Dear League Sisters and Father Terry,

I hope you have all had a good Lent and I pray that this Holy Week will be particularly prayerful for you. It is such a hopeful time of year with the longer, lighter days and Easter’s promise upon us!

But first, special congratulations to the Nelson Diocese on the appointment of their new Bishop, John Corriveau, ofm. This will be an exciting time for your diocese and for Bishop Corriveau too as he begins to see how wonderful the CWL is! Bishop Cooney is in our prayers too for his many years of support and service.

Annual reports

Next, thanks to everyone for the great annual reports and on time too. It makes my job so much easier as I try to pull them all together for my president’s report to National. I look forward to seeing a variation of all those statistics and interesting tidbits in our annual convention book.

Government Meeting

We had an interesting and productive meeting on March 5 with both the NDP and members of the Liberal Caucus. Sheila Quinn, Pat Battensby and I were pleased to present a number of resolutions and recommendations. We had good feedback and questions on human trafficking, elder abuse in care homes, banning the use of cell phones in cars and the issue around legalizing brothels among other things. More than once we were referred to as ‘the conscience’ for the politicians that needs to be heard. It was a compliment and made us even more determined to continue to meet as often as we can. One NDP member suggested we take our resolution and ideas regarding the 2010 games and the issue of prostitution/brothels to Colin Hansen. She agreed to assist in getting an appointment if we had trouble.

Knights of Columbus

We’ve had some good dialogue with the State Deputy, Dan O’Hara as they work on a resolution re prostitution and we will continue to work together on this. Bishop Monroe has been a driving force and I believe this is the type of collaboration we need, as Catholic men and women. The Knights are also planning a March for Life in Victoria on May 8 as well as a day of Adoration for the success of the Eucharistic Congress. Watch for more details and let’s try to support these events.

Conventions

Before you know it we’ll be full on into convention mode. Diocesan Presidents have been planning and preparing for months now and from what I can see all the dioceses are going to have interesting and productive meetings. With elections in the offing for some dioceses and provincial, as well as national nominations to come, it should be lots of fun!

Diocesan

This year’s workshop will focus on Communications. There are many facets to successful and efficient communication in all areas of our lives. Look for a workshop that will help with conflict resolution, media savvy and even some tips on effective reporting. I also hope you are planning to celebrate membership goals/achievements in some way.

Provincial

National President, Lorette Noble will be our featured guest and presenter. Lorette is always a delight and we are looking forward to what pearls of wisdom she will bring. The planning committee from the Kamloops diocese has been working hard with the local council in Williams Lake. Suffice to say you will be Taught, Evangelized, Animated and Motivated over the course of our time together. In particular Fr. Brock will bring Blessed Teresa of Calcutta to us as only he can and we look forward to this special time with him as he prepares to pass the torch as our beloved Spiritual Advisor. Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond our control (a Ukrainian Cardinal, no less!), most of our Bishops will not be able to come to Williams Lake. This has meant a bit of readjustment re the agenda but you can be sure we won’t have trouble filling it.

Provincial executive

Please be sure to book your accommodations and get your flights as soon as possible. Also if possible to bring your Standing Committee Chairperson’s box to exchange and be prepared to stay for the post convention meeting.

National

Just a reminder about the WUCWO Regional meeting and the fact that registration for that is included with your National registration. All the information you need is in the League Magazine. This would be a great convention to get to and Winnipeg isn’t that far!

Conference on women

You will recall at our meeting in January that I was preparing to attend the conference sponsored by the Pontifical Council for the Laity, Feb 6-10 in Rome. It was an awesome experience to say the least. I’ve written a short article for the League Magazine and our newsletter but there is still so much to synthesize. More than 150 delegates participated from 47 countries and even more ecclesial movements including the Catholic Women’s League to mark the 20th anniversary of Pope John Paul II’s Apostolic Letter, “Mulieris Dignitatem.” Over the three days, we were reminded about the unique vocation we have as women to safeguard humanity and bring about peace. I learned about a ‘maternal church’ that I understood to mean a church with a motherly and tender focus that would enable people to acquire new freedoms proper to Christianity, to appreciate the value of relationships and to rediscover different experiences of culture. This conference instilled in us the desire to support, affirm and teach our women where they live and work of the important issues, to instill the belief and conviction of what we have and hold as Catholic women and to convince our sisters that they (we) hold the key to hope and have the necessary gifts to build peace. During our audience with Pope Benedict, he said: “it is necessary to enable the women to collaborate in the building of society, appreciating her feminine genius.”

Leadership workshop in Kamloops

From Rome via London to Kamloops! The leadership workshop was extremely well received and Marilyn did a great job in presenting this with me. More on the workshops later!

National Spring Meeting

February 29 – March 2. And then to Montreal – what a month! The meeting was interesting and lively as always. It was special for me in that it was my last one, already! The tradition at those meetings is that the outgoing presidents do a skit or song to honour the others and the time spent together. As well, the presidents who are staying for another term do something special for those of us who are leaving. It was really something to see. You would be so proud of this group of women who support and affirm one another in prayer and song and fun!

I’ve attached a report of the basic business from my notes. Some things that should interest us all include:

• Resolutions process. Diocesan and Provincial resolutions committees will have to be well prepared in dealing with the new criteria. Diocesan presidents, please be sure you are clear what’s being asked. We don’t want any of our resolutions to be rejected on the basis of not following the guidelines – that would be a terrible situation for those who have worked so hard. If you need any help or clarification prior to your conventions, please contact Sheila directly.
• Forms for reported deceased members will be changed as well as the process – watch for it!
• Criteria for the National Development fund is likely to change as well as the forms. If you are planning to apply, don’t wait too long.
• Membership for BC & Yukon is up again – this time we are one of five provinces with increases – well done! Inching ever closer to our 10,000 if we are to catch the Knights….

And lastly, thank you to Pat Battensby for her good work on the Nominations Committee. It is a huge job. Thank you to those of you who so generously agreed to let your names stand. Special thanks also if you could not. I know there are so many extenuating circumstances that influence our lives and our decisions. Suffice to say, if and when things change for you, I hope you will consider offering your services in some way that suits your situation. We are always looking to share the load; sub committees need chairs; chairpersons need mentors. Should you be called upon to help, I hope you will be able to give consideration and say ‘here I am Lord, use me!’ Whatever you can do or not, your prayers are welcome as we too will continue to pray for you. Our families are our priority and as sisters we will always support one another.

It’s been a busy few months and looks pretty hectic ahead. Let’s pray for peace, in our hearts first and in our homes and families. I was privileged tonight to attend a Mass in celebration of the life of Chiara Lubich, the foundress of the Focolare Movement who died last Friday. The meditation that she wrote in 1976 could have been written today – it was on love and peace, that all may be one. Pope Benedict sent a telegram in which he said: “I thank the Lord for the witness of her life, spent in listening to the needs of modern man in complete faithfulness to the Church and to the Pope.” May she rest in peace.

Happy Easter!