Provincial Convention 2010: Communications Oral Report

Submitted by: Doreen Gowans

As women of peace & hope we are asked to be God’s hands and feet here on earth serving His people.  Have we communicated that to all of our sisters in the league?  Have you shared the  “Peace And Hope Activities Kit” with your members? What treasures have you found in the league that has given you excitement of being a member?

As communication chairs it is our responsibility to promote council activities with an added dose of faith, fun and fulfillment.  We have been challenged to welcome everyone into this wonderful organization we know as the catholic women’s league of Canada.   We need to communicate our enthusiasm with everyone we meet and invite them to follow us.

To inform our members we have many venues at our fingertips. For example we have our league magazine with excellent articles from our national, and provincial leaders as well as members and guests.  These articles inform and challenge us to be and do the best we can to inform and promote the league.  Another avenue is the e-newsletter, which can be subscribed to or viewed on line on our Catholic women’s league national web site at www.cwl.ca.

This is a monthly newsletter, which is a supplement to the league magazine.  The BC & Yukon council has it’s own newsletter entitled “the communicator”, which is the responsibility of the provincial communications chair to collect compile and distribute to the provincial council, diocesan presidents and diocesan communications chairpersons who then forward onto the parish councils.  The communicator is published twice a year, once prior to the diocesan council conventions and once in the fall.  The purpose of our provincial newsletter is to be a teaching aid to educate and share ideas both from the BC & Yukon provincial council and from and to our members.    The spring edition can be viewed along with the recent communiqués on our provincial web site at www.cwl.bc.ca. I have thoroughly enjoyed putting together this newsletter and it has been by far the most educational and fun aspect as communications chair.  World communications day is the 1^st Sunday in June, which this year is June 6, 2010.

White ribbon against pornography is Sunday cot. 17 – sun. Oct. 24, 2010. The ribbon of signatures kit is available from C.A.S.E. (Canadians against sexual exploitation) for a suggested donation of $25. I invite every council and member to take out a membership in C.A.S.E.  By going on line to C.A.S.E. You will see a newsletter keeping you informed on what you can do to educate your children so they do no become victims of child pornography.

Some tips are:

• Communicate with your children about their Internet activities.
• Keep the computer in an open area of your home, never in the child’s bedroom
• Monitor any web cam usage.
• Monitor any use on web sites that are specifically designed for young children.
• Protect your wireless router signal with a password.

This year the white ribbon campaign will focus on Internet service providers or (ISP’S). For more info go to their website at www.4case.ca

A parish council viewed a film on “trafficking of women” which provided information for one family that may have aided in a young girl not becoming a trafficked victim.  Communicating to our members can be a powerful tool to pass on necessary information.

I had the opportunity to talk to our Kamloops diocesan council about an all expense paid trip to New York to attend a workshop on trafficking for young male & female age 18 – 25 years.  This was sponsored by UNANIMA – an international coalition of congregations of roman catholic sisters committed to work for peace and human dignity, through the united nations, other NGO’s through collaboration, education, and advocacy.

I was very excited when I heard a young man from Vernon, BC age 25, married and a father of an 8-month-old boy was one of the chosen recipients to attend this wonderful workshop.  It was an honour to see the results of speaking out and communicating.

Communication involves stepping out of our comfort zone and reaching out and welcoming those who we do not know.  I challenge you to make new friends and talk to members that you have not met.  If you meet my challenge come and see me and I will give you a little gem for your effort.  Have fun and meet your sisters in the league.  Thanks to Sandralynn Stone, Nelson Diocesan Communications Chair for this wonderful idea.

Food for thought – in one of the diocesan communication reports it was reported that communication is saying what we need to say with as few words as possible.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me during the past 2 years.  For me it has been a growth opportunity, which I have thoroughly loved and I hope you have enjoyed.   Thank you for this wonderful opportunity.