Structure
Most members are appointed by Yearly Meeting, based on nominations put forward by each monthly meeting or by Meeting for Suffering's own standing committees. It may also co-opt a few members on its own initiative. Members normally serve a three-year term - the next round of appointments is in 2006. The table below shows the role of the relevant committees that provide members, as of 1999.
| Number | Origin |
|---|---|
| 170 | Monthly meetings |
| 10 | Co-opted |
| 2 | Young Friends General Meeting |
| 2 | Quaker Communications Central Committee |
| Responsible for publicity, media and government liaison, and income from grants and legacies. | |
| 2 | Quaker Finance and Property Central Committee |
| Financial management and planning. | |
| 2 | Quaker Home Service Central Committee |
| Local and national outreach, supporting pastoral work. | |
| 2 | Quaker Peace and Service Central Committee |
| Working for peace and social justice. | |
| 2 | Quaker Resources for Service Central Committee |
| Administrative support, including personnel and IT services. | |
| 2 | Quaker Social Responsibility and Education Central Committee |
| Advice and support for concerns (individual vocation to carry out some service) and social projects. | |
| 1 | Quaker Committee for Christian and Interfaith Relations |
| Relations with non-Quaker groups. | |
| 1 | Quaker World Relations Committee |
| Relations with non-British Yearly Meetings and Friends World Committee for Consultation. | |
| Total 196, plus a clerk and assistant clerk. | |
Various officers of Yearly Meeting, and staff employed by Meeting for Sufferings, also attend.
Read more about this topic: Meeting For Sufferings
Famous quotes containing the word structure:
“When a house is tottering to its fall,
The strain lies heaviest on the weakest part,
One tiny crack throughout the structure spreads,
And its own weight soon brings it toppling down.”
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso)
“One theme links together these new proposals for family policy—the idea that the family is exceedingly durable. Changes in structure and function and individual roles are not to be confused with the collapse of the family. Families remain more important in the lives of children than other institutions. Family ties are stronger and more vital than many of us imagine in the perennial atmosphere of crisis surrounding the subject.”
—Joseph Featherstone (20th century)
“The structure was designed by an old sea captain who believed that the world would end in a flood. He built a home in the traditional shape of the Ark, inverted, with the roof forming the hull of the proposed vessel. The builder expected that the deluge would cause the house to topple and then reverse itself, floating away on its roof until it should land on some new Ararat.”
—For the State of New Jersey, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)