November Minutes

Bulls Head-Oswego Monthly Meeting for Business

November 23, 2008

Present: Karen Snare, Elisabeth Prenot, John Perry, Christopher Cadbury, Mary Foster Cadbury, Sybil Perry, Denise Sherman, Nettie West, Robert West, Henry Muller.

Minutes are numbered from the beginning of the calendar year.

The meeting opens in worshipful silence.

2008-49 Karen Snare volunteers and is approved as Clerk for the day.

2008-50 The Clerk was unable to be present and no one volunteered in advance, and no agenda was sent. The Meeting Clerk is asked to get together with Ministry and Counsel to recommend what the procedure should be when our clerk is not to be present.

2008-51 Denise Sherman reports Ministry and Counsel’s thoughts about their work on our “lists.” Ministry and Counsel recommends that the Clerk be responsible for all Meeting communications and that there be just one list. Denise receives feedback from the Meeting, and Ministry and Counsel will consider it further.

2008-52 The Bulls Head retreat was held Oct. 25, and out of that emerged great interest in two directions. 1) People working on Adult Religious Education and 2) those working on Fun.

An ad hoc committee on Fun has formed. Vonn New is the contact for that. If Friends are interested, please phone her at 845-633-0819.

2008-53 The Meeting noted with sadness the passing of our long-time member, Margaret M. Currie on October 10, 2008.

We adjourn to meet at the appointed time for Meeting for Business on December 14^th.

Karen Snare, Clerk for the day

Sybil Perry, Recording Clerk

October Minutes

Bulls Head-Oswego Monthly Meeting for Business

October 12, 2008

Present: Karen Snare, Valerie Suter, John Perry, Christopher Cadbury, Mary Foster Cadbury, Sybil Perry, Denise Sherman, Kathie Scanlon, Nettie West, Robert West.

Minutes are numbered from the beginning of the calendar year.

The meeting opens in worshipful silence.

2008-43 Karen Snare is approved as Clerk for the day.

2008-44 Kathie Scanlon (as nominated last month) is approved to be our liaison to Powell House.

2008-45 The Treasurer’s Report for the third quarter is presented and accepted.

THE REPORT IS ATTACHED.

2008-46 The Memorial Minute for Curt Beck is read and approved with the expectation that Ministry and Counsel will add information about his family.

ATTACHED.

2008-47 We approve the proposed letter of introduction for Christopher Sammond, who often travels outside his capacity as General Secretary of New York Yearly Meeting. We ask our clerk to send it on to Nine Partners Quarterly Meeting for consideration at their November 1st meeting. THE LETTER IS ATTACHED.

2008-48 Kathie Scanlon introduces us to ARCH: Aging Resources, Consultation, and Help, a program of New York Yearly Meeting. Friends feel this could be a Quarterly Meeting program and direct Kathie to bring it to the Clerk of our Quarter.

Our next Bulls Head Meeting for Business will take place on Sunday, November 23rd to avoid conflict with Fall Sessions.


Karen Snare, Clerk for the day
Sybil Perry, Recording Clerk

September Meeting for Business

Bulls Head-Oswego Monthly Meeting for Business

September 14, 2008


Present: Karen Snare, Vonn New, Valerie Suter, Christopher Sammond, John Perry, Sam Adams, Julia Giordano, Christopher Cadbury, Mary Foster Cadbury, Sybil Perry.


Minutes are numbered from the beginning of the calendar year.


The meeting opens in worshipful silence.


The Clerk reads from the Practice and Procedure section of Faith and Practice on the conduct of Meetings for Business.


2008-39 Nominating Committee presents the name of Kathie Scanlon as our Powell House liaison. Friends consider this nomination, which will come up for approval at our next meeting.


2008-40 Ministry and Counsel presents the following minute, which they have revised as they considered Friend’s responses to previous drafts:


In a predominantly heterosexual world, even where society has become more open to various gender differences, barriers remain for non-straight people. On entering a new group, these people must often test the waters to see if they are truly included.


Bulls Head-Oswego Monthly Meeting affirms the traditional testimony of equality of the Religious Society of Friends, and includes in that testimony people who are bisexual, gay, heterosexual, lesbian, or transgendered. In our Meetings for worship we seek that of God in everyone and extend a welcome to all -- individuals and families-- without regard to sexual orientation, gender identity or expression.


Friends unite with the ideal expressed in this proposed minute and we appreciate our months-long process of considering and revising this minute. We are not yet united in approval, and we ask Ministry and Counsel, with appreciation for all their effort, to work with this minute again.


2008-41 We consider our contribution to New York Yearly Meeting. We approve increasing our contribution for the year 2009 from $11,500. to $12,000.

We commend the Yearly Meeting Financial Services Committee for developing this version of the budget in terms of the programs that we support. The Clerk will email copies of this material to the meeting, and we ask our Finance Committee to schedule time after meeting for us to consider this “programmatic” interpretation of the budget.


2008.42 Julia offers to make flat cushions for the small wooden fold-up chairs in the Meeting room. We will think about this and consider it next month.


We adjourn to meet at the appointed time for Meeting for Business on October 12th.


Julia Giordano, Clerk

Sybil Perry, Recording Clerk

July Minutes

Bulls Head-Oswego Monthly Meeting for Business

July 13, 2008

Present: Vonn New, Valerie Suter, Denise Sherman, Margaret Currie, Carol Rice, Mary Cadbury, Karen Snare, David Cardall, John Perry, Julia Giordano, Henry Muller, Sybil Perry.

Minutes are numbered from the beginning of the calendar year.

The meeting opens in worshipful silence.

2008-34 We accept the annual report of the Trustees. The clerk will contact the convener, Mary Williams, and ask her to re-form the committee.

THE REPORT IS ATTACHED.

2008-35 Ministry and Counsel Committee presents us with the following minute, which they ask us to consider:

In a predominantly heterosexual world, even where society has become more open to various gender differences, barriers remain for non-straight people. These people must, on entering a new group, often test the waters to see if they are truly included. Bulls Head-Oswego Monthly Meeting affirms the traditional testimony of equality of the Religious Society of Friends, and includes in that testimony people who are heterosexual, lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered. Our meeting recognizes and welcomes the ministry of people of all varieties of sexual orientation. We uphold, and take under our care, individuals and families without regard to sexual orientation, gender identity or expression.

We appreciate the work Ministry and Counsel has done on this minute. We ask them to consider it once more and bring it to September Meeting for Business.

2008-36 Ministry and Counsel ask us to accept the transfer of our friend, Christopher Sammond, currently sojourning with us, from his Twin Cities Meeting in Minnesota. This transfer has already been approved by Twin Cities. We gladly accept this transfer, and we ask the clerk to send a copy of this minute to the clerk of Twin Cities Monthly Meeting. Transfer is approved.

2008-37 Ministry and Counsel ask us to approve the request for transfer of our member Virginia Prenot to Mohawk Valley Monthly Meeting. We approve Ginny’s transfer and ask the clerk to forward a copy of this minute to the clerk of Mohawk Valley Monthly Meeting.

2008-38 We receive the treasurer’s report for the first half of 2008.

THE REPORT IS ATTACHED.

We adjourn to meet at the appointed time for Meeting for Business on September 14^th.

Julia Giordano, Clerk

Sybil Perry, Recording Clerk

June Minutes

Bulls Head-Oswego Monthly Meeting for Business

June 8, 2008

Present: Valerie Suter, Denise Sherman, Vonn New, Nettie West, Robert West, Henry Muller, Julia Giordano, Mary Foster Cadbury, Christopher Cadbury, Carol Rice, Caroline Webster, Sybil Perry, John Perry.

Minutes are numbered from the beginning of the calendar year.

2008-27 At our May meeting the Naming Committee (Vonn New and John Perry) recommended the appointment of Mary Cadbury (2008-2010) and Nettie West (2008-2011) to the Nominating Committee. We approve these nominations and lay down the Naming Committee

2008-28 We approve the slate of appointments (in boldface type on the attached list) brought to us by the Nominating Committee at our May meeting.

2008-29 We read a report from Leif Anderson, our representative to the Meetings for Discernment of New York Yearly Meeting, about the first of these meetings, which he attended in March. Our clerk reads Lee Haring’s report for the Steering Committee about Meetings for Discernment (which replace the former Yearly Meeting on Ministry and Counsel.)

BOTH REPORTS ARE ATTACHED.

Vonn New shares her experience as an elder at the Meetings for Discernment where she says they were there “to hear concerns,” to truly listen to one another. She found it a deep and meaningful experience. One member wonders if our meeting has any questions to bring to the Summer Session Meetings for Discernment? We shall bring any questions to our July Meeting for Business.

2008-30 The Hospitality Committee brings two proposals before us.

First, they want to move from paper plates to real plates for potlucks if there is a volunteer dishwasher, and they ask us to donate our extra plates from home. Whoever is doing hospitality can choose.

Second, they want friends to wear nametags to Meeting for Worship and during social time afterwards, to make our meeting more welcoming to newcomers. We are invited to recycle our nametags from other events and to make a nametag for a newcomer in the course of welcoming him/her to the meeting. We approve these two proposals.

2008-31 Ministry and Counsel has brought two minutes for action.

They propose a minute for us to consider on sexual orientation and gender identity. We unite with their concern, but we ask Ministry and Counsel to reconsider the wording and present a new version to us at July Meeting for Business.

Next, they offer a preliminary draft memorial minute for our member, Hans Janitchek. A final draft will be presented at July Meeting for Business.

2008-32 Ministry and Counsel is planning a retreat for us in the fall to continue our consideration of the issues raised in the State of the Meeting report. Janet Carter, Julia Giordano and Carol Rice have agreed to serve as the planning committee.

2008-33 Ministry and Counsel is working on concerns arising from FUM, issues from the State of the Meeting Report, and communication within the meeting. We agree to invite the Quarterly Meeting to Bulls Head for our scheduled potluck August 3^rd and talk by Vonn New on Quaker Quest. Approved.

We adjourn to meet at the appointed time for Meeting for Business on July 13^th.

Julia Giordano, Clerk

Sybil Perry, Recording Clerk

FCNL action on Climate Change

Please contact your senators. Urge them to strengthen the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act of 2008 (S. 3036) by

• cutting emissions deeper and faster;
• making polluters pay more, sooner for greenhouse gas pollution allowances;
• ensuring adequate aid to low- and middle-income households to help them advance in the carbon neutral economy of the future; and
• providing more assistance, sooner to people in the poorest developing countries to help them adapt to the harmful effects of climate change that many are already experiencing.

Read commentaries on the Senate debate on FCNL's new blog "Green Light on Washington."

May Minutes

Bulls Head-Oswego Monthly Meeting for Business

May 11, 2008

Present: Nettie West, Robert West, Carol Rice, Mary Foster Cadbury, Christopher Cadbury, Henry Muller, Julia Giordano, Sybil Perry, Mary Williams.

Minutes are numbered from the beginning of the calendar year.

24. The Naming Committee (Vonn New and John Perry) recommend the appointment of Mary Cadbury to the Nominating committee (2008-2010) to replace Adam Pinsker, who resigned earlier this year. And the appointment of Nettie West (2008-2011) to replace Henry Muller, whose term is up. We will consider the approval of these appointments at June Meeting for Business.

24. The Nominating Committee brings their recommended slate of appointments (in boldface type on the attached list). We will consider the approval of these appointments at our June Meeting for business.

One Friend said she’d like to hear reports from committees so she can hear what they are doing. There is the question, “ Just how important are these positions and committees to the Meeting?”

The Clerk will make a schedule for formal reports from officers and committees.

THE SLATE IS ATTACHED.

2008-26 The Clerk has received the following Minute from Oakwood Friends School’s Board of Managers, approved at their meeting April 26:

“Oakwood Friends School has received with gratitude Bulls Head/Oswego Meeting’s permission to explore the possibility of moving the Oswego Meeting House to Oakwood’s campus. With this minute, we affirm the school’s intention to explore the costs and logistical feasibility of moving the meeting house to our campus, for use as part of our educational and spiritual community. Our intention is to pursue these questions in a timely fashion and to communicate our progress to the Clerk of Bulls Head/Oswego Meeting regularly.”

We adjourn to meet at the appointed time for Meeting for Business on June 8^th.

Julia Giordano, Clerk

Sybil Perry, Recording Clerk

2008 Appointments

We name the first person listed in each committee as convenor.

BULLS HEAD-OSWEGO

APPOINTMENTS 5/08

Position Name Since Class

Clerk Julia Giordano 05

Recording Clerk Sybil Perry 06

Recorder Henry Muller 03

Treasurer Valerie Suter 1/05

Asst. Treasurer Nancy Angell 1/03

Auditor Walter Beebe 99

Historian Nancy Sorel 00

Asst. Historian

Librarian Mary Cadbury 99

Asst. Librarian John D. Perry 05

Newsletter/Calendar Mary Cadbury 07

Reps to YM Sessions Karen Snare 97, Vonn New 08

Rep to NYYM Discernment Leif Anderson 08

Dutchess Interf. Council Vonn New 07

Trustees

Mary Williams 05 11

Jonathan Boice 05 11

Nettie West 06 09

Richard Collins 04 10

Bob Suter 08 11

Finance and Funds

Robert West 04 10

Nancy Angell (exo) 04

Valerie Suter (exo) 05

Mary Williams 06 09

Nominating

Henry Muller 04 07

Julia Giordano,clerk 06 08

Bill Leicht 06 08

Ministry and Counsel

Janet Carter 04 10

Denise Sherman 04 10

Karen Snare 06 09

Adam Pinsker 07 10

Sybil Perry 08 11

Religious Education

Val Suter 08 11

Peace & Social Action Coordinator Incl FCNL

Vonn New 07 10

Hospitality

Vonn New, clerk 06 09

Carol Rice 08 11

Action Concerning Cluster Bombs

Friends Committee for National Legislation is urging the following action:

Urge your senators to add their names to the growing list of elected leaders from both parties who have cosponsored the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act (S. 594).

Action Concerning Violence in Darfur

Violence in Darfur and its' surroundings (murder, rape and displacement, by the janjaweed, of unarmed farming families) has reached levels not seen since the beginning of the genocide more than 5 years ago. South Sudan, rich in oil, could be the site of the second genocide of this century.

China has refused to suspend transfers of arms to Sudan until El Bashir's government brings the atrocities to a halt. El Bashir has been backing away from all peace agreements.

In coming weeks, Congress will vote on an emergency supplemental funding bill for protection and aid. World food prices have skyrocketed. The World Food Program has announced (per an American Jewish World Service report) that rations will have to be cut in half, due to costs and endangerments to those who deliver humanitarian services to Darfur.

President Bush has threatened to veto the bill if it contains a penny more than he originally requested.

Congress must do its' share, the U.S.' fair share, to ensure adequate funding for aid.

Please, call the excellent Senator Chuck Schumer (212-486-4430), and/or Senator Hillary Clinton's headquarters (703-469-2008), and ask their staff to tell them to make--or keep--Darfur a priority when the voting for the bill comes up.

Just one or two brief phone calls. Please, continue, or begin, to be a part of our fragile world's moral conscience. Thanks so much.

State of the Meeting, 2007

As we struggled with writing the State of the Meeting report, it became clear how divided Bulls Head Friends are in our perceptions of the Meeting. Our first draft was characterized by some as ‘depressed.’ As our struggle has taken us well beyond the deadline for submission to YM, it might be more helpful to write this as a memo to ourselves rather than focusing on ‘presentation’ to the larger body.

We are a Meeting of deeply centered and caring worship. We cherish that gift but acknowledge to each other that Bulls Head Oswego Monthly Meeting has, in other ways, changed. We have become smaller in numbers and perhaps in aspiration.

Many Friends point out that we are still coming out of a period of mourning for Friends we have lost and traditions that have had to be relinquished. On the other hand, newer members are bringing energy and positive transitions. Some of them speak with joy about having found a deep and caring community. We provide support groups for Friends who have asked for them, and an ongoing series of ‘Friendly Bunches’ that meet for fellowship. We are able to rally around members in crisis and provide practical, emotional and spiritual support. There are many members and attenders, however, with whom we have lost touch, and whose needs we do not know. We have proved that we can rally when the need is obvious or spoken; we have currently lost the organizational ability to seek out and tend to those who do not come through the doors on a regular basis.

Our communication systems within the Meeting are in disarray. No one feels able at this time to maintain a newsletter, and our past simple but clear method of telephone communication has deteriorated in a confusion about mixing electronic, phone and US mail contacts. Many Friends feel out of touch, even marginalized. One friend has begun a website Bullshead.quaker.org on our behalf, which we are slowly learning to use.

We sustain fewer committees. We recently combined the committees for Care & Counsel (formerly Overseers) and Ministry and Worship, and the work of the combined committee is proving overwhelming; much is falling by the wayside. We pay for the cleaning of our 2 small buildings rather than clean them ourselves. We do not have a First Day school or Religious Education committee; we have a Peace and Social action liaison person but no committee. We help support a student at Oakwood Friends School, and another in Bolivia, but otherwise Peace and Social Action concerns are now largely left to the private responses of members. Many of us are active, individually, in the larger world and larger Quaker bodies, and we believe the Meeting provides strong spiritual nourishment for individual effort.

Indeed, everyone seems to agree on the richness of our Sunday morning Meeting for Worship. Worship brings us together. We love each other, and we cherish that time together. If we can look clearly at and acknowledge what we have let go, maybe we can begin to articulate what we want to be and how we want to move forward as a group of individuals in community. That seems to be the work at hand.

April Meeting for Business

Bulls Head Oswego Monthly Meeting for Business

April 13, 2008

Present: Vonn New, Valerie Suter, Mary Foster Cadbury, Nettie West, Robert West, Karen Snare, Christopher Sammond, Chris Cadbury, John Perry, Julia Giordano, Denise Sherman, Henry Muller, Sybil Perry.

Minutes are numbered from the beginning of the calendar year.

2008-16 The clerk reads from Faith and Practice.

2008-17 The clerk will email and mail to us the Nominating Committee’s slate of suggested appointments for 2008, ready for first reading at May Meeting for Business.

2008-18 Two of our members died recently: Curt Beck on March 21^st and Hans Janitschek on Feb. 21. We ask the clerk to send a letter to each family about their passing.

2008-19 The Nominating Committee wonders since we now have Mary Cadbury providing our calendar, should we take out the entries for newsletter editor and assistant, and substitute an entry for calendar editor? The meeting agrees, although we miss the newsletter. We note that anyone who has news can contact Vonn New to post it on our meeting web site, which is Bullshead.quaker.org We ask Ministry and Counsel to consider ways to disseminate information, both at the meeting house and at the web site.

2008-20 The Nominating Committee has a concern for religious education.

They wonder if the meeting is satisfied with the way in which children are

cared for when they come to meeting, and whether the committee should be looking for a Religious Education Coordinator. We see that children are not coming regularly, but we want to find a way to welcome children when they do come and, more, to begin planning for regular young attenders. We ask Nominating to find a Religious Education Coordinator to take action for us.

2008-21 Ministry and Counsel presents the State of the Meeting Report. Friends listen and ask to add our web site. We approve the report. THE REPORT IS ATTACHED.

2008-22 Denise Sherman and Karen Snare report on the Spring Sessions of New York Yearly Meeting, held last week at Oakwood Friends School in Poughkeepsie. The Meeting is grateful to hear our representatives’ full oral reports of what happened.

2008-23 The Treasurer presents the treasurer’s report for first quarter, 2008.

Friends accept this report. THE REPORT IS ATTACHED.

We adjourn to meet at the appointed time for Meeting for Business on May 11^th.

Julia Giordano, Clerk
Sybil Perry, Recording Clerk

March Minutes

Bulls Head-Oswego Monthly Meeting for Business

March 9, 2008

Present: Christopher Sammond, Vonn New, Valerie Suter, Carol Rice, Robert West, Nettie West, Janet Carter, Karen Snare.

Minutes are numbered from the beginning of the calendar year.

2008-12 The meeting appoints Karen Snare as Clerk for the day.

2008-13 The Nominating Committee reports that Adam Pinsker has resigned from the committee because of other commitments. The committee will need a replacement. The meeting approves appointing Vonn New and John Perry to a Naming committee.

2008-14 Ministry and Counsel was asked to consider Montclair Monthly Meeting's minute to "establish Montclair Friends Meeting as a safe place for people of all sexual orientations." Ministry and Counsel feels that Bulls Head Monthly Meeting is in fundamental agreement with Montclair Friends' position, and that further discussion of this issue is not necessary at this time. In discussion of this report, it became clear that Friends were called to draw on our spiritual depth to engage in how we interact, as peace-builders, with those we see as “other”. The meeting requests Ministry and Counsel to develop a program to explore the opportunities that this question offers. Vonn New offered to work with the committee on this matter. It is suggested that Nine Partners Quarterly Meeting be invited to engage with us in consideration of this concern.

The clerk is asked to send a copy of this minute to Montclair Monthly Meeting.

2008-15 The Ministry and Counsel Committee presents a draft of the State of the Meeting Report. There are some suggestions, and Friends are encouraged to contact a member of Ministry and Counsel with any other suggestions they may have. The report is returned to Ministry and Counsel for revision, and will be brought back to Meeting for Business in April. THE REPORT IS ATTACHED.

Karen Snare, clerk for the day

February Minutes

Bullshead-Oswego Monthly Meeting for Business

February 10, 2008

Present: Robert West, Nettie West, Janet Carter, Valerie Suter, Henry Muller, Sybil Perry, Carol Rice, Denise Sherman, John Perry, Karen Snare.

Minutes are numbered from the beginning of the calendar year.

2008-08 Karen Snare is approved as Clerk of the day.

2008-09 The final Treasurer’s Report for the year 2007 is given. The report is accepted.

THE REPORT IS ATTACHED.

2008-10 Sybil Perry’s name is again brought before the meeting by Nominating Committee for approval to serve on Ministry and Counsel Committee until 2010. Meeting approves.

2008-11 A question is raised about the status of our offer to Oakwood on the future of the Oswego Meetinghouse. (Minute #2007-46) The meeting directs the Clerk to write to Head of School, Peter Baily, to communicate our offer.

Karen Snare, clerk for the day
Sybil Perry, recording clerk

January Minutes

Bulls Head-Oswego Monthly Meeting for Business

January 13, 2008

Present: Mary Williams, Julia Giordano, Henry Muller, Nettie West, Robert West,

Karen Snare, Mary Foster Cadbury, Christopher Cadbury, John Perry, Sybil Perry.

Minutes are numbered from the beginning of the calendar year.

2008-01 We hold Katherine Suter and her family in the Light as she recovers from a staph infection.

2008-02 Lee Haring is requesting release from service on the Committee on Ministry and Counsel. He will have to be away from home “more often and longer” in the coming months. The meeting releases him from service with thanks for his work.

2008-03 The Nominating Committee submits the name of Sybil Perry for service on the Committee on Ministry and Counsel. Her name will come before the meeting for approval at February business meeting.

2008-04 Mary Williams presents the budget for 2008.

The budget is approved and attached.

2008-05 Our member William S. Leicht applied to the NYYM Witness Coordinating Committee last spring for a grant to help him in his work at the Bronx Peace Dojo, and at our May 13, 2007 Meeting for Business, we approved a minute (#2007-38) supporting his work and his request to WCC for money. Bill now reports in a letter of Jan. 6, 2008 that he has never heard back from the WCC in response to his request (after several queries sent to the committee), and he asks us to be in touch with Witness Coordinating Committee for clarification. The meeting asks the clerk to contact the clerk of WCC and ask what happened to Bill’s request.

2008-06 Our member Christopher Sammond has reported to the clerk that several people have told him they weren’t able to find our meetinghouse, because our sign is not easily

legible from cars. Christopher has volunteered to look into having a new sign painted with larger lettering.

The meeting authorizes Christopher to explore this possibility and report back to us.

2008-07 Vonn New reports that we now have a website: bullshead.quaker.org, linked to nyym.org, quakerfinder.org (run by Friends General Conference), and quaker.org She has posted the minutes of the October, November and December business meetings, and she keeps the calendar up to date.

We adjourn to meet at the appointed time for Meeting for Business on February 10.

Julia Giordana, clerk

Sybil Perry, recording clerk

December Minutes

Bulls Head-Oswego Monthly Meeting for Business
December 9, 2007

Present: Janet Carter, Henry Muller, Julia Giordano, Margaret M. Currie, Mary Williams, Nettie West, Robert West, Sybil Perry, Valerie Suter, Vonn New, Mary Foster Cadbury, Christopher Cadbury.

Minutes are numbered from the beginning of the calendar year.

2007-55 The Epistle from New York Yearly Meeting Fall Sessions is read.

2007-56 Clerk of the Finance Committee, Mary Williams, presents the proposed budget for 2008. She asks committees of the meeting to contact her about any changes they wish to propose. The final draft of the 2008 budget will come before our January Meeting for Business for approval.

2007-57 The Nominating Committee asks us to approve the proposals they brought before us at November Meeting for Business:

1- the release of Mary Cadbury from Hospitality Committee to enable her to compile a monthly calendar of events for the meeting.

2- the appointment of Carol Rice to Hospitality.

3- the appointment of Leif Anderson as our representative to the NYYM Meetings for Discernment. (These meetings will provide an opportunity for Friends to meet in worship at least twice a year to consider how the Spirit is moving in their monthly meetings.)

Meeting approves the two nominations and Mary Cadbury’s release from service.

2007-58 The Nominating Committee asks us to consider approving the names of Valerie Suter for Treasurer and Nancy Angell for Assistant Treasurer for the calendar year, 2008. These names will come before January Meeting for Business for final approval.

2007-59 At their meeting on November 29, 2007, the Ministry and Counsel Committee approved the following travel minute for Vonn New:

“Our beloved member Vonn New proposes to travel under the weight of her concern for a form of worship combining her creativity in music with worshipful silence. Under this leading, Vonn plans to visit Friends meetings and other groups to present workshops and concerts. We recognize her leading to this ministry. We unite in supporting her travel under the weight of this concern, and we commend her to your care.”

The meeting approves this minute and agrees to forward it to Nine Partners Quarter and to New York Yearly Meeting for their endorsement.

2007-60 In a letter of November 12, 2007, Catherine McCabe asks to be released from membership in Bulls Head-Oswego Monthly Meeting. The Ministry and Counsel Committee recommends her release from membership. The meeting approves.

2007-61 The Clerk has received a letter from the New York Yearly Meeting Task Group on Youth asking us to gather and respond to a series of queries about building spiritual community across the generations. We send this communication to Ministry and Counsel Committee for their consideration. Meeting approves.

Announcements:

Nettie West and Vonn New offer to provide musical instruments to go along with hymn singing at 10am on Sunday, December 16^th. The Christmas potluck will then begin at 12:30pm.

We adjourn to meet at the appointed time for Meeting for Business on January 13.

Julia Giordano, Clerk
Sybil Perry, Recording Clerk

November Minutes

Bulls Head-Oswego Monthly Meeting for Business
November 18, 2007


Present: Lee Haring, Julia Giordano, Mary Foster Cadbury, Christopher Cadbury, Nettie West, Robert West, John Perry, Sybil Perry, Henry Muller, Vonn New, Margaret M. Currie, Karen Snare, Denise Sherman, Valerie Suter.

Minutes are numbered from the beginning of the calendar year.

2007-50 The minutes from the October 14, 2007, Meeting for Business were lost and reconstructed from memory by the clerks. The minutes are read and approved.

2007-51 The Nominating Committee asks us to approve the release of Mary Cadbury from Hospitality Committee to enable her to compile a monthly calendar of events for the meeting. They nominate Carol Rice to Hospitality. They also nominate Lief Anderson as our representative to the NYYM Meetings for Discernment, a chance for Friends to meet in worship at least twice a year to consider how the Spirit is moving in their monthly meetings.

2007-52 The Treasurer’s Report, Regular Budget, 2007, is presented and accepted.
THE REPORT WILL BE FORWARDED AS AN EMAIL ATTACHMENT OR A USPS MAILED ENCLOSURE.

2007-53 Vonn New volunteers to design a web site for us and we approve. We suggest to Vonn that she stay in touch with the meeting for input as her work progresses.

2007-54 We receive from Montclair Monthly Meeting an open letter to all monthly meetings of New York Yearly Meeting as well as a three-page statement of their response to the Friends United Meeting hiring policy and general board meeting in Kenya, February, 2007. We send this statement to Ministry and Counsel and ask them to plan a program for us to consider our response to these issues. We approve the minute.
*Julia will attach a copy of the letter to the minutes.
THE LETTER WILL BE FORWARDED AS AN EMAIL ATTACHMENT OR A USPS MAILED ENCLOSURE.

We adjourn to meet at the appointed time for Meeting for Business on December 9.

Julia Giordano, Clerk
Sybil Perry, Recording Clerk