You can now download an updated (June 7) draft programme for IYM 2024, including four Special Interest Groups to be held on July 7-10 (for descriptions of the SIGs, see the IYM 2024 programme):

Toward Understanding George Fox formation and early message, 1624- 1654

Facilitator or Speaker: Charles B Lamb, Roscrea Date: Sunday 7th of July, 19:30

Eyewitness Account from the Occupied West Bank

Facilitator or Speaker: Máire Ní Mheibhric Date: Monday 8th of July, 19:30

The International crime of Ecocide. What is Ecocide, and what are the promptings of our Quaker Faith and Testimonies when considering this urgent issue?

Facilitator or Speaker: Kate Fletcher (EcoQuakers and South Belfast) Date: Tuesday 9th July, 19:30

4. Fifth Day Worship . How Eustace St Thursday Meeting for Worship went Global

Facilitator or Speaker: Thomas Quearney, Eustace Street (Dublin) Date: Wednesday 10th July, 19:00 (please note earlier start time for this SIG)

Gráinne Kilcullen (Cork Meeting), Head of Programmes for Action Aid Ireland, has brought this new video to the attention of our Quaker community. ‘Together we are stronger‘ celebrates the migrants who come to Ireland to seek safety, security and a happy future for themselves and their families.

Racism is a human rights violation, and denies people access to jobs, homes and opportunities. We are seeing a rise in anti-migrant rhetoric and intimidation in Ireland and believe we needed to respond. The goal of the video is to create a new, positive and welcoming narrative for migrants in Ireland, to challenge prejudice and to celebrate unity.

The video can be found on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpBe8GcklBQ

And various other social media platforms:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C71bqySMTWH/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Facebook: https://fb.watch/sw6qIDFeC4/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7204103100880580608

Twitter: https://x.com/Actionaid_Ire/status/1798331563064852675

Please feel free to share with others who may find this of interest!

#DontLetHateWin

Friends will be participating in Dublin Pride on Saturday 29^th June, carrying the DAQC banner with the words ‘Dublin Area Quaker Community – Peace, Equality, Simplicity, Integrity’. 

Taking part will be a practical and visible way to demonstrate our testimony to equality, letting people know that Quaker Meetings offer a safe, welcoming and supportive space to all. 

It is not necessary to identify as LGBTQIA+ to take part (many Pride participants are allies – supporters, friends or family members).

If  you’d  like to  be  part  of  the  Quaker  contingent,  please get  in  touch  with  Fiona  Murdoch  via  the office. You can let other Friends know about the event using this DAQC Dublin Pride flyer.
Email – office@quakers.ie   Phone: 014998003 

Junior Meeting will be held as part of the Monkstown Quaker Meeting for Worship 10.30-11.30 on the 2nd Sunday of every month starting on June 9, 2024.

All children are welcome and no booking is required.

Any queries please email monkstownpm@gmail.com

A talk on this topic will be given by Sharon Gustafsson of Sweden Yearly Meeting at Churchtown Meeting House on June 5 2024 at 11-12, with chat beforehand from 10.30. Information about joining the coffee morning online can be found in this flyer.

You may have heard that the theme for the upcoming Ireland Yearly Meeting in Cork during 17-21 July 2024 is “The Spirit of Ubuntu”. Of course we’re all looking forward to IYM 2024, and we have faith that our Programme Committee has chosen the theme well – but what is Ubuntu?

The Yearly Meeting Clerk, Will Haire, has written a short document called What Does Ubuntu Mean? for all of us for whom this word is new. Feel free to download this text at the link above to get a better idea of what awaits us at IYM 2024 as we explore this theme.

The theme for this year’s Ecumenical Bible Week is ‘Peace and justice in a troubled world’, referencing the phrase from Psalm 85 ‘Mercy and truth are met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed each other’. There are four separate events taking place on May 19, 20, 23 and 26. All four will be held in a blended format (in person and online).

The symposium held on Thursday May 23 may be of particular interest; the speakers include Janet Scott (Britain Yearly Meeting), Rabbi Yoni Wieder (Chief Rabbi in Ireland) and Dr Jessie Rogers (Dean of Theology Faculty, Maynooth University), who will address the topic: ‘Are peace and justice compatible?’

Here you can download the full programme; further information can be found at the Ecumenical Bible Week website.

This book written by Cork Friend Larry Lynn Southard and published in 2023 aims to provide a “handbook to help readers place themselves in a position that makes divine guidance a daily reality”. Sources of inspiration for the book include the life of Jesus of Nazareth, the Gospel of Thomas, the Tao Te Ching and, not least, Quakerism.

Reviews of the book written by Marjorie A. Lamb (Roscrea) and E. Heather Bewley (Churchtown) have been included in the Friendly Reflections section of this website. More reviews will be added as they become available.

You can find more information, including how to purchase the book, at the website https://wayfaring-a-guide-to-guidance.webnode.page. There will also be copies on sale at the bookstall at Ireland Yearly Meeting 2024.

Monkstown Friends are hosting a discussion on the topics

What the community of Irish Friends means to you.

How do your Quaker values influence your wider day to day life?

Further information can by found in this DAQC flyer.

The Dublin Monthly Meeting Peace Committee is arranging 2 events for Saturday 18th May, at 11:30am and 1.15pm, Dublin city centre.

1. A public Quaker Peace Witness (with our Quaker Peace Witness banner and leaflets) to take place at the entrance to St Stephen’s Green / top of Grafton St, Dublin from 11.30am to 12.25pm.

AND

2. Participation as a Quaker group with Quaker Peace Witness banner (and leaflets) in the Ireland – Palestine Solidarity march which starts outside The Garden of Remembrance, Parnell Square East, Dublin at 1.30pm. For this we suggest that in order to find one another in the crowded area that we meet outside the Hugh Lane Gallery, Parnell Square North at 1.15 / 1.20pm.

You are welcome to come along and give witness to the Quaker silent voice at one or both of these events (and to interact with any members of the public who may like to hear what the Quaker Peace Testimony and the Quaker Peace Witness are about).