Weekly Announcements for October 2, 2026

Our Yearly Meeting will next gather to do business in the manner of Friends on Saturday, November 14th starting at Noon. November Interim Meeting is tentatively scheduled to take place at Opequon Quaker Camp near Harper's Ferry, WV. Confirmed details and registration will be available next week. 

• Agenda Items are due to IMclerk@bym-rsf.org by October 9th
• Advance Reports are due to GenSec@bym-rsf.org by Oct 15th

These deadlines are set well in advance in order to provide Monthly Meetings - the fundamental unit of Quakerism and our Yearly Meeting - time to engage in corporate discernment before Interim Meeting. Advance Reports are any written items that support a decision Friends are being asked to make at the meeting. Agenda items asking for a decision from the Interim Meeting will be held over to a future business meeting if the advance report is not received by the deadline. Thank you for your attention to this important deadline. You can find due dates for all business meetings in the year ahead in the BYM Calendar of Key Dates. 

Douglas B. Eaby (Nottingham, Oxford) died on September 26, 2026. He succumbed to ALS at the age of 82. Douglas was a member of Nottingham Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends since 1950. He was the Clerk of the Meeting at the time of his death. He also served on committees within Baltimore Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. A Memorial Meeting will be held Sat, Oct 10 at 11am. Visitation will begin at 10am and a reception will follow. Join BYM Friends in holding Janet, Jason, Jessy, Diane, and Trinity in the Light of God's comfort. 

Quakers in Pastoral Care and Counseling meet on October 4th for a discussion about Board Certification for professional chaplains. Please join us on October 4 for a presentation from Holly White, PhD, Affiliate Instructor of Spiritual Care and Chaplaincy at Chicago Theological Seminary, along with Q & A and discussion.  Free but registration required. Email quakersinpastoralcare@gmail.com to receive the Zoom link to join. 

Registration is now open for 2027 BYM retreat for women+! This beloved, annual event in our Yearly Meeting gathers more than 100 women+ from across our region (and beyond!) for a weekend of reflection, spiritual refreshment, community, small group sharing, worship and music among women+. The 2027 retreat will take place March 5-7 at the Pearlstone Retreat Center in Maryland. A variety of registration price-points and financial aid are available! +We are a people with differences, including different sexual orientations, gender expression, abilities, ages, race and ethnicity, economic status and theological perspectives. All are welcome! 

In collaboration with the outgoing Presiding Clerk, the BYM General Secretary proposes a 12- to 18-month process to consult with BYM monthly meetings and yearly meeting committees to study the structures of our Yearly Meeting. An info session about this proposal is scheduled for Wed, 10/07 due to a scheduling conflict. The study group would seek to identify the pain points in our efforts to support the thriving of monthly meetings and to engage in larger undertakings together - and make proposals for change. The goal is to consult and report-back over the next year and  bring some initial ideas to Annual Session 2027 for threshing. The meeting will be recorded and posted to a new landing page for the work. 

The BYM Faith and Practice Committee invites worshipping communities of Baltimore Yearly Meeting to join for upcoming info sessions on 2027 revisions to BYM's Faith and Practice. The committee is currently seeking input from the Yearly Meeting for revision of subsection I.B.18 under Life of the Spirit 18. Prejudice and Discrimination. As its work proceeds and input from the Yearly Meeting is sought, additional information will be available here on this page. In June 2026, the committee sent out an invitation to all of our worshiping communities to engage in this process together. By “worshiping communities,” we mean not only our local Meetings, but also our committees and working groups, our youth groups and camps, and other groups who gather in worship regularly together. The info sessions will be held Wednesday, October 21 at 7:30pm and Saturday, October 31 at 10:00am. 

Friends for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Concerns (FLGBTQC) share their 2026 Epistle with BYM Friends. Our Friends gathered at the FGC Gathering in Vermont and are delighted to report that FLGBTQC is alive and revitalized, stronger than ever in spirit.

You are warmly invited to join us at Martinsburg Friends Meeting for Worship this First Day, Sunday, October 4, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. in Martinsburg at the home of Mark and David. To receive the address for Meeting, please email admin@bym-rsf.org. As autumn settles around us, we invite you to share an hour of quiet together.

To submit your items for the BYM Weekly Announcements,
please email Admin@bym-rsf.org. 

Baltimore Yearly Meeting
17100 Quaker Lane | Sandy Spring, MD | 20860 USA
www.bym-rsf.org

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17100 Quaker Lane | Sandy Spring, MD 20860 US