Newtown Quaker Meeting recognizes the growing maturity of the young people in the Meeting by 1) awarding Bibles to fourth graders at Easter, 2) giving copies of the Quaker Faith and Practice booklet to eighth graders in June, and 3) presenting copies of Edward Hicks’ painting of “The Peaceable Kingdom” to those who have turned 21 during the year at Quaker Homecoming in December.
This year, fourth graders receiving Bibles at the Newtown Meeting special Easter service were: Mishka Torres, student at Buckingham Friends School and daughter of Lou Torres and Irina Dmitrenko of Newtown; and Charlie Forte, student at Newtown Friends School, member of George School Aquatics team, summer camper at Quaker Camp Onas, avid skier, and son of Carl and Julie Forte of Holland.
Each fourth grader selects the version of the Bible personally preferred.
The Faith and Practice booklets presented to eighth graders describe generally accepted rules of belief and behavior among members of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of Friends, the umbrella Quaker organization of 11,000 members of the Religious Society of Friends in the Tri-State area of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.
The Peaceable Kingdom replicas of the painting by Edward Hicks, co-founder of Newtown Friends Meeting in 1815, given to 21-year-olds in recognition of their attaining their majority as adult members of the community are courtesy of the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Museum in Williamsburg, Va.
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