Catholic Women’s League of Canada | BC and Yukon Council

Submitted by: Pat Battensby

My Dear Life Member Sisters,

I do wish you a happy and mainly HEALTHY New Year. We have lost so much in the last few months with the passing of Mabel Allan, Pollyanna Kilgour and Ruth Hazlett that I feel we must hold each other close in our hearts and prayers and cherish the special sisterhood that we share. Please note in the Canadian League magazine page 28 notes the passing of these three very special women. We are grateful for this notice. We are already too few in number. Please be assured that I have sent condolences in your name to the above concerned and also sympathy and empathy cards in the loss of Lucie’s husband Stephen as well as Ruth’s husband Cliff. Our hearts and prayers are with you Lucie as you adjust to this new state in life for you. I have passed on the many prayer requests that I have received from National office and even though we don’t know these people, the golden thread runs through us all because they are our Life Member sisters.

Welcome to Marion Nygren, Nelson Life Member Liaison who kindly took over after we lost Pollyanna. We know that you will enjoy this role as our main thrust is just to keep in touch!

Thank you Lucie and Marjorie for the most interesting notes that you have sent about your Diocesan Members and for the birthdays that you sent on. I would love to hear from the rest of you about what’s new with you all.

I have received instructions from Shirley Bernier as to how my Annual Report should be structured. One of the questions asks how you inform your Life Members after you receive my communiqués. Please answer this for me and send it back a.s.a.p. because I really do not know. I know how Marjorie does it in my Diocese but not anything about how the other four of you carry this out. Please let me know.

Shirley Bernier has also asked that in my annual report, I include any special events that might have happened with any of our members. Please inform me of that as well. She also asked about Life Member’s service at the parish level. So you can see all in all what I need from you is a mini annual report with these questions answered. Let’s try and give a good comprehensive report from our province this year.

Our second Life Members Annual Arts and Culture Award will be awarded again this year at the provincial convention. Please note that this year the application forms will be distributed through the Health and Education Chairpersons down the line. Our job is to encourage our members to have a look at it and see if they or their families would qualify. We had wonderful applicants last year and hope to increase those applications this year. We hope to see many of you at the convention this year as it is an election year. We have also received a wonderful boost for the Arts and Culture Award fund this year. Shirley Armillotta has received a donation of $150.00 in memory of Pollyanna so we are indeed grateful for this and will indeed remember our dear Pollyanna through this award.

In Vancouver, this is a very exciting time as we prepare to welcome the world or at least 300,000 of them to our beautiful city for the Olympics. Many of us are involved in volunteer capacities both within our own chancery office and also with More than Gold. Please check this websites out on your computer and catch up with our activities. Our diocese is very involved and with great enthusiasm and participation. Pray for the success of the games, that people remember most about the welcoming approach of our people and not the access of trafficking through prostitution or any terrorist acts. We need your prayers to have a good clean safe Olympic games. We need your prayers for snow as well PLEASE.

Much love to you all and thank you for your work in this special mandate that Life Members have in the League. I hope to see many of you at convention.

Submitted by: Jeanne Wilson

Dear Education and Health chairs, please have all your diocesan education and health reports to me by February 15 and thank you to those who have already submitted their reports.

Matthew – Chapter 13 – 33: “Jesus told them another parable, “The kingdom of heaven is like the yeast a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour till it was leavened all through”. Let us be the leaven.”

Pastoral Care Program

The Fraser Health Authority is cutting the Regional Co-ordinator for Spiritual Care and the hospital-based pastoral care co-ordinator positions. Their responsibilities are to fall to social workers and personnel who maange hospital volunteers in the Fraser Health Authority.

All CWL members need to contact their MLA’s and the Minister of Health Services, Kevin Falcon, and voice their opposition to this decision by the Fraser Health Authority, since this decision will affect all of the Health Authorities of BC.

Bursary Deadlines

Please promote all the bursaries – parish, diocesan, provincial and national.

Provincial: Molly Boucher – application form on provincial website, cwl.bc.ca, completed and returned by March 31st to me. Please remind applicants to print neatly and only include the material requested as everyone is treated equally and extra material will not be forwarded to the selection committee.

Life Members Art and Culture Award – criteria and application forms available on the website, cwl.bc.ca; completed and returned by March 31st and sent to Shirley Armillotta.

National – criteria and application available on national website, cwl.ca, under supplies and forms. Completed and returned by May 31st to National Office.

Weight

At the Provincial Convention in Prince George, a member approached me about doing something about the weight of our members. Many of us are carrying a few or many extra pounds which is not good for our health. A good place to start is with Resolution 03.05 type 2 Diabetes and You, which has three actions for members: 1. Have regular physical examinations and discuss Type 2 Diabetes with your physician; 2. Embrace a healthy active life style and 3. Invite health care professionals to speak to members about diabetes. The Diabetes Association of Canada www.diabetes.ca has many resources to help educate our members as to what is diabetes, how to prevent this illness and how to manage it. Contact the Diabetes Association and have a counselor give a presentation at one of your meetings and encourage parish councils to educate their members about healthy eating. Be an example by ensuring that snacks at meetings are healthy and not calorie laden.

Exercise is very important to maintain a healthy body. Encourage events that require exercise such as Walking to End Cancer. Or, make members aware of exercise programmes in their communities or programmes such as yoga that can be done in church halls and basements.

After attending, a presentation by Fr. Mark Miller, an ethicist, he made me aware of the problems of the obese. We must remember that obesity is not “they are fat because it is their fault.” Obese people must be treated with respect and dignity at all times. » Read the rest of this entry »

Submitted by: Dodie Bond

I pray that you all have a very spiritually filled Christmas. Know that my prayers are with you and your family.

Haiti: for those who don’t have computers or access to the internet, I would like to share with you some to Pope Benedict the XVI message to the Haiti’s President and Bishops. You can get the full message by going to www.zenit.org/article-28143?1=english.

This message was written on January 24, 2010. = We Won’t Abandon You =

This message affirms the Pontiff’s sorrow for the quake victims and his nearness to the survivors. The Holy Father expressed through prayer that God would “Welcome into the peace of his kingdom all those who died in the earthquake” and “grant consolation to their families, who often, were unable to provide their deceased loves one a worthy burial.” Pope Benedict also prayed “that the spirit of solidarity will live in the hearts of all and that calm will reign in the streets, so that the generous aid that is arriving from all countries will bring relief to all and the people today who have lost everything will be comforted in knowing that the entire international community is taking care of them in concrete way.” “In this moment of darkness,” Benedict XVI said “I invoke Our Lady of Perpetual Help, that she would be a mother of tenderness and guide hearts so that solidarity will prevail over isolation and (the attitude of) ‘every man for himself. Amen…What can we as individuals do to help? What can we collectively do to help? We can help through our local churches, by having special collections. We can all so collectively help by sending our donations to Development and Peace and earmark it for Haiti Relief Fund. What you decide to do is up to you either as individuals or collectively. » Read the rest of this entry »

Submitted by: Marianna Caldwell

Many blessings to everyone as we begin the New Year. I know you are praying for the people in Haiti suffering as a result of the devastating earthquake. Watching their terrible suffering has certainly put a different perspective on petty annoyances such as bad weather or technological difficulties. I am sincerely grateful for all the many blessings we do have.

So, what is happening?

Great news regarding membership! A must read is Nancy Simms’ Provincial Organization Communiqué outlining a wonderful innovative prize being offered by National to parish councils with the most new members. Good Luck! We came very close to reaching our goal of 10,000 members this year and I hope with this added incentive 2010 will be our year to achieve our target.

National Convention Fun Theme: “The Decades”

National President, Danielle, has asked each province to represent a decade at the National convention in Ottawa. I was the first to put my hand in the basket and pulled out “1940-1949”. Having been born during that decade, I thought that was a very good choice and hope you feel the same way.

As a matter of fact, I think it’s such a good idea, that we should take this idea to our Provincial convention; perhaps everyone could come in 40’s dress on one of the days.

Do you remember the “40’s”? Everyone wore hats and gloves, nylons with seams, dresses with buttons down the front – you get the idea. A lot of things happened for the first time. Take a look on Google for more ideas.

Reporting of Deceased Members

After a lengthy discussion at the last National Midterm meeting, it was agreed that reporting of deceased members should continue the same as last year eg. all reports going directly to National. The process of submitting memberships on line has already begun and therefore, there is a possibility that the list of deceased members will be available by accessing a secure website.

Elections

The election process has begun for Provincial and you will soon be receiving nomination letters from Barbara. Here I pass on the advice that I received in past years. » Read the rest of this entry »

Dear League Sisters and Father Tran,

I pray everyone had a blessed Christmas with family and friends and are now rejuvenated once again to continue in our work for God and Canada.

Membership

January is officially membership month, although we should be welcoming members throughout the entire year. For 2009 our provincial membership was 9,525. My challenge for our province is to reach 10,000 members in 2010. That’s only 475 new members throughout the province and less than 4 members for each of our 131 parish councils. I know we can do it!! (Over 10,000 would be awesome !)

National Membership Incentive Plan

This new incentive is so exciting I decided I should quote directly from our national organization chairperson, Velma Harasen’s communiqué #5. “The 2010 membership incentive program: the per capita fees for 2011 will be waived for all members in two councils – the one with the highest absolute increase in members and the one with the highest percentage increase in members from the 2010 membership drive. Diocesan and provincial per capita fees will be paid from the national treasury so that councils at those levels will not be out of pocket. More information on the plan will be included in the winter edition of The Canadian League.” WOW!! So if your council wins, the more members you get the more money your council will have share in God’s wonderful works!

Lapsed Members

Velma has given a suggestion that possibly a parish council could offer for any member who did not renew in 2009 to pay the 2009 membership fee if the member pays her 2010 membership, or pay for 2010 if she pays for 2009! If any council has other suggestions for creative ways to bring back members that did not renew in the last year please let me know and I will pass along these ideas to Velma. » Read the rest of this entry »

Submitted by: Pat Deppiesse

Now that the wonderful season of Christmas is over, it is time to get busy with CWL again, and I am writing to you with a request. I am a bit late in sending out the parish register forms for 2010! Somehow, in the busy-ness of the season, I just forgot I had to send them out to you! Mea culpa! Therefore, I really need your help in distributing this form to all your parish councils immediately. I notice that some parish councils are already sending them to me, so you wonderful secretaries are obviously doing your job by making edits to last year’s form! Thank you so much for that.

Attached to this Email are the Parish Council Registration form and the Diocesan Council Registration form. I am sending them by Email for convenience and expediency. Once your diocesan elections are complete, please send in the new diocesan registration form. Those who are not having elections, please send one to me anyway – just to confirm any changes in information for your executive.

I know most parish councils have had their elections by now, and I would ask that you return a copy of the parish registers to me as soon as you can. Please double check all the information with the incumbent to ensure it is correct. If possible, a typed copy would be best. I also ask that any changes that occur during the year, be sent to me – Email is fine – and I thank you for keeping me informed about changes throughout the year.

This information is needed by the provincial council in order for me to send out the convention packages which I am currently preparing, and so that the registrations for the convention can be confirmed. These records also go into our provincial archives

I am looking forward to working with my League sisters in Richmond, part of the Vancouver Archdiocesan Council, to help prepare the groundwork for the upcoming convention there May 27-29 at St. Monica’s Parish.

I hope all we Secretaries can make an opportunity to meet at the convention! In my opinion, you are the ‘silent heroes’ in the League, keeping records of everything that goes on and I thank you for your diligence! If you have any questions or if I can help you in any way, please do not hesitate to call or Email me. Please remember to send me a copy of your Communiqué if you write one.

Just a friendly reminder that your Annual Report is due February 15th. If you have yours ready, please forward to me at your earliest convenience.

Wishing you all a very happy new year in the Catholic Women’s League of Canada.

With much love and all of God’s abundant blessings.

New guidelines and forms are available now: League Development Fund #1 & 2 Guidelines and Application

Submitted by: Doreen Gowans

Dear League Sisters and Father Tien:

I hope everyone had a wonderful spirit filled Christmas season and learned to appreciate the baby Jesus and what the season of Christmas really means! My welcome back prayer for everyone is that we continue to communicate with one another, sharing our ideas so we can make our Catholic Women’s League a better organization that meets the needs of all of our members. A friend of mine said the way she has found to increase her prayer life is to communicate with God as though she was talking to her best friend. We talk to our friends often in respectful, formal and yet at times casual ways. We too can communicate with God in the same manner, but we must remember to take the time to listen to God so we can follow in his footsteps.

Annual Reports

Just a friendly reminder the deadline date is February 15, 2010. If you have yours ready please forward to me at your earliest convenience.

Communiqués

I encourage you to forward your communiqués to your Diocesan Communication Standing Committee counterparts with a copy to me as well. We can learn from one another.

BC and Yukon Provincial Newsletter

Thank you to everyone who has sent the survey from the fall newsletter. I appreciate your participation. If you have not sent your survey and would like to be included in the results please email or mail it to me ASAP. Both my email and regular mail addresses are at the bottom of the page. I look forward to using some of your suggestions for our next newsletter. Next newsletter deadline is March 1, 2010. I invite and welcome all of your articles you would like to submit. Share with us the events your diocese has accomplished or are planning to hold using our CWL Peace & Hope Activities Kit. How is your diocese planning to celebrate our Day of Peace and Hope Monday, April 26, 2010, the Feast of Our Lady of Good Counsel? What did your diocese do to promote C.A.S.E. and the war against pornography? Do you have any suggestions for information or articles you would like to see in the next newsletter? » Read the rest of this entry »

Submitted by: Sandra Stajduhar

As the year draws to a close, I wish to take this opportunity to thank you for all that you do as Women of Peace and Hope, and to offer sincere wishes for a blessed Christmas season – followed by a new year of renewed enthusiasm for the work of the League!

Revisions to the National Manual of Policy and Procedure Appendix 1: Resolutions

On November 14th, at the fall meeting of the national executive, policies regarding resolutions were reviewed, revised and updated. The two major changes that will affect the writing of resolutions are (1) clarification of the use of parenthetical references and (2) revision of the Checklist for Reviewing Proposed Resolutions. The approved revisions are attached. The changes are designed to clarify and improve both the process and product of resolutions. Each level of the League will be responsible for passing on the new information and ensuring it is followed.

The study of revised policies and procedures will aid in understanding expectations and facilitate the resolutions process at all levels. Special attention to the revisions to the Checklist for Reviewing Proposed Resolutions is encouraged. It is hoped that the changes will make life easier, not only for the authors of resolutions, but for the reviewers as well.

Federal Government Visit

The government delegation is bound for Ottawa! National President Danielle McNeil-Hessian, National President-elect Velma Harasen, National Chairperson of Legislation Judy Lewis and National Chairperson of Resolutions Barbara Dowding will arrive on Saturday, November 28th with appointments scheduled through to December 1st. Please keep the delegation members in prayer as they bring the message of hope and peace to federal representatives. » Read the rest of this entry »

Submitted by: Nancy Simms

Report Forms

Due dates for annual reports are:

• Parish report to Diocesan – December 15th
• Diocesan report to Provincial – February 15th
• Provincial report to National – March 15th

If you have not received reports from your parish counterparts by December 15th don’t give up on them. Try calling them and asking the questions over the phone. What a wonderful way to make new friends while working towards 100% of councils reporting!

Membership

How successful were parish councils with the “Membership Challenge” put forward by Velma Harasen? I have enclosed both provincial and national membership stats for your perusal and as you can see BC & Yukon have a lot to be proud of, we have the highest percentage of increase in all of Canada! Let’s keep the enthusiasm alive and reach our provincial goal of 10,000 members for the year 2010!!

Remember, personal contact still remains the number one means of recruiting and retaining members. » Read the rest of this entry »