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FALL 2001
Phil Anthony
(856) 769-0066 (voice)
(856) 769-1416 (fax)
salemqtr@verizon.netResidential Yearly Meeting has come and gone. The weather was particularly good this year, and it was a delight to see old friends and make new ones. It had its share of difficulties, but the greatest difficulties—involving the place of our teen-agers in PYM—also provided opportunity to bring the Young Friends closer to the adult community. Anne Thomas’ Bible study, and her address Saturday night that lifted up the telling of our faith stories, were particular highlights for me—and, from what I heard and overheard, for many others as well.
If there was a disappointment, it was that out of some 550 participants, only 13 came from Salem Quarter. I spoke with a co-clerk of the Annual Sessions Planning Group on the final day of RYM, and was assured that Yearly Meeting in a residential setting isn’t going away any time soon.
So I think it’s important to ask the question: What would make Residential Yearly Meeting more attractive to members and attenders of Salem Quarter? Are there things missing that you’d like to see? Would you want to see changes in what’s offered?
I’m fortunate enough to have the ear of the planners. There’s no guarantee that they’ll do everything we want, but if you’ll let me know what would make the sessions better for you, I’ll be glad to pass it along with the assurance that your concerns will at least be heard.
Hard on RYM’s heels, the Saturday program for the Salem Quarter Retreat had to be cancelled. Our facilitator, Jonathan Snipes, became seriously ill this spring. Then his mother—the beloved Barbara Taylor Snipes, who was so important in the creation of the Burlington Meeting House conference center—died. We simply couldn’t reach him to plan the program.
But the two-day retreat has been rescheduled for next winter, 22–23 February, still at Mickleton. We hope it’ll be a wonderful experience for everybody who missed it in August.
The other meetings have been busy this summer: the Friday night programs at Woodbury that have become a tradition, Salem with worship and picnic at the Lower Alloway’s Creek meetinghouse, Woodstown preparing for its Holocaust studies center, Seaville getting ready for its annual meeting picnic. A group from Mullica Hill reported on its cleanup of the Maurice River burial ground at Quarterly Meeting, and one of the cleanup crew went on to illustrate the group’s epistle—see Kata’s contribution.
And Greenwich will once again host our September Quarterly Meeting. An old friend of mine, Tricia McManus, will be speaking with us about Friends Institute—Young Adult Friends—which she’s brought to new life in her service as clerk. As always, it’ll be followed by candlelight worship at the meetinghouse.
You’ll find the schedule, and a map to help you get there. I hope I’ll see you there.
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