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North Carolina has one of the largest concentrations of Quakers in the country - if not the world.

Nearly 400 representatives from churches in the United States as well as such places as Kenya, Cuba and Belize will meet in High Point from Wednesday to July 12 as part of the Triennial gathering of Friends United Meeting, an international association of Quakers.

Last in North Carolina two decades ago, the group's theme is "Hope and Future," which was taken from Jeremiah chapter 29, verse 11 in the Bible. It reads: "For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Speakers include Landrum Bolling, president emeritus of Guilford College, an adviser to presidents and an expert on the Middle East; John Muhanji, the association's director of Africa Ministries, who has been ministering to thousands of Quakers displaced in the recent unrest following Kenya's national elections; and Joyce Ajlouny, director of the Friends School in Ramallah, who will share stories from the war-torn Palestinian area.

While they're here, they'll also get to tour their roots. For one, the Mendenhall Plantation in Jamestown, owned by Quakers, is on the National Register of Historic Places. Built about 1811, it's often referred to as the center of "the other South," which means the landowners did not own slaves and played an instrumental part in the Underground Railroad movement.

Conference classes will be centered at High Point Friends Meeting and the High Point Friends Meeting School at 800 Quaker Lane. For more information, go to www.fum.org or call the office of North Carolina Yearly Meeting of Friends at 292-6957.

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Check out today's Faith Matters column a few pages into this section, about teenagers from across the country who paid $260 each to come to Rockingham County to paint houses and repair roofs.

Called "World Changers" and affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention's mission arm, they'll be all over, starting today, working in partnership with the Dan Valley Baptist Association and Rockingham County government. Their accommodations: Rockingham County High School. As a group, 22,000 students nationwide will participate in 95 construction and community service projects in such places as Alaska and South Carolina.

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The state's two Catholic bishops have created a statewide organization to give Catholics a stronger voice in public policy matters. Bishop Peter J. Jugis of Charlotte, which covers the greater Triad area, and Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Raleigh have established Catholic Voice NC and the Web site www.CatholicVoiceNC.org.

They say the group and Web site will provide nonpartisan information on legislative matters that "intersect with Catholic teaching, values, and morality," and will give Catholics a way to voice their opinions directly to state legislators.

North Carolina is home to an estimated 800,000 Catholics who worship in the state's 187 Catholic churches. Catholic Voice NC will track the progress of legislation in four areas initially, including "respect life, "stem cell research," "immigration" and "end of life."

The group will also survey all candidates for legislative and federal office, asking each candidate to declare their positions on a variety of issues, including the death penalty, abortion, "the defense of marriage" and sex education.

The results will be published, among other places, at www.CatholicVoiceNC.org, and the Web sites of the dioceses at www.charlottediocese.org.

Contact Nancy H. McLaughlin at 373-7049 or nancy.mclaughlin@news-record.com