Part IV (Dear reader, this last post will not likely make much sense if you’re unfamiliar with those that came before. Part i is here; then Part II is here; and Part III is here. ) So, once more into the breach. On the Proposed Minute that’s coming before Baltimore YM this weekend on BYM … Continue reading Grand Finale: Big Change for Small Change: Baltimore Yearly Meeting & FUM — Part 4
NOTE: This post is somewhat “inside baseball,” mainly dealing with Baltimore Yearly Meeting and its relationship with Friends United Meeting. But it may be of interest to some others who are concerned with questions of church governance, challenging religious homophobia, and managing conflicts in church groups. Much of the background is assumed in this initial … Continue reading Big Change for Small Change: Baltimore Yearly Meeting & FUM — Part 1
Friends Journal’s Ninth Month (September) issue just arrived here in the boondocks, and in it is a long letter from the clerk of their board, announcing that their Publisher/Executive Editor, Susan Corson-Finnerty, plans to take early retirement late next year. With that, the Great Quaker Turnover continues to roll through the Establishment Quaker organizations.
In Britain Yearly Meeting, the “Mother Church” of Quakerism, the senior staff member and CEO is the Recording Clerk. This person heads up a staff of more than one hundred, and an organization that in 2009 had revenues of 9,000,000 Pounds (about $14 million US dollars). This staff is based at Friends House, which takes … Continue reading The Great Quaker Turnover Comes To London
A few weeks back, I attended North Carolina YM Conservative. It’s a VERY small group — in the business sessions I was in, there were an average of 30 NCYMC Friends, plus about ten visitors. (By contrast, my home YM, Baltimore, typically gets nearly ten times as many attenders; and Philadelphia more like 20x; even … Continue reading Going “Conservative” With North Carolina Quakers