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+*Meeting for Sufferings*
+
+7 December 2019
+
+Henry S. Thompson, SE Scotland AM representative
+
+All the papers for the meeting are available online at
+
+  https://www.quaker.org.uk/documents/mfs-2019-12-agenda-papers
+
+The minutes and other follow-up material are available from
+
+  https://www.quaker.org.uk/documents/mfs-2019-12-follow-up-package
+
+*Annual Reports*
+
+We received annual reports (all in the linked-to agenda above) from
+the four 'standing' committees: Quaker Life Central Committee (QLCC),
+Quaker Peace and Social Witness Central Committee (QPSWCC), Quaker
+Committee for Christian and Interfaith Relations (QCCIR) and Quaker
+World Relations Committee (QWRC), and had some thoughtful
+deliberation, but no action was called for.
+
+*QCCIR and Churches Together in England (CTE)*
+
+The most surprising bit of information concerned our membership in
+CTE, the the English constitutent of the Christian ecumenical bodies
+in the UK.  In brief, the same-sex marriage issue has led to our
+representative being uninvited from attendance.  Details in CIRCular
+[1] and press statements from BYM and CTE [2].  We were led to
+Re-affirmi the legitimacy of our presence in the ecumenical movement,
+while rejecting the relevance of an individual's sexuality in making
+appointments: We're committed to the ecumenical project for the long
+haul.
+
+*Has the word 'overseer' had its day?'
+
+Maybe yes, maybe no...  An Area Meeting raised this question, we
+declined to take a position, deferring to the Book of Discipline
+Revision process.
+
+*Central Nominations*
+
+We returned to a proposal which we knocked back at our meeting in
+November 2018, now revised.  We agreed to combine the work of the
+existing Committee on Clerks and Central Nominations Committee.
+
+The result is a larger single body (a "new Central Nominations
+Committee") with flexible sub-structure replacing the two separate
+bodies, nominating:
+
+  * Clerks of YM and MfS
+
+  * Other regular central roles: No central public list of posts for
+    which the existing or new groups are responsible exists, but
+    here's a partial list, being those appointed at YM in May 2019
+    (with actual numbers):
+
+    Britain Yearly Meeting Trustees (6)
+    Yearly Meeting Agenda Committee (5)
+    Yearly Meeting Arrangements Committee (3)
+    Yearly Meeting Elders (9)
+    Yearly Meeting Epistle Drafting Committee (6)
+    Quaker Stewardship Committee (5)
+    Yearly Meeting Agenda Committee (3)
+    Yearly Meeting Pastoral Care Group (1)
+    Yearly Meeting Publications Group for Quaker faith & practice (1)
+
+  * _Ad-hoc_ roles, e.g. review groups (at least 1 or 2 small ones per
+    year) and occasionally big (Review of Yearly Meeting, coming up,
+    with 4 _ex officio_ members and 4 to be nominated) to very big
+    (Book of Discipline Revision, 20+ members)
+
+*Budget*
+
+In her introduction, underlining the vulnerability to aging that we
+face, the YM Treasurer said that five people, giving 8,000GBP between
+them, contribute 30% of the her Area Meeting's income.
+
+As a result of the plans for Meeting-centred support, the budget
+projects a deficit, and is expected to do so for some years forward,
+so reserves will be lowered.
+
+[1] https://www.quaker.org.uk/documents/circular-2019-12
+[2] https://www.quaker.org.uk/news-and-events/news/churches-plan-for-new-president-falters-because-of-same-sex-marriage