Ohio Valley Yearly Meeting, Miami Quarter
RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS
MEETING FOR WORSHIP WITH ATTENTION TO BUSINESS
TENTH MONTH, 17th DAY 2021
VIA ZOOM
The clerk , Peter Hardy opened the meeting with a few comment of welcome to all Friends present.
The clerk read the query and invited Friends to speak to the query from out of the silence. The body entered into silent worship.
How have I fallen short in the past year?
When has our meeting avoided doing things that are hard to do?
Query #11, Faith and Practice of Ohio Valley Yearly Meeting (2021).
Roll call of representatives of Monthly Meetings
Campus – no representative; Community – Deborah Jordan; Dayton – Carol MacMann; Eastern Hills — no representative; Lexington – Richard Mitchell; Louisville – no representative; Miami – no representative; Oxford – Cecilia Shore & Andy Garrison; Yellow Springs — Bruce Heckman.
Other Friends present: Susan Hyde (Yellow Springs), Connie McNeely , Betsy Neale, (Lexington), Jennifer Wolff, Andrew Bonniface, Wilhelmina Branson (Community), Maureen Kohl.
Schedule for Miami Quarter meetings
The clerk presented the concern that the current schedule for Quarterly meetings needs to be adjusted because Yearly Meeting sessions now occur in the middle of June. This makes the time interval between meetings uneven. The clerk proposed that we switch the winter and spring meetings which now occur in February and May by one month so that they would occur in January and April. The Fall meeting would continue to occur in October. There was considerable discussion of the implications of this shift. Friends noted the considerable benefit to having a consistent rule for when meetings occur for ease of remembering. We also wanted our schedule to agree with that of Whitewater so that Joint Quarters could continue to happen with a minimum of change in the schedule. We were also concerned not to have Quarter meeting fall on Martin Luther King Jr day in January or Easter in April. After much discussion Friends agreed to hold Miami Quarter meeting on the 4th Sunday in January, April and in October unless there was a conflict with Whitewater meeting.
Treasurer’s report: The clerk presented the report from the treasurer, Veronica Frost. The report, which is attached, listed the balance of the various accounts which the Quarter has. A question arose as to the use of the “Jt. Quarter meeting” account. The clerk explained it had the purpose to enable paying a reservation fee for Happy Hollow when we would hold Joint Quarter there. Friends accepted the treasurer’s report.
Honoraria for Jt. Quarter speaker Mary Ann Percy
The clerk presented a request to pay an honoraria of $125 to Mary Ann Percy who was the invited speaker from EarthCare. The clerk noted that the intention is for Whitewater to pay $75 and for Miami Quarter which is larger to pay $125 so that the speaker receives $200 for an honoraria. Friends agreed to pay $125 out of the Jt. Quarter Meeting fund to Mary Ann Percy as an honoraria for her presentation to Jt. Quarter.
Green Plain meeting house report.
The clerk read a report forwarded from Veronica Frost about the Green Plain meeting house. The report, which is attached, details activities at the Green Plain meeting house particularly in relation to the cemetery. Friends accepted the report from the Green Plain meeting house.
OVYM Report
OVYM Report The clerk gave a summary of the activities of the planning committee for sessions of OVYM for 2022. The clerk noted that Earlham College has yet to decide on whether they will hold summer camps which is how our sessions are categorized. Hence the planning committee is unsure whether to plan for an in-person or a virtual yearly meeting sessions.
Announcements & Future events
One Friend brought up a concern that the Quarter take on the role of providing educational programs for all meetings in our Quarter. This possibility is enabled by virtual meeting platforms and could help smaller meetings provide additional religious education for youth and for adults. Considerable discussion ensued. Friends noted the importance of having a champion for this work without whom little would be likely to be achieved. The clerk spoke of his interest in coordinating a regular meeting of the clerks within the Quarter. As they tend to have similar concerns they would benefit from having mutual support. This group might be better positioned to organize common presentations for religious education. The clerk volunteered to organize the regular meeting of clerks. One Friend commented that he is a part of a similar meeting of clerks most of whom come from Philadelphia yearly meeting and that he finds the fellowship of the group immensely helpful.
Another Friend raised a concern that she is interested in offering anti-racism programming which originates at Lexington Meeting to other, smaller meetings. She enquired what approvals she might need from Quarter. Friends commended her on this work but did not think that any approval from Quarter or Yearly meeting was required. The clerk offered to give this Friend a list of contacts to other monthly meetings and encouraged her to write to these meetings to offer to coordinate with them about conducting on-line anti-racism programming.
All minds being easy, the meeting closed with a moment of silent worship.
