Examples of FCUN activities:
What activities could FCUN initiate that would help our meeting still more?
This months meeting will begin a four-month-long study of John Woolman. Please prepare for our August meeting by studying the Introduction, Maps, Chronologies, and Chapter 1 excerpt from his journal. Connie Ray has obtained a supply of the book John Woolman: A Nonviolence and Social Change Source Book and it is available for purchase from her.
The program will run from 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and will include:
RSVP to: Kathy@fcnl.org or call (800) 630-1330, ext. 144 to reserve a briefing packet, space, and a lunch for you.
Notes from their trip to Friends General Conference by Gene and Dick Beardsley:
Enroute we enjoyed an overnight with Friends in Columbia, South Carolina. We found them in the Friends Traveling Directory (the latest edition is in our library).
From John Punshon, British Quaker Theologian and Keynote speaker: a notice in a local newspaper read "Normal woman marries Oblong man" (these are the names of two nearby cities). He stated there has been a slow steady growth of liberal friends. He stressed the importance of passing down old and new Quaker stories (we learn from the lives of others) and of studying the Advices and Queries. Some other thoughts were that Quaker values are important and neglected in mainstream culture, and that Quaker education can model how the world should be.
Dick enjoyed his workshop on chanting - reporting it was good for his soul -- and the FCUN sponsored activities which were informative and hope-filled.
There was something for everyone:
The Query of the last day: After we return home how will we be faithful to those promptings of Love and Truth experienced at the Gathering?
From where I stand, the least known and most underappreciated of the Quaker service organizations is the Quaker United Nations Office, with headquarters in Geneva and in New York. QUNO staff members have represented Quakers at the United Nations Economic and Social Council in its Category II Status since 1948. This entitles them to have observers at many UN meetings, to receive documents, and to make written and oral statements.
If you go to the QUNO home page (http://www.afsc.org/quno.htm), you can click on either the Geneva office or the New York office. Let's say you choose the Geneva office and then go to "Ways of Working." You learn that "representatives organize meetings and seminars for UN delegates at the QUNO offices located in New York and Geneva. . . . at Quaker House, diplomats, UN staff, experts and NGO representatives discuss different views on issues such as disarmament, trade, fair labor practices, child soldiers and the protection of refugees. In an informal and quiet environment, detached from political pressures and publicity, ways of overcoming differences are sought with a view to facilitate relevant multilateral processes. The three QUNO representatives are skilled in bringing together people of differing views to explore matters of common interest. Each member has a particular knowledge in one of QUNO's key areas of concern, and writes reports that are widely used at the UN and elsewhere."
If you choose to visit the New York office on the website, you will first see three boxes: Peacebuilding and Disarmament, Economic and Social Development, and Human Rights, as well as a separate line for "Countering Terrorism." Under "Countering Terrorism," you will see, for example, several statements on alternative approaches to military intervention and on international legal remedies.
I strongly recommend that you take time this month to study the QUNO website and learn about this important organization.
Don Smith
Overkill of the green sea turtle in Florida Bay has led to die-off of turtle grass beds which has undermined the habitat's ability to serve as a food source, breeding ground, and erosion protector.
In Chesapeake Bay, over fishing of oysters (which are important as natural water filters) has upset the ecosystem to the point that gray whales, dolphins, manatees, river otters, sea turtles, alligators, giant Sturgeons, and hammerhead sharks, once in abundance, have virtually been eliminated.
Coral reefs and the millions of species they support are being smothered by algal growth resulting from over fishing of large fish.