Adult Religious Education provides monthly sessions on a variety of topics. Most sessions are hybrid, with some Friends meeting in person and others on Zoom. When possible, Zoom sessions will be recorded and posted on the website. In addition to Friends from Foxdale and Friends School, we also welcome participants from Upper Susquehanna Quarter and other local faith communities.
Past programs have focused on diverse topics such as Friends' spiritual journeys; local Quaker history; nontheism among Friends; preparing for worship; advocacy; and a Kenyan Quaker describing her ministries. Suggestions are welcome, and can be sent to Ann Sidone (annsidone1@gmail.com).
January 11, 12:45 pm.
Social Hour Chat on Spiritual Formation Programs
Join Adult RE to learn about several possibilities for nurturing your connections with Friends and for deepening your spiritual practices, including Spiritual Friendship Groups, and the year-long discussion-based “Quaker Way Across the Year” curriculum developed by Pendle Hill. Adult RE is considering hosting these programs in 2026 and wants to know if there is sufficient interest among Friends to do so. More information on the Pendle Hill program is at: https://pendlehill.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/The-Quaker-Way-Across-the-Year-September-2025.pdf
January 25, 10:15am
Adult RE will host a Worship Sharing in the meeting room. Please join us at that time for quiet contemplation and sharing responding to the query: “How can the meeting support individual leadings or calls to action?” We will end the Worship Sharing in time for Meeting for Worship. We hope you will join us.
February 5, 2023
Quaker Parenting Workshop
On Thursday, February 5, the Friends School Quaker Life committee and the Adult RE committee will host a Quaker Parenting Workshop at the SC Friends School. It will be facilitated by Kerry Wiessmann and Denise DeGeorge, both Quakers and retired school counselors. With the use of queries and self-reflection, participants will look at parenting through a Quaker SPICES lens. Two basic teachings of Restorative Practice will be introduced and demonstrated for use at home. We will begin by sharing a simple meal of soup and salad at 5:30. The program will begin after dinner and end at 7:30. Childcare will be available during the program. Registration is required for this program at
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F4CAAA72EABFCC43-61519496-quaker
Question may be directed to Lisa Gambe (lisalaelgamble@gmail.com).
February 15, 2026 12:45
In September of 2025 Sarah Malone and Cy deVries participated in the Sankofa Journey of the Evangelical Covenant Church. This immersive journey brought each participant into direct relationship with history and provided the opportunity to simultaneously impact the future. The physical journey from Atlanta, Georgia to Birmingham and Selma, Alabama to Memphis, Tennessee provided the opportunity to walk the paths of our nation’s struggle to achieve justice for all. Sarah and Cy were partners on the journey. They will share experiences from the journey and their aspiration to engage in the ongoing work of achieving the Kingian beloved community. The goals of the Sankofa Journey project go far beyond a reductive restating of the goals of the 1960s era civil rights movement.The goal of the Sankofa Journey is to reinitiate the development of peaceful coexistence and to help promote peaceful interactions and bring healing to all disenfranchised communities in America today. It is our hope that members of this meeting will find a way to promote participation in future Sankofa Journey and return to help create the beloved community in Centre County.
This will be a hybrid program.
Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88194490526?pwd=trQLaY0W85GOJeEOQSQJ4d4MitZiUq.1
Passcode: Friend
Religious Education Archives
November, 2025
The Virtue of Unbelonging: Professor Lisa Silvestri will explore the benefits of “seeing from the outside” as she shares with us some of the wisdom she gleaned from community organizers in writing her latest book, Peace by Peace: Risking Public Action, Creating Social Change.
Watch the Zoom Video Recording
Passcode: p%1OKB*x
October 19, 2025
Doug Miller presents a program on local Quaker history.
Watch the Zoom Video Recording
Passcode: $q00p5e#
September 14, 2025
Dorothy Habecker presents Greening State College Friends Meeting Grounds
Watch the Zoom Video Recording
Passcode: f4f+7ho$
September 9, 2025
Tony White shares his spiritual journey.
See the Zoom Video Recording
Passcode: SH^+5LQ8
May 7, 2025
Martin Melville shares his spiritual journey, from growing up as a Unitarian in Iowa City to becoming an elder and his current spiritual life.
See the Zoom Video Recording: https://drive.google.com/file/d/14HcapKVsGmVBKq9lT_VQNW2dR4b2QAw6/view?usp=sharing
Quakerism 101 Winter 2024
This winter, the State College Friends Meeting Adult Religious Education Committee offered Quakerism 101-- a series of workshops designed to help deepen people’s understanding of Quakerism. Each session started with a presentation followed by a discussion time.
1) Quaker History- January 28 with Selden Smith
Transcript
2) Quaker Beliefs and Values- February 11 with Martin Melville and Doug Miller
Watch the Zoom Recording
Passcode: 5w.Psf3d
Resources:
BYM and PYM Faith and Practice
Quakerspeak.com Quaker Basics videos (https://quakerspeak.com/basics/)
Anything by Parker Palmer
Brother Lawrence’s Practice of the Presence
George Fox’s journal
Friends for 350 Years, Howard Brinton
3) Quaker Decision Making, Business Meeting- February 25 with Vilmos Misangyi
Presentation Slides in PDF Format
4) Living as a Quaker and Meeting for Worship- March 17 with Laurie Jeffrys and Eliza Bradley
Watch the Zoom Recording
View the Presentation Slides