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7 Butty Place
Hamilton, Ontario L8S 2R5
www.quaker.ca/hamilton
quakers@hwcn.org
Telephone: 905.523.8383
Feb. 6 Jean
Feb. 13 Susan
Feb. 20 Dawn
Feb.27 Caroleigh
March 6 Ray
March 13 Glenna
March 20 Andy
March 27 Louise
April 3 Ruth
April 10 Don
April 17 Darlene
April 24 Betty P
At Meeting for Worship for Business on Thursday, February 3rd, there were two items on related matters. The first was a letter from Canadian Friends Service Committee, enclosing the Minute of Record on Same-Sex Marriage which was approved at Yearly Meeting in 2003. The minute supports "the right of same-sex couples to a civil marriage and the extension of the legal definition of marriage to include same-sex couples." It does not commit individual Monthly Meetings to taking same-sex marriages under their care, but leaves that to the clearness process of each MM. CFSC is encouraging MMs to consider what action they - or their individual members - may be led to take on "this important legislative and social issue."
A lengthy discussion followed the reading of the letter and the Minute of Record (both of which are available from the Clerk, electronically or on paper, if you should wish to read them). This is the minute of our meeting which was approved:
"A letter from CFSC has been received asking Monthly Meetings to consider making a public statement on same-sex marriage in relation to pending Federal legislation. The clerk read the letter and the Minute of Record of Canadian Yearly Meeting, regarding same-sex marriage. Discussion followed on how Hamilton Monthly Meeting might respond. We are not clear as to whether Meeting is in unity in support - of the Minute of Record - of the pending Federal legislation - of accepting a request for marriage from a same-sex couple, at least one of whom is a member of Hamilton Monthly Meeting, so that the request would receive the same respect and care as other requests for marriage. This Meeting for Worship for Business is in unity on all three points, but we wish to ensure a wider Hamilton Monthly Meeting unity on these questions. The process for doing this will be to announce in the newsletter, and then hold, a brown bag discussion of these issues on 20th March 2005."
If this matter is of interest to you, please plan to bring a brown bag lunch and talk with other interested Hamilton Friends after Worship on the 20th of March. The sense of our gathering will be brought to business meeting on the first Thursday in April. The matter is considered time-sensitive because of the pending federal legislation on this issue.
Remember the spring retreat with Quaker writer Margaret Slavin, April 1st-3rd. There are still spaces left for Friends to attend as residents (at Crieff Hills Retreat Centre) or day participants. If you've written a cheque to Meeting for the accommodation costs but not handed in a registration form, please fill one out and give it to Beverly Shepard. (It's available in the December newsletter and in paper in the Meeting House - please leave one copy as the master.) If you've filled out a form and handed it in but haven't written a cheque, please do so!
Margaret will of course be at Crieff with us on the weekend, but she'll be with us in Hamilton from Monday till the following Saturday. WE STILL NEED OFFERS OF HOMES WHERE SHE CAN STAY during that week. Margaret is a delightful person and good company, but will also need time to herself and won't require constant attention! We do have an offer of accommodation with someone who can't provide transport, so if you're willing to drive as needed but don't have extra room in your home, perhaps a combination can be worked out. Contact any member of M&C (Jean, Carol Leigh, Rex, Helen B., or Beverly) if you can be of help.
On February 4, I was informed of a development in the situation of our Afghani refugee family, the Wissas, who have been in Dutch camps for about seven years. They have just been notified that their final application for immingrant status in Holland had been rejected. It is therefore likely that a deportation order could be issued any time. According to Arie VanEek of the Canadian Reformed Church, who has extensive experience in these matters, this is a good strategic point at which, upon coming under the jurisdiction of the Deportation Authorities, a refugee could show current evidence of support and request to be sent to Canada on compassionate and humanitarian grounds.
Having consulted Dick Preston in this respect, I wrote a letter stating that the Hamilton Quakers and the six members of the Refugee Sponsorship Group initiated by Gary Peters and myself were still committed to supporting the Wissa family's application for immigration to Canada. Amin Wissa, brother of the main applicant and designated correspondent for the Group of Six, has faxed this letter to a friend of the family who, living 20 minutes away from the refugee camp where the Wissas are at this time, will deliver the letter to them without delay.
May the Grace of God be with us all.
Louise
The "last person(s) to leave" before midday, Tuesday February 8 had failed to press the Run Program button on both heating thermostats, latch the rear door to the parking lot, and switch off all the lights. As a consequence, the outside front had been left lit, the gas furnace thermostat in the entrance area had been left with its Hold Temp button pressed at 23 so that the downstairs passage area was maintained at 23 degrees with the upstairs insufferably hot, and the back door could have been opened at will.
Should you have any suggestions for improving our economies and security, please convey them to the maintenance committee .
Reuven
Hamilton Meeting is responsible for promoting and administering HYM in June at Camp NeeKauNis. This means that we will have to do such things as advertising the event, pre-registering participants, and having someone at camp to collect money and the like. HYM meets the first weekend in June. We also host HYM in the fall of 2005.
Dawn
Hello all,
As contacts for your Monthly Meetings, I thought that perhaps you could mention to any Young Friends that the Ontario Young Friends group is having a retreat in Toronto on Feb. 18-20th (find Programme outline and permission form attached). I have found that we, as the Ontario Young Friends group, do not have a strong connection to our Monthly Meetings and I thought that because of this we may be missing a few YFs who might like to attend the retreat.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Also feel free to give any YF this email address if they have an questions or would like to be added to the OYF email list.
In peace,
Becca Ivanoff
Minutes can be read here, or from the Reading Room page.
In the December, 2004, newsletter, we provided brief descriptions of the work of Hamilton Monthly Meeting (HMM) committees and we encouraged each of you to think about committees in which you would like to participate.
Nominating Committee is asked to ascertain the interests, abilities and willingness of attenders and members to serve in the work of the Meeting and related bodies. One of us will contact you in the next weeks to discuss your leaning to participate in this work. Your involvement would start in September 2005 and, for HMM groups, last for one year.
From the information we receive from talking with you, Nominating Committee will discern the appropriate people to do the tasks of the committees and other groups. We will bring a ÒNominations List for 2005-2006Ó to the March 2005 M4W4B. It will be posted, possibly revised, and then it will be considered for approval at M4W4B the following month.
This month, we direct your attention to Canadian Yearly Meeting (CYM) committees and other national groups. (More information is on the CYM website at http://www.quaker.ca/fscym.html) We have also posted information about CYM, as well as our own committees, in the Meeting House and on the HMM website. We hope you will take time to read about the work of all of these groups.
CYM Nominating Committee has sent us a list of positions available to be filled in 2005. Please consider whether you may be able and available for one of these jobs.
Consultation and Renewal Working Group...................2 from May 2005 to August 2006
Incoming Clerk...............................................................2 for 1 year
Recording Clerk..............................................................2 for 1 year
Camp NeeKauNis Committee.......................................7 for 3 years
Canadian Friends Service Committee...........................7 for 3 years
Discipline Review Committee......................................1 for 3 years
Ecumenical/Interfaith Committee.................................1 for 3 years
Home Mission and Advancement.................................3 for 3 years
Yearly Meeting Programme Committee........................2 for 3 years; 1 for 1 year
Records Committee.......................................................2 for 3 years
Religious Education Committee.................................2 for 3 years; 1 for 1 year
Epistle Summarizing Committee.................................1 for 3 years; 1 for 1 year
Continuing Meeting of Ministry and Council..................2 for 3 years
Nominating Committee.................................................2 for 3 years
Quaker Earthcare Witness (formerly FCUN)....................1 for 3 years
Friends General Conference................................................1 for 3 years
Friends United Meeting Triennial, July 2005....................1 for 3 years
Friends World Committee for Consultation......................1 for 3 years
Canadian Council of Churches Commission on Justice and Peace....1 for 2 years
Kairos (Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiative) Program Committees:
-Environmental/Ecological Justice...........................................1 for 2 years
-Aboriginal Peoples...................................................................1 for 2 years
-Canadian Social Development....................................................1 for 2 years
-Global Economic Justice........................................................1 for 2 years
-Education and Animation........................................................1 for 2 years
-Committee on Human Rights......................................................1 for 2 years
Interfaith Committee on Chaplaincy in the Correctional Service of Canada...1 for 3 years
Project Ploughshares...............................................................1 for 3 years
The McMaster Muslim Students Association (MSA) is holding weekly lectures on Islam until March 2005. The lectures will address topics of interest for non-Muslims and will be followed by a question period.
WHEN: Tuesdays beginning on January 25th, 2005 from 7:00-8:00pm.
WHERE: Health Sciences Centre, Room 1A6, McMaster University
PRESENTERS: Dr. Yahya Fadlalla (Topics 1,2,3,4,7) and Dr. Aliya Khan
(Topics 5,6)
Halifax Monthly Meeting is considering obtaining a permanent Meeting House and has asked for advice from MMs which own their own MHs. If any Friends in our Meeting have words of wisdom to offer on the owning and maintaining of our Meeting House, please pass them on to Beverly, who will collate them and send them to (the other) HMM.
Waiting in line at a Deli checkout, I overheard the cashier apologizing to an elderly client for the long delay. The white-haired senior responded with a gentle smile and said: "It's allright. There is no hurry. God made more time than I can use".
Yours in friendship,
Louise
Last updated: 20 Feb 2005
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