How to Offer Sanctuary

~ Roger Vincent Jasaitis ~ Leave a comment

Learn how to offer sanctuary

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Dear Friends,

I get at least one call per week from Quaker congregations asking about congregational sanctuary. Since the rate of arrests leading to deportation has risen 38 percent and immigrants are afraid to attend immigration check ins because many are being detained and deported, the need for congregations willing to stand up and offer safety and refuge for immigrants is growing. Join our national call on July 13th from 8 to 9:30 pm ET to hear from people across the country who have direct experience with sanctuary.

Conference Call: How to Offer Sanctuary 

Thursday, July 13, 2017 @ 8pm EDT // 6pm MDT // 5pm PDT

Presenters will include:

  • Pastors and a Quaker leader who have offered sanctuary in their congregation.
  • An individual who has lived in sanctuary.
  • An attorney who can help participants understand the legal challenges of sanctuary.
  • Experienced community organizers at the local and national levels.

The call will be in English with Spanish interpretation on a separate line. Please share with groups and individuals who may be interested.

Register Here! 

In Peace,

Lucy Duncan

 

 
American Friends Service Committee
1501 Cherry Street
Philadelphia, PA 19102
United States

Nonviolent Action and the New Story

~ Roger Vincent Jasaitis ~ Leave a comment
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Dear Friends,
I will be moderating this interesting webinar on “Nonviolent Action and the New Story” with Michael Nagler for the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict on June 22. This should appeal to my nonviolent activist friends, my environmentalist friends, my Quaker friends, and my Pachamama Alliance friends and anyone who has ever attended an Awakening the Dreamer Symposium. WOULD YOU PLEASE SHARE ON YOUR FB PAGES AND MESSAGE ANY INTERESTED FRIENDS!
Thank you, Steve Chase

June Offerings

~ Roger Vincent Jasaitis ~ Leave a comment

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Hello Friends!

I’m reaching out because Pendle Hill still has full scholarships available for our two upcoming Quakerism workshops with Ben Pink Dandelion and Deborah Shaw, please share these opportunities as you are able and encourage those who are interested to reach out to John Meyer (jmeyer@pendlehill.org, 610-566-4507 ext 129) regarding scholarships.

Thank you!

Best,Lina

 Lina Blount, Communications and Outreach Coordinator, Pendle Hill

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Our Common Life

~ Roger Vincent Jasaitis ~ Leave a comment

Our Common Life New England Yearly Meeting of Friends (Quakers)
One of the most enlivening aspects of my work is visiting local meetings across New England, connecting with Friends and encouraging the Life of the Spirit in the Quaker Movement.

In my travels in recent years—in meetings small and large, pastoral and unprogrammed, urban and rural, with meetinghouses and without—I’ve noticed similarities that seem to underlie our diversity. Though we organize and express our common life as Friends in myriad ways, at the root of our life together are several ways of being and doing that to me seem essential.

I’ve been searching for ways to describe these qualities, and want to ask for your experience and perspective.

In our meetings, when we’re thriving, I see us:

  • worshipping together
  • learning to love one another
  • engaging and exploring Friends’ tradition and how it’s relevant today
  • supporting one another to live our faith in our daily lives
  • making decisions together—with Divine guidance—and acting on those decisions
I’d love to hear about your experience of these aspects of our common life as together we continue to share, learn, nourish and encourage the thriving of our local meetings, which are the heart of the Quaker Movement.

You can email me here; I look forward to hearing from you.

In this issue, you’ll find news of how Friends are doing this work throughout our region. I hope you find these stories and opportunities enlivening.

In faith and service,

Noah Merrill
Secretary
New England Yearly Meeting of Friends (Quakers)
In This Issue:

H.308 (Racal Justice Reform) ACT NOW!

~ Roger Vincent Jasaitis ~ Leave a comment

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Friends, we are almost there. We need Governor Scott to sign H. 308 as soon as he receives it. There is a legislative rule that says that the Governor must sign a bill passed by the Legislature within 5 days or it beomes law automatically UNLESS the legislative session ends within that period. Then, if the Governor does not sign it, the bill fails automatically. We are in that period, the Legislature is scheduled to convene by this Saturday; we do not know when the Governor received it and the clock started ticking. There have been some indications from the Scott Administration that they wanted to derail the bill. This does not necessarily mean that the Governor will let the bill fail or will veto it, but it does raise grave concerns. Therefore the Racial Justice Coalition and Justice for All, the main organizer for this bill (and on whose board I sit), and I personally, ask you to contact the Governer by email, see below, or by phone at 802-828-3333. Please help the governor understand that by signing H.308 he declares that our State motto “Freedom and Unity” is more than rhetoric; that we will not just pay lip service to “liberty and justice for all,” but we in Vermont will establish legal mechanisms to make those high values real and a living part of our common life. Thank you, Joseph
Joseph Gainza

Producer and Host

Gathering Peace
Tuesdays 9-10:30 AM
WGDR 91.1 FM; WGDH 97.1 FM
www.wgdr.org live streaming & archive

Yearly Meeting Consultation on Climate Change

~ Roger Vincent Jasaitis ~ Leave a comment
Dear Friends,
At last year’s Annual Sessions, New England Yearly Meeting affirmed a Divine call to the witness of addressing climate change, and encouraged all local meetings to consider how they might further respond.IMG_1063

On April 22 Friends will gather at Friends Meeting at Cambridge (MA) for a Yearly Meeting Consultation on Climate Change. This will be an opportunity to connect with other Friends, share news, and offer input on next steps for the Yearly Meeting.

From 9:30 to 12 we will gather in worship and then share how each of our meetings has been responding to the call. We will have lunch together, and then from 1 to 3:30 we will discern together about possible future directions for NEYM around this concern. Feel free to come for the whole day, or just the morning or afternoon.

We are expecting a small gathering, but we think there may be people coming who haven’t yet registered. It’s not too late! Click here for more information on the consultation and to register.
If you are not able to come on Saturday, and you want to share your news or thoughts, please email witness@neym.org.
For more information, contact Katherine Fisher: kath.fisher@gmail.com.

Faithfully,

Sara Hubner

This is an Uprising

~ Roger Vincent Jasaitis ~ Leave a comment

Toward the end of This Is an Uprising: How Nonviolent Revolt Is Shaping the Twenty-First Century, coauthors Mark and Paul Engler argue that Quakers have often acted powerfully as a “prophetic minority” in U.S. history—sometimes to great practical effect. According to the Englers, “Quakers served as the backbone of the movement against slavery in both the United States and Great Britain.” They also note that, “Later on, Quakers would play important roles in the women’s suffrage, civil rights, antiwar, and antinuclear movements.”   …

Book review by Steve Chase

To read more click here:

This Is an Uprising: How Nonviolent Revolt Is Shaping the Twenty-First CenturyBy Mark Engler and Paul Engler. Nation Books, 2016. 368 pages. $26.99/hardcover; $15.99/eBook. Toward the end of This Is an Uprising: How Nonviolent Revoltfriendsjournal.org