Happy New Year to the Spiritual Development Chairpersons at Parish and Diocesan Levels.  It will be up to Diocesan Chairperson to ensure that  the Parish Spiritual Development Chairperson receive this communiqué so they can begin  implementing this most important work to ensure the  membership  get the best spiritual growth and encouragement they possibly can.  There are wonderful programs in place to help you do just that.  Thank you to the parish councils that submitted their reports to their diocesan counterpart in a timely manner.  It is through the annual reports that your work and ideas are shared and your good works acknowledged.   Terri Scott, National Spiritual Development Chairperson has sent her second communiqué. I will use excerpts from her report and to view it in its entirety visit the National webpage. It will be posted shortly. It is filled with inspiring ideas that can be used by every parish to enhance spiritual growth. 

Jubilee Year of St. Paul the Apostle: June 28, 2008, to June 29, 2009

The Ontario Provincial Spiritual Development Standing Committee has compiled a package on The Pauline Year. The file includes a comprehensive overview of the life and mission journeys of St.Paul, ways to celebrate the Pauline Year, hymns and prayers. In short, if there is anything you wish to know about St. Paul, it is there. Please check the website: http://www.cwl.on.ca/PaulineYear.html The Holy Spirit was  at work.

49th International Eucharistic Congress

The Congress, which was held in June 2008 in Quebec City, was experienced by most as, “a great moment of faith and fellowship.” From this website link: http://www.cei2008.ca/en/accueil you  may read about highlights of the week, or order a souvenir  album or DVD. Terri looks forward to hearing about your faith  adventures in your annual reports for 2009.

Catholic Missions In Canada (CMIC)

The League has been supporting the CMIC since 2001 through a national voluntary fund. In 2003 it was voted to make the fund permanent.       In over seven years, $150,000 was generated to help the missions. At a recent national executive meeting, it was agreed that the following six missions supported by CMIC would receive funding from the CWL:

• Office of Catechetics: Youth Ministry (Diocese of Grand Falls)
• Catechetical/Youth Ministry Office (Diocese of Corner Brook and Labrador)
• First Nations Lay Ministry Formation Program (Diocese of Thunder Bay)
• Rural Catechetical Program (Diocese of Prince Albert)
• Native Catechetical Ministry Team (Diocese of Nelson)
• Religious Education and Youth Ministry (Diocese of Keewatin-Le Pas)

Prayer for All Vocations

Someone sent Terri  this lovely prayer that includes all vocations. You may wish to keep it handy and say it often:

Prayer for All Vocations

God, our Father, in baptism You called us by name, making us members of Your people, the church. We praise You for Your goodness, we thank You for Your gifts. We ask You to strengthen us to live in love and service to others after the example of Your son, Jesus. Father, look upon Your church with love and bless Your people with generous single men and women, with loving husbands and wives, with understanding parents, with trusting children, with dedicated priests, sisters, deacons and brothers. Help us to see our vocations as a journey toward You. You have called us, not to set us apart, but to bring us together with others who need our love. Make us faithful signs of Your presence in their midst.  We ask You through Christ, our Lord. Amen

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity: January 18-25, 2009

“In order to unite with one another, we must love one another; in order to love one another, we must know one another; in order to know one another, we must go and meet one another.” These words are the impetus for this annual event and are taken from the Testament of Cardinal Mercier. The week of prayer, actually eight days in all, began in 1894. The 2009 theme is That they may become one in your hand, and the chosen text is Ezekiel 37.15-28.  You are encouraged to participate in your parish events to pary for unity.

Women’s Inter-Church Council of Canada (WICC)

The March 6th World Day of Prayer service was written by the women of Papua, New Guinea, with the theme, In Christ there are many members, yet one body.

Once again take part in the Service offered in your community.

Shorter Christian Prayer

Lay persons are encouraged to pray the Liturgy of the Hours.  A user friendly format is Shorter Christian Prayer, the four-week Psalter of the Liturgy of the Hours  that contains Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer, with selections for the entire year. This official prayer of the Catholic Church will bring blessings and comfort to you. Week 1 begins on January 12th.  Father  Tran told us an easy way to find which week you are on is to divide whatever week of ordinary time you are on by 4,  the remaining number is the week.

One in the Spirit program patterned on the popular Spirituality, a day of Discovery

In my last communiqué I mentioned checking out this program which is found on the National website under programs.  This program provides an opportunity for members to become more aware of their individual spiritual preferences and may enrich their relationship with God and others. It can be done in three hours, 

Women of Peace and Hope

By now members are preparing for diocesan conventions and have been studying the new theme that will be in effect for the next two years. A hymn you may want to consider to compliment the theme is “Peace” (Weston Priory), with text and music by Gregory Norbet, OSB. It may be found on page 478 of Breaking Bread. Before any hymn is copied and circulated for use, please ensure that permission is sought from the publisher.

The Feast of Our Lady of Good Counsel, celebrated annually on April 26th, has been newly declared CWL Day of Peace and Hope. Each national standing committee chairperson submitted concrete ideas to form a kit to help members pray for peace and hope with two main areas, 1) palliative care  and 2) “Welcome, Friend!” with which to promote this special day. National office is compiling the kit to be released by mid-February to help councils prepare for April 26th. It is a call for action that will make members more visible in their parishes as women who are working for peace and hope.

Reporting Deceased Members for 2009  

It is very important to submit the names of your deceased members to National Office very soon after their passing on to their heavenly reward. Don’t wait for months or years. When you hear the Book of Life being read at the Provincial Convention in Prince George you may be amazed at some of the dates being reported.   Please use the 2008 revised report form which advises you to send one copy to National Office.  This form can be found on the National Website under form and is the very last item. 

Apparently National is going to advise Provincial and Diocesan chairpersons periodically so the Provincial and Diocesan Books of Life can be compiled.  Watch for more information. 

May Our Lady of Good Counsel  guide your efforts as you live the new theme for the next two years.  God Bless You.  Keep the National Executive,  Provincial Executive, Diocesan Executives. Life Members and the members in your daily prayer.   A blanket prayer would do to cover all that we may be seen as women of Peace and Hope—  Serving with Faith and Joy

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2008 EVERYONE: May Our God bless us with every blessing that we need to lead good and holy lives. May Peace Joy and Happiness fill your homes. We leave for AZ in a few hours, 5 AM January 03.

I expect that the Diocesan Chairpersons of Community Life are starting to work on their annual reports due February 15, 2008. Please email the report to me at communitylife@cwl.bc.ca.

Dear Ladies would you kindly send me copies of your communiques that you send out to your parish councils. I requested this and only heard from one person. Thank you Shirley.

Dignity and Rights of Persons
Dr. Rayleen De Luca prepared her Communique #6 December 03, 2007. It was nearing Christmas and I didn’t see that it contained anything too urgent to pass on to you immediately as I had communicated with you a month earlier. I did send out a notice that Rayleen had a new communique out and you could read it on the National website I was pleased to see that Rayleen acknowledged the concrete action taken by British Columbia CWL Councils in their fight against Human Trafficking particularly with the postcard campaign.

Some highlights from her communique: National executive members, President Lorette Noble, Resolutions Chairperson, Betty Anne Brown and Community Life Chairperson, Dr. Rayleen De Luca visited Ottawa the week prior to December 03, 2007. They met with MP Joy Smith (Kildonan-St. Paul, CPC). Mrs. Smith has been instrumental in bringing forward human trafficking to the forefront of government business. Her initial motion read, “That, in the opinion of the House, the trafficking of women and children across international borders for the purposes of sexual exploitation should be condemned, and that the House call on the government to immediately adopt a comprehensive strategy to combat the trafficking of persons worldwide.” In speaking to her motion Mrs. Smith stated, “For years the international community has been aware that vulnerable people have been tricked into believing they could find a better life in North America, only to become the victims of a cruel and horrendous deception and land up as prisoners in the sex trade against their will.”

Rayleen provided a website where you can print your own postcard. I opened this site and it contains wonderful information. Please visit www.CanadaCan.blogspot.com.

Rayleen continues on with statistics about water. We all know to do our part in conserving our water resources. Try not to use bottled water as it is detrimental to the environment. The one fact that tap water is on average 500 times more economical than bottled water should be enough to deter us from bottled water.

Development and Peace
In British Columbia we are making an extra effort to provide more funds for Development and Peace to help countries in Africa deal with the many problems created by the AID/HIV pandemic. I wrote about this at length in Communique #6

We have a project where we can now fund raise in a manner that is not against our morals and faith. See Dr. De Luca’s article in The Canadian League Fall issue page 10.

Resolutions
In the Fall issue of The Canadian League the two resolutions that come under Community Life Chair are listed. You are encouraged to work on these in your parish councils.

• 2007.01 GOVERNMENT FUNDING FOR POLICE RECORD CHECKS. Follow the action plan.
• 2007.02 GLOBAL ACCOUNTABILITY FOR CANADIAN REGISTERED MINING COMPANIES. Follow the action plan as well.

Remember Darfur in your prayers and charitable donations. The stories coming from there are horrendous. Really is there anyplace in the world that doesn’t need help in one form or another. Pray for Peace in the World. Pray for the safety of our troops in Afghanistan especially in this volatile time after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan.

Do you remember the little article I wrote in the spring issue of the Provincial Newsletter about the word counsel or council? I notice that some continue to use the word in the wrong context. I was gently correcting a Diocesan Chairperson about the misuse of council and she said she had copied the spelling directly from the Provincial chairperson’s report. So there you go. It is Our Lady of Good Counsel and the other spelling is, I am a member of Sacred Heart Parish Council.

Thank you for all your good works promoting social and economic justice, helping the recent immigrants, upholding the dignity and rights of persons, donating to Development and Peace and your work with developing countries. The world will be a brighter place. I await your reports with great anticipation. Let’s make this a wonderful reporting year. I would like to have 100% participation from the parish councils. A suggestion: If you haven’t heard from a parish, it is acceptable to telephone or send an email asking about the missing report.

May God bless you and keep you. May our Lady of Good Counsel guide us in this wonderful work of Community Life.

Your sister in the League,

Carol P….

Hello once again;

I pray all is well with you and your families, and that the weather is kind to you all.

Have you had time to take a look at the fall issue of the League Magazine? It is full of awesome articles and great pictures of the banners that were presented for consideration for Love One Another competition. I wouldn’t have wanted to be the judge, I personally loved them all.

Are you praying to Stay Awake? He’s coming… It’s that time again (ADVENT). Do you remember the resolution that was passed in 1974 in regards to resolutions passed from 1966 and 1971?

Resolution 1974.01 resolved “that we reaffirm the national resolutions of 1966 and 1971 asking members to undertake a nationwide prayer for peace, which would request each member to participate in the Celebration of the Holy Eucharist on one week-day of each month for “Peace in the World”.”

Our National Spiritual Development Chairperson Cecile Miller and I ask that you consider doing some of the things listed below, please feel free to add to the list:

Pray for Peace in the World
Ask Our Lady of Good Counsel to intercede for us to her Son, the Prince of Peace
Say a prayer for Peace before or after meals
Try to attend a day of prayer or weekend retreat
Share your stuff (unwanted items) with the poor and less fortunate
Pass on the books you are finished with that have helped you with your faith journey
Love yourself and love others
Walk with your sisters in the League as you prepare for the coming of Christ
Read Isaiah 2:1-5 in your December meeting “then everything will be changed. We will walk in God’s paths, the Lord’s house will be the highest, and no nation will go to war”.

A request: I have been asked for prayers for “Married Life” to be submitted to national by January 15th, 2008. How would you like to ask your ladies to come up with a prayer regarding Married Life and I will submit it and maybe it will be chosen by Nationals Chairperson for Spiritual and Christian Family Life and be placed in a new version of League Prayer Card. Please be sure to put name of council, name of submitter as well as your diocese. Send submission to me and I will send them on.

49th International Eucharist Congress Temporary Voluntary Fund:
Some funds have come in, but the half-way mark has still not been reached for the League commitment to the Congress committee. Could you ask your councils to consider a donation to this worthy cause…? (Read your fall League Magazine for more details)

There are still rooms available at the Chateau Laurier in Quebec City, Quebec. If you are planning on attending you can contact our Provincial President Barb Dowding and she will give you the name of the contact person.

If you are planning on attending, you can save $30.00 by registering early before January 2008.

The Catholic Missions In Canada: is celebration 100 years of Mission (1908-2008) they are inviting us to help them celebrate this awesome event.

Their Mission today, as it has been for the past 100 years, is to foster and extend the blessings of the Catholic faith throughout the mission dioceses of Canada which cannot financially support their local church and its ministry. In 2007, Catholic Missions In Canada has committed over $4 million to support the needs of 600 missionaries working in 26 Canadian mission dioceses, and serving 1.2 million Catholics across Canada – from Newfoundland to British Columbia to Nunavut.

Six critical areas include the support of:

• Missionary priest, sister, religious and lay leaders;
• Teaching of religious education programs to children, youth and adults;
• Building and repair of churches, rectories and religious centers;
• Ministry to our First Nations’ peoples;
• Education of seminarians

Here is our challenge: (let the people know of this great happening and what they do) Very few people know that the Catholic Missions exist in Canada, and ever fewer support it.

Our challenge to each Provincial, Diocesan and Council across Canada is to help us raise awareness of Catholic Missions In Canada in our community through an event of our choosing. Whatever the event, be it a faith breakfast, a luncheon, a dinner or a gala, the focus should be to educate and communicate the immense values and need of the work being done by our Canadian missionaries today. They will assist you by providing educational materials, including, whenever practical, arranging to have missionary speakers at you event.

If the event includes a fundraising component, you wish to send the proceeds to National to support “The Catholic Women’s League of Canada’s National Catechesis Endowment Fund”.

To find out more about this, contact Anne Hanley of The Catholic Missions In Canada at (614) 934-3424, EXT. 227 or toll-free @ 1(866) 937-2642

Salt & Light DVDs:
Web site; www.saltandlighttv.org/shopping or call (888) 302-7181

DVDs available; Saints: Gospel Artists; Love Is a Choice, the life of St. Gianna Beretta Molla; the Journey of Light (journey to the Holy Land)

Good Reading: I personally recommend a book by Vinny Flynn called “7 Secrets of the Eucharist”. I have read this book as well watched a DVD of the same name. I would highly recommend this book to your council to read. It is very in tune with the eve of 49th International Eucharistic congress coming up next year. You can find more about this book and DVD by going on their web site www.mercysong.com or call them at 1 (888) 549-8009.

Stamps: Please remember to ask for Nativity – related stamps for all your Christmas mailings.

Dates to Remember:

Advent begins December 2nd
December 12th is the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
December 12th is the Catholic church’s National Day of Prayer for Aboriginal People
December 30th The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph
January 6th Epiphany of the Lord
January 13th Baptism of the Lord (Thanksgiving for the Beloved Son
January 20-28, 2008 is Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The theme is Pray without ceasing. Materials are available from Novalis, 10 Lower Spadina Ave., Suite 400, Toronto, ON M5V 2Z2. Telephone (800) 387-7164; facsimile (800) 204-4140; e-mail living@novalis.ca ;

Website www.novalis.ca

This will be my last communique before the New Year. Please accept my prayers for you and your family. God Bless you all and may Our Lady of Good Council intercede for you and your family in all your prayers. Merry Christmas, Peace on Earth, and remember to keep Christ in Christmas always.

Dodie B….

Madam President:

We have been truly blessed. Our Holy Pontiff , Benedict XVI has given us the encyclical Deus Caritas Est, God Is Love. The second part of the encyclical has instructions for us on Christian Charity; needless to say, this goes hand in hand with our Community Life standing committee.

Secondly our National President Lorette Noble was inspired to choose “Love one Another” as the theme for the next two years. Remember to love yourself as well. What a privilege to listen to Lorette provide a workshop on the theme at our Nelson Diocesan Convention. How can we love one another? What comes to your mind? That is where Community Life comes into play. We are God’s hands and feet. Our sisters and brothers in the world look to us for financial assistance and aid. “Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers that you do unto me.”

It was interesting to read the article written by Kim Scammell in The Canadian League winter issue 2007, that we should look to the Manual of Policy and Procedure to keep our Leagues focused and to only support those groups that promote our values. This calls to mind Go Go Grannies. We have now distanced ourselves from aiding the Stephen Lewis foundation. Dr. Rayleen Deluca had an informative article, in this same winter issue of The Canadian League, writing about, daughters, sisters, mothers, grandmothers aiding sisters, daughters, mothers, grand mothers working and sharing through CCODP .(Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace). We definitely know that our values are upheld. and we get the most bang for our buck as their administrative costs are very low. This is now our focus to grant support to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. We will work through Development and Peace. Surprisingly, there has been a group in Zambia being supported by Dev and Peace since 1994. They are a NGO (non governmental organization) called “Women for Change” Shall we embrace these ladies?

It has been reported by Archbishop Mario Conti at the three day HIV/AIDS conference organized by Caritas Europa in Kiev Ukraine, (Zenit, April 30, 2007) that the Catholic Church is leading the AIDS battle, serving patients is a corporal work of mercy. However the message needs to get out to the Media as they fail to recognize this fact and choose to condemn the Church.

Thanks to the workshops on Trafficking last year, many became aware of this great problem in Canada and to a lesser degree elsewhere, that continually needs to be addressed. We have been notified that Human Trafficking could be a huge issue during the 2010 Olympics. We know what happened in Germany during recent games. We must write letters encouraging the government and police authorities to keep close watch on further developments to exploit women and children. Perhaps the new application for visas for exotic dancers will be of some help. There are two cases before the courts at this moment reinforcing that Canada is beginning to get serious about human trafficking. We can hope and pray, together we can make a difference.

What are some other needs of our times? The proliferation of casinos being built in virtually every neighbourhood in larger centers is detrimental to the disposable income of many seniors and poor families. The negative social cost to society as a whole is worrisome even though charities benefit to some degree. We have resolutions to increase the pensions of people to keep them above the poverty level lets not bring more temptation to them.

It seems that some of our mighty efforts are beginning to pay off mainly by the Grace of God, and the willingness of people to lend a hand, We are doing more than throwing a few dollars at the problem and hoping it will go away. Are we finally making a bit of headway in reducing the amount of children living in poverty as we keep bringing the problem before the Federal government?

A resolution was presented in 2006 pertaining to Dignity and Rights of Persons. This resolution did not pass but everyone here is encouraged to help spread the word, check out your local Health Care facility to see if a changing room is available and accessible for handicapped persons, if not meet with the facility’s administrator, write to the Provincial Minister of health and meet with your Member of Legislature. This will provide dignity to those more vulnerable.

The latest environmental sin is the ever increasing use of bottled water. Even though we maintain that water is not for sale, companies like Dasani, Aquafina, Coca-Cola and Pepsi are raking in huge profits and we are giving up our right to clean affordable water that is guaranteed by government. The empty bottles are littering the landfills and other scary reports suggest that toxins are leaching into the beverages. This may not be entirely true but do take heed.

A goal I accomplished was to read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, only 5-1/2 pages.

Continue to wear something red on Fridays to support our military and remember to pray for Peace in the World especially the crisis zone in Darfur and Lebanon. I have the backup material here in my files if anyone desires to look at it.

Respectfully submitted

Carol P….

Dear League Sisters,

Greetings and welcome to Diocesan Spiritual Chairpersons; Sharon G….. of Salmon Arm (Kamloops Diocese), Marion N….. of Creston, (Nelson Diocese), Jill M….. of Prince George (Prince George Diocese), Terri D….. of Maple Ridge (Vancouver Archdiocese), Deanne P…… of Courtenay (Victoria Diocese) and the ladies of the Whitehorse Diocese.

Although I was Secretary of the Provincial Council for four years for those who do not know me I would like to tell you a little about myself. Born in Saskatchewan and raised in Vancouver, my husband John and I moved to Aldergrove in 1973. Our four boys, who still play hockey, now live scattered around the Lower Mainland with one in Germany. Two are married and I patiently await grandchildren. I have been a CWL member at Sts. Joachim & Ann (formerly St. Ann) in Aldergrove since 1977; served on the Diocesan level for 10 years and am presently past-president of Domestic Abuse Services-Our Lady of Good Counsel Society. I was one of the presenters for Grow and was chair of Tickets and Printing Committees for the National Convention in Vancouver. For 10 years I worked in the local pregnancy centre as a crisis and post-abortion counsellor. My passion is cooking, gardening, crocheting and the League. Next month I plan to attend the Parliamentarian Training workshop in Coquitlam.

You will be pleased to know that Cecile Miller has been appointed as National Chair of Spiritual Development. Cecile shared the following about herself in her first communique which I would like to share with you:

“I am a charter member and was the first president of St. Patrick Parish Council, North East Margaree, N.S., in December 1983. Since then, I have developed a great love for the League and have been actively involved. I have chaired or been a committee member of this standing committee many times. I served at the diocesan level for 11 years and on the provincial level for 10 years. I became a life member in 2000. I was a Gertrude in the Fieldworkers Program, a facilitator for Spirituality: A Day of Discovery, and served on a resource team and as leadership facilitator on the diocesan level. Most recently, I was chair of the liturgy committee for the 86th annual national convention in Halifax.”

Resolution 2006.01 Religious Freedom was accepted at the National Convention in Halifax and I commend the Kamloops Diocese for all their effort. Now, it is time for all members to follow up using the action plan. We are reminded that, while letters are effective, a telephone call or personal visit to a member of parliament will yield the best results. If you know the name of a good speaker who may be accessible to other councils, please share this information. Is there any other action you have taken?

Anti-Trafficking in Persons: 1st International Weekend of Prayer, Fasting and Action. We have been invited to join with others around the world to fast and pray for an end to the trafficking of persons on Friday, September 29th. The Community Life Chairperson will have more information on this event.

We walk in the Footsteps of Mary. In her final communique, Betty Anne Brown shared a prayer service which was offered to the WUCWO General Assembly as a resource. A copy is available on the National website, under “Programs”.

49th International Eucharistic Congress, Quebec City 2008
The Eucharistic Congress which will take place on June 15 – 22, 2008 has for its theme: The Eucharist, gift of God for the life of the world.

This is a gathering of the Universal Church to celebrate Jesus living and present in the Eucharist, source and summit of evangelization and centre of the life of the church. A binder of education sheets has been prepared for use individually or in groups. A copy has been sent to all Bishops, diocesan delegates (one per diocese) and provincial presidents. The reflection and prayer sheets are available online at www.cei2008.ca. They may be photocopied to be used at meetings for members to reflect on the meaning of the Eucharist in their lives.

A Temporary National Voluntary Fund was set up at the 2006 annual national convention to assist the planning committee in their work to prepare for the 49th International Eucharistic Congress. Councils are encouraged to support this work both in prayer and financially.

Prayer of the Ascent to the Eucharistic Congress of 2008
God our Father, look with favour on your Church as we prepare with hope and with joy to celebrate the International Eucharistic Congress in 2008. Help us to better welcome the gift of your Son Jesus in this memorial of his death and resurrection, which nourishes our lives as your children and as brothers and sisters. Send forth your Holy Spirit that we may better appreciate this gift, and become messengers of the life brought by Jesus to our world searching for meaning. In following the example of Mary, woman of the Eucharist, may we always give thanks to you, and make a continual offering of ourselves to respond to your love and fulfil your will. We ask this through Christ, your Son, our Lord. Amen.

Please send Notification of Deceased Members Forms for Provincial to:

Marianna C……., Spiritual Development Chairperson
26814 – 26th Avenue, Aldergrove, B.C. V4W 2Y6
Phone: 604-856-2638
Email: marianna_caldwell(at)shaw.ca

God Bless you,……………….Marianna

Madame President, Reverend Fathers and members of the Catholic Women’s League:

My name is Carol R., and I am the newly elected president of the Nelson Diocesan Council. I am from Holy Spirit Parish in Kelowna, the smallest of the five parishes there. We currently have 29 councils with 1960 paid up members.

The table officers enjoyed a spring retreat at Marywood Prayer House in Cranbrook , with much praying and planning for the diocesan convention, which took place May 4th to 7th in Oliver, B.C. This was a great time and our theme of Companions on the Journey was incorporated throughout the convention. We were delighted to have our Provincial President-Elect, Barb D. with us. She provided us with much food for thought with the Discerning Workshop, and she was also guest speaker at our banquet.

Our Spiritual Advisor is Father Jim R. from St. Theresa’s Parish in Kelowna. This is his second term as the Spiritual Advisor for the Nelson Diocese. I am proud to have with me here in Whitehorse: Father Jim, Alice H. – diocesan president-elect from Kimberley, Jean F. – Life member from Kelowna, Doreen R. – my Education and Health chairperson from Creston, Pollyanna K. – Life Member Liaison from Oliver, Jan K. – President of Holy Cross council in Creston, Carol P. – Provincial Treasurer from Golden, and Elaine A. – Provincial Chairperson of Community Life from Castlegar.

I am also proud to have a full slate of table officers. My goals for the coming year: to listen, to study, to be a mentor to my executive. I am happily looking forward to the challenge of being Nelson Diocesan President. Thank-you.

Carol R.