Switzerland Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, or simply Switzerland Yearly Meeting or SYM, is the organizing body for Quaker groups and meetings in Switzerland.

History

The first known Swiss member of the Society of Friends is Theophil Waldmeier (1832–1915), missionary to Ethiopia and Lebanon. SYM is rooted on one side with Swiss citizens involved in several movements like the

Religious Socialists Religious socialism is a type of socialism based on religious values. Members of several major religions have found that their beliefs about human society fit with socialist principles and ideas. As a result, religious socialist movements have d ...

, the

International Fellowship of Reconciliation The International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR) is a non-governmental organization founded in 1914 in response to the horrors of war in Europe. Today IFOR counts 71 branches, groups and affiliates in 48 countries on all continents. IFOR me ...

and

Service Civil International Service Civil International (SCI) is an international peace organisation. Since 1920, it organises international volunteering projects in the form of workcamps and it was the first organisation worldwide to do so. The organisation was founded by ...

, and on another side with the presence of Quakers from England and the United States of America. Leading figures were Hélène Monastier (1882–1976) and Pierre Ceresole (1879–1945), and later on Edmond Privat (1889–1962). Local worshipping groups held their first regular meetings in

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

and

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zürich ...

in the beginning of the 1920s. The first national gathering of Friends and friends of Friends took place in 1934, and went on every year, under the umbrella of

London Yearly Meeting The Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain, also known as the Britain Yearly Meeting (and, until 1995, the London Yearly Meeting), is a Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in England, Sc ...

. It became the ''Swiss General Meeting'' in 1939. The status of an independent

Yearly Meeting Yearly Meeting is a term used by members of the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers, to refer to an organization composed of constituent meetings or churches within a geographical area. The constituent meetings are called Monthly Meetings in ...

was given in 1947. File:TheophilWaldmeier.jpg, Theophil Waldmeier File:HeleneMonastier.jpg, Hélène Monastier File:PierreCeresole.jpg, Pierre Ceresole File:Privat.jpg, Edmond Privat

International presence

Friends were sent in Geneva especially to help and be present during the first years of the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...

. The most prominent being Bertram and Irene Pickard. This office officially started in 1923, named ''International Quaker Center''. Since 1977 the '' Quaker United Nations Office''.History of the library of Geneva Monthly Meeting
Beside the local group and the international center, a ''Quaker International Student Hostel'' was run in Geneva between 1926 and 1942.

Activities

Switzerland Yearly Meeting holds annually three sessions for business to which Friends in the Switzerland area are asked to come. One session in May–June is residential, over a week-end. Two other sessions in February–March and October–November are only one day long. There is a

Monthly Meeting In the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), a monthly meeting or area meeting is the basic governing body, a congregation which holds regular meetings for business for Quakers in a given area. The monthly meeting is responsible for the administr ...

in Geneva, and there are groups (or have been) in Zurich,

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

, Bern,

Biel/Bienne , french: Biennois(e) , neighboring_municipalities= Brügg, Ipsach, Leubringen/Magglingen (''Evilard/Macolin''), Nidau, Orpund, Orvin, Pieterlen, Port, Safnern, Tüscherz-Alfermée, Vauffelin , twintowns = Iserlohn (Germany) ...

, Neuchâtel,

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR ...

Montreux Montreux (, , ; frp, Montrolx) is a Swiss municipality and town on the shoreline of Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps. It belongs to the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland, and has a population of approxima ...

and

Romanshorn Romanshorn is a municipality in the district of Arbon in the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland. History Romanshorn was probably settled in the 7th century, and is first mentioned in 779 as ''Rumanishorn'' in a land grant from Waldrata to the Abb ...

Bibliography

* ''Swiss Quaker Life, Belief and Thought = Vie, foi et pensée des quakers suisses = Leben, Glauben und Gedanken der schweizer Quäker'', Ed. by Erica Royston and David Hay-Edie, SYM, 2009. * ''History and Biography Project, « Let Their Lives Speak », A Resource Book'', Ed. by Erica and Michael Royston, 200

External links

Switzerland Yearly Meeting's web site

References

Quaker yearly meetings Annual events in Switzerland {{quaker-stub