H.M.M. Newsletter, December 2000

7 Butty Place, Hamilton, Ontario. L8S 2R5

Clerk: Roberta McGregor

Sunday mornings

9.30 Discussion group

11.00 Meeting for Worship

Coming Events:

Sunday, Dec. 17-FDS Christmas presentation after meeting. Friends are encouraged to bring a non-perishable food item, and festive snacks to share. Following this will be a short musical program by the Consort of Friends.

31 December - New Year's Eve party starting at 9 p.m.

Sunday, January 7, 2001 - Carol Dixon of the Canadian Friends Service Committee will speak after meeting. Her topic will be "The development of a Quaker International Affairs Program in Ottawa"

Friday, January 19 -, Potluck supper with Jenn Preston presenting on Native Issues

Feb3/4: visit from Staughton Lynd, Quaker activist from Youngstown, Ohio. Mark this weekend on your calendars! More details to follow.

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A Thought for Christmas:

Do you know what would have happened

If it had been Three Wise Women

Instead of Three Wise Men?

They would have asked directions,

Arrived on time,

Helped deliver the baby,

Cleaned the stable,

Made a casserole,

Brought practical gifts and

There would be Peace On Earth

(from the Internet, author unknown)

submitted by JJ.

MEETING FOR WORSHIP FOR BUSINESS

Monday, December 4, 2000

Present: Roberta McGregor (clerk), Harriet and Don Woodside, Denise Barron, Mona Callin, Helen Brink, John Milton, Dick and Betty Preston, Beverly Shepard, Jean Johnson, Ian Graham, Helen Paulin, Susan Wortman (recording clerk)

1. Meeting began with silent worship.

2. Minutes

2.1 The minutes of November 1, 2000 were approved with one correction:

3.3 - The correct spelling of the artist whose painting we are going to hang is Jane Davies, not Davis.

2.2 A called meeting was held on Sunday November 26 to further discuss the house purchased by Ian Graham at 117 Lower Horning for possible use by HMM. In attendance were: Helen Brink, Don and Harriet Woodside, Rex Barger, Denise Barron, Gail Brown, Mona Callin, Tom Edge, Helen Paulin, Ian Graham, John Milton, Roberta McGregor (clerk), Louise Trepanier, Kris Wilson-Yang and Ray Cunnington (who left before the minute was approved).

The minute reads as follows: HMM is not ready at this time to purchase the house at 117 Lower Horning Road. We thank Ian for an impetus to consider united social/spiritual action. How to proceed will be dealt with at the next M4W4B.

3. Matters Arising

3.1 Events:

3.1.1 The December potluck will be held on Friday, December 6. Roberta McGregor will lead a discussion on the `Education and Good Governance' minute from Canadian Yearly Meeting.

3.1.2 The Friends World Committee for Consultation report will be submitted by Mona Callin to the newsletter. At January M4W4B it will be decided if a potluck is desired.

3.1.3 The January potluck will be held on Friday, January 19, 2001. Jennifer Howe will present on native issues.

3.1.4 The New Year's eve party will be held on Sunday, December 31 at 9pm. Harriet and Don Woodside will coordinate this event, with the help of Helen Paulin and John Milton.

3.1.5 The Christmas pageant will be presented by First Day School on Sunday, December 17, after M4W. Contributions of munchies would be appreciated.

3.2 Visioning process, how to proceed

Many ideas were generated as to how to begin this process. It was decided to seek out a facilitator to assist us in developing a vision for our meeting. Ian Graham will approach someone from the Institute of Cultural Affairs Canada and Mona Callin will approach individuals at Toronto MM. Both will report back to the January M4W4B.

3.3 Items related to the visioning process

3.3.1 There has been a request from Friends Committee for Unity with Nature that the Society develop a minute on sustainability. The Sustainability Committee will work on developing a draft minute to bring back to M4W4B for input and development. The dates of the Sustainability Committee meetings that have this agenda will be brought to the attention of Meeting as whole by Peace and Social Action Committee.

3.3.2 Canadian Friends Service Committee has requested a response to the Quaker Peace Testimony in regards to Project Ploughshares. The Peace Discussion Group is considering this request and a draft response from this group would be welcomed at an upcoming M4W4B for input and discussion. The deadline for responses to CFSC is March 15, 2001. Peace and Social Action will also make meeting dates of the Peace Discussion Group concerning this issue known to Meeting at large.

3.3.3 Outreach - making Quakerism known to the wider community - has been carried out on an ad hoc basis for several years. It was agreed that an Outreach Committee be formed. This was referred to Nominating Committee. It was suggested that one of the first tasks of the Outreach Committee be to further refine the proposed Terms of Reference that were published in the newsletter earlier this year.

The issue of how individuals come to sit on committees was discussed at length. This will be discussed at the January M4W4B. In preparation for this discussion, three folders will be made available at M4W, each with a copy of Canadian Yearly Meeting Committee Guidelines. Anyone with information to share pertaining to this topic is encouraged to bring 3 copies to add to each of these folders.

3.4 Chanda Chevannes

3.4.1 The use of the meeting house was approved for Chanda Chevannes to film Carol Leigh Wehking telling a story about Elizabeth Fry, for inclusion in Chanda's film on Quakers, with a jails and justice focus.

3.4.2 It was agreed that a special M4W be held following the coffee and tea period after a regular M4W. Friends would be notified that any recording equipment present during regular M4W would not be used until the later meeting.

3.4.3 A previous video, Children of the Light, made by First Day School, might also be useful to Chanda. Individuals in this video will be contacted to request their permission, before it is released to her.

3.5 Held over items

3.5.1 Energy audit by Green Venture - deferred.

3.5.2 HMM joyfully welcomes Kelly and Kendra Graham into meeting as Associate Members. Beverly Shepard and Jean Johnson are on their welcoming committee.

3.5.3 HMM is happy to support Anna Peters for training as Clerk of Friends General Conference High School Friends, a position for which she is one of six selected by her peers at FGC for next years gathering. To this end, we wish to contribute $500 towards her travel expenses. Beverly Shepard and Ian Graham will draft this letter to Anna and her parents.

4 New Business

4.1 HMM will apply to `Home Depot' to establish a commercial account with them in the form of a rotating line of credit. We will ask for a $2,000 credit limit on this account. Members of Maintenance Committee will be authorized to make purchases on the account for work performed on behalf of the meeting, within the scope of the budget.

4.2 Beverly Shepard presented several items from Representative Meeting:

1) Meetings are reminded to take care that all receipts issued for charitable donations are for valid donations.

2) The Working Group on Sexual Harassment and Abuse will be asking Meetings to make a response to their report.

3) Clerk of Canadian Yearly Meeting reminded Meetings to consider discernment and right order in M4W4B.

4) Home Mission and Advancement Committee will pay for Inquirers Kits that Meetings order.

5) Meetings are reminded to submit statistics on time and with names complete and correct.

4.3 Staughton Lynd, a life-long peace and non-violence activist and a Quaker from Youngstown, Ohio, is coming to Hamilton. OPIRG is sponsoring a visit by Lynd on Saturday and Sunday, February 3 and 4, 2001. HMM is happy to offer to co-sponsor this visit, to support it financially with $200 (more if it is needed, upon request), to invite Lynd for M4W that Sunday, and to act as host for the afternoon discussion, following a luncheon potluck.

4 Meeting closed with silent worship.

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Report from the 20^th Triennial Gathering of Friends World Committee for Consultation

Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC)

is the only Quaker body that serves Friends worldwide. "It is an international resource for more than 200,000 Friends in the world today...Currently, FWCC is for Friends a catalyst for consultation, a sponsor of spiritual nurture, an actor on the ecumenical scene, a prompter of positive moves at the United Nations, and a supporter of international cooperation in Quaker mission and service...Through such diverse activities, the FWCC carries forward the global vision of the founders of the Society of Friends in the 17^th century...the horrors of World War 1 and the early Hitler regime culminated in the founding of FWCC in 1937, on the eve of World War 11" (Hadley, 1991, p. 1)

In July 2000, I had the privilege, as one of three CYM delegates, of attending the FWCC Triennial in New Hampshire, USA. It was an intense and exciting eight days. I had not attended a FWCC gathering before. I learned a lot about Quakerism worldwide. We were 260 Friends from 40 countries. Some of the daily worship sessions were conducted in the programmed format with a pastor and others were planned in the unprogrammed silent format familiar to Canadian Friends. With so many Friends gathered in one place, it was not surprising that the silence was limited. I enjoyed both forms of worship and the many occasions for the ministry of music, planned and spontaneous.

The Triennial was conducted in English with semi-simultaneous translation into French and Spanish. I was very impressed with the skill of the translators. From time to time a card saying "slow down"or an arrow pointing down would appear in the window of the translators booth. When the speakers remembered to give the translators time to paraphrase and translate, it gave the English speaking listeners time to reflect on what was being said.

In my Worship Sharing Group, which met after breakfast every morning, one of our leaders was from a Kenyan Programmed Meeting. (There are eleven Yearly Meetings in Kenya) The other leader was from the non-programmed Australia Yearly Meeting. After an initial uncertainty, a positive group process evolved. Our group of 11 was inter-generations (i.e. grandparents to young adults) and multi cultural with Friends from Austria, Britain, India, USA, Kenya, Australia and Canada. It was our home base and always set us up for the day. It was a warm and caring group, and we shared many things. We learned two Kenyan songs, on of which we sang at the Saturday evening Celebration.

Before the Triennial, I was aware that there were Quaker United Nations Offices (QUNOs) in Geneva and New York, but I knew very little about what they did and how they connected with Friends at home and around the world. I had many encounters with QUNO staff and learned a great deal about their organization, work and mandate. They are guided in their work by FWCC.

My principal role, on behalf of CYM at the Triennial, was to work with American Friends Service Committeee (AFSC) and Quaker Service Australia (QSA) to prepare a Minute urging FWCC to give a clear statement to the QUNOs to empower them to follow the United Nations Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples at the UN. Our Minute was well received and the QUNOs will follow through with this responsibility although it will be difficult to introduce into their already crowded work plan.

In a letter dated November 1999, Elizabeth Duke, General Secretary for FWCC, referring to the Triennial, wrote, "We pray that we may all be guided by God's spirit to live, worship and work together in love and harmony for that time." (July 22-30, 2000) I think we did this. I can do no better than to paraphrase the words of Canadian Louise Richardson Rorke who attended the founding meeting of FWCC in 1937..the feeling of fellowship seemed to pervade not only the meetings but every waking hour (Joliffe, 2000, p.166).

I encourage you to read the reports in the August 18^th issue of "The Friend" for a more complete account of the Triennial. The October issue of the Canadian Friend also contains interesting reports from the Triennial.

Mona Callin

(11/30/00)

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Hadley, H.M.. (1991). Quakers Worldwide - a history of FWWC. with William Sessions Ltd, York, England

Joliffe, K. (2000) Gold and frankincense and

myrrh - Stories by Louise Richardson Rorke.

Friends United Press.

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Hamilton Monthly Meeting Archives

Hamilton Monthly Meeting has been storing as many documents, photographs and artifacts as possible and has built up a substantial archive. This collection must be carefully maintained if it is to survive for future needs. Valuable photographs need to be catalogued for reference by researchers in the future. Newspaper clippings and other paper documents e.g. newsletters, must be itemized, photocopied on to acid-free paper, and stored in acid-free conditions.

The preservation and cataloguing of our collection is a major undertaking and our Archivist, Robbie Shepard needs help. Volunteers are needed. Tom Edge has already agreed to help. Anyone wishing to work on this project please contact Mona Callin.

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Report from Yonge St. Half Yearly Meeting

Thirty three Friends from south-western Ontario met at Simcoe-Muskoka Meetinghouse in Orillia on 21st day of tenth month, 2000 for the fall gathering of Yonge St. Half Yearly Meeting (HYM)

In the Business Meeting, the minutes of the spring 2000 HYM were read and corrected.

Mona Callin handed a working copy of the collated themes suggested at the spring gathering 2000 to the Yonge St. delegate. Yonge St. will be planning the programme for the 2001 spring HYM. Mona also promised to have "the actual comments on bristol board" collated into a three-ring binder in time for the Spring Gathering.

Cate Elliott was appointed, subject to consent, to be the bank co-signer with Eric Hall. There was concern regarding the food expenditures for the spring HYM. Coordinators are asked to be mindful of frugality at future HYMs and that costs balance fees.

Some Monthly Meetings have not submitted their fees of $20.00 per year to the Treasurer. Hamilton Meeting is on of those Meetings in default.

Following Meeting for Business, Mona Callin presented her report of the Friends World Committee for Consultation Triennial in New Hampshire in July 2000.

The afternoon programme consisted of a screening of a section of the video "A Force More Powerful" followed by small group discussion, groups reporting back and a commentary by David McKay, Field Secretary, invited guest.

It was a sunny fall day, the food provided by Simcoe-Muskoka Friends was wonderful and there was a warm and spiritual atmosphere throughout the day. It was a great day. We departed as a glorious sunset faded behind us.

Hamilton Meeting was represented by Beverly Shepard, Emily Shepard (Recording Clerk) and Mona Callin.

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Coffee, Tea & You!

Dec.17 Don Woodside

Dec. 24 Robbie McGregor

Dec. 31 Helen Paulin

Jan.7 Betty Preston

Jan.14 John Milton

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30th Wedding Anniversary Celebration!

We would like to invite Hamilton F/friends to join members of our family and other friends for a celebration of our 30th wedding anniversary. This will be at the Meeting House on Wednesday, December 27th. Drop by anytime between 4.30 and 7 p.m. for a light supper. At 6 p.m., we'll cut a cake and have a bit of collective fun. Instead of a gift, please bring a donation for the Mission Services Food Bank.

It would be a great help if you could let us know if you plan to come by December 17. We've put up a list on the bulletin board at the Meeting House. Please sign it or give us a call.

Don and Harriet Woodside

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SEE YOU IN 2001!