Durango Friends Meeting

09/06/2026

Not pictured: a Quaker leader. Thank you all.

Heroes! These 6 faith leaders were among the 7 clergy members arrested while protesting ICE in Williston, Vermont on Friday. This is what it looks like to lead with moral courage 👏

As faithful Americans, we choose love, not ICE! Join us: LoveNotICE.org

08/23/2026

We welcomed our newest member, Kathleen, with a backyard get together in Rockwood! Weather was perfect and some delicious potluck food was enjoyed.

08/20/2026

We invite you to join us in community for our upcoming QEW Fall Gathering 2026, happening October 15–17 at the Prairiewoods Franciscan Spirituality Center in Hiawatha, Iowa. Register today with the link in our bio!

Together, we will gather around the theme, “The Fires that Renew.”🔥🌱

The world we face today can often feel consumed by destructive forces – from literal wildfires intensified by climate change to the metaphorical firestorms of global and political conflicts. Yet, nature offers us a different model. Just as the very Iowa prairie hosting us is adapted to reset, endure, and grow back stronger from deep seeds and roots after a fire, we too are called to look for models of resilience and fill our seed bank with hope. Together, we will tend to that inward fire – the fire of the Spirit that burns and creates without consuming.

Our keynote speaker, Sikowis Nobiss, is Plains Cree-Saulteaux of the George Gordon First Nation in Saskatchewan and grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She is a mother of three, and the founder of Great Plains Action Society and Little Creek Camp and has aptly titled herself a Decolonizer. She has a MA in Native American Religious Studies and a graduate minor in Native American Indian Studies from the University of Iowa and has been living in Iowa City for 15 years.

08/20/2026

Some good news!

08/15/2026

This week, our friends at the American Friends Service Committee sued the Trump administration over its efforts to punish and intimidate human rights defenders seeking justice for Palestinians.

The lawsuit is challenging President Trump’s executive order that authorizes sanctions against officials from the International Criminal Court (ICC) and others supporting its work to hold Israeli officials accountable for the genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

We applaud AFSC, and all the other groups who joined this lawsuit, for courageously challenging these unjust, immoral, and deeply harmful sanctions against the ICC.

“This executive order seeks to intimidate human rights defenders and deter people of conscience from advocating for the rights and dignity of others,” said AFSC General Secretary Joyce Ajlouny.

“We are joining this lawsuit because we refuse to stay silent when the pursuit of justice is criminalized.”

In the face of continued, grave assaults against the rights, dignity, and lives of Palestinians, our government should use its leverage to hold Israel accountable – not punish others for seeking justice.

Read more: https://www.fcnl.org/updates/2026-08/week-world-quakers-sue-trump-over-attacks-human-rights-defenders

07/25/2026

😄

You know who you are. 🧦

07/06/2026

Some interesting Quaker history as America turns 250

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1G8mWsbDDJ/?mibextid=wwXIfr

The American Revolution was a dangerous time to be a Quaker. Because of their commitment to pacifism, most Quakers refused to support either side in the war. They would not serve in the military, donate war supplies, swear loyalty oaths, or use Continental currency, believing it had been issued to finance the war. Although Quakers opposed both the British and Patriot war efforts, many Americans viewed their pacifism as evidence of Loyalist sympathies.

In September 1777, as British troops approached Philadelphia, Congress ordered the arrest of a group of prominent Philadelphia Quakers, describing them as among "the most dangerous enemies America knows."

Twenty men were taken from their homes and sent into exile on the Virginia frontier. They were never formally charged with a crime, never convicted, and never granted a hearing to defend themselves. They were told they would be released if they pledged an oath to the American government, but they refused. Held far from home for more than seven months, they petitioned, wrote letters, and published pamphlets arguing for their release.

Back in Philadelphia, their wives and families endured the hardships of British occupation without the support and income of husbands, fathers, and sons. The Quaker women who were left behind organized for the prisoners’ release with the first political petition in American history written by women. Four of the Quaker women made the dangerous journey from British-controlled Philadelphia to Valley Forge to petition George Washington for the men's freedom.

The exiles were finally released in April 1778 after gaining public sympathy, though two had died during their confinement and two were publicly hanged for treason. The rest returned to Philadelphia where crowds of Friends and well-wishers gathered to welcome them.

This episode forced the new United States government to remember and reaffirm its commitment to the Revolutionary ideal of liberty.

07/03/2026

Interesting!

https://www.facebook.com/share/17rVzLrSkB/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Send a message to learn more

06/29/2026

Betsy Ross, known as the woman who sewed the first American flag, was born into a Quaker family in Philadelphia and educated at a Friends school.

To her family’s dismay, she fell in love with a fellow apprentice upholsterer and eloped at the age of 21. Her husband was not Quaker, and so Ross was read out of meeting, according to the custom of the Society of Friends at that time. When her husband passed away a few years later, Ross managed their upholstery business alone, making tents, flags, and uniforms for the Continental Army. And, according to the oral history of the Ross family, George Washington brought her an unfinished design for an American flag, which she completed and sewed with stripes and stars for each of the 13 colonies.

Ross joined the Free Quakers (or Fighting Quakers), a group of Friends who set aside the pacifism of mainstream Friends in order to support the Revolution. She was originally buried at the Free Quaker burial ground on North 5th Street, then moved to another cemetery 20 years later, then moved one final time in 1975 to rest in the courtyard of what is thought to be her former home to mark America’s bicentennial.

Betsy Ross House

06/29/2026