[Businessmtg] business meetings item #2 - OLA and ASP as outsideentities?

[Steve Rankin]

Yes, ASP is registered with WSO.  

But, that doesn't make ASP an Al-Anon meeting or group.  Registration with
WSO is not a requirement to be an Al-Anon meeting or Al-Anon group.  ASP was
every bit as much of an Al-Anon meeting for 2 years before we registered
with WSO as we are now.  I believe it is very important to understand that
WSO is nothing more than an office to serve the Al-Anon fellowship.  What
the employees of Al-Anon who happen to work at WSO think about issues is no
more important to our fellowship than what you or I or any other member
thinks.  

As most of you know, the Al-Anon fellowship is supposed to be an upside-down
organization.  The groups are at the top and the WSO is at the bottom.
Somehow 'meetings' which are most closely 'groups' have been placed below
WSO in our service structure.  Why is that?  My service manual says "Any two
or more relatives or friends of alcoholics who meet to solve their common
problem may call themselves an Al-Anon group, provided they have no other
affiliation as a group.  

As best as I can tell, ASP is a group by that definition.  We have two or
more people who are friends or relatives of alcoholics.  We meet to solve
our common problem, and we have no other affiliation.  

Interestingly, the only glitch is the word "meet" since we meet online
instead of f2f.  Yet, even WSO seems to agree that we do in fact "meet"
because they call us a "meeting".  So why can't we call ourselves we a
group?  All kinds of other Al-Anon entities are registered with WSO as
"groups".  Districts, Areas, Information Service offices, Literature Depots
are often--but not always--registered as Al-Anon groups.  If all of those
other Al-Anon entities can be registered as Al-Anon Groups, why can't OLA-IS
be an Al-Anon Information Service.  Especially, since no one else was doing
the job.

In the over 12 years I've been involved with this, I have never heard an
viable argument that described how an online meeting didn't meet the simple
requirements of being an Al-Anon Group as stated in the service manual.  


Hugs,
Steve