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

Submitted by: Marianna Caldwell

Greetings and Happy New year to everyone. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas, a white Christmas for many this year, very different from the warm sunny days in Australia.

Provincial Development Fund

Fund #1 – Applications for subsidy to travel to the Provincial Convention in Williams Lake are now being accepted.
Assistance to send Delegates to the Provincial Convention will cover 2/3 maximum of the bus fare to the Convention site. The actual total amount of the grant available will be determined by the funds available this year. Other expenses such as hotel, meals and registration are the responsibility of the individual, the Parish or the Diocese.

Fund #2 – Diocesan Presidents are reminded that $1,000 is available for assistance to attend a National Convention if their Diocese cannot afford to send them. This grant is available once during a Diocesan President’s two year term.

Applications for both subsidies must be received by March 15th. Please send the completed forms to the Provincial Organization Chairperson, address below. » Read the rest of this entry »

Submitted by: Barbara Dowding

Dear League Sisters and Father Terry,

Fall is fast approaching! The cooler mornings, the mist and fog, not to mention the spider webs everywhere tell me its time to get back to work.

I can see your Provincial Executive have been busy and thank them for the fine communiques filled with great pearls of information and ideas for action.

You will be receiving reports from Sheila Q…., 1st Vice President and Marilyn V………, 2nd Vice President on their view of the National Convention in Montreal. I can tell you that you will think you were there after reading the reports!

I was a very proud Provincial President when our three new Life Members were “inducted” at a moving and very meaningful service. Congratulations again to Marianna C, Sheila Q and Marilyn V.

While I was pleased that so many members from our province were in attendance, some accredited for their dioceses but many on their own, it made me think, once again, that we need to find ways of getting all our diocesan presidents to all the National Conventions. It is such a great learning experience and an important base for League growth. But there is another even more important reason and that concerns the election of national officers. If diocesan presidents have never even seen or heard of the women running for office, it makes for very difficult choices when it comes to nominations and knowing the people we want to elect. » Read the rest of this entry »

Submitted by: Barbara Dowding 

Madame President,

It has been another very good year in BC & the Yukon. Our numbers continue inch ever closer to the 10,000 mark and more and more members are getting out to diocesan and provincial conventions – further proof of the wonderful rewards of hosting a National convention!

Our first year has been a huge learning curve as we got to know one another and appreciate our various talents and gifts. Our TEAM theme worked well and continues to guide us as we walk humbly with our God. » Read the rest of this entry »

Submitted by: Barbara Dowding

I am delighted to speak to you for a few minutes about the Organization Standing Committee. As you know, it is one of those committees with a bad rap so to speak. No one wants to do it, possibly because it often has strings to the presidency attached, or because it deals with leadership development and most of think we aren’t qualified.

What a state of affairs! For today, let’s take a little look and you can tell me what’s to be afraid of.

Each and every one of us is concerned about membership. Just look at the results of the focus group workshops. Sure enough, attracting and maintaining a solid membership base is a huge issue. But it’s not insurmountable! We also heard of many ways to interest women in what we have to offer – from the tried and true to some new ideas. Check out my report in the convention book. I don’t think it’s the ideas that are lacking, but rather enthusiasm. Only when we are truly convinced that the Catholic Women’s League of Canada is the best organization to belong to, will we be successful. Remember the early Church? Having just about completed another Easter season, we cannot help but be touched by the passion and energy of those first disciples. I wonder sometimes if we aren’t too cautious and careful in trying to keep all the good things about our League to ourselves. Unlike the early church where people couldn’t wait to share everything, we might find ourselves more comfortable doing things the way we’ve always done them and then complaining about the poor results. Hoarding the Good News never was an option! » Read the rest of this entry »

Submitted by: Evelyn R.

Under the strong leadership of my predecessor, Pat Deppiesse, the Catholic Women’s League in the Vancouver Archdiocese continued to grow. Our four joy-filled General Meetings featuring topical presentations were regularly well attended. Members and priests enjoyed the Priests’ Appreciation Dinner with many councils generously sponsoring guest priests. Although on that night we were supposed to be the hosts, we received our fair share of appreciation in the gracious words of Monsignor Lopez- Gallo.

During her term Pat had installed two extra councils and witnessed the start up of a third. Two other councils were re-invigorated and gained full executives. A League Development Team was formed to be available on request for the training of councils, whether new, experienced or struggling. One of its first presentations dealt with Standing Committees, demonstrating their potential to bring alive and continually restate the mission of our League. By October we had aroused enough interest in our members to hold a two day Training Workshop with a Registered Parliamentarian, John Noonan, who took the fear out of Robert’s Rules of Order. Those present became better educated about efficient ways to run meetings and had a lot of fun doing so. Several council presidents began applying these principles in their own councils to good effect. In the New Year we anxiously awaited the return of the revamped annual report forms. While the number of reports did not improve dramatically, the quality and organization of the contents did. More recently we learned that we could add one more name to our list of Life Members, that of Marianna Caldwell. » Read the rest of this entry »

Submitted by: Barbara Dowding

Dear League Sisters,

Happy New Year to you all!

Annual Reports – I trust by now you are working toward collecting the annual reports from your parishes. As the reports filter in you will be amazed at what is going on and has happened. I am confident that the new forms will generate really interesting reports that will enable you to also paint a brilliant picture of the activities and well-being in so many of our parishes.

Please be sure to adhere to the deadlines (parish reports are due to you January 15 and your reports to provincial by February 15). If at all possible contact those parishes from which you don’t hear. While this may be time-consuming and somewhat tedious, it is so very worthwhile – you’ll be amazed what you find out, and the fact that you called will go a long way toward encouraging responses. » Read the rest of this entry »

Submitted by: Barbara Dowding

Enclosure: “Stir a new Spirit of Enthusiasm” by Dodie B…, provincial sub chair for membership – enjoy. Thanks Dodie!

Dear League Sisters,

One of the most effective things Organization Chairpersons can do at this time in our League year is generate enthusiasm for membership. Encourage parish councils to do something different in an effort to raise awareness about membership in the most amazing women’s organization in the country (world!). It is so important to find ways to remind Catholic women of the many reasons they should be interested in and part of our League.

I challenge each of you diocesan organization chairs to find a way to track membership in your diocese. Ask the parish councils to assist and report to you their progress. All councils know how many members they have, how many they had and how many are brand new! Let’s see if each diocese could recognize one parish council for significant growth – either the most lapsed members returning, the highest percentage of new members or whatever you think is interesting and worthy of note. We will recognize these at the Provincial Convention in a special way. I leave it up to you, but now is the time to get thinking as memberships begin to pour in. » Read the rest of this entry »

Contributed by: Barbara Dowding

Dear League Sisters and Father Terry,

And so we continue….refreshed from summer and energized from the National Convention, it’s time to get going again!

For those diocesan presidents whose meetings are imminent, I know you will have a list a mile long from the National Convention to report on. There were so many important issues to pass on from both levels, in particular Trafficking and the ‘rare second chance’ concerning the government’s promise to re-look at the definition of marriage. I am sure your enthusiastic reports to your members on both provincial and national will make for a great start to the new League year. Getting the message across about the wonderful camaraderie one feels at conventions is important but so are some of the important aspects of the work done. We look forward to the reports from Nancy S. and Marianna C. on their impressions of the National convention. » Read the rest of this entry »

Submitted by: Pat Battensby 

Dear Sisters in the League and Father Terry,

A heartfelt big hug to all of you as we embark on another amazing League year. Welcome back to Doreen G…… (Kamloops), Dodie B….(Prince George), Gloria G……. (Vancouver) and Murielle B…… (Whitehorse). Special welcome to new past presidents: Joyce S…… (Nelson), and Mary L……… (Victoria) who join me in learning the contents of this new (to us) standing committee. When I receive permission from all of you due to the privacy issues, I will send complete information, i.e. addresses, telephone and e mail numbers to you all so you can all exchange communiques and information about happenings in your diocese. I look forward to this new role in the League. Every office that we hold in the League is another step in our development both personally and especially in the knowledge of the League. » Read the rest of this entry »

Contributed by: Barbara Dowding

What a pleasure it is to report to you on behalf of nearly 9,000 members of the Catholic Women’s League in British Columbia and the Yukon. We are six dioceses ranging in size from the largest with 49 parish councils and the smallest only two. Distance, travel time and weather play a big part in how we meet and communicate. Our challenges are similar to those across this great country, but today I want to focus on the wonderful things going on out West.

The CWL is alive and well. For the 3rd straight year our membership has increased and we are inching ever closer to our short term goal of 10,000. The Provincial Convention in Whitehorse had an outstanding attendance especially since it was so far away for most and very expensive to get to. We believe this is a direct result of the enthusiasm and excitement generated from the National Convention last year. » Read the rest of this entry »