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

Submitted by: Nancy Simms

Welcome to a new season of the CWL! Some of you are into your second term as organization chair and some are new to the position, as I am. If you have any questions or concerns that you may need help with, please do not hesitate to contact me and I will try to help in any way possible.

A suggestion to help us in our work as organization chairpersons is to review both the Handbook for Organization Chairpersons and Leading the League. I have also enclosed Danielle McNeil-Hessians oral report from the National Convention in Winnipeg as it is filled with wonderful ideas and information.

The organization standing committee’s main responsibilities are the recruitment of members, maintaining membership, and leadership development. Our province’s total membership for 2007 was 9094. My goal for my two year term is to increase our membership to 10,000 by 2010. This calculates to 906 new members, which may sound like a large amount, yet when we divide it by our 126 parish councils it breaks down to approximately 7 new members per council which is very attainable. I invite you to encourage each parish council to make this their goal and if they get more then 7 new members wouldn’t that be awesome! Our new National Organization Chairperson, Velma Harasen reminds us of some important points for recruiting members. Velma states, “When recruiting, don’t put the emphasis on the need to attend meetings; some women may only want to help with a single project or not be active at this time. Contact every Catholic woman in your parish community, including those who may not be attending mass. You may be the connection they are looking for! If your first contact is not positive, keep in touch, try again. If health, age, time or any other deterrent prevents active participation, they can pray for the good works of the League. Every member added to the membership roll is powerful for advocacy purposes, when letters are written and government visited.”

To keep track of members I have enclosed a Tracking Form that should be sent to all parish councils with their annual report forms, all parish organization chairpersons need to complete this form, return it with their annual report and in turn, each of you as Diocesan chairpersons need to compile the totals and send your form to me with your annual report.

Attached you will also find the annual report forms for every parish council position and standing committee. The parish president’s report is to include what the parish president has done as president.  The other reports will include all the works of the council broken down by position or standing committee. Also attached is a “suggested process” to assist councils in completing their reports and a report form for council donations to be completed by the treasures.

It would be appreciated if parish councils would destroy any report forms used in previous years and reply using only the enclosed forms for their report. Please note that the date reports are due is December 15th.  This takes the pressure off Presidents over the Christmas season and allows her to report on her term prior to elections.

This process is not intended to be long and arduous.  Encourage councils to have fun with it and enjoy reviewing their achievements.  As you are aware it is very important to report all our successes to the next levels of the League as they eventually make their way to government to let them know of our good works.

Lastly, I would encourage you to remind your members that until recently the Provincial Council was keeping the stories submitted by members over the age of ‘90’.   However, about two years ago, it was decided to return the records to each Diocese so that the information could be more readily enjoyed and shared with their members. Therefore, each Diocesan Organization Chairperson should have a binder with submissions of the stories of your over ‘90’ members that could be displayed at your general meetings and conventions. If your Diocese has not started this binder encourage your councils to submit their stories to you so that you can all share in this wonderful source of our League history!

It is my prayer that each of us joyfully proclaims the wonders of the League with all our Catholic sisters as we continue to Walk Humbly with Our God and Love One Another.