2009 State of Society Report of FREDERICTON WORSHIP GROUP

Dear Freddy Friends: Here is my 2009 State of Society of Fredericton Worship Group report for you to OK. I hope it's OK.
Edith

2009 State of Society Report of
FREDERICTON WORSHIP GROUP

Fredericton Worship Group is a thriving community of an average of ten people who meet weekly in silent worship followed by a sharing of experiences. We were united in grieving over the tragic death of John McKendy and dealing with it in many ways. We hosted a NB Monthly Meeting memorial service for him at St. Thomas University. We kept in touch with John’s widow Carol Wakeham and their daughters Laura and Colleen and held them in the Light. We recommended that John post-humously receive the Ron Wiebe Award for Restorative Justice, and Carol and Colleen went to Newfoundland to receive it on John’s behalf. Out of discussions with STU faculty, the idea of instituting a John McKendy Peace Centre at STU, was to be realized and bear fruit in 2010.
We explored new venues in which to worship that might be more inviting to inquirers than our homes, and so we worshipped in two rooms in town for a while, but settled on the Rotunda room of a building at STU. New attenders did indeed come, including a former student of John’s. He also joined the two members of our group who have been facilitating Alternatives to Violence Project workshops at Dorchester Penitentiary, consequently becoming a vibrant facilitator himself.
We have maintained a friendly, caring community of Members and Attenders and Inquirers. We were happy to welcome Sandy Zelazny, a former Junior Member of NBMM, into full Membership. Michael Miller was invited to be the Quaker representative on the Spiritual and Religious Care Advisory Committee of Dr. Everett Chalmers Hospital. Some of us joined Martha McClure’s series of Quaker studies on the Peace Testimony, an occasion to bring the group together to enrich our experience of Quakerism, and it is hoped that it will be resumed.

Edith Miller
Michael Miller
448 Golf Club Rd.
Fredericton, NB E3B 5Z7
memiller@rogers.com