Name calling: Julia Lim from Crynwyr Cymru/ Quakers in Wales

‘The journey has been one of faith, dedication and growing confidence.’

A rail strike meant that the first planned blended Meeting of Friends in Wales was on-line only again, and thirty-six Friends gathered on Zoom. Key themes were the development of Meeting of Friends in Wales as a Meeting for Friends in Wales, with all that means, and the significance of words and names, and the relationships they express.

The Meeting agreed to adopt as a formal name the title that has been in use on the website for some time: Crynwyr Cymru/Quakers in Wales (with the acronym CCQW). Ministry expressed the importance of a name that is accessible to those unfamiliar with Quakers, as well as the difference between a name that may imply a worshipping community or a collection of individuals.

The journey of CCQW up to now has been one of faith, dedication and growing confidence. Detailed and thoughtful work continues as part of the Symud Ymlaen/Moving Forward process, to create a new framework for the charitable and other witness of Crynwyr Cymru and our Area Meetings. This work could inform other simplification work within Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM).

We approved the annual report and accounts and heard of the recent death of Bryn Jones of Pwllheli Meeting, who served CCQW faithfully in many roles, not least as interpreter. Along with sadness at this news, there was celebration of achievements. We are now beginning to consider how we develop as an anti-racist church, in line with the Yearly Meeting undertaking.

CCQW has appeared on two recent radio broadcasts: one on Radio Cymru and another on BBC Radio Wales, which involved Friends from around Wales. A new bilingual website (https://crynwyr.cymru) has gone live, and Friends hoped to use it – and the associated social media – to enhance CCQW’s presence at the National Eisteddfod, the main cultural event of the year in Wales.

The importance of words arose again when we considered BYM’s statement on the UK government’s policy of sending refugees to Rwanda. The Meeting united with the sense of the statement but with reservations about the reference to a ‘global rules-based order’, as distinct from a global order based on international law. As one Friend said ‘laws are above us all; rules can be made by anyone in power’. The clerks drafted an amended statement to reflect this.

The afternoon was spent in breakout groups considering: racism; the work of the CCQW Wales Focus group; and perspectives on blended worship from Emily Provance, a New York Friend. A fourth group learnt about the Dowlais Educational Settlement started in 1929 in the south Wales valleys, building on local traditions of collectivism to address issues of chronic unemployment and poverty. In closing worship we heard reflections on how such work is now needed again to address structural social deprivation.

---

Comments

Please login to add a comment