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author | Henry S Thompson <ht@inf.ed.ac.uk> |
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date | Tue, 14 Jan 2025 15:02:12 +0000 |
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1 *Meeting for Sufferings* |
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2 |
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3 10 April 2021 |
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4 |
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5 Henry S. Thompson, SE Scotland AM representative |
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6 |
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7 All the papers for the meeting are available online at |
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8 |
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9 https://www.quaker.org.uk/documents/mfs-2021-04-agenda--updated-papers-package |
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10 |
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11 The minutes and other follow-up material are available from |
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12 |
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13 https://www.quaker.org.uk/documents/mfs-2021-04-follow-up-package |
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14 |
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15 * BYM the charity, its trustees and AM charities/trustees* |
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16 |
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17 An important initiative was mentioned which aims to address the |
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18 relationship between Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) the charity and Area |
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19 Meeting (AM) charities. There's a request from BYM Trustees to AM |
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20 Trustees to feed back to them about this [1]. Online meetings are |
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21 planned for May. Heading towards an Memorandum of Understanding |
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22 between BYM Trustees and AM Trustees, by the end of 2021. |
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23 |
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24 Note that (some of?) Wales is actually going ahead with a merger at |
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25 the Charity level! |
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26 |
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27 At this point I had to step away from the meeting for an hour, during |
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28 which mostly routine business was covered. One unexpected and |
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29 apparently somewhat unsettling item came up during Trustees' report [2]. |
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30 The following is from a report to East of Scotland AM by Robert |
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31 Thompson, their Sufferings representative, quoted by permission: |
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32 |
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33 "There was lengthy discussion around the decision to remove the |
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34 name of William Penn from a room at Friends House. ( William Penn |
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35 was a known slave owner). Trustees have commissioned research into |
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36 the relationship between Friends and the Transatlantic Slave |
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37 Trade. Meeting for Sufferings heard reactions for and against the |
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38 the removal of the name at Friends House. The final Minute stated |
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39 'We have heard that it is important to acknowledge the reality of |
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40 the past including both our good work and our failures to address |
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41 injustice.'" |
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42 |
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43 *Assisted dying* |
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44 |
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45 Sufferings returned to this topic in response to minutes from several |
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46 English Area Meetings. Area Meetings had been invited to consider the |
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47 matter and feed back. Our own AM decided we had considered this |
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48 matter in the Scottish context several times in recent years, and |
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49 decided not to do so again this time. |
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50 |
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51 Brief introductions by representatives of the two AMs asked for |
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52 Sufferings to support BYM publicly endorsing a narrow legalisation of |
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53 assisted dying, along the lines of the approach that has been in place |
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54 in Oregon in the USA since 1997 [3]. |
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55 |
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56 There was a deep sense of worship and care in the meeting over two |
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57 sessions, and we had had the opportunity to prepare in advance during |
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58 an evening worship sharing session the week before. |
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59 |
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60 It became clear that we still don't have a settled view on this |
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61 matter, having heard moving ministry based on personal experience |
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62 across a wide spectrum of conclusions. |
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63 |
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64 On a more positive note, there was very broad support for doing more |
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65 to promote better funding for palliative care and the Hospice |
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66 movement. One statement that has stayed with me in that regard was |
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67 'unravelling the tangled web around how we die in this country is not |
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68 best started by pulling on the end labelled "legalise assisted |
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69 dying"'. |
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70 |
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71 *'Overseers' and 'Elders'* |
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72 |
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73 Sufferings responded to a concern about these names by encouraging AMs |
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74 to experiment with alternatives both to names and to the structures |
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75 themselves. |
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76 |
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77 *Yearly Meeting and Yearly Meeting Gathering 2021* |
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78 |
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79 Yearly Meeting in Session 2021 [4] will be held on the weekends of 31 |
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80 July and 7 August. It will be an online event, as will Yearly Meeting |
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81 Gathering (YMG) [5], which will run for three weeks from 19 July. |
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82 |
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83 Booking information coming soon, bookings will open in June. |
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84 |
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85 In preparation for Yearly Meeting itself, AMs will be asked to |
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86 facilitate opportunities for fellowship to engage with a number of |
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87 matters of business, which should be at least in part face-to-face |
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88 insofar as possible, and scheduled to coincide with relevant online |
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89 YMG sessions. |
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90 |
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91 The theme of YMG, "For our comfort and discomfort: living our |
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92 testimonies of equality and truth", will be pursued via a focus on |
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93 three topics |
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94 |
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95 1) Anti-racism: our Quaker journey; |
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96 2) Acknowledging and welcoming gender diverse people; |
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97 3) Faith-based action for climate justice. |
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98 |
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99 Looking further ahead, it has been agreed that the dates for YM 2022 |
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100 will not be changed: still 27--30 May. |
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101 |
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102 *Simplification of central governance structures – a paper from BYM Trustees* |
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103 |
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104 Friends will know that I've been concerned about how our Society is |
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105 being run these days, and have reported before about the various ways |
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106 in which this concern is occasionally reflected in sessions at |
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107 Yearling Meeting and Sufferings. It seems that Trustees have now |
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108 decided that a root-and-branch restructuring, under the banner of |
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109 simplification, is called for, and a working party has been actively |
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110 exploring this. As a result there will shortly be a series of |
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111 workshops for Sufferings to explore what this might look like, and by |
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112 the time I present this report at Area Meeting on 11 May, these will |
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113 have happened and I'll have a much more informed position from which |
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114 to share details. |
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115 |
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116 I'm trying to be hopeful that this will be the start of a genuine |
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117 consultation, rather than an announcement of a _fait accompli_. |
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118 |
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119 Two things that were said in the relatively brief, mostly positive, |
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120 consideration of this item: |
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121 |
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122 We can't go on as we did before, only meeting online: We need |
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123 physical community sometimes _as well_. |
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124 |
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125 There's an important distinction between respecting tradition |
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126 and getting stuck in traditional_ism_... |
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127 |
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128 [1] See *Clarifying the relationship between BYM trustees and AM |
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129 trustees – an invitation* under item MfS 2021 04 10 in the papers |
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130 in advance, linked above |
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131 [2] See *BYMT-2021-02-14 Responding to racism* under item MfS 2021 04 09 ditto |
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132 [3] https://www.dignityindying.org.uk/assisted-dying/international-examples/assisted-dying-oregon/ |
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133 [4] https://www.quaker.org.uk/ym |
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134 [5] https://www.quaker.org.uk/ym/programme-1 |
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135 |
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136 [Note for Clerks/Alan Frith. I attempted to capture my own |
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137 contribution when the matter was put before the meeting, see below. |
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138 As far as AM on the 11th goes, I'll cover this in my presentation and |
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139 you don't need to include anything from it in whatever draft minute |
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140 you prepare for the report about Sufferings as such, above. Perhaps |
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141 indeed it would make sense to have two separate agenda items, i.e. |
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142 1) Report on MfS 2021-04-10 |
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143 2) Rethinking the governance of BYM. |
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144 As far as Sesame is concerned, it's up to you Alan whether you include |
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145 this under the same heading or (my preference) separately, as my |
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146 personal reflection on the matter.] |
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147 |
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148 My experience as I come to the end of 6 years on Sufferings has led to |
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149 a conclusion about BYM governance which I find is shared by |
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150 wide range of sources which I've heard from, and it means that the |
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151 proposed rethink of our governance process is very welcome. |
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152 |
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153 By a series of well-meaning, and individually not unreasonable, steps, |
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154 we have arrived at a point where Meeting for Sufferings is no longer |
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155 fit for purpose. Not so much because we're doing a bad job at what |
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156 we've been asked to do, piece by piece, but because our business has |
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157 grown and ramified to the point where it is almost never the case (the |
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158 sessions on assisted dying at Sufferings on 2021-04-10 being a notable |
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159 recent exception) that the full power and value of a gathered meeting |
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160 for worship for business are being brought to bear. |
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161 |
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162 So I was very pleased to see what I take to be the most important |
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163 sentence in the paper from Trustees: |
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164 |
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165 "The Working Group considered the core functions from first |
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166 principles, setting aside our understanding of existing |
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167 structures." |
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168 |
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169 I hope almost _nothing_ will be off the table as we start |
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170 consideration of possible new approaches to the governance of |
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171 the Church and the Charity. What I mean by 'almost' is that the |
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172 place of Yearly Meeting in session as the ultimate worldly |
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173 source of authority for BYM is not, at least for me, at issue. |
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174 |
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175 But _anything_ else, particularly wrt the Church, and what is |
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176 delegated to what bodies by BYM when it is _not_ in session, |
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177 needs to be rethought again from the ground up and the top down. |
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178 Sufferings obviously have a key role to play in this, and our |
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179 dissatisfaction with our current situation now needs to turn |
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180 into an energetic contribution to fixing it, even if this means |
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181 laying ourselves down in our current form, to say nothing of |
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182 reconsidering the name(s) of whatever comes after. |