Bennington Friends Meeting

Minutes
Bennington Friends Meeting for Worship for the conduct of Business
Held at the Senior Citizens Service Center, Bennington, Vermont
June 17, 2012

Present: Timmy Bullock, Clerk; Juliet Wright, Recording Clerk; Beth Cheadle, Arnold Ricks, Priscilla Tracy, Bain Davis.

“…[Quakers] live out a corporate integrity that is not the sum of the individual truths of its constituent parts, but a truth revealed to the corporate body gathered in worship.”

Janet Hoffman, 1991, cited from Plain Living: A Path to Quaker Simplicity, p. 42,
By Catherine Whitmire

2012-33 Out of the silence the recording clerk read the minutes for meeting for business for May 20, 2012. They were approved as read.

2012-34 Priscilla Tracy, Clerk of Ministry and Counsel, read the minutes of its meeting on June 10, 2012, which are appended.

2012-35 Meeting for business approves having our retreat on Saturday, September 15, 2012. Ministry and Counsel suggested some readings for our retreat but meeting for business has decided to pursue some other possibilities. We will review selections from John Woolman and Marshall Rosenberg’s text on non-violent communication.

2012-36 Meeting for business decided to reprint the FCNL poster, Where Do Our Income Tax Dollars Go, and distribute approximately 70 8/12 x 11 copies throughout the community. The FCNL poster will include the language “Distributed by Bennington Friends Meeting (Quakers).”

Minutes for Ministry and Counsel Meeting
Sunday, June 10, 2012

Present were Priscilla Tracy, Clerk, Timmy Bullock, clerk ex-officio, Beth Cheadle, Auberta Galusha and Juliet Wright

Pastoral concerns were discussed.

9-12 We discussed the fall retreat. M & C members were given some readings to consider with the idea of bringing up the topic at meeting for business. The Cuba movie was also discussed as a possible topic. Suggested date of retreat is Saturday, September 15, with meeting for business deferred to September 30. Possible location for the retreat would be Juliet’s house. We would make handicapped accommodations.

Minutes
Bennington Friends Meeting for Worship for the conduct of Business
Held at the Senior Citizens Service Center, Bennington, Vermont
May 20, 2012

Present: Beth Cheadle, Acting Clerk; Juliet Wright, Recording Clerk; Arnold Ricks, Priscilla Tracy.

Here is where Friends can contribute to community by refusing to follow the religious individualism of our times. Behind these new movements lies the assumption that truth is totally subjective – one truth for you, another for me, and never mind the difference. But when we understand truth that way then the truth we are given will have no chance to transform society or ourselves. If we affirm community we must risk that our partial versions of truth will be enlarged or even made uncouth by the light given to others.
Parker Palmer, 1980

2012-29 Out of the silence the recording clerk read the minutes for meeting for business for April 15, 2012. They were approved as read.

2012-30 Priscilla Tracy, Clerk of Ministry and Counsel, read the minutes of its meeting on May 13, 2012, which are appended.

2012-31After much discussion with regard to Bennington hosting Fall Quarterly Meeting, it was decided that we will ask Timmy Bullock, our clerk, to contact Cheryl Mitchell to discuss other options as we do not see our way clear to host.

2012-32 Arnold Ricks reported on behalf of the ad hoc committee tasked to increase the public awareness regarding the inordinate and disproportionate allocation of financial resources to the military. Arnold presented the idea to the Peace Resource Center through Maryann St. John. The Peace Resource Center will distribute copies of the FCNL Graph “Where Do Our Income Tax Dollars Go?” at its Mayfest booth. He will also be speaking with Bain Davis about the possibility of raising this issue at the Interfaith Council Meeting.

Minutes for Ministry and Counsel Meeting
Sunday, May 13, 2012

Present were Priscilla Tracy, Clerk, Timmy Bullock, Clerk Ex-Officio, Beth Cheadle, Auberta Galusha and Juliet Wright

Pastoral concerns were discussed.

7-12 Ministry and Counsel recommends that the meeting consider hosting NWQM on September 8 and 9, 2012. Given the scarcity of human resources in our meeting, we see the quarterly meeting and the retreat as a combined effort. Middlebury is the co-host, but Middlebury hosted the quarterly meeting several times in our stead.

8-12 Ministry and Counsel recommends that the meeting consider showing the movie on the Cuban transition after the abrupt cessation of the importation of Soviet oil. The movie will be shown at a future date yet to be determined.

Meeting of the Finance Committee on Monday, April 10, 2012

Present: Timmy Bullock, Arnold Ricks, Maryann St. John

1. We reviewed our income for the first quarter and feel that our budget is appropriate. It was noted that last year we came within $400.00 of meeting all of our expenses.

2. Questions were raised about the accuracy of the GBICS summary of donations from faith communities. Timmy was asked to contact Sue Andrews with corrections on our behalf.

3. We recommend that the additional $60 requested by GBICS for administrative expenses should be taken out of our annual IFFF Donation of $600.

4. We agreed that the treasurer should defer writing checks from our contributions until after a review of the budget at the end of the second quarter.