18-51: Opening Worship
Friends opened with a period of worship.
18-52: Welcome
Fritz Weiss, Presiding Clerk, expressed his gratitude for Friends’ presence at the end of a long week. Sarah Gant, PB clerk, had to leave to Sessions to care for her mother and we send our prayers to Sarah, her mother, and the Gant family. Fritz clerked our meeting in Sarah’s absence.
18-53: Roll Call
Present: Hannah Zwirner Forsythe (Recording Clerk); Kim Allen, Travis Belcher, Peter Bishop, Darcy Drayton, Ben Guaraldi, Ian Harrington, Rebecca Leuchak, Christopher McCandless, Jean McCandless, Gina Nortonsmith, Carole Rein, Sara Smith, Phil Stone, Will Taber, Bill Walkauskas, Rosemary Zimmermann, Mary Zwirner
Ex-Officio: Noah Merrill (Secretary), Bob Murray (Clerk, Finance Committee), Bruce Neumann (Rising Clerk), Elizabeth Reuthe (Secretary Supervisor), Shearman Taber (Treasurer), Fritz Weiss (Presiding Clerk)
Guests: Liberty Goodwin, Jim Grace, Becky Jones, Paul Klinkman, Leslie Manning, Sarah Walton, Ben Warner, Kathleen Wooten, Maille Wooten
Regrets: Sarah Gant (Clerk); Deana Chase, Martin Zwirner Forsythe, Chris Gant, Elizabeth Kantt, Ed Mair, Anna Radocchia, Elizabeth Szatkowski
18-54: Welcoming of New Friends and Naming Mentors
We welcomed three new members of Permanent Board: Peter Bishop, Martin Zwirner Forsythe, Ed Mair, and Will Taber. We also welcomed Jean McCandless back for a second term. Following our practice Friends volunteered to be mentors to our new members, orienting them to the practices and procedures of Permanent Board. Sara Smith will serve as Peter Bishop’s mentor; Hannah Zwirner Forsythe will serve as Martin Zwirner Forsythe’s mentor; Jean McCandless will serve as Ed Mair’s mentor; and Bruce Neumann will serve as Will Taber’s mentor.
Susan Davies, Jeremiah Dickinson, Galen Hamann, Leanna Kantt, Rebecca Steele, and Donn Weinholtz have rotated off Permanent Board and we thanked them for their service to the Board.
18-55: Presiding Clerk’s Report
Fritz Weiss, Presiding Clerk, shared his reflections from the week. Our body has begun to labor with the actual work of growing and changing. We have much work to do but we are thriving, we are growing, and we are moving out of a feeling of pure struggle. We are in the process of reaching for what is new and grieving the loss of what we leave behind.
18-56: Secretary’s Report
Noah Merrill, Yearly Meeting Secretary, shared his reflections from the week. There has been a lot of weather, literally and figuratively. Though we draw comfort from the deep stillness, when the spirit is working within our body there is much movement.
At the closing worship of Sessions we heard that there was a $9000 gap in payments for Sessions due to the Pay as Led program and that Friends were encouraged to donate, as able, to help close that gap. Noah shared that in the hours between that message and our meeting Friends donated $4000 and those present expressed their gratitude for Friends’ generosity.
Noah shared some of the demographic breakdown from our week together.
18-57: Sessions Reflections
Throughout the meeting we heard reflections from PB members of their week at Sessions.
We have ongoing concerns about welcoming new Sessions attenders and encouraging them to return.
We recognize the hard work that has been done by many to support the Young Friends community in addition to the hard work that the Young Friends have done themselves to strengthen their body.
What does it mean to raise children in our faith tradition? Our youth programs have seen dwindling numbers and we wonder what we might do to more fully support our families and young people so that greater participation is possible.
We must hold on to the energy and spirit we have at this moment. Friends of color, Friends in the LGBTQ community, and other marginilized Friends must be more fully incorporated into the discernment for leadership and committee positions. Many wait for long periods of time to be asked to serve and we can not expect their patience to hold permanently steady.
We were reminded, again, that we need to provide further childcare structure so that parents can fully participate in the life of the YM. This must become work of the wider community not just Youth Ministry Committee because previous efforts have not arrived at viable solutions.
Friends expressed gratitude for reports and presentations that reminded us of the hard work that we are doing throughout the year. How do we continue to encourage that work? How can we keep this life alive? We should be asking, with each piece of discernment, how our decisions our affected by our commitment to interrupt climate change, challenge white supremacy, and repudiate the doctrine of discovery.
18-58: Faith and Practice Request
Phebe McCosker, clerk of Faith and Practice Revision Committee, asked Permanent Board to work with the committee on a dilemma that became apparent when they brought the draft chapter on Membership to Sessions for preliminary approval.
Rosemary Zimmermann and Ben Guaraldi volunteered to talk with Phebe and bring a more concrete request to our September meeting.
18-59: Clerks’ Nominating Request
At Sessions, on the recommendation of the Clerks’ Nominating Committee, Permanent Board was charged to perform a formal re-examination of the structures and practices of clerking in the Yearly Meeting, including the clerks’ table, clerks of major committees, and support structures for clerks, such that a wider range of people might be able to perform these roles in the future. Bruce Neumann and Ian Harrington volunteered to begin this work, in consultation with the Permanent Board clerk, and to bring forward a more specific charge to our September meeting.
18-62: Internal Nominating Report
We heard the nomination of Marian Baker for Class of 2019 as an at large member of Nominating Committee and the nomination of Penny Wright for Class of 2022 of Internal Nominating Committee. Friends approved these nominations.
We are reminded that Internal Nominating nominates its own members and that we should be deliberate with our discernment of those names so that the committee does not self-perpetuate.
We hope that the notes made during Wednesday’s Clerk’s Nominating Committee Listening Session be made widely available so that we can live into the suggestions we received.
18-63: Friend’s Camp Nominating Report
We heard the nomination of John Reuthe for clerk of the Friend’s Camp committee. Friends approved this nomination. Concern was expressed by some present that John not also be named as the Camp Director’s supervisor. Others expressed concern that we not put limitations on how the Camp committee delegates its tasks given that there are limited Friends to do much work.
18-64: Approving Remaining Minutes
Jim Grace and Rosemary Zimmermann, Sessions Recording Clerks, read through remaining unapproved minutes from Sessions. The minutes were approved with gratitude for the recording clerks’ faithful listening throughout the week.
18-65: Clerks’ Table Appreciation
We expressed gratitude for the hard work of the Clerk’s table, particularly the three members of the table, Jeremiah Dickinson, Katherine Fisher, and Jim Grace, who are finishing their terms in those roles.
18-66: Closing Worship
We closed with a period of worship. Though we have work to do, we have so much to celebrate. We are grateful for the faithful laboring done this week and endeavor to bring the good news with us as we leave.