MEETING FOR WORSHIP WITH ATTENTION TO BUSINESS, MAY 20, 2012
Attending: Helen Dickinson (Clerk), Judy Erickson (Recording Clerk), Val Lester (Treasurer), Pam Timme, Sarah Shirk (Co-Clerk), Sue Beckman, Burke Shipley, Kelly Maynard, Wil Rutt, Cossy Ksander
We began with silent worship.
We reviewed the April Minutes.
QUAKER PRACTICE IN ACTION. We commend all those who are in Chicago this weekend to promote peace in various ways. AFSC has been providing training in nonviolent protesting.
TREASURER’S REPORT/FINANCE COMMITTEE. Valerie presented the Treasurer’s Report. She reminds us that we need to submit any outstanding receipts for expenses related to this fiscal year, before the end of May. She has made all the donations to other organizations that were approved, and has paid all known expenses except Amanda’s wages for May. The audit is in progress. She will work on the budget over the summer, in coordination with committee clerks. She expects to present the budget in September. We thank Val for taking such good care of our financial activities.
MINISTRY & CARE COMMITTEE. In accordance with this committee’s request, the Treasurer sent a donation to FCNL to honor Wil & Dean’s wedding. We were informed that the “Afterthoughts” have been discontinued until we can all learn and abide by the expectations for worship sharing. A suggestion was made that an adult religious ed program be provided on this subject next fall.
NOMINATING COMMITTEE. Please see separate report. This list will be added to the next newsletter. It is not clear when we need to form the next Naming Committee. If anyone is willing to fill any positions that remain unfilled, please contact the clerk of Nominating Committee. Val is willing to continue in that role until she is replaced. These nominations were approved, with thanks to the committee for their diligent work. Val thanked all who offered to serve.
CHILDREN'S RELIGIOUS EDUCATION COMMITTEE. The committee has been discussing what children’s activity to provide at our booth at A Day In Our Village. Two suggestions were paper chains (with Quaker Testimony words written on the strips of paper) and origami cranes. Support was expressed for paper chains as being easier and quicker for all ages to do. The committee will supply the craft materials and attendance in the early part of the day.
ADULT RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. There was an unscheduled program presented on the first First Day of May. Helen had found queries on the AFSC site on Quaker testimonies and brought a couple on that day. We chose the ones on Equality. Next academic year there will be a committee to coordinate programming. The Adult RE Committee is now to be entrusted with seasoning programs. It would be helpful if the M&C Committee could season issues related to helping us be better at “eldering” each other.
PEACE & JUSTICE COMMITTEE. There is no report and there are no action items.
OLD BUSINESS. A Day In Our Village. We have people to staff the booth and a children’s activity. We will have printed materials, including some coming from FCNL. The ILYM FCNL representatives are going to submit a proposed Minute to ILYM about a proposed bill to divert federal monies from Medicare, Medicaid, health care reform, and peaceful prevention of violence programs in order to increase funding for Defense. The Minute will ask our Senators to oppose diverting these monies to Defense. The reps request that a similar handout be available at our booth as a petition that people can sign. Wil and Kelly will create two posters to illustrate the issues. Here is the Minute:
To our Senators and Representatives:
We believe in peaceful solutions to problems. It has been shown that resources addressed to peaceful prevention of conflict, and rapid peaceful response to emerging conflicts, are far more cost effective than military expenditures. Some have calculated that they are 60 times more cost effective. We urge you to use all the resources available to you to preserve the military spending reduction which is now scheduled to take effect Jan 1.
NEW BUSINESS.
1. The draft State of Society Report was approved with one change (to delete sentences about Afterthoughts). Judy will send the final version to ILYM.
2. The annual reports listing Meeting Statistics & Officers was sent to ILYM.
3. A report on the MCGM/CFG May 5th meeting will be submitted to the newsletter.
These Minutes were approved.
We ended with silent worship.
Respectfully submitted by Judy Erickson
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MEETING FOR WORSHIP WITH ATTENTION TO BUSINESS, APRIL 15, 2012
Attending: Helen Dickinson (Clerk), Judy Erickson (Recording Clerk), Sarah Shirk, Wil Rutt, Burke Shipley
Reviewed March Minutes.
QUAKER PRACTICE IN ACTION. It was wonderful that about 30 Quakers met for worship last Saturday at Butler Field, Chicago, in relation to a March about the upcoming NATO/G8 meeting in Chicago. This March ended at Butler Field.
TREASURER'S REPORT. Judy read Val's report. March income was $464 & expenses were $808. YTD income is $8,776 & expenses are $10,040. Wil spoke about how other churches let their people know about their financial needs, and invite them to make a contribution. Wil will help Judy work on a letter.
MINISTRY & CARE COMMITTEE. There were two clearness committees set up. Both were held. One was a clearness committee for transfer of membership for Ann Chase. Here is their report.
"We enthusiastically recommend that the Meeting accept the transfer of Ann's membership from Orono Monthly Meeting of Friends and New England Yearly Meeting. The transfer form will be completed and returned to Molly Duplisea-Pahner of Orono Monthly Meeting."
We wholeheartedly approve the transfer. Helen will complete the form to return to Orono Friends Meeting to let them know our decision. We look forward to hosting a potluck celebration to honor her membership. Helen will try to schedule it for before Ann goes to Michigan for the summer.
CHILDREN'S RELIGIOUS EDUCATION COMMITTEE. Amanda's curriculum is still in draft form. It will be presented at a later business meeting for approval.
ADULT RELIGIOUS EDUCATION COMMITTEE. On April 1st we had a worship sharing event about the Quaker Testimonies, and about presenting them for Adult Religious Education. Whomever has notes from this event, please give them to Kelly.
NOMINATING COMMITTEE. Their report was circulated. It is not complete and there is no one from the committee to answer questions.
PEACE & JUSTICE COMMITTEE. The Action Items were read.
a. Work on passing laws that would refocus our infrastructure from reliance on fossil fuels to sustainable industries.
b. Work on passing laws that ameliorate living conditions for Native Americans in an attempt to redress past wrongs, (such as breaking treaties, forceful removal from lands).
c. Work on treaties, laws, budget lines that will reduce the number of arms maintained by the military, in particular nuclear arms reduction.
d. Work on laws affecting voting issues. In particular strengthen laws which ban direct and indirect contributions to political campaigns from corporations, unions, and other pacs, and force corporations to disclose their campaign contributions. Also, pass laws that require any computerized touch-screen voting machine to be written using publicly disclosed open code and create a legible paper ballot for every voter. Finally, continue to work to ensure that all adult U.S. citizens not currently incarcerated have the right to vote in Federal elections.
e. Pass legislation banning the use of paramilitary and mercenary contractors by the U.S. government and open up the Pentagon to external auditing.
Burke suggested the 4th item specify support for a constitutional amendment to address campaign contributions from corporations, PACs, and other organizations. These were all approved for submission to FCNL.
NEW BUSINESS. We need to write a State of Society report for ILYM. Wil and Judy will prepare a draft.
Judy read the following report on her website activities.
"My new computer is up & running, and I am able to update our website again. I've done some work on it since then, including some formatting and editorial spring cleaning. If you find a problem please let me know. Feedback is always helpful!
"Except for the Peace & Justice Committee, committees have not been submitting reports electronically since last May. However, many reports can be found in the Minutes of the monthly business meetings. It is too much work for me to cut & paste every committee report from the Minutes to their respective committee pages. As a result, it made sense to me to 'hide' the 'Committee Reports' section on the website. I've also 'hidden' some other pages that do not reflect our current activities: 3Rs Project, PlanItGreen, Crop Walk, and the MCGM Corn Roast. Hidden pages still exist on our website and can be used again; they are just not viewable on the public portal.
"I moved the ongoing P&J reports page to the existing P&J area in the 'About Us' section. This page is now called 'Recent P&J Minutes.' They are still password protected. In accordance with a previous decision to publicly witness to our activities, I've moved all the P&J Minutes older than one year to a page that is not password protected. This page is called 'Archived P&J Minutes' and also appears in the 'About Us' P&J area.
"As decided at the P&J Committee, I've added a link to the Chicago Spring website so people can learn about protests & activities related to the upcoming G8 meeting in Chicago (5/19-21). I noted that we are not endorsing any of them. This link is on the P&J page in the 'About Us' section.
"Please watch the website for more information (to be released within a few days) on the May 5th program at Chicago Monthly Meeting, the first in the new MCGM/Chicagoland Friends Gathering format.
"Denise has added some beautiful Spring photos to the website. I invite you all to visit our website, if only to enjoy these lovely photos! The April newsletter, which also has some beautiful photos, is also on the website."
We ended with silent worship.
Respectfully submitted,
Judy Erickson, Recording Clerk
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March 11, 2012 Meeting for Worship with Concern for Business
Attending: Helen Dickinson, Judy Erickson, Ann Chase, Valerie Lester, Mary Pikul, Amanda Sneed.
We began with silent worshIp.
We reviewed the February Minutes.
Quaker Practice in Action. Judy spoke about the "lobbying legislators workshop" conducted in Oak Park yesterday by an FCNL lobbyist. We are encouraged to keep persisting, act respectfully, do interfaith outreach, and keep in mind that change can be like water eroding a rock; we need a long term perspective.
Finance Committee/Treasurer's Report. Val noted that although our expenses exceed our income to date, it is because she made the rest of our donations to other organizations this month (except for the food pantry donation, which will be done in April to coincide with the Feinstein Challenge).
Ministry & Care Committee Report. "We continue to consider the welfare of individual Friends and attenders. We have gotten caught up on sending welcoming letters to new attenders. Two clearness committees are underway, one regarding a transfer of membership to Oak Park Friends Meeting. We discussed cases where people contact the Meeting with questions, and we are considering them on a case-by-case basis. Ten additional copies of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Faith & Practice have been ordered. (The bill will be given to Valerie.) We are open to questions and advices. We seem to have plenty to keep us busy!" (from Ann Chase, M&C Clerk)
Children's Religious Education Committee Report. Amanda said the committee talked about the curriculum, will make changes, and present it to business meeting. Amanda will try to send out the lesson plan to parents so they may use it if the kids miss that lesson. It was suggested that a synopsis of each lesson plan be placed on the website each month, rather than a weekly email to parents. This suggestion was further seasoned. Amanda will put topics on the website and will send out a summary monthly.
There may be a canoe trip this spring.
They are considering how to create a time for singing. We want the kids to learn Quaker songs, and Quaker values through the songs. We have a collecction of songbooks. A decision was made to season the singing suggestion before or at potluck next week.
Adult Religious Education Report. Last week there was a program on the peace testimony. Next month Wil will present his program.
Peace & Justice Committee. A report was not presented.
Nominating Committee Report. They met and reviewed the positions to be filled. They have started doing outreach to individual members and attenders. Their goal is to present their nominations in time for the May business meeting.
New Business. A Day in Our Village is coming up. Amanda will ask the Art League about whether they will participate. (One year we collaborated with them.) No other decision was made.
Helen asked whether there is anything we can do to help the communities that were hit by tornadoes recently in southern Illinois. Val will ask Dawn Amos (Southern Illinois Quaker Meeting).
These Minutes were approved.
We ended with silent worship.
Respectfully submitted,
Judy Erickson, Recording Clerk
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OPFM Meeting for Worship with Concern for Business 2/12/2012
Attending: Helen Dickinson (Clerk), Burke Shipley, Sue Beckman, Judy Erickson (Recording Clerk), Sarah Shirk (Co-Clerk), Wil Rutt, Karen
We reviewed the January Minutes.
Quaker Practice in Action. Wil spoke about the couple (Sam & Ruth Neff) who organize the Neighbor to Neighbor Study Trips that he has taken, and their continuing promotion of understanding the current state of conflict between Iran and israel.
Treasurer's Report. Valerie could not attend, but she sent an email report that income and expenses are now balanced. She recommends disbursement of the remaining contributions to the organizations we support.
Ministry and Care Committee. They are proceeding with the Clearness Committee that was recently requested. Rosalind Larson has been accepted as a member of Fort Collins Monthly Meeting. We are now going to cease her membership in Oak Park Friends Meeting. We will continue to hold her in the Light as she continues her spiritual journey with Ft. Collins F/friends. All relevant correspondence will be added to our membership files.
The Children's Religious Education Committee met with Amanda. She presented her curriculum for the first quarter of 2012. It was great to have a current parent at that meeting, and she shared some good suggestions. They will continue to meet on the fourth Sunday of each month at OPAL at 9:00 am.
Adult Religious Education. Helen and Adrian presented a program on what happens during silent worship, which was well attended. Judy Wolicky, ILYM Field Secretary, attended and spoke about discerning appropriateness of speaking during worship, which could be developed into another program. Wil mentioned a long article that could be used for adult religious education sometime, an outsider's view of Quakers and their influence in the larger society. We like both ideas. We asked Wil to present his prgram in March, and the other program when it is ready. Suggestions for future programs should go to Kelly Maynard, who is organizing these programs.
Peace and Justice Committee. We made our recommendations last fall for contributions for this fiscal year, which were approved. Some of those donations were made by the end of December, and some were deferred until we could assess our income after December. We now recommend making all the remaining contributions approved but not yet paid, with the addition of $50 for FWCC. These were approved.
We recommend adding a small notice to the "contact us" button on our website about how to donate to our meeting. It would include some information about what we do with our contributions. What does a dollar do here? We ask the website committee to consider how to do this.
We recommend that a letter asking for contributions be sent to people on our mailing list. We ask the Finance Committee to draft a letter to bring back to business meeting for further action.
Old Business. Judy has taken no action about the telephone answering system. Perhaps she will have something to report next month.
The Naming Committee found Bob Southworth to serve on the Nominating Committee. This nomination was approved, with thanks to the Naming Committee and to Bob.
The eagle-watching trip to Starved Rock was successful. It was a lesson in climate change. Because of the warmer winter there were only a few eagles to watch, rather than the usual hundreds of birds. Regardless of that, it was fun for all, including the overnight at Clear Creek House. It was suggested that we consider Clear Creek House as a place for a meeting retreat.
These Minutes were approved.
Silent worship.
Respectfully Submitted by Judy Erickson
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OPFM Meeting for Worship with Concern for Business 1/8/2012
ATTENDING: Helen Dickinson (Clerk), Judy Erickson (Recording Clerk), Valerie Lester (Treasurer), Burke Shipley, Ann Chase, Pam Timme, Sarah Shirk, Adrian Nelson (ILYM delegate to FWCC World Conference), Sue Beckman, Kelly Maynard
REVIEWED DECEMBER MINUTES.
QUAKER PRACTICE IN ACTION. We appreciate Sarah Shirk's contributions of faithfully opening and closing the Meeting for us, even rescheduling her family's Christmas to Boxing Day to help us. We also remember Vaclav Havel, who died last week. He was a leader of the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia, a playwright, and President of his country. He was frequently imprisoned but his spirit stayed strong throughout his struggles, which reminds us of George Fox.
FINANCE COMMITTEE. Valerie presented the Treasurer's report. This fiscal year to date we have income of $5852 and expenses of $6211. She thanks Friends for their generosity in balancing our expenses with corresponding income at the end of December. Lois Platt is auditing the past two fiscal years.
MINISTRY & CARE COMMITTEE. They have received a request for a clearness committee and are moving ahead with it. They have also received a request for financial assistance from the Sufferings Fund and for a support group, and are still working on both of those requests.
CHILDREN RELIGIOUS EDUCATION COMMITTEE. Next meeting is 9:00 am on Jan. 22 at OPAL to discuss curricula. Amanda was not here today; Sarah will check with her.
ADULT RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. On Feb 5th Adrian Fisher & Helen Dickinson will present a program on what happens during silent worship. They especially invite "new" attenders.
PEACE & JUSTICE COMMITTEE. P&J did not meet in December because the regular time fell on Dec. 25th. The next meeting will be on Jan. 22 at 11:30 at OPAL. We have arranged for Jim Cason (who has worked for FCNL) to give a lobbying workshop at the Oak Park main library on March 10. We will extend an invitation to all area Friends who want to reach out to their elected representatives. A suggestion was made to reach out to the wider community. Judy will bring it to OPCTJ, and Kelly will write up an announcement by 2/10 for the Community of Congregations newsletter. She will also send it to the Wednesday Journal. We asked people to sign postcards today asking Pres. Obama to close the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center, where prisoners are still being detained without being charged with any wrongdoing. There is an action being planned, a public vigil, on the 10th anniversary of this Detention Center (Wed Jan 11 at 3:00 pm at the downtown federal plaza).
OLD BUSINESS.
NAMING COMMITTEE has not yet met. They will meet later today to work towards discerning an additional member for the Nominating Committee.
PROPOSED EAGLE WATCHING TRIP TO STARVED ROCK STATE PARK. Jan. 28-29 are suggested for the trip. We could drive to the park on Saturday to watch the eagles, then either go back home or stay overnight at the Clear Creek House, worshiping with Clear Creek Friends on Sunday morning. It will be a great field trip for families. Valerie will ask the Clear Creek House contact to reserve this night for this event.
NEW BUSINESS.
Adrian Nelson spoke about the need for Friends to provide financial support for low income Friends around the world to attend the 6th annual FWCC world conference, happening in Kenya April 17-25, 2012. This conference occurs only once every 10 years. She provided addresses to send contributions, and information on travel costs. Costs are on a sliding scale to accommodate the varying resources of delegates.
To contribute toward ILYM delegates: Give or send contributions to Valerie Lester of our Meeting (who is the Co-Treasurer of ILYM).
To contribute directly to FWCC: Friends World Committeee, 1506 Race St., Philadelphia, PA 19102. We send our blessings and prayers to Adrian and all delegates for a great trip.
TELEPHONE ANSWERING SYSTEM. Judy read her suggestion (printed on the agenda) to initiate a different system for monitoring and responding to phone messages. It was noted that the individual who is doing this is comfortable with continuing. It was also suggested that a phone message log be created. There is no urgent need to act, so we ask the Nominating Committee to consider a new system for next year that will include some more direct involvement by OPFM. Judy will ask Laura to start a phone message log.
These Minutes were approved. We closed the meeting at 12:53 with silent worship.
Respectfully submitted by Judy Erickson
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OPFM Meeting for Worship with Concern for Business 12/11/2011
ATTENDING: Helen Dickinson (Clerk), Judy Erickson (Recording Clerk), Valerie Lester (Treasurer), Sarah Shirk, Burke Shipley
REVIEW OF NOVEMBER MINUTES. Helen mentioned that she sent Elizabeth Mertic the OPFM responses to the ILYM Service Queries. She also communicated with Wil about the Christmas Potluck.
QUAKER PRACTICE IN ACTION. We are grateful to Sue Beckman and Donna Cech for again coordinating our Meeting's contributions to the Holiday Food & Gift Basket program.
FINANCE COMMITTEE/TREASURER'S REPORT. November income was $581 and expenses were $1414. Year to date we have spent $1311 more than our income, which is lower than last year to date. We decided to make decisions about recommendations for additional contributions to other organizations at the February business meeting (rather than the January meeting, which was our previous decision). This will give us more time to discern our financial condition.
MINISTRY & CARE COMMITTEE. The M&C Committee met at 9:00 am, 12/4/11 at OPAL. We began with a brief silence. Burke reported that he had called to touch base with Lois Platt. She has been busy working on her doctorate. She stated that she will be able to do our yearly audit, perhaps in December. The Committee decided that they would, as necessary, write detailed confidential minutes for the M&C Committee, and a shorter, less confidential report for the business meeting. The Committee decided to have an additional business meeting next Sunday, 12/11 at 9:00 am because of the amount of business it needs to conduct. (report submitted by Pam Timme)
CHILDREN'S RELIGIOUS EDUCATION COMMITTEE. Sarah reported for the Committee. The field trip to Drury Lane Theatre (The Sound of Music) was successful; 14 people participated. They plan to do another field trip next Spring. They have received a request for support from the Chicago Friends School; they were encouraged to season this for Meeting action. The next meeting needs to be rescheduled; its focus will be curriculum development.
ADULT RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. We enjoyed Adrian's program on her spiritual journey on 12/4. We are not sure what (if anything) is planned for the next program scheduled for Jan. 1, 2012.
PEACE & JUSTICE COMMITTEE. Sarah will be sending the P&J agenda ahead of time through the weekly calendar (as an attachment). The December meeting, which falls on 12/25, has been cancelled.
OLD BUSINESS. We are in good shape for the 12/30 PADS dinner. The Holiday Gift Basket program has been successfully concluded. Pam & Helen are working on the Sing-Along for the Christmas Potluck.
Naming Committee. Nominating Committee has requested a new member. We gratefully approved Burke Shipley & Sarah Shirk to serve on the Naming Committee (to find a new member for the Nominating Committee).
NEW BUSINESS. We discussed the presence last First Day of an artist and model in the studio at 10:30 (which Helen approved at short notice, after conferring with various Friends). It was noticed that someone was upstairs today after Amanda had come down to worship. We will ask Amanda (our OPAL Liaison) to find out whether this was a one-time event or whether this will be scheduled again.
Valerie suggested that we leave a note on Faith's desk if there is ever a minor issue with setting up.
We need a greeter for Jan. 1.
Valerie is interested in creating a field trip to Starved Rock for an "Eagle Watch." She and Sarah (through Childrens Religious Ed) will circulate some possible dates.
Judy expressed a concern about upcoming events related to NATO and G8 meetings in Chicago in May. She wants to suggest creating a constructive dialogue with the Mayor, Chicago Police, and the peace community. It was decided to express support for efforts by Judy and other Friends to work toward such a dialogue.
These Minutes were approved.
We closed with SILENT WORSHIP.
Respectfully submitted by Judy Erickson, Recording Clerk
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MEETING FOR WORSHIP WITH CONCERN FOR BUSINESS, 11/13/2011
Attending: Helen Dickinson (Clerk), Judy Erickson (Recording Clerk), Sibel Kusimba, Carol Zimmerman, Ann Chase, Pam Timme
SILENT WORSHIP.
REVIEWED OCTOBER MINUTES.
QUAKER PRACTICE IN ACTION. We are encouraged by the light that has been shone on the immoral actions of a coach at Penn State. He had a charitable organization for at-risk children and he was found to have abused many children. Although it had been known for about ten years, no action had been taken until a high school coach reported it to the authorities. We hold the victims in the Light, and all those who are involved.
TEASURER'S REPORT. Judy read Valerie's summary. We are encouraged to increase our contributions.
MINISTRY & CARE COMMITTEE. We agreed to add an item to the M&C budget. We received a report from the Direction of the Meeting last week. We ask that all OPFM committees review it and consider how to respond. We were pleased with the attendance and participation at this meeting.
CHILDREN'S RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. The tickets for The Sound of Music have been purchased and distributed. Two Halloween UNICEF boxes were returned; Pam will send the proceeds to UNICEF.
ADULT RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. Adrian has agreed to do a program on Dec. 4th about her spiritual journey.
PEACE & JUSTICE COMMITTEE. There was no report.
OLD BUSINESS. December 30th PADS dinner -- Valerie is organizing it. Holiday Gift Baskets -- Sue is organizing it. Christmas Potluck & Singalong -- Wil has offered to host it at his home on Dec. 18. Helen will contact him to confirm our grateful acceptance of his offer, and to work out the details.
NEW BUSINESS. We answered the ILYM Queries on Quaker Service. Judy will write up her notes, which were read and approved, and will send them to Helen for her review. Then Helen will send them to Elizabeth Mertic, as requested.
These Minutes were approved.
SILENT WORSHIP.
Respectfully submitted by Judy Erickson
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Meeting for Worship with Concern for Business, October 9, 2011
IN ATTENDANCE: Helen Dickinson, Sarah Shirk, Pam Timme, Judy Erickson, Burke Shipley
SILENT WORSHIP
SEPTEMBER MINUTES were reviewed.
QUAKER PRACTICE IN ACTION: We are encouraged by the protesters objecting to the concentration of vast wealth among 1% of the population of this country.
TREASURER'S REPORT: No report.
MINISTRY & CARE COMMITTEE: The Direction of the Meeting has been rescheduled for Nov. 6, 2011 at the Art League. Kelly Maynard has agreed to this date; nothing has been scheduled for Adult RE on this date. Joan Pine will try to attend. A request for a $50 budget item for food for the Direction of the Meeting was approved. Committee members will bring assorted finger foods. Sarah will send out a special email message.
The report on the 10/2/11 meeting was read. Please see M&C reports. Pam read a letter from Rosalind Larsen requesting transfer of membership to Ft. Collins Mtg in Colorado. (She also sent a contribution to our Mtg.) Pam also read a draft of a letter of response accepting the transfer of membership. This letter was approved. Another letter of appreciation and notice of our action will be sent to Rosalind. M&A will bring to business meeting the notice of acceptance by the Ft. Collins Meeting, at which time we will record termination of her membership. Copies will be placed in the OPFM membership file, which is in the care of the Clerk of the M&C Committee.
CHILDREN'S RELIGIOUS EDUCATION COMMITTEE: The last committee meeting was on Sept. 25, 2011. They composed a list of potential field trips and are asking for feedback from families. Responses so far have been diverse, with no unity about any one specific activity. Several activities may be supported. These responses will be discussed at the next committee meeting (10/30). A suggestion was made to open this survey up to the MCGM community. The committee will discuss various possibilities.
Pam discussed possible activities related to Halloween. One is Unicef boxes, and one is Reverse Halloween (re Fair Trade chocolate). We approved distributing the Unicef materials to parents, and letting them decide whether to participate. Information will go out on the weekly calendar and to parents.
Amanda has had a death in her family. The committee is subbing for her until she returns.
The next meeting is scheduled for 9:00 am on 10/30 at OPAL.
ADULT RELIGIOUS EDUCATION: No report..
PEACE & JUSTICE COMMITTEE: Due to illness of the clerk, there was no committee meeting on Sept. 25.
OLD BUSINESS: Sunday, 12/18/11 was approved for our Christmas potluck. Helen will check with the Art League to see if it is available.
NEW BUSINESS: We approved purchasing 5 copies of PYM Faith & Practice to distribute to anyone who requests a clearness committee for membership. We approve this expenditure without drawing on a committee budget. Helen will ask Valerie to do this.
Committees that meet at 9:00 am at OPAL on Sundays are requested to meet upstairs, or end by 9:45 so as not to cut into worship time.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Our next PADS dinner service will be on Friday, 12/30/11.
These Minutes were approved.
SILENT WORSHIP
Respectfully submitted by Judy Erickson, Recording Clerk
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Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business, September 11, 2011
In Attendance: Helen Dickinson, Judy Erickson, Kelly Maynard, Wil Rutt, Burke Shipley, Sarah Shirk
The August minutes were reviewed. The following is to clarify the last sentence in the Children's Religious Education report. This sentence related to Adult Religious Education and referred to Kelly Maynard's interest in adult education about Islam.
FINANCE COMMITTEE
Kelly read the following list of recommended contributions (approved by the Peace & Justice Committee) for this fiscal year:
$225 Friends Committee on National Legislation/FCNL
200 American Friends Service Committee/AFSC (Chicago office)
125 Ceasefire
125 OPRF Walk-In Ministry (local assistance program)
125 Project Lakota (c/o St. Louis Meeting)
125 Quaker Earthcare Witness/QEW
100 African Great Lakes Initiative/AFLI (a project of Friends Peace Teams)
100 Friends Peace Teams/FPT
100 Holiday Food & Gift Basket Program (a project of Community of Congregations)
100 Oak Park Food Pantry
100 West Suburban PADS (local homeless shelter program)
75 Christian Peacemakers Teams
75 Friends World Committee for Consultation/FWCC
75 Openlands Urban Green Programs
75 Quaker House
75 Sarah's Inn (local domestic violence program)
50 American Friends Service Committee/AFSC (national office)
50 Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty/ICADP
One change was to decrease the amount to ICADP by $25 (whose efforts are being refocused to oppose any new DP legislation), and to the PADS contribution by $56 (which were additional individual contributions last year). They'd like to add $25 each to Ceasefire, Openlands, and Project Lakota.
They recommend that the following donations be made before 12/31/11 (totaling $700):
$150 FCNL
100 AFSC (Chicago office
100 Holiday Food & Gift Basket Program
75 Ceasefire
75 Project Lakota
50 AFSC (national office)
50 OPRF Walk-In Ministry
50 QEW
50 West Suburban PADS program
They recommend that the contribution to the OPRF Food Pantry be done in April during the Feinstein Matching Fund drive.
They recommend that OPFM become a Fair Trade Congregation member of Chicago Fair Trade. This includes an annual dues of $100.
These recommendations were all approved. Kelly will send this information to the Treasurer and to the newsletter.
QUAKER PRACTICE IN ACTION. Central United Methodist Church of Detroit (Wil's former church) is having a joint worship service today (9/11) with the Muslim Imam and muslims were invited.
MINISTRY & CARE COMMITTEE. Burke read a short report. Preparations for the Direction of the Meeting meeting were reviewed. There were no action items.
CHILDREN'S RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
Sarah gave an update. The committee discussed a variety of possible events and are surveying families about which possibilities are of most interest. She mentioned that several visiting families have attended worship recently, with more children attending First Day School.
Two boxes of books were donated recently and will be sorted for either the 3Rs Project or the Food Pantry book donation programs.
Halloween is coming up. Last year we participated in Global Exchange's program to promote fair trade chocolate and candy. Sarah agreed to look into it for this year with the committee.
These actions were all approved.
ADULT RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
Forms were distributed last week to request input for this year. Kelly will email the form to Helen & Judy as requested. One event to be scheduled will be a special event for new attendees to provide resources to them for whatever information they are interested in.
Someone suggested recently that people might be interested in a handout that Helen provided years ago on guidance for what to do during silent worship. It was excerpted from an article in Friends Journal dated September 1997. Helen will try to find the article, and will bring copies of her previous handout.
PEACE & JUSTICE COMMITTEE
As approved last month, Kelly followed up and enrolled OPFM on the OPCAT petition from NRCAT.
The committee requested approval to ask members/attenders to call or write our US Senators Durbin and Kirk, using talking points written by Kelly, on the 10th anniversary of the invasion of Afghanistan. This action is in lieu of participating in the Chicago antiwar march that is scheduled on Yom Kippur. This request was approved; Sarah will include it in this week's calendar.
OLD BUSINESS. There will be no PADS dinner in September. The next one will be the fifth Friday in December (12/30).
NEW BUSINESS. Wil offered to show The Freedom Riders at his home on Thursday, Sept. 22. It is a 2-hr award winning documentary on the 1961 freedom riders of the civil rights movement. The meeting approved this showing.
ANNOUNCEMENTS. None
These Minutes were approved.
Silent Worship
Respectfully submitted by Judy Erickson, Recording Clerk
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Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business, August 14, 2011
In Attendance: Helen Dickinson (Clerk), Judy Erickson, Adrian Fisher, Valerie Lester, Kelly Maynard, Wil Rutt, Sarah Shirk
The July minutes were reviewed.
QUAKER PRACTICE IN ACTION. Adrian talked about a Quaker group EQAT: Earthcare Quaker Action Team. They have been actively witnessing to mountaintop removal, mostly by protesting in front of PNC bank buildings.
FINANCE COMMITTEE
Through the generosity of friends, we were able to add a little over $3000 to our reserves last fiscal year. Val said that the Peace & Justice (P&J) Committee needs more time to season potential donations. We reviewed the proposed budget for operating expenses, committees & dues. The budget for Friends Journal: Val will revise it to reflect the actual subscription cost, and the proposed contribution portion will be added to the proposed contributions. We approved all except the contributions, which are to be seasoned by the P&J comm.
YTD income is $1591, YTD expenses are $2464 ($720 was sent to ILYM for the 1st quarterly payment)
MINISTRY & CARE COMMITTEE
This committee has been reviewing descriptions of similar M&C committees in ILYM & PYM Faith & Practice (F&P) publications.
They have also been reviewing the section on marriage in ILYM's F&P. Regarding marriage we agreed to follow the template provided in ILYM's F&P.
Pam put an announcement in the newsletter asking for a volunteeer to coordinate a Peace Paddle.
Ros Larsen has verbally requested transfer of her membership to the Ft. Collins (CO) Monthly Meeting. The Committee has asked her to write a letter to us.
This committee has started to plan the Meeting's annual Direction of the Meeting meeting. They suggest doing it on a Sunday in Sept. or Oct. Sept. 18th was approved for this event.
CHILDREN'S RELIGIOUS EDUCATION COMMITTEE
Sarah reported for this Committee. We commend Amanda for her faithful diligence in walking from Cicero to Oak Park today when she missed her train. The mug project was approved, but it still needs a date. The committee was asked to reach out to our children & their parents for input on this event & suggestions for other events. She is interested in presenting a program or programs on Islam.
ADULT RELIGIOUS EDUCATION COMMITTEE
We reviewed our previous decision for Kelly to facilitate RE programs that anyone feels led to present. Kelly wants to circulate a set of related queries about possible RE ideas, and to find coordinators for such events. Sarah agreed to present these queries at 11:30 on Sept. 4.
Wil suggested we write a brief article for the newsletter inviting people to think about possibilities for these events. It could be repeated in each newsletter. Kelly agreed to write it.
M&C will consider a program to help attenders learn about membership.
PEACE & JUSTICE COMMITTEE
About 2 yrs ago we joined the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT). Kelly receives & reviews suggestions for action by NRCAT. At the June P&J meeting the committee agreed to recommend that OPFM sign the following statement to ratify the OPCAT treaty (being circulated by NRCAT).
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Join the Treaty: The U.S. Should Act to Prevent Torture Everywhere
Torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment are contrary to our common religious belief in the fundamental dignity of each human being. We call upon the U.S. government, once a leader in the effort to end the use of torture, to reclaim that role by signing and ratifying the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT).
One of the most important steps a nation can take to end torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment is to provide independent oversight of the conditions in which people are detained. By creating mechanisms that can prevent torture, including international inspection teams, OPCAT builds upon the prohibition against torture contained in the Convention Against Torture, a treaty to which the U.S. is already a party and which is U.S. law. OPCAT requires each nation that ratifies the treaty to develop its own independent mechanism for monitoring detention facilities, including prisons and police stations.
We believe that if the U.S. joins OPCAT and provides robust oversight of its places of detention, it will be significantly more difficult for cases of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment to occur within the U.S. Ratifying OPCAT would also enhance our government's effectiveness in urging other countries to end their use of torture.
As people of many faiths and creeds, we oppose torture. We call upon our government to do everything it can to prevent torture everywhere. We call upon the President to sign OPCAT, and we call upon the U.S. Senate to ratify it.
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We are invited to sign it on the NRCAT webpage, corporately and/or individually. We approved signing as OPFM. Kelly will do this online for the Meeting, and she will set out materials for individuals to consider signing.
Kelly was given mailings related to our annual contributions.
NEW BUSINESS
There will be PADS dinners in September, December, and March. Val will start circulating a signup sheet for the Sept. dinner.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
None
These Minutes were read & approved.
Silent Worship.
Respectfully submitted by Judy Erickson, Recording Clerk
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Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business, July 11, 2011
In Attendance: Helen Dickinson (Clerk), Carol Zimmerman, Judy Erickson, Pam Timme
There was no business meeting in June. The May minutes were reviewed.
FINANCE COMMITTEE
Helen will contact Valerie (OPFM Treasurer) to ask when the audit report for the last fiscal year will be ready.
MINISTRY & CARE COMMITTEE
Someone has requested a Clearness Committee. M&C is helping that individual with the process. M&C is reviewing literature on Clearness Committees and marriage procedures, and plans to write up a list of procedures for the Meeting.
Friends wish to organize a mug-painting event, and hope the children will attend. Pam will bring this suggestion to the next Children's RE Committee meeting.
M&C is reviewing the list of duties associated with the M&C Committee and may suggest clarifications of various tasks.
CHILDREN'S RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
Amanda is putting all her lesson plans in one place and will give them to the Committee. The Committee will then have easy access to them at times when Amanda will not be at Meeting.
PEACE & JUSTICE COMMITTEE
There was no report.
ADULT RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
Helen will ask Adrian to contact Kelly about plans for adult learning.
NEW BUSINESS
Pam was nominated to be the Meeting Archivist. At ILYM she attended a workshop on record keeping for monthly meetings. There is an archive at the University of Illinois in Urbana/Champaign to collect ILYM and its monthly meetings' records. She would like help in considering whether to send some of our records to this archive, which ones to send, and in what format. It could be a very complicated but useful task. She will send out an announcement to ask for help.
Pam reminded us that we once did a "Peace Paddle" canoeing event, and suggested that we consider doing it again. She will send out an annoucement asking if people are interested, and if someone is willing to coordinate it.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
An MCGM Gather & Grow meeting will take place on Saturday, August 6 at Lake Forest Friends Meeting, 101 West Old Elm Road (at Ridge Road) in Lake Forest, IL. After years of faithful work the presiding and recording clerks have resigned, creating an opening to envision what's next for Metro Chicago General Meeting. It will be facilitated by Ken Jacobsen, who has done this kind of work for various Quaker bodies. David Finke, now Assistant Presiding Clerk of ILYM, will also attend. There will be a potluck picnic (a grill is available for meats), and childcare will be provided by Amanda, OPFM First Day School teacher and childcare provider. We encourage all to attend if you have feelings for or thoughts about the future of this regional Quaker gathering. If you have questions or need a ride, please ask Judy.
QUAKER PRACTICE IN ACTION
We thought of the AFSC Windows & Mirrors art exhibit that reflects the experiences of Afghanis living in a war zone. We will try to organize a trip to visit it this summer.
These Minutes were read & approved.
Respectfully submitted by Judy Erickson, Recording Clerk
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There was no meeting for worship with a concern for business in June.
Attending: Helen Dickinson (Clerk), Judy Erickson (Recording Clerk), Val Lester (Treasurer), Pam Timme, Sarah Shirk (Co-Clerk), Sue Beckman, Burke Shipley, Kelly Maynard, Wil Rutt, Cossy Ksander
We began with silent worship.
We reviewed the April Minutes.
QUAKER PRACTICE IN ACTION. We commend all those who are in Chicago this weekend to promote peace in various ways. AFSC has been providing training in nonviolent protesting.
TREASURER’S REPORT/FINANCE COMMITTEE. Valerie presented the Treasurer’s Report. She reminds us that we need to submit any outstanding receipts for expenses related to this fiscal year, before the end of May. She has made all the donations to other organizations that were approved, and has paid all known expenses except Amanda’s wages for May. The audit is in progress. She will work on the budget over the summer, in coordination with committee clerks. She expects to present the budget in September. We thank Val for taking such good care of our financial activities.
MINISTRY & CARE COMMITTEE. In accordance with this committee’s request, the Treasurer sent a donation to FCNL to honor Wil & Dean’s wedding. We were informed that the “Afterthoughts” have been discontinued until we can all learn and abide by the expectations for worship sharing. A suggestion was made that an adult religious ed program be provided on this subject next fall.
NOMINATING COMMITTEE. Please see separate report. This list will be added to the next newsletter. It is not clear when we need to form the next Naming Committee. If anyone is willing to fill any positions that remain unfilled, please contact the clerk of Nominating Committee. Val is willing to continue in that role until she is replaced. These nominations were approved, with thanks to the committee for their diligent work. Val thanked all who offered to serve.
CHILDREN'S RELIGIOUS EDUCATION COMMITTEE. The committee has been discussing what children’s activity to provide at our booth at A Day In Our Village. Two suggestions were paper chains (with Quaker Testimony words written on the strips of paper) and origami cranes. Support was expressed for paper chains as being easier and quicker for all ages to do. The committee will supply the craft materials and attendance in the early part of the day.
ADULT RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. There was an unscheduled program presented on the first First Day of May. Helen had found queries on the AFSC site on Quaker testimonies and brought a couple on that day. We chose the ones on Equality. Next academic year there will be a committee to coordinate programming. The Adult RE Committee is now to be entrusted with seasoning programs. It would be helpful if the M&C Committee could season issues related to helping us be better at “eldering” each other.
PEACE & JUSTICE COMMITTEE. There is no report and there are no action items.
OLD BUSINESS. A Day In Our Village. We have people to staff the booth and a children’s activity. We will have printed materials, including some coming from FCNL. The ILYM FCNL representatives are going to submit a proposed Minute to ILYM about a proposed bill to divert federal monies from Medicare, Medicaid, health care reform, and peaceful prevention of violence programs in order to increase funding for Defense. The Minute will ask our Senators to oppose diverting these monies to Defense. The reps request that a similar handout be available at our booth as a petition that people can sign. Wil and Kelly will create two posters to illustrate the issues. Here is the Minute:
To our Senators and Representatives:
We believe in peaceful solutions to problems. It has been shown that resources addressed to peaceful prevention of conflict, and rapid peaceful response to emerging conflicts, are far more cost effective than military expenditures. Some have calculated that they are 60 times more cost effective. We urge you to use all the resources available to you to preserve the military spending reduction which is now scheduled to take effect Jan 1.
NEW BUSINESS.
1. The draft State of Society Report was approved with one change (to delete sentences about Afterthoughts). Judy will send the final version to ILYM.
2. The annual reports listing Meeting Statistics & Officers was sent to ILYM.
3. A report on the MCGM/CFG May 5th meeting will be submitted to the newsletter.
These Minutes were approved.
We ended with silent worship.
Respectfully submitted by Judy Erickson
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MEETING FOR WORSHIP WITH ATTENTION TO BUSINESS, APRIL 15, 2012
Attending: Helen Dickinson (Clerk), Judy Erickson (Recording Clerk), Sarah Shirk, Wil Rutt, Burke Shipley
Reviewed March Minutes.
QUAKER PRACTICE IN ACTION. It was wonderful that about 30 Quakers met for worship last Saturday at Butler Field, Chicago, in relation to a March about the upcoming NATO/G8 meeting in Chicago. This March ended at Butler Field.
TREASURER'S REPORT. Judy read Val's report. March income was $464 & expenses were $808. YTD income is $8,776 & expenses are $10,040. Wil spoke about how other churches let their people know about their financial needs, and invite them to make a contribution. Wil will help Judy work on a letter.
MINISTRY & CARE COMMITTEE. There were two clearness committees set up. Both were held. One was a clearness committee for transfer of membership for Ann Chase. Here is their report.
"We enthusiastically recommend that the Meeting accept the transfer of Ann's membership from Orono Monthly Meeting of Friends and New England Yearly Meeting. The transfer form will be completed and returned to Molly Duplisea-Pahner of Orono Monthly Meeting."
We wholeheartedly approve the transfer. Helen will complete the form to return to Orono Friends Meeting to let them know our decision. We look forward to hosting a potluck celebration to honor her membership. Helen will try to schedule it for before Ann goes to Michigan for the summer.
CHILDREN'S RELIGIOUS EDUCATION COMMITTEE. Amanda's curriculum is still in draft form. It will be presented at a later business meeting for approval.
ADULT RELIGIOUS EDUCATION COMMITTEE. On April 1st we had a worship sharing event about the Quaker Testimonies, and about presenting them for Adult Religious Education. Whomever has notes from this event, please give them to Kelly.
NOMINATING COMMITTEE. Their report was circulated. It is not complete and there is no one from the committee to answer questions.
PEACE & JUSTICE COMMITTEE. The Action Items were read.
- Day in Our Village. The fee is $39, which could come out of the P&J budget. We approved paying the fee, trying to share space with either OPAL or Ten Thousand Villages, and soliciting volunteers to staff the booth on June 3rd. The Children's Religious Ed Committee was asked to consider creating a kid's activity, possibly on alternative energy.
- P&J recommends that we find someone to talk to us about using social media to promote our meeting. Judy's daughter Emma has agreed to do this on April 29th. This was approved.
- Every 2 years FCNL asks for input on future legislative priorities. Here are the Committee's 5 suggestions.
a. Work on passing laws that would refocus our infrastructure from reliance on fossil fuels to sustainable industries.
b. Work on passing laws that ameliorate living conditions for Native Americans in an attempt to redress past wrongs, (such as breaking treaties, forceful removal from lands).
c. Work on treaties, laws, budget lines that will reduce the number of arms maintained by the military, in particular nuclear arms reduction.
d. Work on laws affecting voting issues. In particular strengthen laws which ban direct and indirect contributions to political campaigns from corporations, unions, and other pacs, and force corporations to disclose their campaign contributions. Also, pass laws that require any computerized touch-screen voting machine to be written using publicly disclosed open code and create a legible paper ballot for every voter. Finally, continue to work to ensure that all adult U.S. citizens not currently incarcerated have the right to vote in Federal elections.
e. Pass legislation banning the use of paramilitary and mercenary contractors by the U.S. government and open up the Pentagon to external auditing.
Burke suggested the 4th item specify support for a constitutional amendment to address campaign contributions from corporations, PACs, and other organizations. These were all approved for submission to FCNL.
NEW BUSINESS. We need to write a State of Society report for ILYM. Wil and Judy will prepare a draft.
Judy read the following report on her website activities.
"My new computer is up & running, and I am able to update our website again. I've done some work on it since then, including some formatting and editorial spring cleaning. If you find a problem please let me know. Feedback is always helpful!
"Except for the Peace & Justice Committee, committees have not been submitting reports electronically since last May. However, many reports can be found in the Minutes of the monthly business meetings. It is too much work for me to cut & paste every committee report from the Minutes to their respective committee pages. As a result, it made sense to me to 'hide' the 'Committee Reports' section on the website. I've also 'hidden' some other pages that do not reflect our current activities: 3Rs Project, PlanItGreen, Crop Walk, and the MCGM Corn Roast. Hidden pages still exist on our website and can be used again; they are just not viewable on the public portal.
"I moved the ongoing P&J reports page to the existing P&J area in the 'About Us' section. This page is now called 'Recent P&J Minutes.' They are still password protected. In accordance with a previous decision to publicly witness to our activities, I've moved all the P&J Minutes older than one year to a page that is not password protected. This page is called 'Archived P&J Minutes' and also appears in the 'About Us' P&J area.
"As decided at the P&J Committee, I've added a link to the Chicago Spring website so people can learn about protests & activities related to the upcoming G8 meeting in Chicago (5/19-21). I noted that we are not endorsing any of them. This link is on the P&J page in the 'About Us' section.
"Please watch the website for more information (to be released within a few days) on the May 5th program at Chicago Monthly Meeting, the first in the new MCGM/Chicagoland Friends Gathering format.
"Denise has added some beautiful Spring photos to the website. I invite you all to visit our website, if only to enjoy these lovely photos! The April newsletter, which also has some beautiful photos, is also on the website."
We ended with silent worship.
Respectfully submitted,
Judy Erickson, Recording Clerk
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March 11, 2012 Meeting for Worship with Concern for Business
Attending: Helen Dickinson, Judy Erickson, Ann Chase, Valerie Lester, Mary Pikul, Amanda Sneed.
We began with silent worshIp.
We reviewed the February Minutes.
Quaker Practice in Action. Judy spoke about the "lobbying legislators workshop" conducted in Oak Park yesterday by an FCNL lobbyist. We are encouraged to keep persisting, act respectfully, do interfaith outreach, and keep in mind that change can be like water eroding a rock; we need a long term perspective.
Finance Committee/Treasurer's Report. Val noted that although our expenses exceed our income to date, it is because she made the rest of our donations to other organizations this month (except for the food pantry donation, which will be done in April to coincide with the Feinstein Challenge).
Ministry & Care Committee Report. "We continue to consider the welfare of individual Friends and attenders. We have gotten caught up on sending welcoming letters to new attenders. Two clearness committees are underway, one regarding a transfer of membership to Oak Park Friends Meeting. We discussed cases where people contact the Meeting with questions, and we are considering them on a case-by-case basis. Ten additional copies of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Faith & Practice have been ordered. (The bill will be given to Valerie.) We are open to questions and advices. We seem to have plenty to keep us busy!" (from Ann Chase, M&C Clerk)
Children's Religious Education Committee Report. Amanda said the committee talked about the curriculum, will make changes, and present it to business meeting. Amanda will try to send out the lesson plan to parents so they may use it if the kids miss that lesson. It was suggested that a synopsis of each lesson plan be placed on the website each month, rather than a weekly email to parents. This suggestion was further seasoned. Amanda will put topics on the website and will send out a summary monthly.
There may be a canoe trip this spring.
They are considering how to create a time for singing. We want the kids to learn Quaker songs, and Quaker values through the songs. We have a collecction of songbooks. A decision was made to season the singing suggestion before or at potluck next week.
Adult Religious Education Report. Last week there was a program on the peace testimony. Next month Wil will present his program.
Peace & Justice Committee. A report was not presented.
Nominating Committee Report. They met and reviewed the positions to be filled. They have started doing outreach to individual members and attenders. Their goal is to present their nominations in time for the May business meeting.
New Business. A Day in Our Village is coming up. Amanda will ask the Art League about whether they will participate. (One year we collaborated with them.) No other decision was made.
Helen asked whether there is anything we can do to help the communities that were hit by tornadoes recently in southern Illinois. Val will ask Dawn Amos (Southern Illinois Quaker Meeting).
These Minutes were approved.
We ended with silent worship.
Respectfully submitted,
Judy Erickson, Recording Clerk
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OPFM Meeting for Worship with Concern for Business 2/12/2012
Attending: Helen Dickinson (Clerk), Burke Shipley, Sue Beckman, Judy Erickson (Recording Clerk), Sarah Shirk (Co-Clerk), Wil Rutt, Karen
We reviewed the January Minutes.
Quaker Practice in Action. Wil spoke about the couple (Sam & Ruth Neff) who organize the Neighbor to Neighbor Study Trips that he has taken, and their continuing promotion of understanding the current state of conflict between Iran and israel.
Treasurer's Report. Valerie could not attend, but she sent an email report that income and expenses are now balanced. She recommends disbursement of the remaining contributions to the organizations we support.
Ministry and Care Committee. They are proceeding with the Clearness Committee that was recently requested. Rosalind Larson has been accepted as a member of Fort Collins Monthly Meeting. We are now going to cease her membership in Oak Park Friends Meeting. We will continue to hold her in the Light as she continues her spiritual journey with Ft. Collins F/friends. All relevant correspondence will be added to our membership files.
The Children's Religious Education Committee met with Amanda. She presented her curriculum for the first quarter of 2012. It was great to have a current parent at that meeting, and she shared some good suggestions. They will continue to meet on the fourth Sunday of each month at OPAL at 9:00 am.
Adult Religious Education. Helen and Adrian presented a program on what happens during silent worship, which was well attended. Judy Wolicky, ILYM Field Secretary, attended and spoke about discerning appropriateness of speaking during worship, which could be developed into another program. Wil mentioned a long article that could be used for adult religious education sometime, an outsider's view of Quakers and their influence in the larger society. We like both ideas. We asked Wil to present his prgram in March, and the other program when it is ready. Suggestions for future programs should go to Kelly Maynard, who is organizing these programs.
Peace and Justice Committee. We made our recommendations last fall for contributions for this fiscal year, which were approved. Some of those donations were made by the end of December, and some were deferred until we could assess our income after December. We now recommend making all the remaining contributions approved but not yet paid, with the addition of $50 for FWCC. These were approved.
We recommend adding a small notice to the "contact us" button on our website about how to donate to our meeting. It would include some information about what we do with our contributions. What does a dollar do here? We ask the website committee to consider how to do this.
We recommend that a letter asking for contributions be sent to people on our mailing list. We ask the Finance Committee to draft a letter to bring back to business meeting for further action.
Old Business. Judy has taken no action about the telephone answering system. Perhaps she will have something to report next month.
The Naming Committee found Bob Southworth to serve on the Nominating Committee. This nomination was approved, with thanks to the Naming Committee and to Bob.
The eagle-watching trip to Starved Rock was successful. It was a lesson in climate change. Because of the warmer winter there were only a few eagles to watch, rather than the usual hundreds of birds. Regardless of that, it was fun for all, including the overnight at Clear Creek House. It was suggested that we consider Clear Creek House as a place for a meeting retreat.
These Minutes were approved.
Silent worship.
Respectfully Submitted by Judy Erickson
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OPFM Meeting for Worship with Concern for Business 1/8/2012
ATTENDING: Helen Dickinson (Clerk), Judy Erickson (Recording Clerk), Valerie Lester (Treasurer), Burke Shipley, Ann Chase, Pam Timme, Sarah Shirk, Adrian Nelson (ILYM delegate to FWCC World Conference), Sue Beckman, Kelly Maynard
REVIEWED DECEMBER MINUTES.
QUAKER PRACTICE IN ACTION. We appreciate Sarah Shirk's contributions of faithfully opening and closing the Meeting for us, even rescheduling her family's Christmas to Boxing Day to help us. We also remember Vaclav Havel, who died last week. He was a leader of the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia, a playwright, and President of his country. He was frequently imprisoned but his spirit stayed strong throughout his struggles, which reminds us of George Fox.
FINANCE COMMITTEE. Valerie presented the Treasurer's report. This fiscal year to date we have income of $5852 and expenses of $6211. She thanks Friends for their generosity in balancing our expenses with corresponding income at the end of December. Lois Platt is auditing the past two fiscal years.
MINISTRY & CARE COMMITTEE. They have received a request for a clearness committee and are moving ahead with it. They have also received a request for financial assistance from the Sufferings Fund and for a support group, and are still working on both of those requests.
CHILDREN RELIGIOUS EDUCATION COMMITTEE. Next meeting is 9:00 am on Jan. 22 at OPAL to discuss curricula. Amanda was not here today; Sarah will check with her.
ADULT RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. On Feb 5th Adrian Fisher & Helen Dickinson will present a program on what happens during silent worship. They especially invite "new" attenders.
PEACE & JUSTICE COMMITTEE. P&J did not meet in December because the regular time fell on Dec. 25th. The next meeting will be on Jan. 22 at 11:30 at OPAL. We have arranged for Jim Cason (who has worked for FCNL) to give a lobbying workshop at the Oak Park main library on March 10. We will extend an invitation to all area Friends who want to reach out to their elected representatives. A suggestion was made to reach out to the wider community. Judy will bring it to OPCTJ, and Kelly will write up an announcement by 2/10 for the Community of Congregations newsletter. She will also send it to the Wednesday Journal. We asked people to sign postcards today asking Pres. Obama to close the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center, where prisoners are still being detained without being charged with any wrongdoing. There is an action being planned, a public vigil, on the 10th anniversary of this Detention Center (Wed Jan 11 at 3:00 pm at the downtown federal plaza).
OLD BUSINESS.
NAMING COMMITTEE has not yet met. They will meet later today to work towards discerning an additional member for the Nominating Committee.
PROPOSED EAGLE WATCHING TRIP TO STARVED ROCK STATE PARK. Jan. 28-29 are suggested for the trip. We could drive to the park on Saturday to watch the eagles, then either go back home or stay overnight at the Clear Creek House, worshiping with Clear Creek Friends on Sunday morning. It will be a great field trip for families. Valerie will ask the Clear Creek House contact to reserve this night for this event.
NEW BUSINESS.
Adrian Nelson spoke about the need for Friends to provide financial support for low income Friends around the world to attend the 6th annual FWCC world conference, happening in Kenya April 17-25, 2012. This conference occurs only once every 10 years. She provided addresses to send contributions, and information on travel costs. Costs are on a sliding scale to accommodate the varying resources of delegates.
To contribute toward ILYM delegates: Give or send contributions to Valerie Lester of our Meeting (who is the Co-Treasurer of ILYM).
To contribute directly to FWCC: Friends World Committeee, 1506 Race St., Philadelphia, PA 19102. We send our blessings and prayers to Adrian and all delegates for a great trip.
TELEPHONE ANSWERING SYSTEM. Judy read her suggestion (printed on the agenda) to initiate a different system for monitoring and responding to phone messages. It was noted that the individual who is doing this is comfortable with continuing. It was also suggested that a phone message log be created. There is no urgent need to act, so we ask the Nominating Committee to consider a new system for next year that will include some more direct involvement by OPFM. Judy will ask Laura to start a phone message log.
These Minutes were approved. We closed the meeting at 12:53 with silent worship.
Respectfully submitted by Judy Erickson
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OPFM Meeting for Worship with Concern for Business 12/11/2011
ATTENDING: Helen Dickinson (Clerk), Judy Erickson (Recording Clerk), Valerie Lester (Treasurer), Sarah Shirk, Burke Shipley
REVIEW OF NOVEMBER MINUTES. Helen mentioned that she sent Elizabeth Mertic the OPFM responses to the ILYM Service Queries. She also communicated with Wil about the Christmas Potluck.
QUAKER PRACTICE IN ACTION. We are grateful to Sue Beckman and Donna Cech for again coordinating our Meeting's contributions to the Holiday Food & Gift Basket program.
FINANCE COMMITTEE/TREASURER'S REPORT. November income was $581 and expenses were $1414. Year to date we have spent $1311 more than our income, which is lower than last year to date. We decided to make decisions about recommendations for additional contributions to other organizations at the February business meeting (rather than the January meeting, which was our previous decision). This will give us more time to discern our financial condition.
MINISTRY & CARE COMMITTEE. The M&C Committee met at 9:00 am, 12/4/11 at OPAL. We began with a brief silence. Burke reported that he had called to touch base with Lois Platt. She has been busy working on her doctorate. She stated that she will be able to do our yearly audit, perhaps in December. The Committee decided that they would, as necessary, write detailed confidential minutes for the M&C Committee, and a shorter, less confidential report for the business meeting. The Committee decided to have an additional business meeting next Sunday, 12/11 at 9:00 am because of the amount of business it needs to conduct. (report submitted by Pam Timme)
CHILDREN'S RELIGIOUS EDUCATION COMMITTEE. Sarah reported for the Committee. The field trip to Drury Lane Theatre (The Sound of Music) was successful; 14 people participated. They plan to do another field trip next Spring. They have received a request for support from the Chicago Friends School; they were encouraged to season this for Meeting action. The next meeting needs to be rescheduled; its focus will be curriculum development.
ADULT RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. We enjoyed Adrian's program on her spiritual journey on 12/4. We are not sure what (if anything) is planned for the next program scheduled for Jan. 1, 2012.
PEACE & JUSTICE COMMITTEE. Sarah will be sending the P&J agenda ahead of time through the weekly calendar (as an attachment). The December meeting, which falls on 12/25, has been cancelled.
OLD BUSINESS. We are in good shape for the 12/30 PADS dinner. The Holiday Gift Basket program has been successfully concluded. Pam & Helen are working on the Sing-Along for the Christmas Potluck.
Naming Committee. Nominating Committee has requested a new member. We gratefully approved Burke Shipley & Sarah Shirk to serve on the Naming Committee (to find a new member for the Nominating Committee).
NEW BUSINESS. We discussed the presence last First Day of an artist and model in the studio at 10:30 (which Helen approved at short notice, after conferring with various Friends). It was noticed that someone was upstairs today after Amanda had come down to worship. We will ask Amanda (our OPAL Liaison) to find out whether this was a one-time event or whether this will be scheduled again.
Valerie suggested that we leave a note on Faith's desk if there is ever a minor issue with setting up.
We need a greeter for Jan. 1.
Valerie is interested in creating a field trip to Starved Rock for an "Eagle Watch." She and Sarah (through Childrens Religious Ed) will circulate some possible dates.
Judy expressed a concern about upcoming events related to NATO and G8 meetings in Chicago in May. She wants to suggest creating a constructive dialogue with the Mayor, Chicago Police, and the peace community. It was decided to express support for efforts by Judy and other Friends to work toward such a dialogue.
These Minutes were approved.
We closed with SILENT WORSHIP.
Respectfully submitted by Judy Erickson, Recording Clerk
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MEETING FOR WORSHIP WITH CONCERN FOR BUSINESS, 11/13/2011
Attending: Helen Dickinson (Clerk), Judy Erickson (Recording Clerk), Sibel Kusimba, Carol Zimmerman, Ann Chase, Pam Timme
SILENT WORSHIP.
REVIEWED OCTOBER MINUTES.
QUAKER PRACTICE IN ACTION. We are encouraged by the light that has been shone on the immoral actions of a coach at Penn State. He had a charitable organization for at-risk children and he was found to have abused many children. Although it had been known for about ten years, no action had been taken until a high school coach reported it to the authorities. We hold the victims in the Light, and all those who are involved.
TEASURER'S REPORT. Judy read Valerie's summary. We are encouraged to increase our contributions.
MINISTRY & CARE COMMITTEE. We agreed to add an item to the M&C budget. We received a report from the Direction of the Meeting last week. We ask that all OPFM committees review it and consider how to respond. We were pleased with the attendance and participation at this meeting.
CHILDREN'S RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. The tickets for The Sound of Music have been purchased and distributed. Two Halloween UNICEF boxes were returned; Pam will send the proceeds to UNICEF.
ADULT RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. Adrian has agreed to do a program on Dec. 4th about her spiritual journey.
PEACE & JUSTICE COMMITTEE. There was no report.
OLD BUSINESS. December 30th PADS dinner -- Valerie is organizing it. Holiday Gift Baskets -- Sue is organizing it. Christmas Potluck & Singalong -- Wil has offered to host it at his home on Dec. 18. Helen will contact him to confirm our grateful acceptance of his offer, and to work out the details.
NEW BUSINESS. We answered the ILYM Queries on Quaker Service. Judy will write up her notes, which were read and approved, and will send them to Helen for her review. Then Helen will send them to Elizabeth Mertic, as requested.
These Minutes were approved.
SILENT WORSHIP.
Respectfully submitted by Judy Erickson
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Meeting for Worship with Concern for Business, October 9, 2011
IN ATTENDANCE: Helen Dickinson, Sarah Shirk, Pam Timme, Judy Erickson, Burke Shipley
SILENT WORSHIP
SEPTEMBER MINUTES were reviewed.
QUAKER PRACTICE IN ACTION: We are encouraged by the protesters objecting to the concentration of vast wealth among 1% of the population of this country.
TREASURER'S REPORT: No report.
MINISTRY & CARE COMMITTEE: The Direction of the Meeting has been rescheduled for Nov. 6, 2011 at the Art League. Kelly Maynard has agreed to this date; nothing has been scheduled for Adult RE on this date. Joan Pine will try to attend. A request for a $50 budget item for food for the Direction of the Meeting was approved. Committee members will bring assorted finger foods. Sarah will send out a special email message.
The report on the 10/2/11 meeting was read. Please see M&C reports. Pam read a letter from Rosalind Larsen requesting transfer of membership to Ft. Collins Mtg in Colorado. (She also sent a contribution to our Mtg.) Pam also read a draft of a letter of response accepting the transfer of membership. This letter was approved. Another letter of appreciation and notice of our action will be sent to Rosalind. M&A will bring to business meeting the notice of acceptance by the Ft. Collins Meeting, at which time we will record termination of her membership. Copies will be placed in the OPFM membership file, which is in the care of the Clerk of the M&C Committee.
CHILDREN'S RELIGIOUS EDUCATION COMMITTEE: The last committee meeting was on Sept. 25, 2011. They composed a list of potential field trips and are asking for feedback from families. Responses so far have been diverse, with no unity about any one specific activity. Several activities may be supported. These responses will be discussed at the next committee meeting (10/30). A suggestion was made to open this survey up to the MCGM community. The committee will discuss various possibilities.
Pam discussed possible activities related to Halloween. One is Unicef boxes, and one is Reverse Halloween (re Fair Trade chocolate). We approved distributing the Unicef materials to parents, and letting them decide whether to participate. Information will go out on the weekly calendar and to parents.
Amanda has had a death in her family. The committee is subbing for her until she returns.
The next meeting is scheduled for 9:00 am on 10/30 at OPAL.
ADULT RELIGIOUS EDUCATION: No report..
PEACE & JUSTICE COMMITTEE: Due to illness of the clerk, there was no committee meeting on Sept. 25.
OLD BUSINESS: Sunday, 12/18/11 was approved for our Christmas potluck. Helen will check with the Art League to see if it is available.
NEW BUSINESS: We approved purchasing 5 copies of PYM Faith & Practice to distribute to anyone who requests a clearness committee for membership. We approve this expenditure without drawing on a committee budget. Helen will ask Valerie to do this.
Committees that meet at 9:00 am at OPAL on Sundays are requested to meet upstairs, or end by 9:45 so as not to cut into worship time.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Our next PADS dinner service will be on Friday, 12/30/11.
These Minutes were approved.
SILENT WORSHIP
Respectfully submitted by Judy Erickson, Recording Clerk
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Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business, September 11, 2011
In Attendance: Helen Dickinson, Judy Erickson, Kelly Maynard, Wil Rutt, Burke Shipley, Sarah Shirk
The August minutes were reviewed. The following is to clarify the last sentence in the Children's Religious Education report. This sentence related to Adult Religious Education and referred to Kelly Maynard's interest in adult education about Islam.
FINANCE COMMITTEE
Kelly read the following list of recommended contributions (approved by the Peace & Justice Committee) for this fiscal year:
$225 Friends Committee on National Legislation/FCNL
200 American Friends Service Committee/AFSC (Chicago office)
125 Ceasefire
125 OPRF Walk-In Ministry (local assistance program)
125 Project Lakota (c/o St. Louis Meeting)
125 Quaker Earthcare Witness/QEW
100 African Great Lakes Initiative/AFLI (a project of Friends Peace Teams)
100 Friends Peace Teams/FPT
100 Holiday Food & Gift Basket Program (a project of Community of Congregations)
100 Oak Park Food Pantry
100 West Suburban PADS (local homeless shelter program)
75 Christian Peacemakers Teams
75 Friends World Committee for Consultation/FWCC
75 Openlands Urban Green Programs
75 Quaker House
75 Sarah's Inn (local domestic violence program)
50 American Friends Service Committee/AFSC (national office)
50 Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty/ICADP
One change was to decrease the amount to ICADP by $25 (whose efforts are being refocused to oppose any new DP legislation), and to the PADS contribution by $56 (which were additional individual contributions last year). They'd like to add $25 each to Ceasefire, Openlands, and Project Lakota.
They recommend that the following donations be made before 12/31/11 (totaling $700):
$150 FCNL
100 AFSC (Chicago office
100 Holiday Food & Gift Basket Program
75 Ceasefire
75 Project Lakota
50 AFSC (national office)
50 OPRF Walk-In Ministry
50 QEW
50 West Suburban PADS program
They recommend that the contribution to the OPRF Food Pantry be done in April during the Feinstein Matching Fund drive.
They recommend that OPFM become a Fair Trade Congregation member of Chicago Fair Trade. This includes an annual dues of $100.
These recommendations were all approved. Kelly will send this information to the Treasurer and to the newsletter.
QUAKER PRACTICE IN ACTION. Central United Methodist Church of Detroit (Wil's former church) is having a joint worship service today (9/11) with the Muslim Imam and muslims were invited.
MINISTRY & CARE COMMITTEE. Burke read a short report. Preparations for the Direction of the Meeting meeting were reviewed. There were no action items.
CHILDREN'S RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
Sarah gave an update. The committee discussed a variety of possible events and are surveying families about which possibilities are of most interest. She mentioned that several visiting families have attended worship recently, with more children attending First Day School.
Two boxes of books were donated recently and will be sorted for either the 3Rs Project or the Food Pantry book donation programs.
Halloween is coming up. Last year we participated in Global Exchange's program to promote fair trade chocolate and candy. Sarah agreed to look into it for this year with the committee.
These actions were all approved.
ADULT RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
Forms were distributed last week to request input for this year. Kelly will email the form to Helen & Judy as requested. One event to be scheduled will be a special event for new attendees to provide resources to them for whatever information they are interested in.
Someone suggested recently that people might be interested in a handout that Helen provided years ago on guidance for what to do during silent worship. It was excerpted from an article in Friends Journal dated September 1997. Helen will try to find the article, and will bring copies of her previous handout.
PEACE & JUSTICE COMMITTEE
As approved last month, Kelly followed up and enrolled OPFM on the OPCAT petition from NRCAT.
The committee requested approval to ask members/attenders to call or write our US Senators Durbin and Kirk, using talking points written by Kelly, on the 10th anniversary of the invasion of Afghanistan. This action is in lieu of participating in the Chicago antiwar march that is scheduled on Yom Kippur. This request was approved; Sarah will include it in this week's calendar.
OLD BUSINESS. There will be no PADS dinner in September. The next one will be the fifth Friday in December (12/30).
NEW BUSINESS. Wil offered to show The Freedom Riders at his home on Thursday, Sept. 22. It is a 2-hr award winning documentary on the 1961 freedom riders of the civil rights movement. The meeting approved this showing.
ANNOUNCEMENTS. None
These Minutes were approved.
Silent Worship
Respectfully submitted by Judy Erickson, Recording Clerk
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Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business, August 14, 2011
In Attendance: Helen Dickinson (Clerk), Judy Erickson, Adrian Fisher, Valerie Lester, Kelly Maynard, Wil Rutt, Sarah Shirk
The July minutes were reviewed.
QUAKER PRACTICE IN ACTION. Adrian talked about a Quaker group EQAT: Earthcare Quaker Action Team. They have been actively witnessing to mountaintop removal, mostly by protesting in front of PNC bank buildings.
FINANCE COMMITTEE
Through the generosity of friends, we were able to add a little over $3000 to our reserves last fiscal year. Val said that the Peace & Justice (P&J) Committee needs more time to season potential donations. We reviewed the proposed budget for operating expenses, committees & dues. The budget for Friends Journal: Val will revise it to reflect the actual subscription cost, and the proposed contribution portion will be added to the proposed contributions. We approved all except the contributions, which are to be seasoned by the P&J comm.
YTD income is $1591, YTD expenses are $2464 ($720 was sent to ILYM for the 1st quarterly payment)
MINISTRY & CARE COMMITTEE
This committee has been reviewing descriptions of similar M&C committees in ILYM & PYM Faith & Practice (F&P) publications.
They have also been reviewing the section on marriage in ILYM's F&P. Regarding marriage we agreed to follow the template provided in ILYM's F&P.
Pam put an announcement in the newsletter asking for a volunteeer to coordinate a Peace Paddle.
Ros Larsen has verbally requested transfer of her membership to the Ft. Collins (CO) Monthly Meeting. The Committee has asked her to write a letter to us.
This committee has started to plan the Meeting's annual Direction of the Meeting meeting. They suggest doing it on a Sunday in Sept. or Oct. Sept. 18th was approved for this event.
CHILDREN'S RELIGIOUS EDUCATION COMMITTEE
Sarah reported for this Committee. We commend Amanda for her faithful diligence in walking from Cicero to Oak Park today when she missed her train. The mug project was approved, but it still needs a date. The committee was asked to reach out to our children & their parents for input on this event & suggestions for other events. She is interested in presenting a program or programs on Islam.
ADULT RELIGIOUS EDUCATION COMMITTEE
We reviewed our previous decision for Kelly to facilitate RE programs that anyone feels led to present. Kelly wants to circulate a set of related queries about possible RE ideas, and to find coordinators for such events. Sarah agreed to present these queries at 11:30 on Sept. 4.
Wil suggested we write a brief article for the newsletter inviting people to think about possibilities for these events. It could be repeated in each newsletter. Kelly agreed to write it.
M&C will consider a program to help attenders learn about membership.
PEACE & JUSTICE COMMITTEE
About 2 yrs ago we joined the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT). Kelly receives & reviews suggestions for action by NRCAT. At the June P&J meeting the committee agreed to recommend that OPFM sign the following statement to ratify the OPCAT treaty (being circulated by NRCAT).
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Join the Treaty: The U.S. Should Act to Prevent Torture Everywhere
Torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment are contrary to our common religious belief in the fundamental dignity of each human being. We call upon the U.S. government, once a leader in the effort to end the use of torture, to reclaim that role by signing and ratifying the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT).
One of the most important steps a nation can take to end torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment is to provide independent oversight of the conditions in which people are detained. By creating mechanisms that can prevent torture, including international inspection teams, OPCAT builds upon the prohibition against torture contained in the Convention Against Torture, a treaty to which the U.S. is already a party and which is U.S. law. OPCAT requires each nation that ratifies the treaty to develop its own independent mechanism for monitoring detention facilities, including prisons and police stations.
We believe that if the U.S. joins OPCAT and provides robust oversight of its places of detention, it will be significantly more difficult for cases of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment to occur within the U.S. Ratifying OPCAT would also enhance our government's effectiveness in urging other countries to end their use of torture.
As people of many faiths and creeds, we oppose torture. We call upon our government to do everything it can to prevent torture everywhere. We call upon the President to sign OPCAT, and we call upon the U.S. Senate to ratify it.
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We are invited to sign it on the NRCAT webpage, corporately and/or individually. We approved signing as OPFM. Kelly will do this online for the Meeting, and she will set out materials for individuals to consider signing.
Kelly was given mailings related to our annual contributions.
NEW BUSINESS
There will be PADS dinners in September, December, and March. Val will start circulating a signup sheet for the Sept. dinner.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
None
These Minutes were read & approved.
Silent Worship.
Respectfully submitted by Judy Erickson, Recording Clerk
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Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business, July 11, 2011
In Attendance: Helen Dickinson (Clerk), Carol Zimmerman, Judy Erickson, Pam Timme
There was no business meeting in June. The May minutes were reviewed.
FINANCE COMMITTEE
Helen will contact Valerie (OPFM Treasurer) to ask when the audit report for the last fiscal year will be ready.
MINISTRY & CARE COMMITTEE
Someone has requested a Clearness Committee. M&C is helping that individual with the process. M&C is reviewing literature on Clearness Committees and marriage procedures, and plans to write up a list of procedures for the Meeting.
Friends wish to organize a mug-painting event, and hope the children will attend. Pam will bring this suggestion to the next Children's RE Committee meeting.
M&C is reviewing the list of duties associated with the M&C Committee and may suggest clarifications of various tasks.
CHILDREN'S RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
Amanda is putting all her lesson plans in one place and will give them to the Committee. The Committee will then have easy access to them at times when Amanda will not be at Meeting.
PEACE & JUSTICE COMMITTEE
There was no report.
ADULT RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
Helen will ask Adrian to contact Kelly about plans for adult learning.
NEW BUSINESS
Pam was nominated to be the Meeting Archivist. At ILYM she attended a workshop on record keeping for monthly meetings. There is an archive at the University of Illinois in Urbana/Champaign to collect ILYM and its monthly meetings' records. She would like help in considering whether to send some of our records to this archive, which ones to send, and in what format. It could be a very complicated but useful task. She will send out an announcement to ask for help.
Pam reminded us that we once did a "Peace Paddle" canoeing event, and suggested that we consider doing it again. She will send out an annoucement asking if people are interested, and if someone is willing to coordinate it.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
An MCGM Gather & Grow meeting will take place on Saturday, August 6 at Lake Forest Friends Meeting, 101 West Old Elm Road (at Ridge Road) in Lake Forest, IL. After years of faithful work the presiding and recording clerks have resigned, creating an opening to envision what's next for Metro Chicago General Meeting. It will be facilitated by Ken Jacobsen, who has done this kind of work for various Quaker bodies. David Finke, now Assistant Presiding Clerk of ILYM, will also attend. There will be a potluck picnic (a grill is available for meats), and childcare will be provided by Amanda, OPFM First Day School teacher and childcare provider. We encourage all to attend if you have feelings for or thoughts about the future of this regional Quaker gathering. If you have questions or need a ride, please ask Judy.
QUAKER PRACTICE IN ACTION
We thought of the AFSC Windows & Mirrors art exhibit that reflects the experiences of Afghanis living in a war zone. We will try to organize a trip to visit it this summer.
These Minutes were read & approved.
Respectfully submitted by Judy Erickson, Recording Clerk
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There was no meeting for worship with a concern for business in June.