The meeting of Representatives of the Section of the Americas was held in good order in Morgantown, Indiana from March 12-17, 2013. With the members of the Central Executive Committee, there were Friends from 14 countries and 45 yearly meetings present. Among the important business discussions were those related to the Section's goal to strive for full integration and a visioning exercise to help plan for the Section's work beyond 2015.

Latin American Friends Committee in session

The Section Meeting began with two days of meetings of the Committee of Latin American Friends, followed by a full day of meetings for other committees, from Finance to the Wider Quaker Fellowship. Business of the Section was conducted all day Friday and on Sunday morning. Saturday was a full-day workshop, part of our Living Water series.  Cristela Martinez (El Salvador YM), Howie Baker (Ohio Valley YM), John Fitzgerald (Ireland YM), David Millar (Canadian YM), Emma Condori (Bolivia Holiness Mission YM) and Rob Yurisko (Lake Erie YM) all had roles in this interactive program, utilizing the readings and exercises in the Living Water Study book.    

In business sessions, a two-year budget and nominating report were approved, paving the way for a two-year period of programming.  The next Section of the Americas meeting will take place in 2015, in a location to be determined. In 2014, instead of holding one Section of the Americas meeting focused primarily on business, there will be four Section Consultations, one each in South America, Central America, the West and the East of North America. Each bilingual weekend Consultation will feature workshops on practical skills for thriving Friends meetings, some common to all four conferences and some tailored to local needs.    

Friends attending the Section Meeting relived, or watched for the first time, the documentary 'Salt and Light', filmed by Pacific Yearly Meeting Friends during the 2012 World Conference, and afterward celebrated FWCC's 75th anniversary with cake and ice cream.  

 

"I was nourished daily by worship and connections, both formal and random, by laughter and discoveries."

This month we complete our profiles of the Central Executive Committee with the members from the Europe & Middle East Section & the World Office.

Simon C. Lamb

Rachel Bewley-Bateman is clerk of the Europe & Middle East Section and a former clerk of Ireland Yearly Meeting.  She is a member of the Irish Interchurch Committee and Secretary of the Dublin Council of Churches. She has an MA in Biblical Studies, but her career started in the catering industry. She says, "I was delighted to have the opportunity to attend the World Conference 2012 in Kenya.  As a young Friend I attended the World Conference in North Carolina in 1967.  I was also very fortunate to hear Martin Luther King preach in St. Paul's Cathedral in London while on his way to collect his Nobel Peace Prize."

John Fitzgerald lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, with his wife Rachel. John grew up within Ireland YM, and maintains strong links with Friends there. He clerked the European committee which organized the 2005 World Gathering of Young Friends, and spoke regularly at London Quaker Quest on the topics of Simplicity and God. More recently, John has been designing and running courses on Good Quaker Communication at Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre and  blogging about his Quaker faith. John has been an At-Large member of the Central Executive Committee since 2007. He is the development coordinator for Friends of the Earth Scotland and a graduate student and teaching assistant in philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. 

    

Marisa Johnson is the Executive Secretary to the Europe and Middle East Section of FWCC. She has been in post since January 2008 and is now the longest-serving among the FWCC Secretaries. She is currently doing a two-year study programme called Equipping for Ministry at Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre in Birmingham, England. She works from her home in Cambridge, UK, where she lives with her husband and cat. Her two sons are in their mid-20s. As well as working full-time for Quakers, Marisa has been a Justice of the Peace (Lay Magistrate), sitting in Criminal Courts a couple of times a month for the past 20 years.

 

Alastair Reid is the Treasurer for the World Office. He is a member of West Scotland Area Meeting and attends a meeting which meets alternately on the Scottish mainland and then on an island. He is involved with an inter-church group working with the Scottish Parliament and helps run two Bible study groups in Edinburgh and Glasgow. He retired recently as an auditor but is still involved as clerk of Britain Yearly Meeting trustee audit committee. He tries to import obscure Scottish expressions into his financial discussions and to use graphics 

instead of figures where possible, and as his wife is an expert on plain English, he is constantly kept on his toes.

Gretchen Castle, General Secretary in the World Office, is passionate about building understanding among and about the Religious Society of Friends. She has an MEd in Adult Organizational Learning and has worked as staff and consultant for many Quaker organizations and boards of trustees.  She has served as clerk of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and played in the band "Faith and Practice" prior to relocating to London. Gretchen is the mother of two grown daughters and enjoys music, gardening, and fabric arts.