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

Submitted by: Pat Deppiesse

Marianna extended our time for reporting to you today, asking that we make this a teaching opportunity, and to be informative, light, and fun. I will attempt to cover all three, hoping that my enthusiasm for the role of Secretary will shine through!

Information for my brief presentation today will be taken from the Constitution and Bylaws and the Executive Handbook with a few personal tips thrown in! How many members have been Secretaries at some time or another? OK, I will highlight the suggested activities of a parish council Secretary which can include the following:

Signatory:

You are a signing officer for official documents for your council.

Correspondence:

It is important that a record be kept of correspondence both sent and received. Sometimes, the president will ask you to draft letters on her behalf and you would usually send congratulatory cards, thank you cards, etc.

Notice of Meeting:

You should always send out a formal Notice of Meeting, either by Email or in your church bulletins. One parish council I know very well, places a large sign on a tripod in the vestibule the Sunday prior to the meeting inviting all interested ladies.

Agenda:

Assist the president in preparing the agenda for both executive and general meetings – making sure you bring forward any unfinished business from the previous meeting.

Roll Call:

Have a sign-in sheet available for members at your meetings. I would advise you to definitely do a roll call of your executive, using the full name and position titles so that members become more aware who has which standing committee. » Read the rest of this entry »

Submitted by: Pat Deppiesse

Dear Diocesan Secretaries,

I am taking the opportunity to send you one last Communiqué with a request to all diocesan Secretaries.

It would be extremely useful if diocesan secretaries would keep an up to date label list of the past-presidents of their dioceses. The reason is so that, in an election year, they may send that list to the provincial secretary in order for her to keep the elections register up to date. There is the possibility that some of these members may have moved and therefore, the letter inviting them to run at the provincial level may not reach them.

This would possibly involve the parish council secretaries letting you know when a past-president moves and you might consider asking them for the same information. A past-president is eligible for three elections following her term as President (or 6 years).

I know one diocese honours its past-presidents by including them in the roll call at general meetings and sending minutes and notice of meetings to them. It’s a good way of staying connected. After all, they have put in many years of service at that level and we are very appreciative!

Thank you very much for your kind consideration of this request, and for your cooperation. I know the new BC & Yukon Secretary will be very grateful!  I am looking forward to seeing all of you at the convention!

Submitted by: Pat Deppiesse

I am writing with a reminder that I definitely need to receive registration forms from each and every one of the 131 parish councils in the province. To date, I have only received 54! Less than half! This is one of the tasks that must be completed every year without fail.

Those who are not having elections, please send one to me anyway – just to confirm the information we have for your executive is current. I know you understand that with 131 parish councils it is impossible to keep up with who are having elections and who are not!

Please double check all the information with the incumbent to ensure it is correct. If possible, a typed copy would be best. I can’t tell you how many of you have Emailed changes to me throughout the year – especially to Email addresses, and I thank you for that. This information is needed by both the provincial and diocesan councils in order to confirm the accreditation for the conventions so that you can vote! These records also go into our provincial archives.

If you have any questions, need a copy of the form or if I can help you in any way, please do not hesitate to call or email me.

Thank you so much for your Annual Reports that were absolutely excellent! You are such a gracious and hard working group. It’s a pleasure to work with you. I am really looking forward to seeing all of you at our upcoming convention in Richmond.

Submitted by: Pat Deppiesse

Now that the wonderful season of Christmas is over, it is time to get busy with CWL again, and I am writing to you with a request. I am a bit late in sending out the parish register forms for 2010! Somehow, in the busy-ness of the season, I just forgot I had to send them out to you! Mea culpa! Therefore, I really need your help in distributing this form to all your parish councils immediately. I notice that some parish councils are already sending them to me, so you wonderful secretaries are obviously doing your job by making edits to last year’s form! Thank you so much for that.

Attached to this Email are the Parish Council Registration form and the Diocesan Council Registration form. I am sending them by Email for convenience and expediency. Once your diocesan elections are complete, please send in the new diocesan registration form. Those who are not having elections, please send one to me anyway – just to confirm any changes in information for your executive.

I know most parish councils have had their elections by now, 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 – and I thank you for keeping me informed about changes throughout the year.

This information is needed by the provincial council in order for me to send out the convention packages which I am currently preparing, and so that the registrations for the convention can be confirmed. These records also go into our provincial archives

I am looking forward to working with my League sisters in Richmond, part of the Vancouver Archdiocesan Council, to help prepare the groundwork for the upcoming convention there May 27-29 at St. Monica’s Parish.

I hope all we Secretaries can make an opportunity to meet at the convention! In my opinion, you are the ‘silent heroes’ in the League, keeping records of everything that goes on and I thank you for your diligence! If you have any questions or if I can help you in any way, please do not hesitate to call or Email me. Please remember to send me a copy of your Communiqué if you write one.

Just a friendly reminder that your Annual Report is due February 15th. If you have yours ready, please forward to me at your earliest convenience.

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

With much love and all of God’s abundant blessings.

Submitted by: Pat Deppiesse

When I started to think about what to put in this oral report, I was stymied. Then I thought of all those wonderful ladies who have accepted this – what can sometimes be a challenging role, and all of a sudden, thoughts came streaming in! Times are changing. Most secretaries are now very computer literate and doing a great job. I very much enjoyed reading your annual reports.

I wonder if you realize that you hold the key to the history of your Council? In the minutes of your meetings, you are recording events and providing an historical reference for your parish and diocesan councils.

In regard to what to put in the minutes, be sure to recognize people by name for the good work they are doing. Not only do people need and deserve recognition, this information may come in handy in the future. Remember to have the original minutes signed when they are approved at the next meeting. May I suggest that you get a binder for all the minutes of your meetings, divided by year. You could have the executive list at the beginning of each year thereby making it easy to pass on the information to the past president for archives at the end of your term.

One thing I can’t emphasize enough at the parish council level is taking care of correspondence. Others on the executive may help take care of this, but it is so important that we send out thank you letters, letters of congratulations, get well and sympathy cards, etc. to all our parishioners for milestone occasions, reminding them we are praying for them. The best thing we do as CWL members is pray. We will be recognized as gracious, loving and welcoming women.

If there is anything that I can help you with, please see me at any time during this convention; I would love to meet you!

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. » Read the rest of this entry »

Submitted by: Doreen Gowans

As Secretaries at all levels we find ourselves in the middle of all the activities of our councils.  It is up to us to ensure we have all the information at our fingertips or know where to get the information in the event we are asked by our Executive, or a member of our council or parish community.

On our National Catholic Women’s League website there is a Handbook for Secretaries that can be downloaded, printed or ordered through our National office.  In the Handbook you will find a job description for secretaries, our roles and responsibilities, information on how to set up agendas, what to include in your councils minutes, and how to address dignitaries at various levels of government as well as the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.  This is a must for every secretary including those with experience as it contains a wealth of knowledge and information. » Read the rest of this entry »

Submitted by: Doreen Gowans

Dear League Sisters and Father Terry:

As we are approaching Advent and we prepare ourselves to celebrate the birth of Jesus, I encourage you to take time to discern where you are in your spiritual journey. Often we find ourselves caught up in the hustle & bustle of the materialistic world and often forget to thank God for the many blessings we have received in the past year. Ask ourselves if there is something we would like to do now or in 2008 to deepen our spiritual life. Is there a retreat we would like to add to our Christmas wish list? Have we reached out to someone in need? » Read the rest of this entry »