Re: Convening first meeting of the newly re-constituted Peace and Social Concerns Committee

[kirby urner]

On Wed, Feb 18, 2015 at 9:18 PM, Debbie <debbi...@edaverill.com> wrote:

I would like to schedule our first meeting for Wednesday, February 25, 2015, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m., at the Meetinghouse.  Ann says she will find us a room now that we have a time.

Tentative agenda:

Silent worship and check-in.

1.  Designation of minute taker and additions to the agenda.

Sounds like David wants to talk about 911.
 

2.  Updated job description discussion.  I hope we can all get on the same page about how the committee will work.

Will you be sending this out in advance? 

I'm not too worried about it as we, like any committee, have the power to continually update it and run it by Business Meeting for approval as the Spirit leads us.  Doesn't have to take all our time first meeting. 

I plan on not discussing it much myself, except on the listserv as it could prove time consuming and I'd like to see viewpoints archived and in writing, given the importance apparently being attached to it. 

The proposed ad hoc committee to look at Nominating's job description will be treated with equal seriousness I trust.  We need to figure out why Nominating is allowed to "propose" shutting down other committees.  I'd never heard of any Nominating Committee having that power until recently and I'm pretty sure this is strong evidence that committee is dysfunctional.  We're talking about it on Facebook and like that.
 

3.  Program updates:  FCNL (Leslie cannot attend at this time, so I hope she will send me something in writing);     AFSC  (The Meeting does not technically have a liaison to AFSC right now, so I am hoping Kirby can bring us                up to speed about what is happening at AFSC currently.)

Right, MMM has no Liaison and I've been urging AFSC that it should appoint the Liaisons where possible on a per region basis, as Friends already appoint YMAs and have options to serve on Executive and Program Committees.  A Liaison should not need to be a Friend, though might be.

On this model I represent AFSC to meetings and churches in West Region.  There is no approval or nomination required from MMM in this picture. 

It makes sense to invite someone in such a role to attend P&SC meetings from time to time. 

If a region has multiple Liaisons, one could invite different ones (I'm hoping to recruit more pastoral Friends to this role).

My latest Liaison report is posted to the listserv here:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/mmm-psc/kliC9XCIwgc

 

4.  Planning for next meeting.  This should include who would be interested in convening the next meeting, if we decide to rotate that responsibility.(Leslie has a more restricted schedule than most of us, so I would like us to look at  times she might be able to come; some evenings, some weekends -- I will get more details about possible times     from Leslie before this meeting.)

I'm hoping we agree to my hosting the meeting at my place in May when Carol returns and has stories of her trip to The Hague for the WILPF Centennial. 

Beyond that, I just hope we don't ball and chain ourselves to the meetinghouse as our only venue.  Other committees to not hold themselves to that rule. 

I think we should go places and meet with other people and groups and sometimes call those P&SC meetings.  I don't see anything in the Job Description precluding that possibility.

Kirby Urner
List Owner

MMM-PSC

[kirby urner]

I would like to add to the agenda that we are curious to learn from Nominating exactly who it has nominated so far to be on PSCC as one of the "at least four members or attenders."  We would like to see this information in advance of the meeting I should think.   This should be on the agenda *before* we're asked to agree to the job description, so we know who among us are the real members or attenders, with the rest of us just welcome to be there.

Absolutely I am not Multnomah's Liaison to AFSC, technically or otherwise and should not be referred to that way. 

I am one of AFSC's Liaisons to meetings and churches in West Region.  AFSC is in charge of my appointment at this point. [1]  

This role would not automatically put me on anyone's P&SC committee I shouldn't think (that was part of the problem:  the meeting's own position was made unrecognizable by a "proposal" to drop the committee on which the liaison formerly served).

I'm fine if I am not one of the "official" members, even if I continue to own the listserv for awhile longer.  However, the job description itself mandates at least four members. 

Example of what it could be:  Debbie Averill (clerk), David Chandler, Rick Seifert, Ron Marson (all invited to give input into the meeting time, so that implies Ron and Rick are at least in the "anyone is welcome" category, but has Nominating put them on the slate?).

If Nominating hasn't yet bothered to identify these members, then I think agreeing to the Job Description is premature, as Nominating itself may not take it seriously enough for it to matter.

Nominating is the most powerful committee in Multnomah, with the power to "propose" shelving a committee, after which, it has the power to simply stop nominating to that committee even when Oversight objects [2] -- so it's waaaay more than a proposal when Nominating "proposes".[2]  So unless we see evidence it's following this description, then I don't think the rest of us should spend a lot of time on it.

Kirby


[1]   AFSC sends me lots of positive feedback plus I'm pushing for a private ceremony in the AFSC office thanking the Luchini family, not members of our meeting, for joining business meeting on June 22 and saving our committee with that threshing session proposal, complete with a framed award. Quakerism is the better for it.  Thank you Luchinis!  Lets wait until Carol gets here in May.

[2]  for example, at the June 22 2014 business meeting, when Jeff Lumb, clerk of Oversight, said he was "uncomfortable" with Nominating's proposal, that didn't keep Nominating from stopping all efforts to rebuild the committee.   On the contrary, we had to spend hours and hours organizing the threshing session the Luchinis proposed, have people like Metcalfs, Desiree etc. to show up, and say No again.  Even then, Nominating sat on hits hands until we consented to have the job description rewritten, even though Carl said in the threshing session the committee with "still alive" (ergo vivisection was performed on a living committee by another committee deemed more authoritative for some reason).  So now, if Nominating cannot tell us who the four members are, it may decide we're "dysfunctional" again and try again to shut us down again.  What's to stop them?  They have more power than any committee I've seen in my 56 years as a Quaker.

====

Multnomah Monthly Meeting Peace & Social Concerns Committee

Membership:

The Peace & Social Concerns Committee comprises at least four members and/or attenders of the meeting. They should have a special concern for issues of social justice, the environment and peace. The committee and its clerk are chosen by the business meeting after recommendation by the nominating committee. Members should be Friends with knowledge of how to effect social change, particularly by working with Quaker organizations. AFSC and FCNL liaisons are ex-officio members of the committee. Members of the committee serve staggered three-year terms.

Meetings:

Committee meetings are open and held monthly or as needed. Anyone is welcome to attend either to bring a concern, or to give spiritual and active support to an on-going project or concern. Decisions will be made using Quaker process that arrives at the “sense of the committee.”

On Wed, Feb 18, 2015 at 9:18 PM, Debbie <debbi...@edaverill.com> wrote:

I would like to schedule our first meeting for Wednesday, February 25, 2015, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m., at the Meetinghouse.  Ann says she will find us a room now that we have a time.

Tentative agenda:

Silent worship and check-in.

1.  Designation of minute taker and additions to the agenda.

2.  Updated job description discussion.  I hope we can all get on the same page about how the committee will work.

3.  Program updates:  FCNL (Leslie cannot attend at this time, so I hope she will send me something in writing);     AFSC  (The Meeting does not technically have a liaison to AFSC right now, so I am hoping Kirby can bring us                up to speed about what is happening at AFSC currently.)

[kirby urner]

On Sat, Feb 21, 2015 at 7:45 AM, kirby urner <kirby...@gmail.com> wrote:

I would like to add to the agenda that we are curious to learn from Nominating exactly who it has nominated so far to be on PSCC as one of the "at least four members or attenders."

I just learned from Nominating who is on the slate at this time.  If you were at business meeting, you likely know too.  If not, the draft minutes will not come out until after we meet, so I hope the information is more widely shared by our clerk before then.

A complete slate (for all the roles) should be at the MMM website shortly -- maybe it's there already, I'll go check now...

Kirby

 

[List Owner]

I'd be embarrassed to invite any friends to a Quaker committee meeting where only a tiny clique of people, those who attended a specific business meeting, are given the information about who is actually on the committee.

That's why I've been updating my Facebook profile, so my Facebook Friends at least know who Nominating has added to the slate and gotten approval for:  Ron Marson, David Chandler, Marty Crouch, Carol Urner.

A lot of you will have no other way to get this information as the MMM website, unlike many Monthly Meeting websites across the nation, is not a place to find a published Current Cast of Characters i.e. a slate.  Lets hope that changes someday soon.  It's not much to ask.  Meeting goers need the information as much as anyone.

http://controlroom.blogspot.com/2015/02/quaker-terminology.html

My apologies in advance to anyone who shows up at P&SC without foreknowledge of the makeup of the committee. 

We don't necessarily follow Quaker process at all. 

After all, we're Multnomah: too proud to do it right.  Could be our tag line.

Kirby

[David Chandler]

Carl send me the slate and I posted it on the web site.  It is listed on the Resources page and the featured items on the home page.

--David Chandler

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views expressed belong to a mortal poster, not God :-D
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[kirby urner]

Fast work, good job.  My apologies if I didn't find it earlier.

Kirby

[kirby urner]

On Sat, Feb 21, 2015 at 2:11 PM, Debbie <debbi...@edaverill.com> wrote:

On 02/21/2015 08:50 AM, kirby urner wrote:

The new members of Peace and Social Concerns Concerns Committee, as brought forth by Nominating and approved (expedited) on at February's Meeting for Worship for Business on First-Day, February 15, 2015, are David Chandler, Marty Crouch, Ron Marson, and Carol Urner.  My understanding is that Nominating is still working on additional possibilities.  Two others are in the middle of their terms (Ed Aletto and Julie Snook), though ceased to be active several months before the recent hiatus.  Then, of course, there is me, continuing as Clerk.  Anyone who was in attendance at that meeting would already know this.

Looking forward to seeing all of these new members (except, perhaps, for Marty, who is currently on vacation in France) at our meeting on the 25th.

Debbie

Also, Carol is in Whittier (Greater LA) so don't expect her either.  She counts as a new member.

You can see a complete slate at the website now:

https://www.quakercloud.org/system/files/cloud_attachments/Slate%20Feb.%2016%2C%202015_0.pdf

(added just hours ago).

Kirby