Pendle Hill is a Quaker center welcoming all for Spirit-led learning, retreat, and community. Our Vision: To create peace with justice in the world by transforming lives.

The Shadow of Violence

February 1, 2023

Francisco Burgos, Executive Director

Many years ago, as I was going to catch a bus on my way to my college campus, I saw a large group of people at the bus station’s parking lot. I approached them, curious to see what was going on. It was a street fight between two men from my neighborhood in Guatemala City. I was not surprised; in my community we were constantly dealing with gang members, drug dealers, and many perpetrators and victims from the spiral of violence that permeated our daily lives. In fact, what stayed with me from that episode was not the fight between my neighbors, but that they paused long enough to consider and agree to move to a different location to keep fighting, and yet no one, including me, was able to step in to stop them from resuming their violence. That generated in me a sense of impotence against violence that has accompanied me in my own journey to peace. Read more…

Pendle Hill holds hybrid Meeting for Worship every day, both in person (for staff, sojourners, conference groups, and guests) and online via Zoom (for everyone else). For more information, refer to: https://pendlehill.org/mfw.