EcoQuakers, which is made up of members of Ireland Yearly Meeting from across the island, hope that this new booklet will encourage Meetings to return to theirsustainability plans and update them with more ambitious goals and targets.
Suggestions included in the booklet include examining the insulation and sustainable energy potential of our Meeting Houses. We are also encouraged to examine our personal carbon footprints, e.g. from travel, and modes of transport.
• Acknowledge a climate and biodiversity emergency
• Apply the test of sustainability to all our decisions, at all levels
Once Meetings have updated their sustainability plans, they are encouraged to send their updated plans to EcoQuakers at ecoquakers@quakers.ie
In a letter to Meetings accompanying the booklet, the EcoQuakers committee said, “These actions are the proper spiritual and logical responses to the current state of climate disruption. They would also help us to continue to fulfil our response to the call from the Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) World Quaker Gathering in Peru in 2016 ‘to preserve this Earth for our children, our grandchildren and all future generations to come, working as though life were to continue for 10,000 years to come.’
“After more than a year of research, writing, and editing, we are very happy to present this detailed guide to you, and hope that it will prove useful to both Meetings and individual Friends in responding to the climate crisis. As we begin to return to our Meeting Houses after nearly two years of restrictions, there has never been a better time for us to examine the sustainability of our Meetings and our own lives, and we hope you will use this booklet to do so.
“EcoQuakers Ireland strongly encourages your Meeting to once again prepare an ambitious sustainability plan and to reflect on every aspect of your Meeting to see where sustainability can be nurtured and improved. We encourage you to set sustainability goals and to work with other Meetings, faiths, and organisations to achieve those goals.”
We feel profound sadness at the acute mental and physical suffering which the people of Ukraine are undergoing as a result of the military invasion initiated by the government of the Russian Federation.
We call for a cessation of violence, under the terms of the Geneva convention, which has been signed by both Russia and Ukraine.
As Quakers, we believe that God’s Spirit resides in all, and violence and war are never the only option. We implore the Ukrainian and Russian governments to pursue peaceful negotiations with open and creative minds.
Many people in Ukraine, Russia and around the world are hoping and praying for a peaceful outcome to this conflict. We hold in the Light all those in the Ukraine whose lives are in danger and disrupted by fear, the refugees fleeing from Ukraine, the many Russians who are shocked and dismayed at the course their government has taken, the decision makers, the soldiers, and all those courageously working for peace.
EcoQuakers Ireland is a committee of Ireland Yearly Meeting that supports Quaker Meetings in their efforts to live peacefully and sustainably.
EcoQuakers believe that care for the environment is an integral part of the Quaker tradition and links closely with the Quaker testimonies of peace, simplicity, truth and equality.
To learn more about the work of EcoQuakers Ireland and contact details for the Convenor and Committee, visit their page on this website.
Thanks to all the Friends in Ireland Yearly Meeting who have supported the students and the school at Brummana near Beirut through our Bursary Appeal.
As Friends will know, the collapse of the Lebanese economy, following on from the country’s long political problems and the terrible explosion at the port, have left the school, its teachers, the 1250 students and their families in a terrible position, at the same time as Covid has hit. Teachers’ salaries are worth very little, and many are struggling to feed their families. It is really hard to imagine the size of the crisis. For the school, essentials such as text books and computers are impossibly expensive, since they have to be paid for foreign currency, and it is difficult even to get petrol for teachers to get too and from school.
Against this frightening situation, David Gray, the Principal, his team of teachers and the Lebanese Board of Governors are doing an incredible job. The school keeps running well, producing great results, and the students are absolutely delighted to be back on campus, learning together. For them, it is a haven in which they can have a childhood that is being stolen from them. As David Gray says, “Education is key, and perhaps the last hope for Lebanon’s long-term future. If our schools collapse the country has no future.”
Many Old Scholars have rallied to support the school, but the school is now digging into its hard-earned reserves to cover deficits of the last two years, $500,000 in 2020 and $750,000 in 2021, and to pay staff a living wage.
At the same time, we in The Quaker International Educational Trust (QuIET) are seeking to get as much support as possible for bursaries, to help keep the finances going. And we know that this is going to have to continue for a long time. Lebanon’s grave problems will take years to address.
We in QuIET, and the school, have now launched the “Friends of Brummana”, to Quakers and others interested in the future of the school, and supporting the progressive younger generation in the Lebanon. Recently over 20 Quakers, through Zoom, held an inaugural meeting. Each “Friend of Brummana” will use their time to address local Meetings and research other sources of funding, to ensure that this Quaker school survives.
Would you like to join this group, joining the online meetings, hearing who is happening in Brummana, meeting teachers and students on line, and seeing how you can support the school? If so, please email me at willdahaire@aim.com and I will link you in.
In doing so you would be in a long tradition of Irish Friends. In 1869 as the school started to develop, four Quakers visited Beirut to see how they could support. Two of these were for Ireland – Richard Allen and Charles Wakefield. Further, three of the school’s Principal, Robert Davidson, John Henry Turtle and Kenneth Clay – who together led the school from 1932 to 1947 – came from Ireland, all with very strong links to Friends School Lisburn. And as a Jane Richardson, a Moyallon Quaker, wrote, during her visit in 1887, the people of Brummana “like the Irish, are kind-hearted, generous…; very clannish among themselves, but always hospitable to strangers.”
It is so important that we continue and deepen this relationship, at this terrible time. As David Gray recently said, “BHS is a school which celebrates freedom of thought and expression and lays the ground rules of any happy, prosperous society. It must continue to do so and to send out its students in the future as leaders of countries and professions as it has done in the past.”
Ireland Yearly Meeting Education Committee (IYMEC) is responsible for holding the list of vetted Leaders who volunteer/work with children and young people.
Friends and Attenders who would like to volunteer are appointed as Leaders by IYMEC and also go through the PSNI/Garda vetting process. Although PMs appoint and keep the list of their own Junior Meeting/Sunday School volunteers, they too need to be vetted if they engage with children on a regular basis. Under our Child Safeguarding Policy all Leaders who wish to continue in the role need to be re-appointed every four years. PSNI/Garda vetting through Friends currently needs to only happen once.
The existing Leader Database includes the names of many Friends and Attenders who we know are no longer involved with Friends and/or volunteering with young people; furthermore almost all those on the list need to be re-appointed by IYMEC. Rather than contact each person individually Education Committee is encouraging those interested in volunteering to seek appointment. With the recent welcome appointment of Alex Collins, our Youth Support Worker, and the possibility of organising in-person events we would really encourage you to apply to become a Leader and to engage with our young people in a range of very rewarding activities.
To apply please do the following: Download, complete and return the Leader Application Form.
If you have any queries regarding your application or wish to receive an application form in the post, please email iymec@quakers.ie.
In Friendship, Sheilagh Reaper-Reynolds, Clerk IYMEC
Smith and Pearson Ltd. An Irish engineering company in theearly years of the State
The Friends Historical Committee’s most recent publication, Irwin Pearson’s account of the family firm of Smith and Pearson: Smith and Pearson Ltd. An Irish engineering company in the early years of the State, tells the story of a firm whose name became almost a household word.
Founded at the beginning of the 20th century by the North of England Quaker John Biglands Pearson, the company initially produced agricultural buildings, gates and fences, but went on to become contractors for structural steel for power plants and other major building projects. In the 1950s they added a division for steel windows which they supplied to the American Embassy, RTE and many private homes. During the second World War steel became unavailable in the Free State, but the British Admiralty gave the company a contract to supply landing craft – an unusual commission for a Quaker firm. Smith and Pearson opened a shipyard at Warrenpoint and the first craft was completed in record time, but this was already too late for the D-day landings. Like many family-owned businesses, Smith and Pearson fell victim to the changes of the 1970s.
This intriguing personal account is available from the Friends Historical Library, Stocking Lane, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16 at €15 (postage included).
Every year, the first Sunday of October is designated World Quaker Day. This year, World Quaker Day is October 3, 2021, and the theme will be “Resilience and hope: drawing strength from our Quaker faith”.
Every Quaker Meeting and Church around the world is invited by the Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC) to mark World Quaker Day in whatever way they may choose (see https://fwccamericas.org/_wp/event/world-quaker-day-2021/) . This gives an opportunity to reflect on and celebrate the rich diversity of Quaker traditions practiced around the world and the deep spiritual connections linking us all.
There are many ways to celebrate World Quaker Day, such as holding a candlelit Meeting for Worship, holding a discussion on a Quaker theme, organising a childrens’ activity about Quakers around the world, opening your Meeting House to the public, to name just a few. You can see how various Meetings celebrated World Quaker Day 2020 on this reports page. Ireland Yearly Meeting is part of the Europe and Middle East Section (EMES) of FWCC, which will be hosting an hour of unprogrammed worship on World Quaker Day (see https://fwccemes.org/calendar/world-quaker-day-2021 ).
Do consider marking World Quaker Day, be it in person or online. You won’t be alone – thousands of other Friends around the world will be with you!
At its Annual Meeting, Friends in the European and Middle Eastern Section of FWCC were very moved by the powerful presentation about Friends in the Lebanon, and about Brummana High School, given by Sami Cortas, Clerk of Brummana Meeting – known to Irish Friends – and David Gray, the school’s Principal.
Founded in 1873, with Irish Friends at times on its staff, it has long been a beacon of light in times of perennial crisis in the country, attracting students of all faiths and background. This diversity and its promotion of tolerance and peaceful resolution have been central to its academic excellence and pastoral compassion. Principal David Gray emphasises that these Quaker values continue to guide its response to the struggles today and its pivotal importance for the future of an ailing country.
David writes, “The August the 4th explosion in Beirut, which ripped out the heart of the city, rendered 300,000 people homeless and killed and maimed thousands, brought to the attention of the world a country which was floundering amidst a sea of troubles. Little Lebanon, surrounded by war torn and impoverished Syria, from which it has received over a million refugees, and Israel, did not have its problems to seek.
In the past 12 months the Lebanese Lira has lost 90% of its value, inflation is rampant, unemployment runs at 50% and 60% of the population lives below the poverty line. And of course, COVID-19, which has raged out of control in a country which has operated without a government for over a year, has taken its toll on a weary, exhausted, and despairing people. Businesses have closed, schools are physically closed, and those who have had the capacity to leave the country have done so for a better life elsewhere.
Yet Lebanon is a beautiful place and a jewel in the Middle Eastern crown, once the home of Middle Eastern banking and free enterprise and still a champion of education as a means to prosperity and to success. At the centre of this jewel lies Brummana High School.
Today it is running a comprehensive education and welfare programme online for its 1250 strong population, aged three to 18, continuing to promote its Quaker values and striving to provide for its families who have been hit hard by all of Lebanon’s woes, through its beleaguered, financial aid scheme.”
Senior BHS students have also commented in recent weeks. Head Prefect Kelly Kanaan emphasised how, despite extremes challenges, “BHS has navigated the world of online education this year, generated successful student-led projects (in April the online Model United Nations Conference hosted 170 student delegates from six countries and 26 schools) and built international bonds and relationships with students abroad.” Yet, as Francesco Jarjoura, Student Council President, said, “Help is now needed to support the school families struggling due to the multiple crises.”
The projected school shortfall this year is £750,000. In July, the Quaker International Education Trust will be running a campaign to raise money to support. Last year QuIET raised £30,000 from its summer appeal. this year we need to double that. An Appeal is going out in The Friend, and brochures distributed. Please think about how you or your Meeting can assist the school by making a donation which will, however small, help to save the education of a child whose future depends on your generosity and who will, through the Quaker education provided, be able to begin to mend the broken society which is so desperately evident in the country today. Without your support, many children who could do much will miss out and flounder where otherwise they might flourish.
Scope Northern Ireland magazine has published an interesting article about the work of Quaker Service and the appointment of its new Chief Executive Shane Whelehan.
The article, which is titled ‘Friends To All: The Remarkable Story of the Quakers in Ireland’, also includes a brief historical overview of The Religious Society of Friends in Ireland.
Quakers in Ireland 
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