Provincial Convention 2007: Community Life Oral Report

Submitted by: Carol Penno

Madam President:

We have been truly blessed. Our Holy Pontiff , Benedict XVI has given us the encyclical Deus Caritas Est, God Is Love. The second part of the encyclical has instructions for us on Christian Charity; needless to say, this goes hand in hand with our Community Life standing committee.

Secondly our National President Lorette Noble was inspired to choose “Love one Another” as the theme for the next two years. Remember to love yourself as well. What a privilege to listen to Lorette provide a workshop on the theme at our Nelson Diocesan Convention. How can we love one another? What comes to your mind? That is where Community Life comes into play. We are God’s hands and feet. Our sisters and brothers in the world look to us for financial assistance and aid. “Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers that you do unto me.”

It was interesting to read the article written by Kim Scammell in The Canadian League winter issue 2007, that we should look to the Manual of Policy and Procedure to keep our Leagues focused and to only support those groups that promote our values. This calls to mind Go Go Grannies. We have now distanced ourselves from aiding the Stephen Lewis foundation. Dr. Rayleen Deluca had an informative article, in this same winter issue of The Canadian League, writing about, daughters, sisters, mothers, grandmothers aiding sisters, daughters, mothers, grand mothers working and sharing through CCODP .(Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace). We definitely know that our values are upheld. and we get the most bang for our buck as their administrative costs are very low. This is now our focus to grant support to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. We will work through Development and Peace. Surprisingly, there has been a group in Zambia being supported by Dev and Peace since 1994. They are a NGO (non governmental organization) called “Women for Change” Shall we embrace these ladies?

It has been reported by Archbishop Mario Conti at the three day HIV/AIDS conference organized by Caritas Europa in Kiev Ukraine, (Zenit, April 30, 2007) that the Catholic Church is leading the AIDS battle, serving patients is a corporal work of mercy. However the message needs to get out to the Media as they fail to recognize this fact and choose to condemn the Church.

Thanks to the workshops on Trafficking last year, many became aware of this great problem in Canada and to a lesser degree elsewhere, that continually needs to be addressed. We have been notified that Human Trafficking could be a huge issue during the 2010 Olympics. We know what happened in Germany during recent games. We must write letters encouraging the government and police authorities to keep close watch on further developments to exploit women and children. Perhaps the new application for visas for exotic dancers will be of some help. There are two cases before the courts at this moment reinforcing that Canada is beginning to get serious about human trafficking. We can hope and pray, together we can make a difference.

What are some other needs of our times? The proliferation of casinos being built in virtually every neighbourhood in larger centers is detrimental to the disposable income of many seniors and poor families. The negative social cost to society as a whole is worrisome even though charities benefit to some degree. We have resolutions to increase the pensions of people to keep them above the poverty level lets not bring more temptation to them.

It seems that some of our mighty efforts are beginning to pay off mainly by the Grace of God, and the willingness of people to lend a hand, We are doing more than throwing a few dollars at the problem and hoping it will go away. Are we finally making a bit of headway in reducing the amount of children living in poverty as we keep bringing the problem before the Federal government?

A resolution was presented in 2006 pertaining to Dignity and Rights of Persons. This resolution did not pass but everyone here is encouraged to help spread the word, check out your local Health Care facility to see if a changing room is available and accessible for handicapped persons, if not meet with the facility’s administrator, write to the Provincial Minister of health and meet with your Member of Legislature. This will provide dignity to those more vulnerable.

The latest environmental sin is the ever increasing use of bottled water. Even though we maintain that water is not for sale, companies like Dasani, Aquafina, Coca-Cola and Pepsi are raking in huge profits and we are giving up our right to clean affordable water that is guaranteed by government. The empty bottles are littering the landfills and other scary reports suggest that toxins are leaching into the beverages. This may not be entirely true but do take heed.

A goal I accomplished was to read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, only 5-1/2 pages.

Continue to wear something red on Fridays to support our military and remember to pray for Peace in the World especially the crisis zone in Darfur and Lebanon. I have the backup material here in my files if anyone desires to look at it.

Respectfully submitted

Carol P….