Hierarchy of the Catholic Church distinct from the general apostolate or ministry of the laity described above. The consultative leadership of the church, in both the diocese and the parish, usually comprises a Pastoral Council and a Finance Council, as well as several Commissions usually focusing on major aspects of the church's life and mission, such as Faith Formation or Christian Education, Liturgy, Social Justice, Ecumenism, or Stewardship. Religious—who can be either lay people or clergy—are members of religious institutes, societies in which the members take public vows and live a fraternal life in common. This is a form of consecrated life distinct from other
The Dancers at the End of Time also common, but most residents of the End of Time find leaving the planet distasteful and clichéd. The title of the series is itself taken from a poem by a fictitious 19th Century poet, Ernest Wheldrake, which Mrs. Amelia Underwood quotes in "The End of All Songs". "Ernest Wheldrake" had been a pseudonym used by Algernon Charles Swinburne. The original trilogy ("An Alien Heat", "The Hollow Lands", and "The End of All Songs") was published between 1972 and 1976. The trilogy purports to tell the last love story in human history. Other stories in this sequence include "The Transformation of