Our Quaker witness: a personal testimony during a dark time

Pacific Yearly Meeting's annual session has not approved any statements about social justice or peace (aka "minutes of concern")  for the last three years. In fact, we don't even have an agreed upon procedure for doing so.  In 2014, the Peace and Social Order Committee of PYM approved a set of procedures that reflected our best practices over many decades (see  Procedures).

Unfortunately, Ministry and Oversight had concerns about this process and requested that no minutes of concern be sent to the YM session until new procedures were approved by the body. M and O came up with their own set of procedures, which began by stating that minutes of concern are ineffective and do not result in action on either the personal or corporate level.

We are concerned that these minutes do not result in action on the part of our Monthly Meetings nor cause our personal lives to change. Minutes of Concern seem to end after the Yearly Meeting approves them and there is no ongoing relationship of accountability with the Yearly Meeting nor engagement with the Monthly or Quarterly Meetings. We believe that Minutes of Concern should be the beginning of a process that engages the Monthly and Quarterly Meetings thus extending the scope and effectiveness of a concern and leading to changes in our lives. 

My experience as an activist and clerk of Peace and Social Order has been very different from what M and O alleges, as I made clear in my statement during a YM plenary session. However, I do agree that the procedures could be improved upon, especially in the area of accountability.

After a year of discernment, M and O recommended procedures that were not acceptable to any of the activist committees (Quaker Earthcare Witness, Peace and Social Order or Latin American Concerns). So Pacific Yearly Meeting Friends ended up not having a way even to consider making a statement about peace and justice concerns for the past three years. 

For some Friends, this is not a problem since they feel that the minutes were not effective and created contention. But others such as myself feel this inability to speak out on issues of social justice and peace is a huge loss, especially during this time when our Quaker values and commitments are under constant assault from the Trump administration and when the need for our Quaker prophetic voice is so great. 

I am grateful that the PYM clerk Diego Navarro allowed time during a plenary session for speakers (including myself) to discuss our Quaker public witness. I am including what I shared because I feel that our Quaker witness needs to be heard in our troubled world, and (as Dr. King said) "silence is betrayal." 

I also take to heart these powerful words by Miguel Ángel Costop, Director Progresa (Guatemala Friends Scholarship Program). This is what he said at our YM session regarding the need to speak out about social justice: 

It is true, as friends, we have fought a lot to achieve that inner light, but are we taking the additional step to radiate that light, to share it with others and illuminate our world?  Am really I doing what is needed, what the Spirit needs me to do in order to illuminate this darkness, this painful darkness that is being put onto many that come here with the only purpose of looking for a better life?

Although PYM didn't approve any minutes of concern, this year's PYM Epistle does reflect some of the passion for social justice and peace that I felt at this year's annual session:

The context of our gathering is that of a world on fire: a global refugee crisis, ecological crisis, increasing economic disparity, militarization of police, and an ongoing opioid crisis. How do we embody our Quaker witness during these troubled times? We are increasingly aware of our obligation to do what we can to end poverty and the war system. We seek to work together, allowing our hearts to be broken open by the Spirit, to respond to these social injustices in our deeply wounded nation  

During a plenary session, five Friends shared different perspectives on how our Yearly Meeting could publicly express our social justice concerns effectively and with integrity, guided by Spirit and grounded in love. Interest groups challenged people to go deeper into these issues, preparing for actions. Friends shared what their meetings are doing to address this growing crisis.Two Claremont Friends described how their Meeting is housing otherwise unsheltered guests in their meetinghouse every night of the year and providing them with supportive services. This kind of work transforms those who make themselves available to do it, enlivening our spiritual core. Many Meetings have expressed concern for our undocumented neighbors and for families separated at the border, through minutes of concern and actions.

The Clerk of Latin American Concerns Committee offered recommendations on what Friends can do:

1. Visit detention centers.

 2. Be a witness in immigration hearings.

3. Accompany an asylum seeker through the court process.

4. Become a sanctuary or support sanctuaries in your area.

5. Sponsor an immigrant or support sponsors in your area.

We have more to do and more to learn. What can love do? What can we do? Are we open to the leadings of the Spirit? 

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I'm grateful that we are taking small but not insignificant steps towards reclaiming our Quaker voice of conscience during our YM annual session through our Epistle. I hope that the time will come when we can speak out boldly and with confidence, inspired by the same Spirit that animated early Friends to proclaim (and live) our Peace Testimony. I believe that when we are grounded in Spirit, and willing to be courageously (and outrageously) faithful, our Quaker witness can transform the world.

Our Quaker witness: a personal testimony during a dark time

By Anthony Manousos

I am very grateful and glad that I have been given this opportunity to speak to Pacific YM about Quaker witness and minutes of concern. I feel there is a great deal of misunderstanding about minutes of concern among those who have never experienced their usefulness and power. I will speak out of my own experience. I can do so because I have helped to craft many minutes of concern over the years and been part of the process of getting them approved. I love this process of discernment when it is conducted in a friendly and loving manner. I even appreciate conflict when it comes from a place of compassion and commitment to truth. To ask one’s Meeting for support is to become vulnerable to the Spirit and to the moods of Friends, some of whom may not feel the same passion that we feel and may react in hurtful ways. But unless we’re willing to take this risk, we never discover the power and joy that comes from feeling the love and support of our Meeting as we seek to follow the leading of the Spirit.

Some Friends feel that minute of concern are basically ineffective and produce no results. Since becoming part of Orange Grove Meeting, I have seen how minutes of concern have strengthened our Meeting and encouraged those called to social justice work. When Orange Grove Meeting adopted the climate change minute that was approved in Peru by FWCC, and affirmed by our Yearly Meeting, Orange Grove Friends began to think more seriously about our energy use. This minute asked us to take two concrete actions. After much discernment, and consultation with Claremont Meeting, Orange Grove Friends decided to purchase all green electrical power and install solar panels. This was a huge breakthrough. Fifteen years ago the Wolffs offered to give Orange Grove Meeting free solar panels and were turned down. Approving this PYM/FWCC minute inspired Orange Grove Friends and led us to take action that brought us together as a community. This made me and others very happy.

My wife Jill is not a Quaker but she loves Quaker process. She is passionate about housing justice, and has been warmly embraced by Orange Grove’s vibrant and loving Peace and Social Concerns Committee. Over the years we’ve approved minutes of concern about rent control, a Housing Commission, and similar housing related issues. These minutes have enabled Jill to appreciate the power of Quaker corporate discernment. We value having the support of Meeting when we go to City Council Meetings, or when our Advocacy Team meets with our elected officials about averting war with North Korea. Only a few Orange Grove members actively take part in our efforts, but we appreciate their support. We’re also grateful for those who support us with prayers and words of encouragement.

One misunderstanding that I’d like to address is that if a minute of concern is approved, every Friend must take action or else the minute lacks integrity.  I’ve heard Friends say this at our Yearly Meeting, but I think Santa Monica Friends provided a thoughtful response when it approved a minute on families separated at the border. Santa Monica Friends noted that approving a minute “does not require all friends and attenders to act. The commitment of the Meeting is to provide support and blessing to all who choose to take action…. Our actions are enhanced through the community, knowing that we speak and act not just as individual Quakers, but on behalf of and with the strength of the commitment of our Santa Monica Meeting.”

These words ring true and speak to my condition and experience. Now I must be vulnerable and tell you I have felt great disappointment and sadness that our Yearly Meeting has not approved any minutes of concern during a period when our government is doing horrendous and immoral things almost daily. I often reflect on the words of Dr. King who said in his famous speech at Riverside Church: “Sometimes silence is betrayal.” To say nothing publicly when children are being snatched from their parents, when funds are being slashed from programs that help the poor, when the military budget is escalating beyond reason, and when our environmental protections are being stripped away, feels excruciatingly painful and un-Quakerly to me. I miss and yearn for our prophetic Quaker voice of conscience. I personally can’t help speaking out and working for justice and peace during this dark time.  I would like to do so with the support and blessing of my Yearly Meeting as well as my monthly meeting. That’s why I recommend that this Yearly Meeting approved the procedures for seasoning and presenting minutes of concern that Peace and Social Order approved four years ago and posted on the PYM website. Ministry and Oversight felt that these procedures needed to be improved upon, and I agree. I propose, however, that we accept them for one year so we have procedures we can use until M and O and PSO agree on improvements and submit them to the YM for your consideration. My prayer is that Yearly Meeting will speak out boldly and clearly for social justice and peace and support those who are called to take risks, be vulnerable and witness to our Quaker faith.