan, and Roger Catlin. She announced the Easter program, which included singing, an Easter egg hunt, and the Potluck Luncheon. The April 30th Family Sunday theme will be "Bringing the natural world into the Meetinghouse." On May 6th NEYM will hold a workshop on curriculum. Michael True will speak on the Quaker Peace Testimony. On June 11th is the Meeting Picnic. Suggestions for a location are welcome.

Other Business-John Humphries announced the 11th hour 4/30 will focus on the issue of torture. Donn Weinholtz read a ravel minute from Berkshire Friends Meeting on protesting the use of torture. A 4/11 breakfast meeting at Grace Lutheran Church will feature Friend Robin Lloyd, who is on the way to Danbury Prison for three months for Civil Disobedience at the School of the Americas.

Donn Weinholtz reminded Friends of the Connecticut Valley Quarterly Meeting's joint planning effort for the 10/6-8 meeting at Woolman Hill. Hartford Meeting is to supply an Overseer. The Clerk and Assistant Clerk will seek volunteers.

Regarding the request of University of Hartford English professor Susan Reid for Meeting involvement in offering opportunities for conversation with visiting Saudi students who must become fluent in spoken English during their first year in this country, it was noted that several Friends had responded positively with offers of coffee, dinner, or day-trip excursions to this opportunity.

Wednesdays 12-1 p.m. there is a peace vigil at the University of Hartford.

Cynthia Reik and Rachel Donovan were thanked for their soup. It was noted that providing soup has been incorporated into the Social Hour and that everyone who provides it should be thanked. This was forwarded to the Worship and Ministry Committee.

Nat Shed of Friends Camp sent a list of activities to the Meeting, encouraging Young Friends.
John Humphries announced, regarding the 4/30 11th Hour that Ray McGovern will speak at Hartford Seminary on 4/26 from 1:30-4:30. The discussion is aimed mostly at clergy, and will be followed by a light supper.

Donn Weinholtz, Assistant Clerk David Holdt, Recording Clerk

April 30 Eleventh Hour "Torture as a Moral Issue"

John Humphries will lead a discussion of the evidence that US military and intelligence personnel have engaged in torture as a systematic policy, implicating senior government officials in war crimes. He will discuss the local efforts of Reclaiming the Prophetic Voice, the new National Religious Campaign Against Torture, and the upcoming conference at Guilford College sponsored by the Quaker Initiative to end Torture (QUIT). How are Hartford Friends called to participate in these initiatives?

First Day School News

On Saturday, May 6th the New England Yearly Meeting will host a workshop at Hartford Monthly Meeting for teachers and parents entitled: "Learning to be Peacemakers." Michael True, renowned peace education scholar will be the keynote speaker, and the very gifted and creative Jean McCandless and Beth Collea are both giving workshops. The workshop offers an excellent opportunity to meet other First Day School teachers, parents and Religious Ed leaders. It will run from 9am-4pm. All are welcome; $10 registration fee; Hartford Religious Ed will cover the registration fee for any past or perspective teachers from our meeting.
Other First Day News:We need a few people willing to help supervise children at the rise of meeting. Please talk to Anna Moberly.

The Library Committee appreciates donations but we can only accept books, videos, DVDs that concern Quakers, are about Quakers or are written by Quakers...or have a strong connection to Quaker principles, i.e.Peace & Justice.

CT Valley Quarterly Meeting-Fall, 2006

Hartford Meeting still has to appoint someone to co-ordinate the planning efforts for the
fall Quarterly Meeting at Woolman Hill. Two Friends have offered to assist, but we still need someone to be the point person. As I understand it, this will involve some telephoning and emailing, but little else; as other Meetings in the Quarter will be doing the bulk of the labor.
If you are willing to take on this responsibility, please let Donn Weinholtz know ASAP so we can inform Quarterly Meeting.

Military and Pacifist Similarities

In the fall of 2005, a group of 12 Hartford Meeting members and attenders developed a list of views and values that could be true of supporters of military or pacifist approaches to conflicts. (The project is not an official activity of Hartford Meeting; we mention our affiliation for identification purposes.)

The aim of the project is to seek common ground between "the military" and their supporters, and "pacifists." (We realize that each group is complex and holds a variety of views; this is discussed in the introduction to the quiz.)

We will collect quiz responses until January 1, 2007. We will present the results to all who are interested, and look for further directions to explore.

You can help this project by:

1. Taking the quiz yourself. You'll need about a half-hour. The quiz is on the website below, and also available on paper by regular mail.
2. Asking spouses and older kids to take the quiz.
3. Forwarding this message to as many people as possible.
The quiz website is http://www.geocities.com/confusiondoc/military_pacifist_survey.html
Many thanks for contributing to a dialog on this important issue.
E-mail: wrbftaylor@comcast.net Mailing address to request paper copy or send in quiz responses: Bill Taylor, Box 1388, West Hartford, CT 06127-1388 USA

Greater Hartford Interfaith Coalition for Equity and Justice Update - from LouAnne McDonald

Survey Results - Thank you to all Friends who completed the issue survey. Your top five issues: education, health care, housing and land use, public safety and jobs/fair wages. Results from all congregations, top five issues in rank order: education, health care, public safety, housing and land use, and jobs/fair wages. Those of you who indicated a willingness to attend a follow-up discussion group will be contacted soon by Shai Cassell or LouAnne McDonald. ICEJ will decide which issues to focus on at the 2006 Issues Assembly to be held June 15, 6:30 - 8:30 PM at the St. Patrick - St. Anthony Church in Hartford. All Friends are welcome to attend this event, which will include music and a dynamic speaker.

ICEJ welcomes new lead organizer, Margaret Steinegger-Keyser, former Executive Director of the Center for Conflict Resolution in Hartford. She is a native South African theologian with a background of faith-based community organizing in South Africa. The coalition is inspired and energized by her presence. However, the hiring caused a rift with the Gamaliel Foundation, which did not want to grant ICEJ the authority to choose its own lead organzier. As a result, ICEJ is in the process of changing its affiliation from Gamaliel to another national organization.
Mark you calendars for the October 26 public meeting. If you attend only one ICEJ event per year, this should be it.

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Friends' Witness in the World
Meeting members Bill Upholt and MaryLee Morrison share their war tax resistance:

To: Internal Revenue Service April 12, 2006

We are withholding $42 from our federal income tax as a protest against the use of these taxes for military purposes. We are members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) who have a long tradition of conscientious objection to war based on our religious beliefs. We feel that to contribute taxes to the military involves us just as much in the war process as serving in combat forces.

We have decided to withhold $42 based on the calculation by the Friends Committee on National Legislation League that 42% of the federal budget for fiscal year 2005 was used to support present and past military costs. Instead of paying this $42 to the IRS we are giving the same amount to the Peace Tax Fund of New England Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends, a fund which holds money in escrow for Quaker tax resisters.

We would prefer to pay our federal taxes in full but feel unable to do so at this time. There is proposed legislation in the US Congress that would address our dilemma. The Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund would allow us to pay our federal tax in good conscience. We urge the IRS and our public officials to seriously consider this legislation as a positive move in addressing the agonizing situation in which conscientious objectors, such as ourselves, find themselves when it comes to paying federal taxes.

Though a small amount, this $42 does represent an assuagement of our conscience and a hope that it represents a positive contribution to peace in the world.
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FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE MEETING SHOULD BE MAILED TO ASSISTANT TREASURER, RUTH ALEXANDER, 22 CARPENTER LANE, BLOOMFIELD, CT 06002.

HARTFORD MONTHLY MEETING
Of the Religious Society of Friends
144 South Quaker Lane
West Hartford, CT 06119

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