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Waiting in Joyful Hope!
All women—CWL members and non-members alike—are warmly invited to participate in an Advent Retreat on Saturday, November 30, 2024. Calgary Diocesan Council is hosting at St. Paul's Parish in Airdrie and St. Martha's CWL is hosting at their parish in Lethbridge. Bring your sisters, daughters, and friends to grow in faith. Come, join us!
For details, please see the posters.
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Online registration opens on Monday, Oct 21.
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18th ANNUAL WOMEN’S ADVENT RETREAT
Waiting in Joyful Hope
Sponsored by the Calgary Diocesan CWL Council |
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Featuring Guest Speakers
Deacon Carlos Perez & Deacon Rey Tadifa
Saturday, November 30, 2024
9:30 AM – 3:00 PM
St. Paul’s Catholic Church 1305 Main St. S, Airdrie
Open to all CWL members and ALL WOMEN interested in growing in their faith.
Cost: $25 includes lunch
Pay by cash, e-transfer to
or cheque payable to Calgary Diocesan CWL and mailed to
4152 Maryvale Rd. NE, Calgary, AB, T2A 2T9
Register by November 22, 2024 by:
phone to 403-863-2130
email
or use the form below...
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"So How does your Council...?" Monthly Zoom Meetings
One of the initiatives that the Lord has put on my heart is to host a monthly Zoom meeting called “So How Does Your Council….?” And each month will be a different topic. Over the years I’ve attended many regional meetings and my absolute favorite part is the council reports. When I was parish council president, I stole (sorry, borrowed!!) so many great ideas from other councils. And it was an opportunity to ask those other presidents for advice. But there was never enough time. I’m hoping that the Zoom meetings will bridge some of those gaps.
I will need your help. I need any CWL member who has interest in the topic to participate. I need two kinds of people:
- those who look at the topic and think, “my council has great ideas in that area and I’d love to share them”
- and people who look at the topic and think, “gosh, our council struggles in the area and we could use some help”.
Thank you to everyone who joined our first meeting on September 30 for So How Does Your Council Engage and Involve New Members? We had 21 CWL members join, both Executive and non-Executive alike. Feedback was very positive; especially the opportunity to move into breakout rooms to discuss ideas & share learnings in a small group setting. Here is a summary of the conversations:
Ideas generated from So How Does Your Council Engage and Involve New Members?
Meeting Format:
- Have it be less meeting-ish and more of a gathering
- Do the Socializing first and business afterward
- Keep business to a minimum; reports can be emailed and most business can be done at Exec.
- Shorten the business. Presidents should look at their agenda before they send it out to the members and if there are 5 business items see if you can reduce it.
- Presidents should allocate time on the agenda for introductions of new members and guests, have it on the agenda so it is not forgotten, it makes welcoming a priority.
- Have everyone wear nametags (those dollar store sticky ones if people forget or don’t have a CWL nametag). Every meeting
- Lean into Faith and Social; that is why most women join
- Invite your Spiritual Advisor; give him a duty/task to make him feel included and have a purpose
- Consider having meetings during the day or on Zoom during the winter months so that people don’t have to drive / be out in poor and dark weather
- Virtual meetings enable members in other towns (hard to drive in winter) or senior homes (shut-ins) to join
- Consider having a meeting in person and virtual at the same time
- Have the agenda, minutes, any spiritual programs handouts and sign-up sheets in one place for the ladies to pick up when they arrive
Ideas:
- Have a buddy system; someone “assigned” to sit with a new person, get her number, text her about upcoming meetings/events, look for her at the next
gathering
- Someone outside of Exec who “meets and greets” women as they arrive and anyone new, bring over to some established ladies to sit with
- Introduce and welcome new members or anyone who hasn’t been around for a while
- It may take sacrifice to remove yourself from your group of friends to sit with someone new. Without meaning to, we can be cliquey and we need to make a
conscious effort to not be; offer to be a mentor
- The meeting before, advertise a “bring a friend” event. That way, they’re not by themselves
- Learn about the new members’ skills and interests. Make an intentional effort to match those to skills and interests to upcoming events.
- At membership drives use forms to indicate “What do you want to sign up for?”
From those answers, create spreadsheet and then personally phone and invite to meet outside the church, i.e. for coffee
- Meet with younger groups in the parish to tell them about the League, why they may join, find out what they like to do. Sometimes younger groups would like
CWL to babysit, this may or may not be feasible
- Create and provide new members with an orientation booklet or package, letters from the Spiritual Advisor, President, calendar of events, etc.
- Use games or ice breakers to meet other members
- Prayer Partners – monthly draw a member to pray for (see below), or have a secret prayer partner all year and “reveal” the partners at Christmas social
Monthly Prayer for All CWL Members
Dear Lord God,
I thank You for all Gifts & Blessings You have given to me.
I especially thank you for the love & support of other Catholic Women
through the Catholic Women’s League! I ask You to Bless all CWL
members. Especially Bless________________________________.
Grant her and each member Your Grace & Wisdom, Peace & Joy!
May all members always keep You, Lord God, at the centre of their lives.
We ask this in Jesus Holy Name. Amen
You are invited to join the next session, So How Does Your Council Invite and Recruit New Members to Executive? It will be held on Monday, Oct 28th at 7pm on Zoom (please note: the Zoom link is different from September's meeting).
Join Zoom Meeting https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86223470188?pwd=JNyb9CMg5NjvTCeTs1OrixI5aaroGG.1
Meeting ID: 862 2347 0188 Passcode: 840877
Future dates will be the 4th Monday of the month from 7-8pm (Nov 25, Jan 27, Feb 24, Mar 24, Apr 28 and May 26). Topics to be determined based on interest.
Does this sound like something you would be interested in participating in? If so, what topics would you like to cover? I honestly want to hear your feedback so please let me know what you think. Please contact me at 403-816-9776 (phone or text) or
For Him through her,
Theresa Duncan, Diocesan Vice President
