Smithfield Friends Newsletter September 2002 Smithfield Monthly Meeting of Friends 108 Smithfield Road Woonsocket, RI 02895 Vol.15________________________________________________________________________ No.141 Parsonage: 762-5726 Internet: www.smithfieldfriends.org Clerk: Richard Frechette Recording Clerk Connie Bair-Thompson Pastor: Marnie Miller-Gutsel Treasurer:Bruce Buteau Ministry&Counsel Rhoda Mowry Newsletter: Randy Oftedahl CALENDAR FOR September/October EVERY SUNDAY 10:30 am: MEETING FOR WORSHIP Child Care Available LAST SUNDAY OF EACH MONTH: Unprogrammed Worship and Pot Luck Lunch Children's First Day School during worship OTHER WORSHIP UNDER THE CARE OF SMITHFIELD MEETING OR RI/SMITHFIELD QTLY. MTG. SECOND SUNDAY OF MONTH 4:00 PM: Unprogrammed Worship at Uxbridge Meetinghouse, Uxbridge, Mass EVERY WEDNESDAY 4:00 PM: Unprogrammed Worship and discussion at ACI(Maximum) Other events Weds., Sept. 25 5:30-6:30: Rally for Peace at the RI Statehouse Sunday, Sept. 29 During worship: Children's First Day School Following worship: Pot-luck lunch. Sunday, Oct. 6 Monthly Meeting for Business (after worship) NEWSLETTER DEADLINE October 19 - 20 RI/Smithfield Quarterly Meeting at Clara Barton Camp, Worcester Smithfield Friends Meeting and pastors circa 1885 Letter from Marnie Dear Friends, Some time in the future I hope we will be able to reclaim September as the month of returning from our summer breaks to a fresh start at school or work, a month of clean slates and new opportunities. But for a while, thoughts of that kind of September are going to be overtaken and haunted by our memories of 9/11. That is as it should be--we haven't finished dealing with it yet. However, when I went back and read the long pastoral letter I wrote last September, I began to wonder. Have we even really begun to deal with it, or are we just sort of poking around the edges? There have been a number of important national and international events, certainly, but how many of us are actually living our lives differently? Part of the problem may be that many Meetings discovered that 9/11 revealed some significant divisions among Friends, and we are probably going to have to wrestle with those before we can begin to put much of our energy elsewhere. However, PBS news commentator Daniel Shorr (forgive me, Dan, if I didn't spell your name right) observed that he doesn't see many changes of significance. He attributed that to his chronological age--he remembered how much we changed when we began to deal with World War II. In contrast, he sees us living pretty much the way we did before. I wish I could disagree. The kindest view I can take of the situation is that when an event is so traumatic, the initial reaction is bound to be sluggish. We were stunned, and it takes a while to truly incorporate such an event into our collective national psyche. It is a natural response to try to get back to what feels most familiar and "normal." Even Quakers are doing this, carrying on with things more or less the way we were doing on September 10, going back to our comfortable American lives. But is that how we ought to continue? Photo: Sept. 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows Way back in his Swarthmore Lecture in 1956, Edgar Dunstan made a point which is still valid: "The early Friends were fully assured that they had a message for all men--not merely that one or another of their testimonies was especially relevant to their own time, but that their message in its totality, in its wholeness, was God's good news for all sorts and conditions of men... .'Have you anything to declare?' is a vital challenge to which every one of us is personally called to respond and is also a challenge that every meeting should consider of primary importance. It should lead us to define, with such clarity as we can reach, precisely what it is that Friends of this generation have to say that is not, as we believe, being said effectively by others." Yet there are hints that Friends of the 9/11 generation may be discovering that we do have some important things to declare. I heard a brief but intriguing news item on the radio the other day to the effect that the AFSC has joined forces with a group of people who lost friends and relatives on 9/11, but who want to work toward peaceful solutions rather than militaristic ones. They are particularly concerned that we should not get involved in attacking Iraq. The development of this alliance suggests that some creative thinking is going on somewhere. Go for it, Friends! Seek peace, and pursue it.--Psalm 34:14. Blessings, Marnie Child Care Providers Sep/Oct 9/15 Randy Oftedahl 9/22 Paul Klinkman 9/29 Diane O'Hara 10/6 Debbie Chick/Nigel King 10/13 Wendy Oftedahl 10/20 Marcel St. Germain 10/27 Liz & Cindy Keene Building Fund As everyone can plainly see, the meetinghouse and parsonage needs quite a bit of sprucing up. Some can be done by volunteers within our Friends community, but a substantial potion must be contracted out. At our meeting for business this month, we approved the contracting out of painting of the parsonage trim and meetinghouse and repair of windows. The cost is beyond the budget supported by normal resources. We will be seeking some grant funds. And if anyone feels the leading to contribute additional funds specifically earmarked to the building fund, it would be greatly appreciated. First Day School / Children at Worship The Religious Education Committee will continue the experiment that it began last spring whereby First Day School will be held on the last First Day of each month. Except on special occasions, the children will be divided into age-specific groupings. During the other First Days, children will generally join their parents at Meeting for Worship. The First Day School Committee has put together a "children's aids" bookcase at the entrance to the meeting room: books, writing and coloring materials, etc. are available for the children to bring into the meeting room so that they may occupy themselves quietly during portions of Meeting that may not be of interest to them. Child care workers will be available every week for the care of infants and toddlers in the basement. In the Meeting's Library... Yearly Meeting's Mosher Book and Tract Committee has provided to our Meeting a copy of "Living With Ourselves and Others," working papers on aspects of family life containing queries and advices for Friends meetings and individuals. This was produced by Yearly Meeting's Ministry and Counsel Committee. Topics include living with children, human sexuality, separation and divorce, growing older, and others. This 74 page booklet is the fourth edition, produced in 2001. About...Us * Martha Smith has moved in with her sister-in-law Ruth Smith. * Randy Oftedahl has completed his graduate program at Rhode Island College and now joins the ranks of Master of Social Work. * Aaron Frechette has graduated from Marist College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science. He has decided to remain living in Poughkeepsie and is working as a reporter at a local newspaper. First Day School News Beginning in September 2002, First Day School will meet on the last Sunday of each month (during unprogrammed worship). Our theme for the year will be "Looking for God in all the right places". The curriculum will include Quakerism 101 for all age groups. The course outline covers: * Early Friends * Basic Quaker concepts * Our relationship to Jesus * What to "do" in worship * Understanding "concerns" and "testimonies" today * Meeting for business for worship We will also be discussing tools for centering, along with visits to other Quaker Meetings and other places of worship. A library has been established in the vestibule and contains reading materials along with paper, clipboards, markers and crayons. We hope this will be of help to children and young Friends. Since First Day School will be meeting only once a month, it is very important for every child and young Friend to be present the last Sunday of each month. First Day School will now be held for the entire hour and will also include a snack time. ( A Rally for Peace: No War on Iraq As the US edges closer to war with Iraq, we invite people of every faith (or none) to join us in affirming the core values of love, justice, peace and compassion central to our religious traditions. We urge our leaders to stop building towards war and to respond to any dangers posed by the present regime in Iraq by pursuing peaceful, multilateral means. A Rally for Peace will take place at the Rhode Island Statehouse Weds., September 25 from 5:30 to 6:30, with invited speakers. Come and take a stand for peace! Co-sponsors include (partial list): RI State Council of Churches, RI Peace Mission, American Baptist Churches of RI, American Muslim Dawah Association, RI Peace Action, American Friends Service Committee, RI Peace and Justice Education Fund, Fellowship of Reconciliation, RI Committee for Nonviolence Initiatives. For more information, call RI Peace Mission at 724-7700 or the RI Council of Churches at 724-7700. Rhode Island-Smithfield Quarterly Retreat Saturday and Sunday, October 19-20, 2002 Clara Barton Camp 30 Ennis Road, North Oxford, Ma. (508) 987 2056 Clerk of Retreat Committee Matthew Shorten (978) 355 6840 The Worcester Meeting welcomes you to the Clara Barton Birthplace Camp. This year we are pleased to introduce to you Claire and Scott Schaeffer-Duffy with their four children, Justin, Grace, Patrick, and Aidan. They have been our long time friends and collaborators in the pursuit of peace and justice in the Worcester area. They have agreed to share with us some of The Joys and Struggles of a Committed Family. Weekend Schedule: Saturday 10:30 to 12:00 Registration in the Grey shingled Barn 10:30 to 12:30 Free Time settle in, stroll the camp, light exercise with Matt Shorten, visit the Birthplace Museum 12:30 to 1:30 Lunch served by the Worcester Meeting 2:00 to 3:30 Presentation Home Made Social Justice; Family living in a Non-violent Community 4:30 to 5:30 Free Time as above with group singing Museum closes at 5:00 5:30 to 7:00 Supper served by the Westerly Meeting 7:30 to 8:30 Presentation The Schaeffer-Duffy Family continues with discussion, questions, and presentations Sunday 8:30 to 9:30 Breakfast served by the Smithfield Meeting 10:00 to 11:00 Meeting for Worship 11:00 to 12:00 A Circle for Sharing of Feelings and Concerns 12:00 to 1:30 Lunch served by the Providence Meeting 1:30 to 2:30 Quarterly Business Meeting Hugs and departure Scott and Claire Schaeffer-Duffy, in 1986, founded the St. Francis and Therese Catholic Worker community, which offers hospitality to people in need and serves as a center for peace and non- violence in Central Massachusetts. Scott has worked with Voices in the Wilderness and other international peace keeping groups. Claire is an award-winning journalist for the National Catholic Reporter. The entire family lives at the community at 52 Mason Street in Worcester. The Clara Barton camp was founded in 1932 for the care and treatment of Diabetic children. It was sponsored and funded by the Women's Committee of the Unitarian Church. Directions to Clara Barton Camp: take route #146 north to the Worcester area, then take route # 20 for 7.5 miles west towards Oxford. At this point branch off to the left onto route # 12 south towards Oxford. Go 1.5 miles to Ennis Road on the right, follow it .7 mile up the hill. Child Care: Care will be provided and we ask you to indicate your children's names and ages on the Registration form. Accommodations: Overnight facilities are not as they were at Aldersgate. This being a summer camp, the ten person heated cabins are open dormitory style with a loft. There will be a separate cabin for men, women, and families. Please let us know of your needs and preferences because some other hospitality arrangements are available at the camp and in the immediate vicinity Please bring: towels, sheets, pillows and blankets (or sleeping bags) Retreat Fees: Adult overnight $35 Commuter $20 Children $15 Equalization is available. Checks accepted at Retreat Cost cap per family $100 For further questions please contact Matt Shorten or Laura Wasowicz. ( Cut and respond as soon as possible ( Please mail this registration form to Laura Wasowicz, 3 Rexhame Rd, Worcester MA 01606 or call her at 508-853-7041. Please indicate special needs . Names: Address: Phone: Meeting: Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business, September 8, 2002 2000-53 Opening Minute Smithfield Monthly Meeting met for a regularly scheduled meeting for worship with attention to business at noon on September 8, 2002. Richard Frechette was presiding clerk; Connie Bair-Thompson was recording clerk; eleven other Friends were present. We began with a period of waiting worship. 2000-54 Request to use meetinghouse for wedding - Peter Byhouwer Peter Byhouwer said that a couple would like to have their wedding in our meetinghouse. The wedding will be Saturday, May 3, 2003 and he will be facilitating the ceremony for them. The prospective bride feels close ties to the meetinghouse because of her involvement with the APC, which met in our meetinghouse for many years. We have agreed to have our meetinghouse used for weddings among people not directly associated with our meeting in the past. We also have established guidelines and fees for such services, which include a desire that any wedding ceremony have a spiritual basis. Friends asked Peter, and possibly the couple themselves, to meet with Ministry and Counsel committee to discuss this further. For now, Friends are comfortable with setting aside the requested date. 2000-55 Treasurer to stay on At the May 5, 2002 Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business (minute 2002-39), Friends discussed a concern about continuity of Treasurer duties in light of Bruce Buteau's job which required him to be out of town for extended periods of time. Because Bruce no longer has this job, he will remain as Treasurer. 2000-56 Treasurer's Report - Bruce Buteau Bruce Buteau, Treasurer, presented a report of unreconciled funds for the period covering January 1, 2002 through June 30, 2002. Friends thanked him for his work in preparing the report. Bruce noted that expenses for the period have exceeded income by about $6500, but pointed out we had planned to run at about a $10,000 deficit for this time. Bruce also noted that Finance Committee has not met and must meet. Our deficit spending pattern should definitely be a top agenda item for that meeting. As a meeting, we must also discuss ways of raising money, aside from regular contributions and investment income. Friends noted again that there are only two members of the Finance Committee at the moment, aside from the Treasurer and that it would be very desirable to have additional members. Friends asked Nominating Committee to again try to find people willing to serve on this committee and the clerk asked Friends who might be willing to serve to come forward. The report is attached to these minutes. 2000-57 Report from Quarterly Meeting RI-Smithfield Quarter met on July 21, 2002. Rhoda Mowry, Richard Frechette, Eunice Strobel and Marnie Miller-Gutsell were representatives from our meeting. One thing that was discussed at Quarterly meeting was whether we wanted to resume advertising Quaker worship in the Providence Journal's weekly religion section. Friends discussed this and felt that we should not commit funds for this purpose, in light of the fact that no one has ever said they've come to our meeting because of the ad and because of our meeting's financial constraints. Friends would like to explore other methods of letting people in the community know about our meeting. Friends noted that there seems to be a breakdown in communication about Quarterly Meeting among the various meetings in the quarter. Different ways of disseminating information, such as establishing a Quarterly Meeting section as part of the Yearly Meeting's web site, should be explored. 2000-58 Building Repairs At the July 7, 2002 Meeting for Worship with Attention to Business, Friends discussed the various repairs that need to be done to the meetinghouse and parsonage (minute 2002-47). Building and Grounds Committee has asked Dan Warren to provide a quotation for some of the work that needs to be done. Dan presented a quotation of $5,750 to scrape, sand and power-wash the exterior walls and trim. Repairing the window glazing, sashes and re-attaching the weights is also included in that price. Dan suggested that there may be other Friends who could help do the work and said he would appreciate the help. He said he is willing to oversee the project, but would encourage other Friends to help, especially as he is not available to do the work on a full-time basis. The issue of insurance for Dan and other Friends was discussed. Dan acknowledged that he, as a contractor, would probably need to insure himself and that he would look into how he might be able to do that. Friends authorized Building and Grounds to work with Dan to finalize the fees and particular work that will be done, including an additional quotation for painting the exterior trim on the parsonage. Friends do not feel there is a need to re-submit the quotation to monthly meeting in order to finalize a contract. Regarding obtaining funds for this work, Suzanne Frechette will ask for funds from the Obediah Brown fund and Richard Frechette will include submit something in the newsletter soliciting funds specifically earmarked for this purpose. 2000-59 Report from Young Friends - Jeanne Kinney The Young Friends met at the same time as our meeting. On their behalf, Jeanne Kinney reported that Young Friends are involved in many activities, which will be included in the newsletter. 2000-60 Closing Minute No further business arising, Friends closed with a period of waiting worship, intending to meet again for business on October 6, 2002, God willing. Respectfully Submitted, Connie Bair-Thompson Recording Clerk On 9/11 One Year On From "Small Wonder" by Barbara Kingsolver: "In our darkest hours we may find comfort in the age-old slogan from the resistance movement, declaring that we shall not be moved. But we need to finish that sentence. Moved from where? Are we anchoring to the best of what we've believed in, throughout our history, or merely to an angry new mode of self-preservation? The American moral high ground can't possibly be an isolated mountaintop from which we refuse to learn anything at all to protect ourselves from monstrous losses. It is critical to distinguish here between innocence and naïveté: The innocent do not deserve to be violated, but only the naive refuse to think about the origins of violence. A nation that seems to believe so powerfully in retribution cannot flatly refuse to look at the world in terms of cause and effect. The rage and fury of this world have not notably lashed out at Canada (the nation that takes best care of its citizens), or Finland (the most literate), or Brazil or Costa Rica (among the most biodiverse). Neither have they tried to strike down our redwood forests or our fields of waving grain. Striving to cut us most deeply, they felled the towers that seemed to claim we buy and sell the world. "We don't own the world, as it turns out. Flight attendants and bankers, mothers and sons were ripped from us as proof, and thousands of families must now spend whole lifetimes reassembling themselves after shattering loss. The rest of us have lowered our flags in grief on their behalf. I believe we could do the same for the 35,600 of the world's children who also died on September 11 from conditions of starvation, and extend our hearts to the fathers and mothers who lost them.... "I wish our national anthem were not the one about the bombs bursting in air, but the one about purple mountain majesties and amber waves of grain. It's easier to sing and closer to the heart of what we really have to sing about. A land as broad and green as ours demands of us thanksgiving and a certain breadth of spirit. It invites us to invest our hearts most deeply in invulnerable majesties that can never be brought down in a stroke of anger. If we can agree on anything in difficult times, it must be that we have the resources to behave more generously than we do, and that we are brave enough to rise from the ashes of loss as better citizens of the world than we have ever been...." "If only there were evil people somewhere, insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?" -Alexander Solzhenitsyn Smithfield Monthly Meeting of Friends 108 Smithfield Road Woonsocket, RI 02858