Community Life Communique #5

Submitted by: Lois Charlebois

First of all, I hope everyone had a wonderful summer. The weather here has certainly been great. Now it is time to get back to C.W.L. and the Community Life Committee. I want to welcome back those who were Diocesan Community Life Chairpersons last year and I want to extend a special welcome to those who are new to this position.

While doing Community Life Communiqués and reports, I realized how many different communities we all belong to—our family, our social groups, our workplace, our neighborhood, our Parish, our Diocese, our Province, our Country and our World. Above all we are all Christians, people created by God, united with God, with Christ and with Holy Spirit. The “three – in one” guide us. So, how does this fit in with our work in this committee? First of all we must be women of Peace and Hope–guided by Scripture and prayer. Some simple suggestions for prayer for us to use are found in the new Kit “The Day of Prayer for Peace and Hope “. All Parishes should have this kit and there is a section in it for each Standing Committee—be sure to look at the Community Life section. The kit can be downloaded from the National C.W.L. Website.

I attended all 3 levels of Conventions and as always received much important information and renewed enthusiasm for our work. Our Resolutions were great and 3 of the B.C. & Yukon Resolutions were accepted by the National Convention and all 3 of them were passed:

Resolution 2009:01 Exit Strategies for Prostituted Persons

Resolution 2009:02 Legislate Protection and Support Services for Human Trafficking Victims

Resolution 2009:03 Repeal Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act Regarding Hate Messages

Please encourage individual action such as letter writing on these topics and the topics of the other Resolutions passed at the Provincial Convention.

In her Oral Report at the National Convention, Mary Nordick—National Chairperson of Community Life said, “ Two issues that have been of particular concern this year are Child Poverty and Human Trafficking. We must keep working on these issues as they are not going to be disappearing any time soon.” We must work toward eliminating the root causes of poverty and injustice by studying the issues , taking action on them in our communities and writing to our Governments, Support for Development and Peace is an integral part of the work of the Community Life Standing Committee. Unfortunately, allegations from Lifesite last spring made many people question Development and Peace’s work. This has been investigated and the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) have reaffirmed their support for Development and Peace. The Bishops report can be accessed through the CCCB website. Donations to the National 1% Fund were down this year. These donations to Development and Peace enable women and their families in less fortunate parts of the world to live better lives. Development and peace programs bring hope and practical help to those who struggle in these countries.

Prayer is such a powerful tool for tackling the problems in our communities here, in our province, in our country and in the world community. Please keep all these important issues in your prayers. May our Patroness, Our Lady of Good Counsel bless us all and the work that we do.