Want to share news on the website? Please fill out our form.
Called Meeting of Peace and Social Concerns Committee on August 24th
The Peace and Social Concerns Committee will hold a called hybrid meeting at 1pm, after meeting for worship, on Sunday, August 24th. Those who choose to attend will discern whether the committee should recommend that Morningside sign on to the letter "Quakers Discern Genocide is Occurring in Gaza and Urge Courageous Action" published by eight Quaker organizations including FNCL and the AFSC. Friends can read the letter here. A member of P&SC recommends Omer Bartov's July 15, 2025 Op-Ed in the New York Times to those planning to attend. All are welcome.
Additionally, those attending will consider bringing a minute before our September business meeting urging Governor Houchul to provide fair pathways of release from New York's prisons the wake of this year's wildcat strikes by corrections officers.
New York Quarterly Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business
The New York Quarterly Meeting, an organization of all of the Quaker Meetings in New York City, will hold its July Meeting for Worship with a Concern for Business on July 19th at 1:00 pm in the Quaker Cemetery in Prospect Park. All are welcome. Business will be preceded by a Meeting for Worship at 11:00 am and a potluck lunch at noon.
More information, including the agenda for the meeting and reports to be presented, can be found on the NYQM website.
A Presentation by Bart Dominus
On Sunday, July 20th at 1pm, after the rise of meeting and fellowship, Morningside member Bart Dominus will discuss and give a demonstration of a project he considers his “final testimony and bequest to the future of the Quakers.” This will be a hybrid in-person/online presentation. All Friends are warmly welcome to attend.
Bart writes, “My company is building, with God’s help, a web app which will enable all Quakers and their meetings the means to express what being a Quaker means to them personally, easily, succinctly and expressively. The presentation also contains a strategy for distributing this understanding to others widely both inside and outside the Quaker community.”
A complete outline of Bart's presentation is available on the Morningside Meeting website. Click here to read it.
Celebrate Pride with the Quakers of the New York Quarterly Meeting
Friends have participated in the NYC Pride March every year since its beginning, and were the very first religious group to march. All are welcome to march with us again on June 29, 2025. Read more about NYC Quakers and LGBTQIA+ Pride at https://nycquakers.org/pride.
Friends who plan to march are invited to RSVP here.
Tour of Bernard Winter's Completed Murals at PS 333
Bernard Winter writes:
Hi Friends, some joyous news to share. I will be giving a tour of the completed murals at the school I retired from, The Manhattan School for Children, PS 333 on Monday, June 2nd, as part of our school-wide Arts Festival. These murals were begun in 2023 and finished this year with the help of parents, children and faculty. You are welcome to join me as I give the tour and explain the history and the process.
Know Your Meeting's Rights: When Government Agents Knock at the Door
Friends are concerned about the possibility of Immigration & Customs Enforcement agents (or other authorities) coming to their Meetings in search of undocumented persons. New York Yearly Meeting won a preliminary injunction preserving the “sensitive locations” policy that had severely limited the circumstances under which ICE agents could conduct operations in a church. NYYM also had to supply the lawyers for the defendants with a list of all our Meetings so ICE can know which places of worship are protected by the preliminary injunction.
On May 4, 2025, from 7-9 pm, NYYM will hold a virtual program facilitated by Frederick Dettmer (Purchase Meeting) on how to respond if ICE agents or other government authorities come to your Meeting intending to find and arrest undocumented persons.
What are our rights? Obligations? What should we do to document what is happening? How can we best secure the Meetinghouse? Learn what to do and what not to do. Get your questions answered.
Register at nyym.org/meeting-rights-ICE
A Zoom link will be provided to registrants the day before the session.
Quaker Coalition for Uprooting Racism: Anti-Racist Power-Mapping Workshop
Reposted from Pendle Hill:
Quaker Coalition for Uprooting Racism (QCUR) invites you to participate in a half-day of community organizing to resist the current rise of fascism in the U.S. on Saturday, May 10th, 1-5pm ET via Zoom. We encourage Quaker organizations, schools, committees, and meetings to make themselves hubs so people can gather in person to Zoom together.
This workshop will have time for worship, connecting with each other, and learning how to use power mapping as a tool for resistance and anti-racist change-making. Power-mapping is an interactive, strategic tool for identifying and analyzing where and how power is being held and used around a specific issue. It allows groups to develop effective strategies for leveraging power to make constructive, anti-racist change.
After learning how to use power mapping, there will be time for groups to work together in community, with coaching and support available from QCUR. We will also have a break-out rooms available for those attending solo who want to work with others or for geographically spread out groups. To grow our web and form mutual support, QCUR can connect with groups of Friends working on similar issues after the workshop.
Friends can register for the worshop online or call Pendle Hill for more information at 610-566-4507, ext. 137.
Prices Reduced! Chanting and Song Writing Workshop March 28-30th
Bernard Winter shares this announcement:
Come make a joyful noise March 28 and 29 with gifted singer-songwriter, chant maker and workshop leader Michael Stillwater. Ticket prices have recently been reduced for the ChantWave community song event on Friday, March 28. Michael is a gifted singer songwriter and has written hundreds of beautiful chants that are easy to sing and fun to harmonize with. Gary Malkin has collaborated with Michael on his Graceful Passages project and is a talented pianist and composer in his own right. Come to sing or just to listen!
And for those who want to explore creating their own soul song, Saturday's workshop, Song Sanctuary, will be a wonderful opportunity to explore musical improvisation and expression in a supportive group setting.
Plus there is a generous discount available, whether you're purchasing tickets for ChantWave, Song Sanctuary or both.
Links to buy tickets:
https://www.tickettailor.com/events/innerharmony/1527588
https://www.tickettailor.com/events/innerharmony/1527640
When you check out, just use the following coupon codes:
ChantWave - COMCHANT
Song Sanctuary - COMSS
Bundle (ChantWave and Song Sanctuary tickets) - COMBUN
You can get complete details on the attached flier or clicking on the links above. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Sandra Winter at treeheartnyc@gmail.com.
Special Music Weekend in Manhattan March 28-30th
Bernard Winter shares this announcement:
Hello Morningside Friends,
I am writing to let you know that my wife, Sandra Winter, is organizing a very special weekend, March 28th-30th and I hope you will be available to join us for all or part of the weekend.
For the last several years, Sandra has been studying with singer-songwriter, filmmaker and transformational teacher Michael Stillwater. Michael's interfaith chants and healing songs are enjoyed worldwide in singing circles, gatherings, churches and communities.
Now Michael will be coming to New York City at the end of March and facilitating a weekend featuring a 'Chant Wave' evening of spiritual chants and a half-day Song Sanctuary, an experiential workshop on musical healing and creativity. Michael will also be the guest speaker at Unity of New York on Sunday, March 30, and will be offering an Honoring Ceremony after the service, which will be happening from 2-4:30PM.
All events will be happening at St. Michael's Church, 225 West 99th Street in Manhattan.
You can find full details and register to participate using this link: https://innerharmony.com/events/
I hope you can join us for one or all the heart-opening events in March.
Peace,
Bernard Winter
Injunction Granted!
New York Yearly Meeting shares this news:
A federal judge granted an injunction in response to the lawsuit brought by a several Quaker groups (including New York Yearly Meeting), a Sikh Temple, and a Baptist Fellowship. The lawsuit sought to reverse the recent decision allowing ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) operations to take place inside houses of worship without a warrant. The injunction granted by the judge is narrow, only extending to the specific religious congregations in the lawsuit.
The monthly meetings in NYYM are now protected from unwarranted ICE actions in or near their worship spaces. We hope that the Freedom of Religion rights of all faiths will soon be equally respected.
Read the Press Release from the attorneys representing our group in this lawsuit, Democracy Forward.