June 2002

Dear Friends,

If you are currently a member of Sandy Spring Friends Meeting or any other meeting and if you consider yourself part of the Patapsco Friends Meeting community, then you may want to consider transferring your membership to Patapsco upon its becoming a full Monthly Meeting.  This note and the form provided (for any meeting) should assist you in that process.

If you would like for that transfer to become effective at the first business meeting of Patapsco as a Monthly Meeting, which is now expected this August, then we urge you to submit your request to your current Monthly Meeting as soon as possible.  Below is information on the timetable for members of Sandy Spring meeting; the timing is very tight.  If you are a member of any other Meeting, the arrangements and the timing of the meetings may be different but almost certainly is just as tight.  Please let Ken Stockbridge know if you would like any assistance with other Meetings.

For members of Sandy Spring who wish to transfer, your request first needs to be submitted to the Sandy Spring oversight committee for its approval.  The committee will then forward your request to the full business meeting, which can then approve it the same day.   No problems are expected in this routine process except that there is only one meeting of the Sandy Spring oversight committee on June 16th and one Sandy Spring business meeting on July 21st before we expect Baltimore Yearly Meeting will welcome Patapsco as a Monthly Meeting in early August.   Therefore, to be among the first official members of Patapsco Monthly Meeting, the Sandy Spring oversight committee needs to receive your request in time for their June 16th meeting.

It is acceptable to email your request to the Sandy Spring oversight committee through Jonathon Glass and Anne Hirshfield.  You may also send it (or deliver it) to Anne so that it is received by 6/15.  Please also notify Ken Stockbridge of your intentions so we can check to ensure that all requests are considered.

If you are not yet a member of any Meeting, please look for the information package on membership on the hall table or contact Ken for a copy.

Please feel free to contact Ken with any other comments or requests.

To submit your request, you can use the attached form if you like.

June 2002

Dear Friends,

In our recent threshing session on becoming a monthly meeting, several friends expressed the thought that doing so would simply recognize a reality that already exists. Becoming a member works much the same way. As Patapsco Friends Meeting moves toward becoming a monthly meeting, now may be the time for you to consider membership.

Membership in Patapsco Friends Meeting and the Religious Society of Friends does not imply any responsibilities or privileges that go beyond simply being an active part of our community. Rather, if you are not already a member of any Meeting and if you share in the love, unity, and mutual nurture of our community, then applying for membership would simply recognize a reality that already exists, and we encourage you to do so. While the process can be quite routine, it is also an opportunity to deepen your understanding of what it means to be a Quaker as well as your own level of commitment to it.

The process of Patapsco becoming a monthly meeting is moving forward. On June 2, Sandy Spring Friends Meeting approved a minute to support our request to be recognized as a monthly meeting. Next, it goes to Quarterly Meeting, then to the interim meeting of Baltimore Yearly Meeting, and finally to the annual sessions of the yearly meeting in early August. At that time, we hope and expect to officially become a monthly meeting. As a monthly meeting, Patapsco will be able to recognize memberships in the Religious Society of Friends.

If you would like to apply for membership and would like to be accepted as a member at the first business meeting of Patapsco as a monthly meeting, then we urge you to apply as soon as possible. The timing is very tight. Attached is an excerpt from the Baltimore Yearly Meeting Faith and Practice about membership. Please take a look at it. But in a nutshell, here is how the process would work in the simplest cases.

First, you would write a letter addressed to Sherri Morgan as clerk of our meeting expressing your desire to become a member. It can be very simple, but it is helpful to explain why you feel drawn to the Religious Society of Friends.

Second, Sherri would forward your letter to Ministry and Oversight, which would consider your request and arrange for a clearness committee to discuss your request with you.

Third, Ministry and Oversight would then forward your request to the full business meeting, which would lay over the request for a second reading at the next business meeting, at which it would generally be approved. If your request can have its first reading at business meeting on July 28th, then your second reading and acceptance into membership could occur at Patapsco’s first business meeting as a monthly meeting on August 25th. Therefore, to meet this schedule, Ministry and Oversight needs to receive your request as soon as possible.

Applying for membership is not a mere formality. Rather, it recognizes a spiritual reality that we hope already exists for you. As a meeting, we aspire to have a loving community in which we share a mutual commitment to supporting each other on our spiritual journeys. We hope you share in that commitment.

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.