Sandy Spring Friends Meeting

Report of Ad Hoc Meeting on
Patapsco Friends’ request to become a Monthly Meeting,

5/2002

Sandy Spring Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends accepts the report of the ad hoc committee on the status of Patapsco Preparative Meeting and recommends the establishment of Patapsco Monthly Meeting as a separate member of Chesapeake Quarter and of Baltimore Yearly Meeting. We have heard the processes used by the preparative meeting in discerning their future and their readiness to request monthly meeting status. We have also considered the functioning of the preparative meeting and its growth in size and in understanding of Quaker practices. We are clear that the Patapsco Preparative Meeting is ready to meet the responsibilities and to join the fellowship of monthly meetings within Baltimore Yearly Meeting.

The following agreements were reached on particular issues of past joint responsibility and of ongoing concern.

Memberships: As a monthly meeting Patapsco will receive and consider requests for membership from its attenders. Upon its establishment as a full monthly meeting (after approval of its request by Baltimore Yearly Meeting), Patapsco may receive transfers of membership from other meetings as requested by members of the Patapsco community. The Overseers of Sandy Spring Meeting and the Ministry and Oversight Committee of Patapsco are working out the details of such transfers for Sandy Spring members. Each person or family so desiring will request transfer of their membership from Sandy Spring to Patapsco upon establishment of Patapsco Monthly Meeting. Sandy Spring Overseers will present these transfer requests at the July 21 business meeting so that they may be ready for acceptance by Patapsco Monthly Meeting at its first business meeting, expected to occur in late August.

Finances: Patapsco Preparative Meeting has been handling its own finances for over a year. The Treasurers of Sandy Spring Meeting and of Patapsco will coordinate future payments to Baltimore Yearly Meeting to be sure that each group pays the appropriate share of the Sandy Spring Monthly Meeting apportionment until such time as the apportionments are separately designated by Baltimore Yearly Meeting. Patapsco will get its own Tax ID Number and complete new signature cards for its account, removing the Sandy Spring Treasurer as a signatory on their account. The Treasurers will also see that the insurance coverage is separated for the two groups and that Patapsco will cover its premium.

Use of the Sandy Spring Graveyard: The Sandy Spring Guidelines for the Graveyard set forth priorities for considering requests for use of the Meeting’s graveyard. While members of Sandy Spring Meeting who transfer their membership to Patapsco will no longer have first preference, they will be eligible under category #3 which includes Friends from other meetings who have had a special relationship to Sandy Spring Meeting. We recommend continuing to consider members of Patapsco Monthly Meeting as having a special relationship with Sandy Spring Meeting for this purpose.