Minutes for Meeting for Business, March 24, 2019
Posted: under Minutes from Meeting for Business.
Meeting for Worship on the Occasion of Business
Held at the Senior Citizens’ Service Center
Bennington, VT
March 24, 2019
Present were Timmy Bullock (clerk), Juliet Wright (recording clerk), Eliza Navias-Bell, Lucie McKee, Dorothea Izzo and Auberta Galusha
“As we close these sessions I would like to reflect a minute on what took place here all week and especially last night. What we said was that we did not find unity, which is not exactly right. We did not find clarity to change our policy on tax withholding. But there was a deep unity, which I suspect had something to do with the spiritual faithfulness of many Friends,…..Those who had come into the meeting sure that they could not support the proposal found a willingness to stand aside. And then, instead of accepting that gracious offer, those who had come in fervently hoping we could move forward were led to let go of that, unwilling to move while any were reluctant, willing to wait [for] God’s guidance and God’s timing.”
New England Yearly Meeting of Friends 1992
Out of the silence, the clerk read the above quotation.
The minutes of the last meeting were read and approved.
2019-10 Juliet Wright reported on behalf of Ministry and Counsel.
2019- 11 Meeting for business approves giving a $650.00 honorarium to Ruah Swennerfelt and Louis Cox for their leading of the upcoming retreat on April 7.
2019-12 Meeting for business considered Eliza Navias-Bells letter: consideration was given to bringing in an outside facilitator or visiting an outside meeting. Consideration was also given to having Eliza facilitate a discussion in May or June on how we conduct all the meetings business and how we can move forward. Some of the questions that are to be raised in a preliminary way are: how do you feel about meeting for business? How do you think business should be conducted? What are your ideas about the role of committees in the Bennington Meeting? What is your experience conducting business in other organizations? ***See below for Eliza Navias-Bell’s letter.
After a period of silent worship, the meeting adjourned.
Timmy Bullock, clerk
Juliet Wright, recording clerk
Dear Friends,
Over the last year, I have been experiencing increasing frustration with the functioning of the meeting, especially in regards to conducting business. It has reached the point where I am no longer able and willing to continue to serve as what sometimes feels like the lone voice advocating for proper Quaker process and the proper respect and valuation of the opinions and gifts of all the individuals in the group. I am sending this to all regular attenders at business meeting because there is no appropriate functioning committee to handle the concerns.
I realized that while I have some strong opinions about this, I have only expressed them piecemeal or not at all. In faithfulness to my community, given that I am considering decreasing my attendance or leaving entirely, I feel that I would like to express a more full picture of my views.
I am/was willing to accept deviations from standard Quaker practice as I understand it, as long as I felt that the views of everyone involved were being properly respected and that everyone was being given an appropriate voice. In the last year, I have seen a shocking and disturbing pattern of decisions being made outside the normal course of business, with the effect of disenfranchising members and regular attenders of the meeting. Our clerk has become reluctant to continue, but is still serving in that capacity. Our recording clerk has expressed significant dissatisfaction with her responsibilities. All by two of our committees are no longer functional, and the two that remain are decreasing as members become unable to serve and cannot be replaced. There is no one able and willing to become treasurer if I became unable or unwilling.
This is not a functioning Quaker meeting.
At its best, Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business, as I learned to call it, is a worshipful and spiritual practice that brings the group together, lets people be heard, and eventually leads to the decisions necessary for the group to function as an entity. “Short-cutting” the process leads to disenfranchisement, frustration, lack of trust in the group, surface agreement with decisions that members do not wholeheartedly support, and lack of a sense of the possibility of unity within the group. It also leads to difficulties such as not being able to find people willing to take on responsibilities within the meeting, especially as they relate to business meeting.
As I see it, the meeting has two viable options. When anyone serving the meeting becomes unable or unwilling to continue, the meeting is obligated to allow that person to step down. Either the meeting must reform a functioning Nominating Committee and find people willing to step forward, or the meeting must be laid down and revert to a worship group. That would mean distributing all the meeting’s assets and/or turning them over to a larger Quaker body, and coming under the care of another meeting. The worship group currently under the care of Bennington Friends Meeting would also come under the care of that meeting. Current members of the Bennington Friends Meeting would have the option of becoming members of the overseeing meeting, or letting their memberships lapse.
I do not like that second option, and I doubt anyone else does either. However, within established liberal Quaker procedure, that is the only recourse if the meeting cannot find people able and willing to serve in the capacities that it deems necessary. Clerk is not a position that we can do without. This is not intended to pressure anyone into coming forward, but to highlight the seriousness of the situation.
If I thought that I were the only one unhappy with the situation, I would simply leave. From what I have observed, I believe that there is quiet but widespread discontent.
I believe that in order to more forward, the meeting needs to become a Nominating Committee of the Whole. I think we need to wrestle with issues of what it means to be a meeting conducting business, how we want the meeting to function, what positions are needed, what skills etc. are needed for those positions, and who has the abilities and willingness to perform which kinds of service. I think some major issues from the past need to be addressed. Unfortunately, at this point, I do not think I trust anyone other than myself to facilitate those discussions.
I know that I have dropped some bombshells, and I am demanding change from the meeting. If the meeting chooses not to heed my recommendations, I do not intend to bring the subject up again. However, I will take no further responsibility for the right ordering of the meeting and its conduct.
Yours faithfully,
Eliza
Minutes for Ministry and Counsel
March 10, 2019
Present were Juliet Wright, Auberta Galusha and Eliza Navias-Bell
Pastoral concerns discussed.
19-5 Ministry and counsel recommends authorizing a $650.00 honorarium to Ruah Swennerfelt and Louis Cox for their leading of the upcoming retreat on April 7.
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Mar 25 2019