*This article was first published in the Newsletter of West Grove Meeting.
My grandson Allen is a junior at the University of Hawaii, Manoa campus and he has a ‘Quaker heart’. One day I thought, “I wonder if there is a Friends Meeting in Honolulu?” A Google search found there is a Meeting located a block off campus. They have guest quarters and an exquisite retreat center that I hope to visit when I head over to see him.
Honolulu Friends Meeting, on the island of Oahu, was formed in 1936. But the first Quaker Meeting for Worship in Hawaii was held 100 years earlier, when Daniel Wheeler, a traveling Friend, visited Hawaii in 1836. The new Meeting met in Friends’ homes and in rented premises, until in 1956 the decision was taken to buy a house as a permanent home for the Meet-ing. The house in Oahu Avenue has been the home of Honolulu Friends Meeting since then. In 1965, our Meeting became part of a new Pacific Yearly Meeting. A steady flow of guests with Friends’ connections from all over the world visit the Quaker Center. Please see the Meetinghouse Guest Information section of the website for details. Honolulu Meeting is an unprogrammed Meeting, whose membership currently numbers around 90. Our wider Meeting community (those receiving our monthly newsletter, Ka Makamaka) numbers around 300. About 180 are on Oahu, 80 on other Hawaiian Islands, and the rest are scattered across the US mainland and the world, mainly in Pacific Islands. Elsewhere in Hawaii, Maui Worship Group, with about 15 people, meets regularly on Maui, and Big Island Monthly Meeting meets on the island of Ha-waii (Big Island). Friends from other islands often join us at our annual Family Camp and Retreat, and at special events. Our growing community is diverse,
with f/Friends old and not-so-old. There is an active Young Adult Friends group that has regular social events for from the ages of 18 to 40. Young families worship with us and we have an active First Day School. On Sundays between 30 to 60 people including children attend Meeting for Worship at 10:00 a.m., with hymn singing beginning at 9:45 a.m. Children leave the Meeting for First Day School, regularly attended by 4-8 children, when Meeting for Worship begins and return when Worship has ended for the Afterthoughts period. Meeting for Worship on the Occasion of Business is attended by around 30 people once a month after regular Meeting for Worship. Regular events in the Meeting are the monthly Visiting Sunday that includes lunch, Meeting for Healing on Tuesday afternoons, Work Day for House & Grounds is on the second Saturday of each month, and Bible study once a month, as well as different presentations, discussion groups, and guest speakers scheduled by the various committees. Hawaii Peace & Justice, successor to the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) Hawaii Area Program, run and directed by two staff members, has monthly meetings open to Quakers and non-Quakers alike. We maintain a comprehensive library of Quaker books, periodicals and pamphlets. Honolulu Friends Meeting is an open and affirm-ing congregation and we welcome everyone interest-ed in our way of worship or Quaker testimonies. Many people of different faiths from all walks of life, of different age groups and backgrounds visit and attend Meeting for Worship.
(from the Honolulu Friends web site)
Use this link to learn more about the Honolulu Meeting:
http://www.hawaiiquaker.org/
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