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Yorkton/Melville Regional Workshop
Submitted by Elaine Hornung
August 2023
On April 1, 2023, the Yorkton/Melville Regional Council held a workshop for the councils from that region. Members from the Esterhazy region were invited to attend as well. The workshop, titled Catholic and Living It! was hosted by the Melville council with help from the other councils in the region. Forty-three women attended the workshop including Connie Crichton, Provincial President, Janette Rieger, Regina Diocesan President, and Linda Maddaford, Regina Diocesan Vice President. Each of the three women just mentioned gave a presentation: Connie discussed Misconceptions of the League, Janette spoke on Going Forward with the new committees, and Linda gave a presentation about the resources available on the CWL website. Mass was celebrated by Melville's Spiritual Director, Father Dennis before the workshop began.
100th Regina Diocesan Annual Convention
Janette Rieger, President
July 2023
The 100th annual convention of the Regina Diocesan Council of the Catholic Women’s League of Canada was held on May 7th & 8th, 2023 at Resurrection Parish in Regina which is located on Treaty 4 territory, the traditional lands of the Cree, Saulteaux, Dakota, Nakota, and Lakota peoples, and the homeland of the Metis nation. In total almost 150 delegates and guests attended the event which commenced on Sunday, May 7th, at 4:00 p.m. with the recitation of the rosary followed by Holy Mass.
Following mass, attendees were treated to a delicious banquet which was prepared by Resurrection Parish staff and volunteers. Regina Diocesan President-elect Linda Maddaford hosted the evening’s program. Special guests who gave greetings following the banquet were Larry Packet – State Deputy, Saskatchewan Knight of Columbus; Councillor Lori Bresciani – representative of Ward 4 residents in the City of Regina; and the Honourable Christine Tell – Member of the Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly for Regina Wascana Plains, Minister of Corrections, Policing and Public Safety, and Minister Responsible for the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency. Linda read letters of greetings from Member of Parliament for Regina-Wascana, Michael Kram, and from the Archbishop of Regina, Donald Bolen, both of whom were unable to attend.
The guest speaker for the evening was Shannon Novak who spoke on the Spiritual Motherhood of Priests. Shannon’s apostolate encourages women to spiritually adopt a ‘priest-son’ in the archdiocese, for whom they will pray, for their entire life, just as they do for their own children. The priest is informed that he has been ‘adopted’ but the program is anonymous, so that all he knows is that he is in someone’s prayers.
Monday, May 8th started with the Presentation of Colours, with flags being carried by National President Fran Lucas, Provincial President Connie Crichton, and Diocesan President Janette Rieger. After the singing of O Canada members began the day with a spiritual program presented by Diocesan Spiritual Advisor Fr. Thomas Mutavanattu and Diocesan Spiritual Development Chairperson Agnes Smith. The parliamentarian was Marilyn Schuck. Greetings were brought from National CWL President – Fran Lucas, Provincial CWL President – Connie Crichton, Prince Albert Diocesan CWL President – Priscilla Wakelin, Saskatoon Diocesan CWL President – Marion Laroque, and from Provincial Spiritual Advisor – Fr. Peter Nnanga.
The guest speaker was Fran Lucas who spoke on her theme ‘Catholic and Living It!’ with a focus on relationships. Following that, the spiritual advisors in attendance left for their meeting, and delegates were given blank ‘thank-you’ cards and time to write a thank-you, a word of encouragement, or to offer a spiritual bouquet to their spiritual advisors. When the spiritual advisors returned, they were acknowledged and thanked for their service to The League. Members took their cards home to present to those spiritual advisors who were not in attendance.
The remainder of the day was spent on business and oral reports given by the standing committee chairpersons. The Instructed Vote was held regarding the change to the Constitution & Bylaws. The proceeds from the Sunday mass collection were presented to 2 recipients. The Regina Diocesan Executive portion went to Visitation House in Regina, and the Convention Planning Committee portion was given to the Archdiocese of Regina for the education of priests. Each received $566.00, which was ½ of the mass collection total of $1,132.00.
The Traveling Madonna statue was presented by Weyburn Regional Chairperson Camille Goski to Holy Trinity Parish president, and Convention Planning Committee Chairperson, Debbie Bulych. For the next year, the statue of Our Lady will visit the parishes that had members participate in the planning of the convention. Next year she will travel to St. George’s Parish in Assiniboia which will host the 101st Annual Regina Diocesan Convention on April 28th & 29th, 2024. (Save the Date! 😉)
The convention concluded with the presentation of a certificate of merit to the Resurrection CWL Council, gifts to those who helped with the convention, Holy Mass, and the re-affirmation of the executive.
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2022 Regina Diocesan CWL Annual Report Book
Click here to download: 2022 Regina Diocesan CWL Annual Report Book
Regina Diocesan Council News
Janette Rieger, President
May 2023
The Unity Project is an initiative of the national executive in which every council across the country has an in-person visit from the level above them, to discuss issues that the council may be having, to share concerns, and to share and celebrate successes.
The Saskatchewan Provincial Council had a visit from a member of the national executive at our winter meeting in March. The Regina Diocesan Executive will have a visit from a member of the Provincial Council at our next meeting in June. Each council in the Regina Diocese should have a visit from a member of the Diocesan Executive from June to the autumn of 2023.
The meeting should be held with a member of the Diocesan Executive and as many parish CWL council members as possible. While in-person meetings are preferred, virtual meetings may have to be held in some circumstances.
A form with some sample question will be sent to councils prior to the meeting so that members have a chance to contemplate their responses before the meeting. Councils should contact me as soon as possible to discuss this further and to set a date for the meeting that will work for the majority of your members.
On another note, as the executive structure of the councils goes to the 3 pillars of Faith, Service, and Social Justice, the 3 members who take these positions may feel overwhelmed and overworked. Talk to all of your members, especially the partially active ones, to see if they would serve on a sub-committee un-der one of the 3 pillars, or would work on a specific project under one of the 3 pillars.
Ask them if their preference is Faith, Service, or Social Justice, if they had to pick just one. Write that down and then when your council has a project under that pillar that most interests them, give them a call to see if they can help. If you get a negative response, don’t give up! The timing of the project may not have been workable for them. Try again with the next project. By getting more members helping in even small ways, our councils will thrive.
St. Joseph’s Catholic Girl's League, Moose Jaw
October 2021
St. Joseph's Catholic Girl's League, Moose Jaw, SK, October 2021 with the scarves they received when they joined, to be worn when serving in some way in our parish or community.
There are seven members of the St. Joseph's Catholic Girl's League.
They all learned to sew Prayer Blankets. Pictured are three of them with their completed blankets.
The St. Cecilia Gratitude Project
St. Cecilia CWL Council, Regina, SK engaged a local digital advertisement company to display an encouraging message for all essential workers in our community. The message was displayed for a full day on November 1, 2021 - 6 seconds every minute of every hour throughout the entire 24 hour day. The council also provided postcards for parishioners to take and send to essential workers they knew or interacted with. The project was extremely successful and from all comments received, very appreciated.
St. Joseph's CWL, Moose Jaw, SK plant tree and flower garden
On Wednesday, June 9, 2021, to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the CWL in Canada, St Joseph’s CWL, Moose Jaw, along with the newly formed Catholic Girl's League members, planted a hardy, long-living Burr Oak tree to provide shade to the Memorial Bench for the Unborn and Infant loss at Sunset Cemetery.
We were fortunate to have member Sarah Wist Regent, also the city horticulturalist, to assist us with her expertise. CWL members had not gathered in person since November, so it was a wonderful opportunity to get together. The Catholic Girl's League members were very involved in the planting, volunteering to do most of the heavy work of moving soil.
Following the tree planting, we proceeded to a nearby park where we presented the members of the Girl's League with recognition of their participation in the first term of the St. Joseph's Catholic Girl's League.
Another worthwhile project is the Girl's League planting and helping to look after the flower beds by St. Joseph’s Church this year.
During a Zoom meeting with CWL member and city horticulturalist, Sarah Wist Regent, the St. Joseph's Catholic Girl's League members learned about flowers that could be planted. They went to the greenhouse with the adult leaders to choose the plants, and planted the flower beds. The girls will take turns weeding and watering the flowers. The photo below includes Deacon Lamont Dyck, who prayed a blessing for the garden after it was planted.
St. Patrick’s Parish CWL in Sturgis, SK - Preeceville branch - plant tree June, 2021
lt to rt: Father Michal Pajak, President Nellie Knihniski, Bea Sekel, Lorraine Strijak, Arlene Lingl,
Kathleen Pitt, Donna Balawyder, Norma Appel , Zita Serhan
The Preeceville branch of the Catholic Women’s League of Canada planted a spruce tree sapling at the Roman Catholic cemetery in Preeceville, in recognition of the 100th anniversary of the League, June 17, 2020. Due to COVID-19 shutdowns, the celebration was extended into 2021, and this sapling was planted in June, 2021.