FRIENDS IN SAN ANTONIO
7052 North Vandiver at Eisenhauer
December 2010
International Bribery
Dave Zarembka, of the Friends Peace Teams’ African Great Lakes Initiative, says that a significant grassroots campaign against international bribery is needed, drawing on his experience in the Great Lakes Region.
Almost all major contracts from building a road or pipeline, drilling for oil, to printing the currency of a country and similar mundane activities are awarded through international bribery. In order to win any government contract, all firms give bribes. If they don't, they won't win the contract. The winner, then, does not receive the contract because of the strength of the bid, but by greasing the wheels of selection with bribes. These bribes are distributed widely – from the politicians, to the top government bureaucrats, to the minor functionary who has to forge documents.This increases the cost of the bid in order to recover the bribes and awards contracts to the highest bribers.
It also promotes violence as the rewards of being elected, particularly the possibility of receiving bribes, are too great! All means, including intimidation and bribing of voters, are used to succeed. And when a candidate loses, he is liable to resort to armed conflict.. As a result, the average citizen in the Great Lakes region fears the election period as a time of potentially renewed violence.The third danger is that when people realize how their country is being looted, they resist violently.
Dave thinks these policies are needed:
1. All offshore banks need to be closed.
2. Switzerland should not be touted as the home of the Red Cross but the international bribery capital of the world where much of the loot is stashed in secret bank accounts. It should conform to all the banking laws of other countries so that the bribers cannot make their payoffs those bribed canoot hide their funds.
3. All countries should make a vigorous effort to find illegally obtained funds and return them to the country of origin.
4. multi-national agreements are necessary to develop strong anti-bribing enforcement.
5. When a company is caught there should be no out of court settlements that shield the bribers and those bribed who should be prosecuted and punished.
6. All government contracts should be public documents.
IWebpage: www.aglifpt.org
Forums
Jim Grossnickle Batterton came from the Catholic Worker House to tell us of its activities. He said that their philosophy, deriving from Dorothy Day, is to welcome everyone who might not be welcome elsewhere. They particularly welcome families in crisis. They are not “program- and institutionally-oriented,” but do have such things as an art therapy class and hope to help people solve their problems. Many people who come do not fit into the Haven for Hope but the Haven is wonderful for referring visitors with medical, psychological, or detox problems as these are now, unlike before, all in the same place.
They are in a newly remodeled house, named the “Day House.” Most of their resident volunteers are Mennonites and Brethren. They value most the gift of volunteers’ time, perhaps to bring some food for the volunteers or have a cup of coffee and sit and talk to people. They have bumped into city health regulations serving hot food as their kitchen is not certified. A volunteer has recently created t-shirts with the (Spanish) words “My name is Jesus. I am undocumented.” Jim was a delightfully relaxed speaker.
Ruth led a forum on Strengthening Our Quaker Community. Nearly a dozen
people participated in a thoughtful discussion.
A chart showed the general Meeting structure,
and "Four Pillars of Meeting for Business" was
seriously considered. It follows:
Four Pillars of Meeting for Business
(Seeking the power rather than the form.)
1. The Meeting is rooted in worship.
2. The Meeting is clerked*.
3. There is enough time, a sense of spaciousness.
4. Decisions are made by a sense of the meeting.
* Visible and Invisible Tasks of the Clerk:
. preparing an agenda
. prayer, discernment
. calling on people to speak
. centering
. recognizing a person to speak before they speak
. attending to the motion of the Spirit
. suggesting a sense of the meeting for those present to respond to
. hearing what is not said but is present in the room
. calling the group to waiting worship until the Spirit is ready
It was suggested that clerks of committees need to follow the "clerking" rather than chairing process in their meetings.
It was agreed that the Forum on the second Sunday in January will continue with this concern.
Personal News
Rese tells us he is still working in Dallas. The family has settled into a house in San Diego, CA. They attend the LaJolla Friends Meeting. Susan is getting a Masters in Preventative Health. So she is a full time student--enjoying school. RT is a regular "surfer dude " complete with shell necklace. Cayla and Jessica are best friends with the three sisters next door. The dogs are enjoying the mild weather.
Gary is recovering from his encounter with the Pacific. He was arriving at meeting with a walker, but he can now manage without it. He receives, of course, highly personal and continuous observation and attention from his physical therapist, Vivian. 24-7. Bill’s father was taken ill and had to have surgery. He is recovering well.
What else is there about Leilah that we don’t know? The Preservation Advocate, of the San Antonio Conservation Society, tells us that she has been appointed executive director of the Brackenridge Park Conservancy. But also that she was Vice President of the Bank of America FSB, managed a $25m loan portfolio for affordable housing, has been a program officer for the San Antonio Housing Trust, a board member for the Chancellor’s Council, UT system, and more, and more. She will first focus on fund-raising and membership development. So, join, by sending $25 to PO Box 3611, San Antonio, TX 78209.
We shall be missing little Natalie trotting happily around the meetinghouse in Sundays. She will have left for her new home with David’s son and daughter-in-law by the time you receive this. We hope she will comfortably settle in to her permanent home. We hear she likes it there.
Marian and some of her family made a long drive all the way to Uvalde, taking only two days without speeding. Marian will be going to Portugal in the spring for a Global Volunteers program. A small group of Friends drove to Kathy R’s home at Medina Lake for a very pleasant lunch. Watching the deer walk slowly through the trees while overlooking the lake.
We have received this sad message from Barbara Miles: “I am writing to let you know my son David died last Sunday morning. He has been sick for a long time and now I know he is at peace. He was a resident at SAAF (San Antonio Aids Foundation) and in hospice care with Christus. As he wished, he will be cremated and our family will put his ashes in the ocean from my son-in-law’s boat in the Keys.
David was my youngest child, born on the 4th of July 1964.He loved animals and had a lively sense of humor. For any of the Friends who are not familiar with SAAF, it is a wonderful unique facility . I will leave you with this prayer of St Therese of Avila, ‘Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you. All things are passing. God never changes. Patient endurance helps to achieve all things. Who ever possesses God is wanting in nothing. God alone suffices.’ Barbara Miles.”
Did you see the photo in the Express-News of Robin dancing the lead Clara in her school production of the Nutcracker ballet suite? Her mother, Pam, is in school studying nursing and finding it very challenging, especially the science. But she’s doing well and feeling that there are many aspects of nursing that she’s suited for. She feels she’s growing as a person and happier to be more sure of what to do with the next chapter of her life.
Problems?
If you woke up this morning and your kids were healthy and your parents loved you, then you don’t have any problems. You might think you do but you don’t. And if at night, when you steal into your child’s room and watch her little body rise and fall with the breathing, and your heart aches with love, consider your life sublime.
Philip Gulley, Front Porch Tales.
The book is in our library
Business Meeting
Meeting opened with a statement from Meeting for Sufferings, London Yearly Meeting, 1992:
The ground of our work lies in our waiting on and listening for the Spirit. Let the loving spirit of a loving God call us and lead us. These leadings are both personal and corporate. If they are truly tested in a gathered meeting we shall find that the strength and the courage for obedience are given to us. We need the humility to put obedience before our own wishes.
After approval of last month’s minutes, the Grounds report stated that considerable tree trimming had been done, to aid growth, and that the loads of mulch at the southern boundary are intended to slow flooding from next door.
M&O reported that Meeting has a responsibility for visitation with three small meetings in Kerrville, Corpus Christi, and Edinburg, Friends making personal visits to these areas are encouraged to visit these meetings. M&O will start with a visit to Kerrville.
In planning their final affairs if Friends choose to be cremated they are welcome to have their ashes scattered on the meetinghouse grounds. The midweek meeting will now be held at 6.30 pm on the first Thursday of each month. M&O will discuss worship-sharing groups with the Religious Education committee. James will respond to request from a prisoner seeking information about Friends.
The Finance committee report recommended three minutes, authorizing the treasurer to raise the Sinking Fund balance to a limit this year; adding the name “cash flow reserve” to the current term “unencumbered,” and maintaining it to a lower limit; and designating funds from a Turner bequest for renovation of Casa Quaker. It was agreed that Meeting should express its appreciation by letter for this bequest. Meeting approved these minutes.
The Treasurer’s report contained information on the funds received from the Turner bequest, and the expectation that normal contributions will not quite meet expenditures for this year. Friends are encouraged to ensure that their end-of-year contributions are received during December. The unencumbered cash flow reserve will not be replenished regularly but will be maintained above a stated minimum.
The P&SC committee report contained a revised list of proposed donations to other organizations. The list now contains more Quaker organizations. It is posted on the noticeboard outside the meetingroom. Considerable discussion of this year’s budget will be resolved with the Treasurer later.
The Outreach committee recommended that professional assistance be obtained for developing and maintaining the Meeting website. This was approved. It also recommended that Meeting become a public sponsor of Texas Public Radio. This will result in publicly broadcast recognition of Meeting to reach potential attenders. This recommendation was deferred for seasoning until next month.
Meeting for Business closed in silence.
Miscellany
FCNL’s Jim Cason, rviewing Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf ‘s 2004 book, “What’s Right With Islam: A New Vision for Muslims and the West,” says, “. . .this is an important book and one that has helped me understand a little better the current conversations on faith in the United States. His conclusion bears repeating:
“I can think of no greater goal in the twenty-first century than ushering in the era predicted by the Old Testament prophet Isaiah: when nations ‘will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will the train for war anymore.’”
The Treasurer would like to remind Friends to turn in their end-of-year contributions before the end of December so that this year’s books may be properly balanced.
Have you ever seen a bird fly down to land on a small branch . . . and miss? Or go to sleep on an overhead power line and fall off?
You know this already, if you read SAWS’ WATER NEWS. But it’s worth noting anyway. SAWS announces it is now recycling nearly all of the sewage into recycled water, compost, and methane gas. “The biogas project is the first sustainable project of its kind in the nation.”
Nearly a third of Sweden’s population are either immigrants or the children of immigrants. There are more Iranians living in Sweden than Danes. In 2007 one small town outside Stockholm took in more Iraqi refugees than the whole US. (From the Guardian.)
Ahh, the curse of William Penn. “We know the tale all too well in Philadelphia. Once buildings in the Philadelphia skyline surpassed the height of the William Penn statue on top of City Hall, the [Philadelphia] sports teams were doomed and destined for failure on a yearly basis.
Thankfully ,when Comcast constructed their lavish skyscraper they were true to their Philly roots and placed the most famous miniature sized replica statue on top of their building, thus ridding the city of the curse.” (Montgomerynews. com)
Dan Wakefield said, “He was also, I believe, a spiritual man in the broadest and deepest sense of the word. The Oxford English Dictionary defines ‘spirit’ as ‘the animating or vital principle in men (and animals); that which gives life to the physical organism, in contrast to its purely material elements; the breath of life.’
In his letters, as in his books, this ‘pagan’ agnostic leaves us a true sense of spirit, that ‘animating or vital principle; the breath of life."
He died in 1962 at 45.
Pilloried
The pillory was regularly used in England to punish and publicly shame lawbreakers. But, “When used against members of religious sects like Lodowick Muggleton or the Quaker James Nayler, the pillory was steadfastly ineffective and in fact became a cornerstone of their martyrdom. Nayler was scarcely psychologically damaged by the shame punishments he suffered because his own conversion had provided him with God’s ‘inner light’. This same inspiration had made him gather a band of disciples and enter Bristol on a donkey!”
BBC History Magazine Oct. 2010
Thomas Clarkson
Thomas Clarkson, of course, was vital and central to the British campaign against slavery. He studied to be an Anglican clergyman and in 1785 entered a Cambridge University Latin essay competition on the subject (in Latin), “Is it lawful to enslave the unconsenting?” So he studied the slave trade, starting with Friend Anthony Benezet’s Historical Account of Guinea. He won.
Riding to London he experienced a moment of conversion in which, “if the contents of the essay were true, it was time some person should see these calamities to their end.” A Wisbech Quaker introduced him to the anti-slavery movement which had been gathering transAtlantic strength. An informal committee was set up, recruiting William Wilberforce, an MP, to the cause. Of the twelve members, nine were Quakers and Clarkson was the dynamic leader. “Wherever he went he received enthusiastic assistance from the Society of Friends.” In 1807 Parliament banned the slave trade. The work continued until in 1833 slavery was abolished throughout the empire.
Clarkson’s life was dedicated to this cause. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, from which this information is drawn, says that his “partnership with the Quakers strongly affected his religion. By 1795 he had renounced his Anglican orders, though he never submitted to the discipline of the Society of Friends.. In 1815 he told Tsar Alexander I that he was ‘nine parts in ten of their way of thinking.’”
He published A Portraiture of Quakerism and a biography of William Penn. “Without Wilberforce, Clarkson, and the rest slavery would not have been ended so soon and so completely, and perhaps not so peacefully.”
The present reputation of Quakerism rests upon the shoulders of those forebears who saw so clearly that of God in every person.
Hunger strikers
Eleven women from El Paso, Texas on Friday entered the fifth day of their hunger strike in front of the White House to protest the violence, poverty, and unemployment engulfing the Ciudad Juarez/El Paso border region.
The women, members of La Mujer Obrera (Woman Worker), want the government to refocus its efforts along the border. In a letter address to president Obama, the women said that women have borne the brunt of the border’s violence and poverty, and the Administration’s efforts, along the border have done little to help working women.
The hunger strikers called on Obama to ”establish immediate and long-term strategies of community-led development in the nation’s poorest region, the Southwest border.”
William Rogers, Left Labor Reporter
Events
A Christmas Eve Meeting for Worship
will be held in the meetinghouse, on December 24, of course, at 6:30PM. Tamales and beans will be served at 7:30 PM. Friends are asked to bring dessert items.
Patricia Morrison is a touring Quaker singer/songwriter completing her first southern tour in January and February and spending quite a bit of time in Texas. She is a graduate of Earlham College and past intern at Pendle Hill and the American Friends Service Committee. This tour is partly for music, partly to explore Austin and the possibility of moving there in the next year or two and partly to visit family. She will be in San Antonio on Tuesday and Wednesday February 1-2 and hopes to sing here. If you have any suggestions for venues, please let Ken know. Find out more and listen at www.patriciamorrison.net .
If You are Thinking
of dying any time soon you may be interested in disposing of your mortal remainder in a green way. Cremation produces four times as much CO2 as burial, but the latter needs a lot of maintenance later. Dental fillings account for as much as a fifth of Britain’s mercury emissions. Formaldehyde leaks from cemeteries into ground water. It may be possible to get a cardboard casket rather than handsome wood. “Natural habitats” are becoming popular in England for burial. “Water cremation” involves dissolving the body into an inorganic liquid which can be used as fertilizer. Or the body may be freeze dried and vibrated so as to dissolve into a fine powder which can be converted into mulch.
Needless to say, these procedures are not likely to be available here soon, so it’s advisable to put the whole thing off for a few years. The Economist, September 18.
Three Old Kings
From withered wood on heated sand
a dry wind sparked a blaze
rising like an angry prayer.
Our camels balked upon the long dry road.
Our old bones aching and our dry mouths sore,
we knew of angry prayers too well.
A green wind rose to cool us
as we stumbled on
to find no stable that a king would want.
We heard the endless crying of a puking babe
but laid our panting hearts
down by the stable door.
We turned towards home
this way, that way,
as though our light
came through a smoky wind.
We laid a question on that smoky wind:
had we still hearts of stone
that valued comfort more than love?
Were we still sepulchers
within our deep, deep night?
We don’t know who we are,
uneasily we rule
much as before.
And yet our old hearts yearn
to shiver at a stable, near a babe.
Mark Lee Hickman
Everybody’s doing Time Today
Obadiah Brown was not a highly educated Friend, but he was known far and wide for his sense of fairness. That’s how he got elected town judge.
Not long after his elevation to the bench, a bookish older gentleman who overmuch enjoyed the fruit of the vine was brought before him.
“Thee’s pleaded no contest to a charge of drunk and disorderly,” said Obadiah, eying the case file. “Has thee anything to say as to why thee ought not to spend some time in confinement reflecting on thy behavior?”
“Indeed, I do, your honor,” said the defendant. He drew himself up and began to declaim: “Man’s inhumanity to man makes the masses mourn,” he declared. “I am not so debased as Poe, so profligate as Byron, so ungrateful as Keats, so intemperate as Burns, so vulgar as Shakespeare, nor so debauched as Dylan Thomas. . .”
Obadiah banged his gavel. “That’s enough,” he said. “Ten days for thee. Take him away, sergeant. And then get those miscreants hs spoke of and get them rounded up at once. They sound worse than he is.”
In the next case, Obadiah looked silently down at the defendant. “How could thee swindle all those people who trusted in thee,” he demanded.
“Because, your honor,” said the con man smoothly, “You can’t swindle people who don’t trust you.”
Quaker House Newsletter
A British Quaker Humorist
Gerard Hoffnung published a series of books of cartoons poking gentle fun at conductors and orchestral instrumentalists. He produced three Music Festivals at the Royal Festival Hall in London. Compositions specially commissioned for the Festivals included Malcolm Arnold's A Grand, Grand Overture, Op. 57 which was dedicated to President Hoover and scored for several vacuum cleaners and other domestic appliances. Franz Reizenstein's Concerto Popolare was described as the "The Piano Concerto to end all Piano Concertos". William Walton conducted a one-note excerpt from his oratorio Belshazzar's Feast: the word, "Slain!" shouted by the chorus. Compositions also featured road rammers and a watering can.
Much of Hoffnung's own humour relies on timing. A classic example is the 'Bricklayer's Lament' which was part of his 1958 Oxford Union Speech. His life was in the tradition of the Great British Eccentric, despite his continental origins. He affected, consciously or otherwise, the persona of an elderly music master, a role honed while teaching at Stamford School, where his eccentricities are remembered to this day. His voice had the hoarseness one associates with age, its cadences slow and faltering after the fashion of the old, or, perhaps in homage to Colonel Blimp. His eccentricities were legendary, to the point where stories about him are fantastic enough to be believable, as nobody would think of making them up.
Paul Hamilton said, “ He sounded like some Goon Show hybrid, . . .with a spoonful of Wilfrid Lawson ham Shakespearean bewailments and bombast stirred into the DNA for good measure. . . He’s a slack-brained Michael Trubshawe, a hungover C. Aubrey Smith, or a Cecil Parker waking to discover he’s piloting an aeroplane.
Artist, teacher, cartoonist, caricaturist, musician and tuba player, broadcaster and raconteur, a much sought after speaker at the Oxford and Cambridge Unions and prison visitor, a Quaker - these were all facets of a creative personality. Facebook
Hoffnung's outlook on race relations, homosexuality, nuclear disarmament, the treatment of animals (especially hunting) and, for that matter, the music of Bartók and Schoenberg was liberal and impassioned.
To hear his fruity and very funny 'Bricklayer's Lament', go to
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZUJLO6lMhI
Peaceful News
Jeremy Ben-Ami is president of J Street, a pro-Israel, pro-peace lobbying organization. It conducted a poll of Jewish voters on election day. He reports in a letter to the New York Times this week that according to this poll “Unlike elements of Israel’s government, most Jewish Americans favor a two-state solution, restricting settlement growth and active American leadership to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
Advice for December
Take heed to that light which will exercise your conscience, it will let you see yourself truthfully and the light will let you see God. Lay aside all contention and striving about words, which is no profit, but mind the pure light of God within.
December Calendar, 2010
Meeting for Worship is held on Sunday at 10 a.m., followed by refreshments and a Forum discussion at 11.30, usually lasting until about 12.45. Children are invited to join worship for the first fifteen minutes, after which they may go to join with the Young Friends program. Child care is available during Forum.
2 Thursday ........... Midweek worship, 6.30.
5 Sunday ............... Potluck lunch at 11.30.
12 Sunday.............. Forum – First Day School Holiday Program
19, Sunday............. Meeting for Business.
24, Friday .............. Christmas Eve worship, 6:30pm
7:30 pm tamales and beans
26, Sunday ............ No Forum today.
Each Thursday, at 4-5 pm, a silent peace vigil is held at the corners of S. Flores and Commerce, one block west of Main Plaza near City Hall.
Clerk: Ken Southwood, (210)828-1513; e-mail: jksouthwood@grandecom.net
Newsletter Editor: Ken Southwood, (210)828-1513; e-mail: jksouthwood@grandecom.net Website: http://www.sanantonioquakers.org
Donations may be made to Friends Meeting of San Antonio, P.O. Box 6127, San Antonio TX78209. Meeting telephone for meeting times or to ask for other information: (210) 945-8456