The Religious Society of Friends of Haddonfield’s Monthly Meeting gathered on Dec. 12 to celebrate its 300th year of sessions with cider and donuts following weekly silent worship.
“For 300 years, members of Haddonfield Monthly Meeting have been an integral part of the Haddonfield South Jersey community,” said Clerk Dave Austin. “In addition to three centuries of worship and service based here, Quakers have played an essential role in the building of this borough, as recognized by borough commissioners on Nov. 29.”
The proclamation declared Dec. 12, 2021 to be Haddonfield Monthly Meeting Day and explained the group’s history and practices.
“With no paid clergy, Haddonfield Monthly Meeting ascribes to the Quaker concept of the ministry of all believers,” the proclamation reads. “Over the years, the Haddonfield Monthly Meeting community has nurtured the spiritual leadings of its members in a wide variety of ministries in many fields including pastoral care, education, conflict resolution, social justice and activism in the cause of peace.”
Austin later shared that friends of the meeting originally believed the first group started in 1722, and it was only recently that a former clerk discovered in a diary the first meaningful worship on Dec. 12, 1721.
“It was super exciting, but it also motivated us to get started a little earlier than I think we originally planned to celebrate our birthday,” Austin said.
The group plans to continue its celebrations and exploration of history throughout 2022, beginning with a virtual program on Tuesday, Jan. 25, from 7 to 8:30 p.m., on the Lawnside-Haddonfield Connection between the two towns, what it was like growing up African American in Haddonfield and how meaningful connections can be fostered between communities.
Austin recognized the history that the Meeting House and Quakers have been through: the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the Spanish Flu, COVID. There have been positive moments, like when the members of the Meeting founded the Haddonfield Friends School, but also negative ones, like how the balcony of the meeting house had at one point been used to segregate women and African American Friends.
“It’s very common mythology that all the Quakers were abolitionists, that they were all against slavery and they were the ones that propelled that movement into Civil War days, and it’s not really true,” Austin explained “ … That history is part of our history, so that’s something we feel compelled to talk about and educate our members about and for us to learn about too.
“But we also have a long history of service in the community, of educators and scientists, people active in the civil rights and anti-war movement.”
The Haddonfield Monthly Meeting continues to be active through its committees, programs and weekly worship services. To learn more about the Quaker community, visit http://www.haddonfieldfriendsmeeting.org
