WINTER 20026 September 2002
alem Quarter Worship & Ministry Committee met on 6 September 2002 at the home of Gloria and Robert Horvay, convening in worship at about 7:30 pm. Individuals were present from Mickleton, Mullica Hill, Woodbury, Woodstown, and Salem Meetings, as well as the Quarter Coordinator.
The naming committee asked Mario Cavallini to become clerk of the Committee; he accepted, and the meeting approved.
Most of the evening dealt with assessment of the Salem Quarter Retreat, held 23-25 August at the Burlington Meetinghouse Conference Center. Attendance was down from previous years; however, it was still reasonably healthy, approximately 20 people. The retreat experience was valuable in the view of all present who had attended, with much appreciation to the facilitators, Michael Wajda and Allison Levie. In terms of both numbers of people and quality of experience, we missed the participation of families with children. Phil reported that several such families showed interest, but all balked when they heard that no children had yet enrolled. It appears that we need to encourage family participation, so that they can step forward in faith that their children will not be the only children at the retreat. This is just one reason why we encourage young parents to participate in Worship & Ministry.
We considered whether it would be prudent to not have a retreat next year, to avoid conflict with Residential Yearly Meeting. However, Phil pointed out that this has not been a factor in the past, whether in attendance level or in individuals citing unavailability at one event because of attendance at the other. Therefore, to avoid losing the momentum of regular annual occurrence, we decided to go ahead with a retreat next year. Sondra Ball, Marjorie Candau, Gloria Horvay, and Biz Thomas agreed to form a planning committee, along with others who may be recruited from parents and prior participants.
On behalf of the group appointed to prepare the program for September Quarterly Meeting, Mario reported that the group found in their home meetings and among themselves a strong continuing need for individuals to process the workings of peace in their lives. In the planning group’s discussion—and again in the Worship and Ministry session—we found that everyone has dealt with peace in deep and distinct ways since last September. Both times, sharing these journeys in practice and faith was a rich experience, and we trust that doing so at Quarterly Meeting will be no less.
We concluded in worship and refreshment at about 10:30, intending to meet again on 6 December 2002, the Friday evening before Quarterly Meeting.
For the Committee,
Mario Cavallini, ClerkRETURN TO TABLE OF CONTENTS
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