Saturday Morning Opening Ceremony, August 2, 2025, 9:30 to 10:15 a.m.
Presiding Clerk Rebecca Leuchak (Providence) welcomed Friends to the 365th New England Yearly Meeting Sessions, August 1 through 6, 2025, acknowledging Friends from all over the world who were attending virtually and on the University of Massachusetts Amherst Campus.
The Presiding Clerk spoke to this year’s theme, “Streams in the Desert,” encouraging Friends gathered to think of themselves as streams gathered in this place for refreshment and renewal, putting our attention during these challenging times on the love that is eternal, acknowledging the power God gives and the grace God bestows.
Members of the Clerks’ table introduced themselves to the body with their meeting affiliations, pronouns, and on whose Indigenous territory they reside:
- Presiding Clerk Rebecca Leuchak (Providence) on Narragansett, Wampanoag, and Pequot lands
- Recording clerks Megan Jensen (Monadnock) on Abenaki lands and Mark Conley (Providence) on Narragansett, Wampanoag, and Niantic lands
- Reading clerks Beth Bussiere-Nichols (Portland) on the land of the Wabanaki Alliance and Jesse Grace (West Richmond Friends Meeting, New Association of Friends) on Wabanaki land
Susanna Schell (Beacon Hill) read an Indigenous Land Acknowledgement, a version of which will be shared at the opening of each of our sessions for business this week to orient us in relationship with and awareness of the unceded Indigenous sovereign territory on which we met.
Over the week, we will open meeting for business sessions with variations of the Land Acknowledgement statement. The optional paragraphs in the middle of the Acknowledgement, chosen as led, offered a different way to consider our relationship with indigenous peoples and our shared history, relevant to the business at hand.
The Land Acknowledgement is appended to these minutes [a page reference will be inserted].
In this first meeting, the “New England Name” paragraph was read.
The reading clerks introduced this morning’s elders who held the meeting in prayer: Chris Jorgenson (Cambridge), Robert Dove McClellan (Fresh Pond), and Carole Rein (North Shore). They also introduced members of the pastoral care team: Susan Davies (Vassalboro), clerk; Jackie Stillwell (Monadnock), Janet Hough (Cobscook), Sadie Forsythe (Putney), Sarah Gant (Beacon Hill), Kristina Keefe-Perry (Three Rivers), and Jay O'Hara (Portland), and offered a few announcements and updates.
The Presiding Clerk welcomed visitors from other yearly meetings and representatives from organizations, inviting them to introduce themselves. The list in this minute includes all who introduced themselves over the course of business meetings at Sessions 2025
Yana Landowne, NYYM, Brooklyn, Miami
Willis Monroe, New Brunswick MM
Katrina McConaughey, Western YM, Plainfield, IN
Sean McConaughey, Western YM Superintendent
Chelsea Comas, Quaker UN Office
Anne Pomeroy, New Paltz MM
Megan Fair, Willington MM, Right Sharing of World Resources
Edith Landowne, Miami FM
Gil George, West Hills FM, Portland, OR; Sierra Cascades YM, FWCC
Shelly Costa, Swarthmore MM
Sarah Gada, Mattis MM, NJ Friend Publishing Corporation
Alison Forrester, York MM, Britain YM
S Y Bowland
Wendy Kohler, Baltimore YM
Katie Titus, Moses Brown
Eric Wilker, Moses Brown
April Richer, AFSC
Greg Sebanski, Burlington MM, Quaker Voluntary Service
Lyle Miller, Everence
Liz Yeats, Friends Meeting of Austin (TX), South Central YM, Yearly Meeting News Editor
Curt Torell, Board of Quaker House
James Underberg, New York YM
Susan Nahvi, FCNL
Rania Ma'ayeh, Head of Ramallah Friends School
Kelly Kellum, General Secretary of FUM
Pamela Williams, Germantown MM, PhYM
Rick Wilson, AFSC
Laura Everett, Executive Director, Mass. Council of Churches
2025-3 Sessions Worship Opportunities
Kristina Keefe Perry (Three Rivers) spoke of the worship opportunities this week, pointing out that there are worship formats for Friends of diverse ages, traditions, and spiritual conditions, on campus and virtually.
Kristina also encouraged Friends to consider if they feel called to volunteer their spiritual gifts as elders or mic spacers for events this week. She closed by sharing the poem “Blessing the Threshold” by Jan Richardson, which concludes:
And now that
you are here,
this blessing
can hardly believe
its good fortune
that you have finally arrived,
that it can drop everything
at last
to fling its arms wide
to you, crying
welcome,
welcome,
welcome.
The Presiding Clerk asked that we be mindful of holding one another tenderly in our interactions this week, recognizing our own and others’ individual fragility and fallibility, and appreciating that we have many opportunities for mutual growth and support, challenging each other in loving shared experience.
Friends were encouraged to wave and joyfully greet each other as the reading clerks introduced each quarterly and monthly meeting.
First time attenders were especially welcomed with a cheer from the gathered body.
2025-6 Spanish Language Interpretation Appreciation and Best Practice
Judy Goldberger and Jennifer Newman (both of Beacon Hill) oriented the gathered Friends to the practice of sequential interpretation that we would be using for our Bible Half Hours, requesting that Friends be mindful about leaving appropriate pauses for interpreters.
Friends settled into a period of worship, and Reading Clerk Jesse Grace led the body in singing “Rise and Shine.”
Kara Price (Storrs) then introduced the youth programming leaders and staff, welcomed all ages to stay for the Bible Half Hour, and oriented families to the young peoples’ schedule and offerings for the rest of the day.
Kenzie Burpee (Worcester), JYM grades K–6
Amy Greene (Cambridge) JHYM grades 6–12
Glen Cote (Cambridge) Young Adult Friends
Kirenia Criado Pérez (Havana, Cuba YM) presented the Bible Half Hours. Kirenia organized her remarks from two different perspectives on the Bible passages from the book of Isaiah which inspired this Yearly Meeting’s theme “Streams in the Desert.” First, she situated this chapter in the cultural and historical conditions of the times in which it was written, as she explained, in three major sections. Comparison with other parts of the Bible composed in the same period (Psalm 37 and the Book of Jeremiah) reveals a theme of contrast: two lands with big rivers, gardens, and abundance, two empires separated by a very hostile desert environment, and a journey the Hebrews took in fleeing Egypt in their search for the promised land, which represents an extreme challenge that may be read as parallel to our own times.
Exodus, according to Kirenia, is used in the Bible as a symbolic event that works as catalyst for shifting from one reality to another. It is a fusion of ideas of resistance and struggle against oppression. The overarching idea of the Biblical recounting of the Babylonian exile is that the faithful are not abandoned, that the desert is the place to feel and understand the presence of God. A presence without which we can not move forward to a new reality. We cannot achieve transformation until we are clear about what inspires and directs us.
In addition to this historical situating, she explored the way that Isaiah can be understood from the perspective of contemporary Quaker spirituality. We too are living the times of the desert exile as a people of faith. In the desert we recognize each other as equals and that the only way to survive is through love. It is in the desert that God gives us signs of the plenitude of his love and his peace.
We need to find our strength in community, to act in unity. But we also need to discern individual ways to make miracles. As a people united, do we have the patience and fortitude to trust in the promise from the Holy One: “Now it shall come to light. Shall you not know it? I will make a road through the wilderness and rivers in the desert” (Isaiah 43:19). Kirenia reminded us that God needs us. We are God’s hands, God’s ears, God’s eyes. She asked, “What is Spirit calling us to in this time?” Here is where the drama begins, she announced. “We are living in desert times, but something new is coming.” God is calling us to look, not backward from whence we came, but ahead to lean forward into the transformation that is possible and the creation of this new world!
We were well nourished and are grateful for Kirenia’s ministry delivered with compassionate wisdom and more than a little humor. Her message enriched our discernment and connected many threads of our week’s experience. She was accompanied during each Bible Half Hour throughout the week by elders for the body, including Betsy Cazden (Providence), Mary Chenaille (Worcester), Mey Hasbrook (Three Rivers), Chris Jorgenson (Cambridge), Phyllis Keenan (Northampton), Merrill Kohlhofer (North Shore), Jennifer McFadden (Providence), April Merleaux (Northampton), Wendy Schlotterbeck (Durham), and Virginia Swain (Worcester).
Sequential interpretation from Spanish to English was provided by Friends Mary Hopkins (Fresh Pond), Judy Goldberg (Beacon Hill), and Benigno Sanchez-Eppler (Northampton).
Yearly Meeting staff will post Kirenia Criado Pérez’s full Bible Half Hours on the website.
Saturday Afternoon, August 2, 2025, 1:15 to 3:15 p.m.
Meeting for Business sessions reconvened, centering with the song “Each Sacred Breath” by Sarina Partridge, led by E.C. Piper (Mt Toby).
Friends Ruah Swennerfelt (Middlebury), Robert Dove McClellan (Fresh Pond), Newell Isbell Shinn (Mt. Toby), Carol Rein (North Shore), and Phebe McCosker (Hanover) served as elders.
The Presiding Clerk welcomed Friends to settle into waiting worship and Minga Claggett-Borne (Cambridge) oriented our business towards right relationship with the indigenous Land Acknowledgement, with the “Amherst” optional paragraph selected [see page #].
Our reading clerks offered some housekeeping reminders and daily announcements.
2025-10 Requests from the Recording Clerks
To conserve time for our most worshipful work as a body, the recording clerks proposed to read back only those minutes that record a decision or otherwise test our sense of unity, but not all minutes of record or procedure.
Acknowledging that this depends on some judgment about which minutes call for shared approval, Friends were welcomed to ask to hear back any minutes they believe should be checked by the full body. Friends can review and add comments to a rough draft of Sessions minutes that can be found on the Linktree page.
Secondly, it can be helpful to refer to a saved record of the auto-generated text transcripts of our business. Sometimes recording clerks miss a detail such as a name or a date in notetaking.
Friends approved the recording clerks’ request to selectively read back Minutes, and to temporarily retain transcripts from Sessions meeting for business for review, just until the 2025 minutes are finalized.
The Presiding Clerk welcomed visitors from other yearly meetings or Quaker organizations to introduce themselves. A full list of visitors to the 2025 Sessions can be found in the minutes for Saturday [Minute 2025-2].
2025-12 A Message from the New England Yearly Meeting Secretary
New England Yearly Meeting Secretary Noah Merrill (Putney) testified about his past experiences bearing witness to religious violence and political oppression that crystallized a keen anger, frustration, and bitterness in him.
He cautioned that in his yearning for justice and his commitment to spreading awareness of atrocity, he fell prey to a kind of Gospel of despair and anguish, that lacked an invitation to Life, to that infinite ocean of light and love that flows over the ocean of darkness visioned by George Fox in his own time of violence and unrest.
The testimony of a profoundly persecuted Christian Iraqi refugee in Syria radically reoriented Noah’s heart away from the grip of anger, and toward the transformative power of divine peace, love, and joy.
Choosing joy, Noah urged us, is not to opt for passivity, or individualism, or a denial of oppression. Joy is a true liberation of the human spirit that empowers us to live with conviction and a peace that transcends and can truly confront evil.
We are invited to bear witness to truth, to be in relationship with the Spirit, to be nourished by fellowship, to unbind each others’ hearts and to go forth in service to our neighbor, not with the burden of anger, but with the powerful lightness of peace in the most difficult of times.
The full text of Noah’s poignant and pertinent message is appended to these minutes [the page # will be inserted].
The Presiding Clerk closed meeting with waiting worship, encouraging us to hold the faithful message from Noah on our hearts throughout this week of Sessions and beyond.
2025-13 Faith and Practice Revised Chapter: Testimony
Phebe McCosker (Hanover), clerk of the Faith and Practice Revision Committee, presented the current draft of the chapter on Testimonies. Sessions participants were invited to give a careful reading of the text, participate in one of the small-group sessions if so called, and offer any feedback to the committee. A further reworked draft will be distributed to monthly meetings to consider for the remainder of the year until the chapter comes back to the next Annual Sessions for approval.
The text is appended to these minutes.
The most essential testimony, from which follow all other Friends’ testimonies, is that each of us has within us access to divine truth, guidance, and love. As a way to more personally explore the content of this Faith and Practice chapter and its advices, Phoebe asked the gathered body to participate in an exercise of pairing off and reflecting on the query, “How is the Divine at work in your life today?”
2025-14 Introduction of the New Teen and Outreach Ministries Coordinator
Nia Thomas (Northampton) announced that, as Collee Williams (Northampton) is departing from the role of Teen and Outreach Ministries Coordinator, a search committee—Nia, Kenzie Burpee (Worcester), Newton Barletta (Framingham), Melissa Becce (Hartford), and Noah Bishop Merrill (Putney)—has discerned a new coordinator, Xinef Afriam. Xinef will officially begin serving in this new role in August.
The committee testifies that Xinef brings deep calling, commitment, and experience to this vital role. “Zee” spoke briefly of their enthusiasm and gratitude for this opportunity to show up for young Friends in service to the future of Quakers and our world, to nurture the expression and development of that of God in all.
The Presiding Clerk invited Friends to worshipfully hold our young Friends in the light and share any messages of appreciation or support for the life of the Spirit in our youth.
Friends witnessed that childhood or young adult exposure to Quaker faith, community, and programming (like retreats and Friends Camp) can have a lasting impact on a person’s sense of self and perspective. They carry this out into the world and the rest of their lives, even if not in ways we can always predict or know.
Kristina Keefe-Perry (Fresh Pond), standing in for Friends Camp Director Anna Hopkins Buller, and Friends Camp counselor Sage Paterson (Concord) presented a report on the good and relevant work happening at Friends Camp this year [the page # of Anna’s report will be inserted].
Friends closed the meeting with waiting worship.
Saturday Evening, August 2, 2025, 6:30 to 8:15 p.m.
2025-17 Memorial Meeting
The memorial meeting opened with a period of silence, out of which Kristina Keefe-Perry (Three Rivers) read an intergenerational story, The Invisible String by Patrice Karst, while the text and pictures were projected on a large screen.
The 21 memorial minutes were arranged by the quarterly affiliations of the Friends memorialized. For each grouping of one or two quarters, photos of the memorialized Friends were projected on the screen as the memorial minutes were read. After the minutes of each regional grouping were read, those assembled offered reflections coming out of a period of silent reflection.
Sunday Morning, August 3, 2025, 9:00 to 10:00 a.m.
2025-18 All-Ages Meeting for Worship
Kristina Keefe-Perry (Fresh Pond) welcomed all to the Sunday morning worship. Friends of all ages joined Meg Klepack (Portland), Jay O’Hara (Portland), and Jesse Grace (West Richmond Friends) in an opening song, “Come Let us Sing” (Anonymous). The story The Invisible Web by Patrice Karst was read aloud by Rachel Guaraldi (Burlington) and Newell Isbell Shinn (Mt. Toby) while the book’s illustrations were projected on overhead screens for Friends to follow along. Kristina then invited Friends into the “visible web” activity, saying that the book tells of how we are all connected, but sometimes we can feel alone—deserted—and dry. She reminded us that our connections to each other and to all of life are like a stream in the desert. Those connections bring us life and remind us that we must tend the ties that connect us. Friends were then encouraged to find a person in the room who they did not know and find some connection. Once established, they would tie their ribbons together. The pair would then reach out to another pair to do the same, creating a four-ribbon length of connection. A period of expectant waiting worship followed. As we concluded worship with the song “I’ve Got Peace Like a River/Paz Como Rio,” Friends were asked to take their tied blue ribbons to a gathering place at the front of the room. There they rested during the rest of the Sessions week, visually reminding all of us of many stream(er)s in the desert.
Sunday Afternoon, August 3, 2025, 3:00 to 5:00 p.m.
Peter Blood (Mt Toby) and a group of Friends centered the worshipful reopening of our business sessions by leading us in the song, “Wait in the Light” (w: Alec Davison, m: Tony Biggin).
Friends Maggie Fogarty (Dover), Janet Hough (Cobscook), Ruah Swennerfelt (Middlebury), and Virginia Swain (Worcester) served as elders.
The Presiding Clerk welcomed Friends to settle into waiting worship and Cynthia Ganung (Wellesley) grounded our work together with the Indigenous Land Acknowledgement. The “Peace Testimony” paragraph was read at this meeting [see page #].
Our reading clerks offered some housekeeping reminders and daily announcements.
The Presiding Clerk welcomed visitors from other yearly meetings or representatives from organizations (see list of all visitors in Minute 2025-2).
Our reading clerks read the 2025 Epistle from Britain Yearly Meeting.
2025-21 First Reading of Nominations
Joined by the full committee, Jackie Stillwell (Monadnock), outgoing clerk of the Nominating Committee, spoke of her gratitude to all who are sharing their gifts and allowing Spirit to work through them. This leading of the Spirit may involve committee service, but it also involves our service in the community of Friends and in the world.
The clerk of Nominating Committee directed Friends to give a careful read of the nominating slate in the advance documents, noting a few changes and additions to the published slate.
Friends with concerns or suggestions were invited to bring feedback to a member of the Nominating Committee.
2025-22 Ministry and Counsel Report
On behalf of Carl Williams (Burlington), clerk of Ministry and Counsel, Yearly Meeting Secretary Noah Bishop Merrill (Putney) presented a report on experiments in the work of ministry and counsel in our Yearly Meeting.
In recent years, the Yearly Meeting has laid aside the structure of the Ministry and Counsel Committee, noting that its multiple responsibilities were too many for one body to carry.
During this hiatus, the Yearly Meeting has experimented with ways to best meet these responsibilities, whether creating new activities and groups or returning to old forms. Last year (2024) there was a recognition of the need for deepened attention to and prioritization of these responsibilities, which include:
- Conducting a review of purpose, care, and oversight for quarterly meetings
- Creating a “Ministry and Eldership Resource Group”
- Appointing a rising clerk of Ministry and Counsel
This year, there is only one recommendation, which appears in the Unity Agenda: To designate the Meeting Accompaniment Group (a body provisionally charged by the 2022 Sessions to work with monthly meetings in their journeys) as a standing committee of the Yearly Meeting.
The Secretary ended with an image of a “web of care” held by Friends with responsibilities across our Yearly Meeting, all of whom have met regularly in order to discern what new forms might be arising to meet the Yearly Meeting’s spiritual needs.
2025-23 Report from Moses Brown School
Moses Brown School has traditionally provided an annual written report to Sessions. Katie Titus, Head of School for Moses Brown, gave a presentation from the school. She expressed a hope that this will begin a renewal of deeper relationship between the school and the Yearly Meeting.
In her report, she explained the organizational structure of the school and emphasized that more than one third of the board members of the school are Friends. She shared a statistic that 772 students are enrolled, all of whom attend weekly meeting for worship. She included information on ways in which Quaker practice is woven into the life of the school outside of worship.
The school is beginning a process of imagining the future of the school, using the theme of “Lighting the Way.” Part of this reimagining is a closer relationship to the Yearly Meeting. Katie invited Friends to reflect on whether they might be called to enter a relationship with Moses Brown School.
2025-24 Worship and Consideration of Queries on the Conflict in Israel-Palestine
Noting that there are several opportunities this week for Friends to engage with each other and with Spirit on the matter of the Israel-Palestine Conflict, the Presiding Clerk encouraged the gathered body to enter into a worshipful time together, in order to reflect on how our hearts are called.
To center our worship, the body was asked to consider the following queries:
- What are we holding in our hearts as we wrestle with the pain and suffering we see in Palestine and Israel?
- Are we listening in our hearts for the voice of God?
Those assembled entered a period of silence and vocal ministry around these queries, sharing lived experiences in grappling with this conflict.
Upon closing of the worship period, the Presiding Clerk asked those in attendance to hold another query after the rise of meeting: How can we rise to manifest our testimonies in this moment?
Sunday Evening, August 3, 2025, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Presiding Clerk Rebecca Leuchak (Providence) welcomed Friends back to worshipful business together.
Kristna Evans (Durham), Ada Kerman (Monadnock), and Carole Rein (North Shore) served as elders for this meeting.
Susanna Schell (Beacon Hill) read the Land Acknowledgement, with the “Federal Indian Policy” paragraph selected to be read at this meeting (see Appendix, pg #).
The reading clerks offered a few announcements and the Presiding Clerk invited visitors to introduce themselves.
Our reading clerks read the epistle from the 2024 Baltimore Yearly Meeting.
2025-26 Message from Cuba Yearly Meeting
Friends heard a prerecorded address from Jorge Luis Peña Reyes, clerk of Cuba Yearly Meeting, on the occasion of the Cuba Yearly Meeting’s 125th anniversary, celebrating the longstanding relationship between Friends of New England and Cuba.
Mary Hopkins offered an interpretation of the Spanish into English.
Jorge’s message appears in the Appendix, page #.
2025-27 Reports of Work with Friends Organizations
Judy Goldberger (Beacon Hill), Mary Hopkins (Fresh Pond), Noah Merrill (Putney), Nia Thomas (Northampton), and Jonathan Vogel-Bourne (Cambridge) shared news of some of the work that they have witnessed or participated in with Friends World Committee for Consultation.
Friends heard about the recent FWCC meeting of the Section of the Americas held in Arizona. The theme of the conference was “Building the Future as Way Opens,” and Quakers from all over South, Central and North America wrestled with the questions “How do you know when God is speaking to you?” and “Have you ever known a time when you felt God was absent, and how did you recognize when way was opened?”
Friends also learned of work in internal conflict resolution in Bolivia, the initiation of a project to connect people in Brazil who have sent queries about the Quakers, and FWCC Quaker Connect, a program for meetings and churches across the Americas for renewal and deepening their Quaker practice. All were invited to consider whether they might feel called to work with FWCC in the future.
Marian Baker (Weare) shared some of the history of United Society of Friends Women International, as well as reporting on some of its present work and accomplishments. Young Adult Friends from around the world are involved and active in the organization. As one example of USFW work: Women are planting trees in Kenya, thanks to a grant from Quaker Earthcare Witness. This process is not only greening an area that suffered massive deforestation but is also providing an opportunity for the women involved to learn how to write grants.
2025-28 Quaker Indigenous Boarding School Research Group Report
Janet Hough (Cobscook) presented a report on behalf of the Quaker Indigenous Boarding Schools Research Group (see page #).
In its report, the committee documented its work in meeting the charges given it since its formation. At this point, the Research Group asked to be laid down. As part of its charge “to suggest next steps,” the committee “recommend[ed] that a new group be charged with encouraging and coordinating the work of individual Friends called to take up this next step in understanding this disturbing and consequential period in the life of Quakerism. We would encourage this working group on ‘New England Friends and the forced assimilation of Indigenous Peoples’ to publish or otherwise disseminate salient research findings whenever practical.”
While Friends were in unity to lay down the current working group, there was not clarity to adopt the group’s proposal for next steps in the process. Many Friends felt that at this point, an emphasis on further research was not adequate to the need, asking that this restructuring also continue the reparative and restorative relationship-building work that has already begun.
The recording clerks were asked to bring a minute to a future business meeting that reflected a shift in the purpose of any future restructuring.
2025-29 Closing
Meeting closed with a period of worship.
Monday Morning, August 4, 2025, 9:15 to 11:15 a.m.
E.C. Piper (Mt Toby) opened with the song “Golden Thread” by Te Martin.
Rebecca McKenzie (Quaker City)grounded our meeting with the Land Acknowledgement. The “New England Name” paragraph was selected to be read at this meeting (see page #).
Friends Lynn Taber (Fresh Pond), Allison Randall (Keene), Beth Collea (Dover), and Janet Hough (Cobscook) served as elders for the morning.
Our reading clerks offered daily announcements.
The Presiding Clerk invited visitors from other yearly meetings or representatives from organizations to introduce themselves.
2025-31 ARCH Program Coordinator Report
Patricia Muldoon (Cambridge), ARCH Coordinator, provided a report on the programs and ministry of the New England Yearly Meeting Aging Resources Consultation and Help program, which offers support to Friends facing the end of life, to their caregivers, and to Friends who are called to offer pastoral support.
2025-32 Report from New England Yearly Meeting Secretary and Program Director
Noah Bishop Merrill, Secretary, and Nia Thomas, Program Director, offered a report on their work for New England Yearly Meeting over the past year.
An ongoing Visioning Process has been gauging the needs, priorities, and possibilities for reshaping our NEYM Sessions for 2026 and beyond. Noah assured Friends that updates about the logistics and plans for the 2026 Sessions will be shared in a timely fashion.
Year-round Yearly Meeting programming offers retreats, workshops, support to meetings and more for Friends of different ages and locations.
The Yearly Meeting is continually reassessing and experimenting with ways to support New England Friends’ ministries and community connections, in balance with the limits of capacity and resources.
[The full Report appears on page #.]
2025-33 Development Initiatives and Financial Stewardship Report
Noah Bishop Merrill presented some of the initiatives that have been established for supporting ministries and financial sustainability.
Michael Wadja (Bennington), called to a ministry in fundraising, has begun working with the Yearly Meeting to strengthen the financial position of New England Yearly Meeting.
Friends serving on a newly developed Living Stream Travel Team intend to visit monthly meetings to deepen relationships between New England Friends and to raise awareness of the financial needs of local and Yearly Meeting ministries, with a goal of broadening the donor base and increasing overall financial contributions.
Noah further encouraged Friends to give to New England Yearly Meeting; options include a new GiveMonthly subscription and a New England Yearly Meeting Venmo account that can receive individual gifts.
Friends closed with waiting worship.
Sunday Afternoon, August 3, 1:15 to 2:45 p.m.
2025-35 Plenary
Kristen Wilson (Framingham) introduced NEYM 2025 Sessions plenary speaker, Gretchen Baker-Smith (Westport), who is a dear Friend well known and beloved in our community as she has worked for decades in the nurture of our youth programs and the support of our monthly meetings in many ways. She learned from her many years working with the youth of our Yearly Meeting that the most useful and effective question is often: “How can I help?” It has become in a way, her mantra.
Gretchen shared reflections on her many years of service among Friends and her own perspective on our Yearly Meeting’s spiritual condition. Recognizing that our times are both exquisitely beautiful and horribly ugly, breathtakingly compassionate and terribly mean, brimming with courage and also brutal selfishness, she asked us to lay down for the moment our bundles of care and to come together in listening for the Spirit that is rising among us.
Gretchen invited us into the space of waiting for Spirit to rise among us. And rather than trying hard to think about how we are called, to open ourselves to the message that will come to us if we only listen. She urged us to find the watering holes in the desert of our times and to see these places, for each of us perhaps unique, as the source of hope. And she urged us to act, forgoing perfection, effectiveness, and concern for results. Her hope she finds in our community where each can be faithful in this moment, each of us can help others to do the same.
Gretchen closed with a song that came to her during a year of considerable challenges. A song that she sings and that has been one of her own places for finding hope—a watering hole.
There is a river
That flows through all beings.
Living water, grace filled streams.
Whatever you call it
However you pray
This well spring of love
Seeps in all of our days.
Monday Evening, August 4, 7:00 p.m.
2025-36 Musical Plenary
Singer/songwriter Kim Moberg is an Alaska native (Tlingit) artist and activist who uses music and spoken word as medicine and to activate positive change in the world. Along with Heather Swanson on violin, she performed her composition “The Seven Fires Prophecy Suite for Humanity” (2023) in an all-ages gathering. This original nine-song suite tells the ancient yet relevant Anishinaabe legend “The Seven Fires Prophecy” and the movements are: The First Fire: Exodus; The Second Fire: Lost; The Third Fire: The River; The Fourth Fire: Two Faces; The Fifth Fire: The Promise; The Sixth Fire: The Cup of Life; The Seventh Fire: The Crossroads; The Eighth Fire: The Wings of the Winds; and The Ninth Fire: The Past and the Present. Through powerful verse and melody, Kim communicated deep feelings of melancholy and heartbreak, healing and social consciousness. She spoke about the underlying message of the Seven Fires Prophecy: "My belief is we can light that eighth fire. We can live together in peace. We can live together in harmony and respect for all living things. Our superpower is love. And together we can choose to make our world a better place because we are one."
Monday Afternoon, August 4, 2025, 3:00 to 5:00 p.m.
E.C. Piper (Mount Toby) opened with her own song, “There Is a Way.”
Kathy Olsen (East Sandwich), Suzanna Schell (Beacon Hill), and Lucy Meadows (Beacon Hill) served as elders holding this session.
Mary Link (Mt Toby) grounded our business together with the Land Acknowledgement. The “Confronting Genocide” paragraph was selected to be read at this meeting [see page #].
The Presiding Clerk invited visiting Friends to introduce themselves, and the reading clerks offered a few daily announcements.
2025-38 Yearly Meeting Treasurer’s Report
Marian Dalton (Brunswick) presented a report as treasurer of the New England Yearly Meeting.
The Yearly Meeting operating expenses have exceeded our income for several years now. Ongoing work from Friends aims to “right-size” our programmatic, administrative, and staff spending, and to deepen and broaden the donor pool of New England Yearly Meeting.
Further details can be found in the 2025 Treasurer’s Report (see page #).
2025-39 New England Yearly Meeting 2026 Budget
Scott Drysdale (Hanover), clerk of the NEYM Finance Committee, presented a first reading of the proposed 2026 NEYM Budget. He detailed some of the decisions and adjustments the committee made to best match expected income and expenses in the coming year, while continuing to support a vital Yearly Meeting.
Friends were invited to attend a listening session during Sessions to get more detailed information and offer feedback on the budget before it is presented for approval.
2025-40 Permanent Board Report
Susan Davies (Vassalboro) presented her report as clerk of the New England Yearly Meeting Permanent Board.
Permanent Board serves the Yearly Meeting by coordinating and overseeing work done outside of, and delegated by, Annual Sessions.
Susan offered appreciation for Friends who are stepping down from important roles of service in the Yearly Meeting and for the Friends stepping into new nominations.
More details can be found in the published Permanent Board Report (see page #).
2025-41 Legal Action on Immigration and Religious Freedom
Noah Bishop Merrill (Putney) presented an update on New England Yearly Meeting’s joint participation in a lawsuit with several other religious bodies to block U.S. immigration enforcement officers from entering houses of worship in their official capacities.
Although aware that Quakers have historically tended to avoid the practice of litigious engagement, the Presiding Clerk and Secretary did reach clarity that this exceptional action was consistent with, even demanded by, Friends’ conviction that every person should have the right to safely, peacefully gather for worship.
A judge has granted a preliminary injunction preventing Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers from entering the houses of worship of the claimants to this lawsuit; next intended steps include pursuing a broader, equal claim to protection in any house of worship across the country.
Friends expressed gratitude for those who are working on this matter and for immigration rights broadly, and for the unexpected testimony to our beliefs found in these legal briefs.
The Presiding Clerk welcomed visitor Rania Ma'ayeh, Head of Ramallah Friends School. Rania spoke to the condition of the students and staff striving to live and attend their studies through the current crisis in Palestine.
Friends settled into waiting worship to close.
Tuesday Morning, August 5, 2025, 9:15 to 11:15 a.m.
Friends transitioned from Bible Half Hour to business meeting with a brief stretch and settled into worship together.
Jonathan Vogel-Bourne (Cambridge) and Mey Hasbrook (Three Rivers) grounded our business together with the Land Acknowledgement. The “Federal Indian Policy” paragraph was selected to be read at this meeting [see page #].
Our business was held by elders Addison Brown (Mount Toby), Phebe McKosker (Hanover), Virginia Swain (Worcester), Jackie Stillwell (Monadnock), and Janet Hough (Cobscook).
The Presiding Clerk welcomed visitors to introduce themselves, and Laura Everett from the Massachusetts Council of Churches rose to further address the meeting as a claimant in a different lawsuit opposing immigration enforcement action in places of worship.
She exhorted us, “Because we have privilege from the lawsuit currently under injunction, what can we do that other churches cannot do? We have some protection, clear legal standing—use that to protect, to stand with those who are not protected, because we are stronger together!”
Marches, vigils, and actions have been done, more are planned. Friends were invited to join in and discern more ways to get involved.
The reading clerks offered daily announcements.
In Spanish, Judy Goldberger (Beacon Hill) read aloud a letter of greeting from the Iglesia de los Amigos Cuáqueros Richmond (Indiana), signed by two Friends who could not travel safely to be with us. The reading clerks followed with an English translation. The letter is appended to these minutes [see page #].
The Presiding Clerk brought forward the Unity Agenda, which presents annually recurring items requiring approval of the Yearly Meeting at Sessions as one item.
Friends approved the Unity Agenda as presented in the Advance Documents, amended by the corrections brought forward by the Nominating Committee at Sunday afternoon’s meeting for business.
2025-45 Reflections on the Role of Quarterly Meetings
A Yearly Meeting priority in recent years has been working with quarterly meetings to discern and strengthen the work that our quarterly meetings are most called to pursue.
Our ministries as Friends are active locally, regionally, and globally. Discernment of our witness can and should rise from individual Friends, from monthly meetings and from quarterly meetings. Empowering quarterly meetings to carry the leadings rising among Friends can help seasonclarify, season, and distribute the priorities of our Yearly Meeting.
One example can be found in the work of Falmouth Quarterly Meeting in witness for LGBTQIA+ rights awareness and advocacy.
Fritz Weiss (Portland) and others from Falmouth Quarterly Meeting described how a minute from Brunswick Monthly Meeting was shared with the rest of their Quarter, inspiring other monthly meetings in turn to record their own Minutes of LGBTQIA+ solidarity. One Friend noted that there is real urgency in these matters. Governmental actions are moving fast to enact exclusionary policy. Our allyship is needed now.
The text of minutes from Brunswick MM, Durham MM, and Portland MM that were read aloud to the body can be found on page #.
New England Friends are encouraged to take this and other concerns home to their local monthly and quarterly meetings, and similarly to allow their leadings to rise among them, to be witnesses in fulfilment of our Friends testimonies in all our spheres.
The Presiding Clerk then asked the body to reflect on this presentation from Falmouth Quarter and Friends’ own experiences, and to share on three queries in small groups, requesting that each small group record their findings and send notes to the Presiding Clerk to be compiled to inform further work supporting quarterly meeting vitality:
- How can New England Yearly Meeting use quarterly meetings to create space for deep corporate discernment between Sessions?
- Are there specific topics that you suggest the quarterly meetings take up in 2025 and 2026 in preparation for 2026 Sessions?
- What has made it difficult for some quarterly meetings to prosper and what can we do to minimize these difficulties?
The body closed with waiting worship.
Tuesday Afternoon, August 5, 2025, 3:00 to 5:00 p.m.
Presiding Clerk Rebecca Leuchak welcomed Friends back to worshipful business together.
Katie Bond (Beacon Hill), Cynthia Ganung (Wellesley), Eleanor Godway (Hartford), and Robert Dove McClellan (Fresh Pond) served as elders for this meeting.
Willard Peabody (Middlebury) grounded our business together with the Land Acknowledgement. No optional paragraph was selected to be read at this meeting.
The reading clerks offered a few announcements relevant to the remainder of the day and for the next day. The Presiding Clerk invited visitors to introduce themselves. There were no new visitors at this meeting.
Members of Puente de Amigos led the gathered body in an energetic singalong.
Kirenia Criado Pérez read the 2025 epistle from Cuba Yearly Meeting in Spanish, followed by an English translation from the reading clerks.
The reading clerks then read an epistle from the Black, Brown, Indigenous and People of Color Friends Gathering, held on May 31 of this year, urging all Friends to raise up anti-racist awareness in all their discernment together.
2025-49 Revised Minute on Quaker Indigenous Boarding Schools Research Group
Returning to the item presented on Sunday evening, the recording clerks brought forward for consideration a revised minute for the Quaker Indigenous Boarding Schools Research Group:
Friends approved the laying down of the Quaker Indigenous Boarding School Research Group with gratitude for the faithful, heartbreaking report that these Friends compiled for us in fulfillment of the charge laid on them by 2022 Sessions. All their work is the foundation for our shared, ongoing work on this matter.
Having moved together to acknowledge harms and uncover the truth of New England Yearly Meeting’s complicity and culpability in forced assimilation, we heard that it is time to shift our attention to the appropriate next phases. We are resolved to do so, with love and conviction, laboring to address past and lasting harm.
The outgoing Research Group urged New England Friends to engage more broadly with the work that they began. We charged Permanent Board with establishing a structure to support monthly meetings, individual Friends, and other Quaker organizations to use their particular resources to seek out archival records, oral histories, and other sources of information that could help answer the appeal from impacted communities to bring what we learn into the light of day.
We also asked Permanent Board (informed by wisdom from the Right Relationship Resource Group, members of the outgoing Quaker Indigenous Boarding School Research Group, the Coordinating & Advisory committee, the Black Quaker Project, and any other relevant Friends) to discern a structure to support continuity in the reparative relationship-building and knowledge-sharing that has already begun. This should be the foundation for next steps we take toward retrospective justice.
We expect that what we learn will help Spirit lead our Yearly Meeting to further action. Conscious of mistakes of the past, Friends are reminded to do this work in all humility, mindful to consult those who suffer from previous well-intentioned but destructive actions as we travel the road to right relationship.
Friends approved this minute, with one Friend further reminding us that this is not new work and exhorting us not to slacken our momentum in these times when so much is required of us. Each Friend, monthly meeting, and quarterly meeting is urged to take up the call to engage in the work of examining our patterns of oppression, acknowledging and making amends for harm, and centering justice in all our ministries, as prompted by the 2024 FWCC Plenary in Johannesburg, “Living the Spirit of Ubuntu”:
We grieve with God for the exponential impact of historical and ongoing injustice. This includes the impact of colonisation, forced displacement, slavery, economic exploitation and racism. We are called to disrupt patterns of oppression and division, to acknowledge offences, to challenge false notions of white supremacy, to repudiate doctrines of discovery, to make amends and to work for reparative and retrospective justice. We are called in our Quaker communities to be patterns and examples, to share gifts and skills, to be brave, to become radically inclusive and to celebrate diversity. Are we all ready to take up these callings?
2025-50 Approval of the Yearly Meeting Budget
Having had previous opportunities at Sessions to ask questions and to give feedback to the Finance Committee, Friends approved the 2026 Budget as presented by Finance Committee clerk, Scot Drysdale (Hanover).
2025-51 New England Yearly Meeting Epistle First Reading
The 2025 Yearly Meeting Epistle Committee—William Monroe (Providence), Morgan Wilson (Framingham), Leisa Stamm (Hartford), and Piper Brossard (Providence)—presented a first draft of this year’s New England Yearly Meeting Epistle, inviting feedback from Friends before the final draft would be presented Wednesday morning.
2025-52 Extended Worship in Consideration of the Conflict in Israel-Palestine
At the call of the Presiding Clerk, the body entered an extended period of worship around “what we may be called to do” concerning the conflict in Israel-Palestine. Messages that emerged were deep and centered.
Since this worship occurred during a meeting for business, the recording clerks were asked to attempt to give a sense of some of what came forward in spoken ministry, without attribution or direct quotation. The Presiding Clerk further charged the recording clerks to bring this summary forward at the next meeting for business, in case the sense of the meeting might be of assistance for future discernment.
The meeting closed with a brief period of further waiting worship.
Wednesday Morning, August 6, 2025, 9:15 to 10:15 a.m.
E.C. Piper (Mt Toby) opened our final business session with an original song, “Four Queries on New Beginnings.”
Elders Chris Hansen (Burlington), Kathy Olsen (East Sandwich), Allison Randall (Keene), Beth Collea (Dover), and Katie Bond (Beacon Hill) held our business in prayerful Spirit.
Gordon Bugbee (Beacon Hill) helped ground our work together with a Land Acknowledgement. The “Peace Testimony” paragraph was selected to be read at this meeting (see page #).
The Presiding Clerk invited Friends into a moment of worship for the realization of lasting world peace, on the anniversary of the 1945 bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The reading clerks offered daily announcements.
2025-55 Sessions Coordinator Report
Elizabeth Hacala, Events Coordinator for New England Yearly Meeting, gave a report on the 2025 Annual Sessions. She celebrated that this year brought some changes to Sessions, and some continuity. Sessions is a time of special renewal of connections and ministry.
This year Sessions had the highest attendance since we began hybrid gatherings. Nearly 100 more people joined us on campus this year than either of the past two years. Video conference participation remains very robust, with 117 Friends connecting to Sessions virtually.
Commuter attendance rose this year from under 30 to 175. This may suggest that there is a desire among Friends to have a way to attend Sessions even if a multi-day residential program is not the right fit. Elizabeth wondered if the location of Sessions at Amherst, Massachusetts, contributed to the rise in attendance and commuter participation.
Next year will bring yet more changes and we can look forward to the ways in which, no matter the location or logistics, so much of what Sessions is, is what Friends bring to it when we are together.
2025-56 Presentation from Ramallah Friends School
Rania Ma'ayeh, Head of Ramallah Friends School, addressed Friends, introducing us to images and stories of the students and staff who she described as striving to live a life of dignity and peace—a “living expression of what is possible even under impossible conditions.”
Friends watched a video compilation of scenes, hopeful and challenging, from day-to-day life at the Ramallah Friends School, illustrating Rania’s assertion that the school is not only an institution of learning, but also a sanctuary of resilience.
The Foundation of Tomorrow is a transformative initiative by Ramallah Friends School to expand educational opportunities and enhance facilities for students in Palestine. Rania encouraged Friends to “pray for us, hold us in the Light, and financially uphold our operations,” as USAID termination has left the school struggling to cover $400,000 of need.
Rania urged us to reach out to others to share the story of Ramallah Friends School, saying, “Telling our stories is needed. Indeed, it is what is most needed. Let them echo in your homes, your communities, your ministries. … Learning is resistance. Justice begins in the classroom.”
2025-57 Discerned Action in Response to the Israel-Palestine Crisis
On Tuesday afternoon, the Presiding Clerk asked Friends to settle into worship together and search our hearts for how God is calling us now. The recording clerks were requested to gather a general sense of the worship. On Wednesday morning, out of a worship following Rania Ma'ayeh’s presentation, the recording clerks shared the following:
The living stream of worship had many tributaries, but it was clear that Israel-Palestine is on our minds. The living waters of divine refreshment encourage us to continue our journey, even as the difficulty before us sometimes tempts us to remain in a desert of despair.
Many Friends hunger for bold action, and we share a sense that our hearts yearn to be of help to and be in public allyship with those who suffer. Friends were clear that our witnessing community is bigger than these Sessions, and that our call to act will extend beyond this week. Our discernment is unfinished, yet we are not satisfied to leave this gathering without some commitment to a collective witness to the ongoing evil occurring in Gaza and owning our complicity in it.
The scale of catastrophe is daunting and heartbreaking. Yet we are called to be faithful and courageous. Whether we are successful is beyond our control. We must raise up our voices and live into our most fundamental testimonies, that there is that of God in every person, that we honor and speak the truth, that “we utterly deny all outward wars, strife, and fighting with outward weapons, for any end, or under any pretense whatsoever.”
We believe that mutual support, inspiration, and knowledge-sharing is key. Not all will be called to the same ministries, and many Friends are already active, individually and as local meetings. However, shared discernment is our faith practice.
The meeting charged the Presiding Clerk and the Permanent Board with scheduling a special called meeting of New England Friends as soon as possible, before 2025 comes to a close, for the purpose of sharing and encouraging work that is already being done in the Yearly Meeting, and worshipfully discerning a corporate response to the crisis in Gaza.
Friends approved this minute.
The business meeting sang together to welcome the children from Youth Programming to join for the Closing Ceremony.
Wednesday Morning Closing Ceremony, August 6, 2025, 10:15 to 11:15 a.m.
2025-59 Youth Program Epistles
Friends heard Epistles read from each of the youth meetings of New England Yearly Meeting:
- Under 5s, presented by Coordinator Rainer Humphries (Hartford)
- Junior Yearly Meeting, presented by Eowyn Hebert (Framingham) accompanied by Coordinator Kenzie Burpee (Worcester).
- Junior High Yearly Meeting, presented by Nation Bhardwaj (no MM) and Arthur Eller Fitze (Portland)
- Young Friends, presented by [names will be inserted] who finished by holding up a banner of thanks for the outgoing Teen Ministries and Outreach Coordinator, Collee Williams
(The youth programs epistles are included starting on page #.)
2025-60 2025 New England Yearly Meeting Epistle
William Monroe (Providence) and Leisa Stamm (Hartford) read the final draft of the 2025 NEYM Epistle.
2025-61 Interpreter Appreciation
This year we had a particularly robust inclusion of Spanish-English interpretation at Sessions and the Presiding Clerk welcomed the interpreters who served us this week to the front for a moment of recognition. Our work together is broadened and deepened by a diversity of voices, and these Friends’ service helped bring so much richness to our Sessions:
Benigno Sánchez-Eppler (Northampton)
Judy Goldberger (Beacon Hill)
Mary Hopkins (Fresh Pond)
Hope Bastian (Beacon Hill)
Martha Maylén Basulto (no MM)
Susannah McCandless (Middlebury)
Len Cadwallader (Hanover)
Richard Lindo (Framingham)
2025-62 Special Appreciation for Our Cuban Friends
The Presiding Clerk read aloud the travelling minute carried by Kirenia Criado Pérez, and Friends approved its endorsement by the New England Yearly Meeting, with gratitude and heartfelt well-wishes for her continued travels, and love and appreciation to bring home to Cuban Friends.
[The travel minute and endorsement will be appended.]
Friends then heard and approved a Minute of Appreciation and Celebration on the Occasion of Cuba Yearly Meeting’s 125th Anniversary from the Presiding Clerk of New England Yearly Meeting to the Friends of Cuba Yearly Meeting (see page #).
Out of a brief period of silent worship, outgoing Presiding Clerk Rebecca Leuchak (Providence) invited us in our 2025 Annual New England Yearly Meeting Sessions closing moments to all form a circle by holding hands around the whole auditorium space, singing together in expression of optimism and of divine love the song “The Bells of Norwich” by Sydney Carter. His composition was inspired by the 14th-century English mystic Julian of Norwich’s affirmation,“All shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well,” words which make up the song’s refrain.
Ring out, bells of Norwich,
and let the winter come and go.
All shall be well again, I know.
All shall be well, I'm telling you,
let the winter come and go.
All shall be well again, I know.
This was followed by a final song, a round by Thich Naht Hanh that is beloved by New England Friends both young and old, “Dear Friends.”
Dear friends, dear friends
Let me tell you how I feel
You have given me such treasures
I love you so
Incoming Presiding Clerk Phillip Veach concluded our gathering by reminding us that we had just heard in our week together that desert time is followed by a time of life and grace. He exhorted us to boldly go forth and scandalize the world, saying, “Let us go forth and build new roads, purposing to meet again in the summer of 2026. This, the 365th session of New England Yearly Meeting, is now closed. Go forth, knowing that you are held in the lap of God.”