MIDWEEK March 27: Virginia Swain | Moving From Blame to Accountability (Reconciliation Leadership II)
About this MIDWEEK practice
With a foundation of our goodness, we will then explore withdrawing blame onto others as a first step to move blame cultures into accountability cultures. We learn how to address and heal the injured-injurer cycle in a circle of trust we call the sacred container as a step to the blame/vision curve to bring our goodness into our Meetings.
This is the second part of a two-part series on reconciliation leadership.
Friends Meeting at Cambridge found Virginia Swain clear to design and implement her Reconciliation Leadership program in the United Nations in the 90s. After 30 years working there, in her 80th year, she has been found clear to bring the program to New England Yearly Meeting for Quakers. Virginia has worked on five continents and was a Peace Corps Volunteer in West Africa. She is the author of two memoirs: A Mantle of Roses: A Woman’s Journey Home to Peace(Xlbiris 2004) and My Soul’s Journey to Redefine Leadership A Phoenix Rises from the Ashes of 9/11 (Xlibris 2017/Audible 2022). Virginia is a member of the Global Movement for a Culture of Peace at the United Nations. For more, visit: www.VirginiaSwain.com and www.global-leader.org. Foundations of Reconciliation Leadership Program is offered with support from NEYM Programs, Lyman, Obadiah Brown Benevolent Fund and Legacy NEYM Witness and Ministry Fund.
The NEYM Legacy Futures Grant was awarded to Virginia Swain to transform the program she developed to train Reconciliation Leaders during a 30-year leading at the United Nations and offer it to NEYM Quakers as the Foundations of Reconciliation Leadership Program for NEYM. The program is designed to stabilize and empower Meetings to develop leaders who are led and cleared to develop reconciliation tools, techniques, assumptions and perspectives to heal historic and current challenges. Reconciliation Leaders are potential Elders in Monthly and Yearly Meetings willing to offer wisdom, emotional balance and inner peace in troubled times.
What is MIDWEEK?
In the Quaker tradition of Midweek (Wednesday) worship, Beacon Hill Friends House brings you MIDWEEK: Experiments in Faithfulness. This is a weekly, one-hour, facilitated spiritual practice with Quaker flavor and an experimental ethos. Each week, a guest facilitator engages us in a unique spiritual practice that is meaningful to them, and that we can bring into our own lives.
MIDWEEK is always free and open to the public. If you'd like to support this program, you can make a donation here.
Attending events in-person at BHFH
All MIDWEEK practices going forward are offered on Zoom and in-person at Beacon Hill Friends House. If you choose to attend in our space, YOU MUST REGISTER BEFOREHAND and please read this information:
Covid policies: All in-person attendees are required to be up-to-date on vaccination against COVID-19 and to wear a mask while inside. We no longer ask for proof of vaccination upon entering the building. Masks will be available for those who forget them.
Getting to BHFH: Use the address "8 Chestnut St., Boston, MA, 02108" for navigation. We recommend taking public transit to get here: We are a short walk from every transit line in Boston. If you choose to drive in, paid street parking is available on Charles Street (and on Beacon Street before 6 pm). We also have parking passes available for $9 to the Boston Common Garage.
Event accessibility (covid policies are below): Beacon Hill Friends House is working on making our historic space accessible to everyone.
Automated Closed Captions will be available for all participants (on Zoom and in-person).
Physical space: This event will take place in our Parlor, which does not have a ground-level entrance. Our primary entrance is up a flight of stairs. If you would like to attend this event but need it to be held in a different space, please indicate so on your registration. On the basement level, we have a single-user, all-gender bathroom with wall-mounted handrails and ample space for chairs and/or aides. We are not a scent-free space but tend to be low-scent.