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:
“One theme links together these new proposals for family policythe 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)
“In the extent and proper structure of the Union, therefore, we behold a republican remedy for the diseases most incident to republican government.”
—James Madison (17511836)
“Agnosticism is a perfectly respectable and tenable philosophical position; it is not dogmatic and makes no pronouncements about the ultimate truths of the universe. It remains open to evidence and persuasion; lacking faith, it nevertheless does not deride faith. Atheism, on the other hand, is as unyielding and dogmatic about religious belief as true believers are about heathens. It tries to use reason to demolish a structure that is not built upon reason.”
—Sydney J. Harris (19171986)