Catholic Women’s League
Women make the world beautiful; they protect it and keep it alive.
They bring the grace of renewal, the embrace of inclusion, and the courage to give of oneself.”
Pope Francis in meeting members of American Jewish Committee
The 91 CWL ladies of our parish are a powerful presence in our parish community and beyond! First and foremost, we wish to be of service to God and our community. We take time at meetings to focus on prayer intentions. Our meetings have been filled with fun and lively discussion. Please pray for our organization and all the members of our parish. While all our members cannot attend meetings, we appreciate all your prayers and admire the spirit of volunteerism. Your membership counts!
The National CWL is restructuring; our renewed focus is to be Faith, Service, and Social Justice
Each year our National CWL organization presents resolutions to the governments of Ontario and Canada to better the lives of all people in our country. We can contribute resolution ideas through our local league.
This year we had a return to many traditional events; receptions for sacraments were held this year and gifts were given out to the students, and Grade 8 Graduation gifts will also be presented. We present gifts to the newly baptized and to members from our parish who were married.
Our St Patricks day No-Bake Bake sale provided flowers for the church
We collected Baby items for Birthright and the London Pregnancy and Family Support Centre.
In May we held 8 hours of prayer for Palliative Care with the Exposition of the Holy Eucharist.
We pray for the acceptance of life from conception till natural death.
We resumed the practice of Coffee Sundays on the 3rd weekend of every month.
We continue with the tradition of supporting our mature parishioners with Mass intentions for the living and deceased members of the CWL and for our ill and housebound parishioners. We encourage members to call other members to check in to see how they are doing. We send cards to those who are experiencing difficulties in their lives, when we hear about them. We provide an Honor Guard to our deceased members at their funeral mass.
Our Ecumenical events included World Day of Prayer held at our parish this year in March. We were blessed to have our potluck dinner in May to honor our members with CWL Years of service pins. Congratulations to Bonnie Van Lanen who received our Maple Leaf Service pin. At our Pot luck we were inspired by Jean Aitchison, from the Stratford Mission Depot. We were pleased to see members of our local churches in attendance.
We held our last meeting before the summer break and celebrated with pie and social time!
These are our plans for the coming year
In the Summer we plan a trip to the Marion shrine in Merlin July 26, 2023
We will have a collection for the Stratford Mission Depot
We have been challenged by Provincial to “Go Make a Difference” and will be discussing project proposals to be completed by December 2023
Social meetings In October’23 and March or April ‘24
Our Bazaar will be held in November
Our Christmas Social will be held in December
We will have elections for new officers in Feb of 2024
We are calling on all ladies of the parish to serve as they are able.
God bless, Harriet Duynisveld, CWL President St. Patrick Lucan
UPCOMING EVENTS
Pictures from the May 24 Potluck and photos from Awards Ceremony.
St. Patrick’s CWL would like to thank the generosity of our parishioners and many from Holy Family who have supported our recent events. We were able to provide St. Patrick’s Parish with $603. from the no-bake sale in March for flowers for the altar for the year. We also sent $2100. to local charities in February as a result of the bazaar held in November. Your support is very much appreciated.
UPCOMING MEETINGS
Meetings are held on the first Tuesday of each month after the 7:00 pm Mass. For more information email stpatlucan@dol.ca
Catholic and Living It! Updates – London Diocesan Council
There are many wonderful bursaries offered by the London and National CWL for those going off to Post- Secondary School. Please take some time to look at them or share with someone you think might benefit.
The Catholic Women’s League is a movement for change. We are one of the largest lobbying groups in Canada. We can and HAVE made real changes in laws in this country. The St Patricks CWL supports our church with flowers, Coffee Sunday Socials. We support our youth through sacramental gifts and receptions, our seniors with calls and cards, and local charities through monies raised by our bazaar. We also serve coffee for funeral lunches if families request it and donate money to good causes that may be brought forth by our parishioners. With our diocesan sisters, we offer spiritual retreat days and opportunities for fun, leadership development, and mentoring. We hold 10 meetings each year, 2 of which are social. At these meetings we try to provide a balance of fun and work. We are welcoming new members to help us grow into an organization for change and growth in our church community. Come and help us be the organization that we can be.
CWL St. Patrick
100 Years of Service, Faith and Justice in Lucan Biddulph Township
In 2022, the Catholic Women’s League of Saint Patrick’s parish celebrated 100 years of service. They have been many things to many people over those years. It was and still is, a place for friendship and encouragement, and a source of support during hard times.
In the local Saint Patrick’s CWL, they raised approximately $2000 from their Bazaar that will be distributed to community charities in the spring. They are grateful for the ongoing support of our community and the donations to the Bazaar effort. They support the youth in the parish with books, gifts, and receptions to help in the development of faithful and community minded people. We keep up to date on community news by being in contact with other groups like our local foodbank and community churches.
We are a group of faith filled and hardworking ladies, who are active in the parish and community. We hold traditional events like our bazaar and pot luck dinners, but we also make space at our meetings to listen to what our members are going through with a focus on intercessory prayers. We, as a national organization, are moving toward an online presence as well as our in-person meetings.
Funeral Lunches – The Catholic Women’s League of St. Patrick Parish are now able to offer once again luncheons after Funeral Liturgies in our parish. Lunches of 60 people or less can be held in the Parish Hall; and also the League members are willing to serve elsewhere (like the Lucan Community Centre) for larger groups.
League Prayer
We humbly pray You,
O God our Father, to bless
The Catholic Women’s League of Canada.
Bless our beloved country,
our homes and families.
Send Your Holy Spirit upon us
to give light to our minds
and strength to our wills
that we may know and fulfil
Your great law of charity.
Teach us to share with others
at home and abroad,
the good things You have given us.
This we ask through our Lord Jesus Christ
and the intercession of our patroness,
Our Lady of Good Counsel.
Amen
The Catholic Women’s League of Canada was organized nationally on June 17, 1920 and granted federal incorporation on December 12, 1923.
The League is officially recognized by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) as a lay association of women and is affiliated with the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organizations (WUCWO), a world-wide federation holding membership in the conference of International Catholic Organizations (ICO) and having consultative status with agencies of the United Nations.