Secretary Communique #1

Submitted by: Pat Deppiesse

As this is my first Communiqué as Secretary of the BC & Yukon Provincial Council, I would like to introduce myself.  To give you a bit of background, I am a happily married (45 years) mother of three and grandmother of eleven.  Two of my children live in Calgary with their families and my husband and I visit there at least every 6-8 weeks so that our grandchildren will know us!  We very often spend Christmas in Calgary and experience the great outdoors, ice skating and tobogganing – a real old fashioned Christmas.  This year we were happy to be staying home with my eldest daughter and her family.  She just donated her kidney to her 15 year old daughter and they are still recovering (very well – thanks be to God!).

I became a member and Founding President in my own Parish Council at St. Pius X Parish in North Vancouver in January, 1995 with 60 members signed up.  Talk about jumping in with both feet! I moved on up to Secretary on the Vancouver Archdiocesan Council and then to President-elect and then President.  While President, I was Secretary of the Planning Committee for the national convention held in Vancouver in 2005.  It was a difficult decision to move on to the Provincial level, but I do love the League and the sisters I have met over the years.  We share so much and I would miss them terribly if I wasn’t carrying on.  So here I am, a Secretary again.I work part time at the Archdiocese of Vancouver Chancery Office and administer the Mission Appeal Program.  I absolutely love my job!  I often get called upon to help to organize the many events that happen in the Archdiocese – most recently, our 100th Anniversary celebrations.

As provincial secretary I hope I can do something to make the road a bit smoother for all of you, but realize that you all have so much experience that you could probably teach me a thing or two!  Anyway, we will all work together to ensure that the records of our various levels are kept in an orderly manner following the guidelines laid out so beautifully in the national handbooks.

One thing that I learned by being Past-President, is that the Archival material is very important and that it all starts with the Secretaries!  I learned that the materials that you collect over the year have a certain way to be filed.  For instance, The Handbook for Past President page 5 says: all material pertaining to each standing committee should be filed together and the file clearly marked with the name of the chairperson and years.  The annual reports of the president, secretaries and treasurer should be similarly filed.  Names of officers and years in office should be marked on the outside of each file folder.  I assume this means all Communiqués and attachments and oral reports, etc. as well. 

Now, I wonder who is filing in this manner?  Wouldn’t it be a good idea to start doing this as Secretaries and then be able to pass on the records to our Past-president in the proper format.  When I was the secretary for diocesan, I filed by meeting.  What are you doing?  Should we all try to file this way?  There are a couple of reasons why it is a good method.  It would certainly make the job of Past-president easier when she receives all our material to archive.  I think it also makes sense, because if you are discussing a subject around the table, you might remember that Mary Smith presented something when she was Chairperson of …. Standing Committee, but you certainly wouldn’t remember the meeting.  Therefore, you would simply go to the file of that chairperson and look it up very easily.  It might also be a good idea to include some pictures with that chairperson in them.

Let me know by return email what you are doing in your diocese and if you might like to try this method.  I am going to attempt to do this for my term as provincial secretary.  I’ll let you know how it goes!

I know some parish councils have had their elections 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.

We have just purchased a new laptop computer for the provincial council and have been assured that it is powerful enough to do all the presentations that we require at the conventions and has lots of memory.  If only the one to be operating it is the same!!!  I will do my best.  We are in great shape now with a laptop and a printer.  The only thing we don’t have is the projector required to show presentations on the screen.  We will have to rent or borrow one at the site of the convention.

I am looking forward to working with my League sisters in Prince George to prepare the groundwork for the upcoming convention there.

Please note our new national and provincial themes at the top of this letter.  If you have any questions or if I can help you in any way, please do not hesitate to call or Email me.  I also look forward to meeting with each of you at the convention!  Please remember to send me your Communiqués if you write one.

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