Milestones in Adelphi Friends Meeting
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Sep 17, 1956
Founding of Adelphi Friends Meeting
September 17, 1956, at 2:00pm, the College Park Meeting and the Washington Monthly Meeting met in joint session. Roger Wetherald, Clerk of the Washington Meeting, presided and minutes of both meetings were read. Joseph Wetherald remarked that the Washington Meeting brought neither assets nor liabilities to the merger of the two meetings. Jessie Tichenor, Recording Clerk, read the final minute of the Washington Meeting:
“Feeling deeply that God has brought us on our way, Washington Monthly Meeting of Friends joyfully concludes its records under that name, to launch upon the wider fellowship and larger opportunities for Christian service that are open to us, and we merge with the College Park Meeting to form the new united meeting.”
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1966
Meetinghouse constructed
Written in 1966:
We had always the feeling that the new home was not quite large enough. Even the fire marshall, Mr. Woltz, told us in no uncertain terms that we would have to enlarge our quarters. We enlarged the meeting room by including it what once was a back porch. Work was done entirely by members, and helped some but only temporarily. We soon initiated a program to raise money for a new building.
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May 12, 1991
Same gender marriages affirmed
On May 12, 1991, we minuted our belief that same gender relationships should be treated the same as mixed gender relationships.
Upon request by a couple, Adelphi Friends Meeting will recognize same-gender relationships through the same careful process we customarily use to arrive at clearness for all couples who wish to unite under our care. We consider the obligations undertaken in these relationships by both the couple and the Meeting to be those of marriage. We expect the couple to become each other’s next of kin, to care for one another and for any children brought into the union, and to share equitably their worldly goods. The oversight committee will work with the couple in securing appropriate legal arrangements to protect the relationship.
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2006
First same gender wedding
Adelphi Friends Meeting had its first same gender wedding in 2006, between Jenn and Lexi Chapin-Smith.
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2013
Official minute on transgender inclusion
Although Adelphi Friends Meeting walked with a member as she went through her gender transition in 2009, we did not officially write up our minute (statement) welcoming transgender people to the Meeting until 2013.