DATE: October 9, 2020
FROM: Janet McLean, national secretary-treasurer
TO: Parish secretaries
Fall has arrived, with cooler temperatures, shorter daylight hours and brilliant colours as the leaves display their autumn finery. I hope many of you are able to attend League meetings in person if your parish and provincial health authorities allow such gatherings. Some of you may only be able to meet online or in smaller groups than normal. Whatever your circumstances, please be assured that you are all in my prayers. Now, more than ever, we are fortunate to have League sisters’ prayers for support during this time of pandemic.
As members, you belong to a national organization governed by the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act and the Constitution & Bylaws (affectionately known as the C&B). The bylaws require councils to have in-person meetings to ratify items that need to be approved by motion. Some of these items include minutes, approval of the meeting agenda, and spending of council funds. If your council meets in person, then, as secretary, you can record these motions as usual in the minutes. If your council is meeting online, then items that require approval by motion should be recorded in the notes you take of these online meetings. A vote should then be taken that these items be recommended for approval at the next in-person meeting of the council. In this way, the council is able to move forward with business even though it cannot meet in-person. The meeting notes should be kept in the council minute book. I also suggest keeping a separate list of items recommended for approval at the next in-person meeting, which will make it easier for your council to ratify these items as motions when it resumes meeting in-person.
For those responsible for keeping in touch with council members, thank you for what you do. Letting members know others are thinking of them, praying for them, and are there to help and support them has never been more crucial.
Later in the fall, you will receive the online annual report survey for secretaries to complete. I have streamlined the form this year and hope this will make completion easier.
If your council has both a recording and a corresponding secretary, only one of you needs to complete the form. I appreciate any comments or suggestions you may wish to submit regarding the report.
My prayers are with you, League sisters, as we embark on the challenging, yet exciting, second century of this unique organization that is The Catholic Women’s League of Canada.