CWL Newsletter 2020 Jan-Feb

Posted On 25th Jan 2020

The New Year is only a handful of days old. This is to say that we are still at the intersection between the old year and the new year. This is the time when we tend to take a critical look at the past and plan for the future. When we take a look at the past, it is not tofocus on our misdeeds or regret missed opportunities, but to count our blessings and to take stock of how much we, the members of St. Joseph’s Council, have been able to do for God and Canada. If we do this, we will definitely see enough to thank God for.

The New Year is also a time for looking forward, for setting new goals and dreaming new dreams. For us, this should not be with fear and trembling, but with trust in God, and with the hope that the future will be better than the past—even if today we are struggling with some personal problems, family problems, disappointments, or even situations we find difficult to understand. Because the future we are looking forward to is in the hand of a good and loving God, we have every reason to believe that, according to C. S. Lewis, “There are far, far better things ahead than we leave behind.”

As we begin our journey through the year that is only a few days old, let us ask the Lord to bless us and keep us, to be gracious to us and give us peace.

Happy New Year, sisters in the League! We’re halfway through our term as co-presidents. It’s been great working as a team. We’ve found ways to split the work, with Marla’s new job working in the office at St. Joseph’s she’s able to work closely with the Parish team and Kim runs the meetings.

We’ve moved forward with our personal goals as presidents this year. Our goal to bring a spiritual focus has been fulfilled with regular recollections – sometimes working with other ministries and sometimes sponsoring our own, including our last one which we replaced with the documentary Fatal Flaws. The special guests Alex Schadenberg from the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition and our member Dr. Natalia Leong gave special insight into the issues. From a technical standpoint, we have made a phone conference call available for all our meetings. Although this hasn’t been utilized a lot, it has come in very handy a few times. We have also created a set of OneDrive folders to keep important information for future executives. This will ensure that ‘how to’ information and document templates can be found easily as well as having a backup computer copy of our key documents. In 2020 we will work hard to update these folders.

We hope everyone had a Blessed Christmas and New Year’s where you made many memories with your families. We’re looking forward to seeing more of you throughout 2020.

God Bless!

Kim and Marla

We welcome our New Members: Denise Poirier, Melissa Yankech, Najaf Faryal Lobo, Evelyn Manuel, Francisca Almayda, Mary Schryer and Almas Jahangir.

Membership Renewal Membership Renewal is now OVERDUE!
Please pick up and complete the Membership Renewal form and return it as soon as possible to any of the executive members or the Parish Office. You may also drop it in the collection baskets at any Mass. Forms are available at all exits in the CWL slots. Please be sure to clearly mark your envelope: “CWL MEMBERSHIP” and if you are writing a cheque, please make it payable to: St. Joseph’s CWL. If you wish to send an e-transfer you may do so by sending it to lucia.vacca@sympatico.ca give me a call 416-283-3536

The $25.00 fee is set by the Council which includes the national fees, Scarborough Regional dues ($250.00 for our Council) any remaining portion goes to the Council. Here is the breakdown: National receives $13.00, Provincial $3.00 and Diocese $4.00 per person a total of $20.00 the rest covers the Regional fees, liability insurance and any service pins purchased. Not much is left in the General Account. This is why we have Bazaars to offset operational costs and give to our set charities financial support.

Beginning this year each Parish Council will be covering the cost of liability insurance for each member at a cost of
$0.50 each and is an additional cost to the council included in with the your capita fee of $25.00.

Saturday, January 25th – Scarborough Region Winter Event – will take place at Our Lady of Fatima Shrine (3170 St. Clair Ave. East) 9:30 to 10:00 registration start at 10:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Fr. Dominic Borg will be the speaker on “Hunger for the Word of God”. Cost is $5.00 (will be covered by our Council) but, please bring your own lunch. Fun activity is being planned for the afternoon session.

Contact: Lucia 416-283-3536 ASAP

Parish Executive Training Course – Saturday February 1st.
This is course is open to all members for membership development for the Scarborough Region. To better understand and learn about the protocols, standing committees, etc…of CWL open to all members not just executives. It will take place at Annunciation Parish (3 Combermere Dr.) from 9:30 to 2:30. If interested in attending call Lucia 416-283-3536

With a few more Apple Pies to sell, our total income after expenses is $7,056.38 at our recent Annual Fall Bazaar, held on November 16, 2019. The following is the breakdown of Revenues generated by each table

Bake Table 1,480.75
Raffles 595.00
Caribbean Table 510.50
Tea Room 508.00
Indian Table 280.00
Treasure 984.90
Filipino Table 535.00
Vendors 300.00
Apple Pies 2,690.00
Ticket/Sales/Donations 181.00
Total Expenses 999.77
Total Revenue 8,056.15

We are very grateful to all the people who have given their time, talents and treasures that contributed to the success of this event. God’s Blessings.

World Day of Prayer will be held on Friday, March 6, 2020.
https://worlddayofprayer.net/zimbabwe-2020.html

The theme is “Rise! Take Your Mat and Walk” John 5:2-9a the service is written by the women from Zimbabwe. It is a worldwide gathering of Christians who observe a common day of prayer annually. It promotes the understanding of women of other countries, languages and cultures through and ecumenical service to enrich the Christian faith. The hosting Parish is St. Martin de Porris for our area additional information will be forthcoming on this event. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Travelling Kit of Our Lady of Good Counsel

We will be continuing the “Travelling Prayer Kit” for Our Lady of Good Counsel well into 2020 to our CWL members. The intent is that this “Kit” will go from house to house of members who are interested in praying the Rosary to Our Lady. Our Lady of Good Counsel is our advocate, mentor, our guidance, the patroness of the CWL, let us continue to bring this special devotion to our homes. A sign out sheet is available at our General Meeting for those members wishing to participate in this initiative.

Dear Ladies, I do hope you all had a wonderful Christmas season with family and friends. I am reproducing below excerpts from an interesting article Mary Capobianco, Ontario Provincial Council, Community Life Chairperson sent to the Diocesan Community Life Standing Chairpersons on Human Trafficking

Human Trafficking

When we think of Human Trafficking, we usually think in terms of sexual exploitation of young girls and women. However, there is also the issue of Human Trafficking for Labour Exploitation or as it is often referred to as modern-day slavery.

The following are some ways by which this exploitation can occur. • A person is deceived through attractive promises (such as a good job or educational or other opportunities) only to find that the promises are false or that conditions (such as work and pay) are much worse than advertised; • A person is isolated in order to control her/his freedom of movement and ability to contact other people, including family and other members of society, and is constantly monitored; • A person is intimidated by threats of being underpaid, not being paid at all, or having penalties applied; by threats of physical violence, denunciation to authorities and deportation; through harassment, controlling the person to ensure that they comply; • They have her/his passport, identity documents and work permit taken from them; • A person has her/his specific vulnerabilities taken advantage of, including a person’s lack of viable economic or employment options, a situation of indebtedness, language barriers, or a person’s separation from loved ones and from her/his support networks. • A person is forced to participate in illegal activities such as fraud or stealing, in order to criminalize them as another means of control. Exploitation takes place, whereby a person is: • Underpaid, not paid at all, or whose wages are deducted unjustifiably (such as for wildly overpriced housing); • Forced to work unpaid overtime; • Charged large, fraudulent recruitment fees; • Manipulated into a situation of debt through a loan, wage advance or fraudulent fees charged, to keep the person under control and in a situation of bonded labour.

In Canada, trafficking for the purpose of labour, has predominantly affected migrant workers. Those most affected by abuse and exploitation, often come with valid work permits under the “low-skilled” streams of the Temporary Foreign Workers Program (TFWP). The temporary foreign workers may be employed in agricultural positions on farms, live-in caregivers, in restaurants, hotels or other hospitality services, in construction or in manufacturing, as well as in domestic work. Temporary Foreign Workers (TFW) may encounter situations where they are vulnerable to exploitation and trafficking. Although some enforcement and monitoring measures have been added to the TFWP, the program continues to rely overwhelmingly on a complaints system that migrant workers are unlikely to use as this can still lead to deportation. Labour exploitation and human trafficking occurs daily. The circumstances and experiences surrounding this issue is complex. Therefore it is critical that we continue to educate ourselves, our families and our communities, to be aware of those that may be at risk.

Dear Sisters in the League,
May the year ahead be one that brings happiness, health, and enlightenment into your hearts. As we begin the New
Year, let us begin it with hopeful hearts as we endeavor toward the care of our common home. This January, we
celebrate Family Literacy Week, the theme for which is “Let’s Read”. Let’s focus on families reading together to connect, discover, and discuss, as well as enjoy. No need to look far – the Bible is a great place to start, but any book
or literature is great, to enlighten and connect minds in the search of knowledge of our ever-evolving world and about
life. Speaking of education, here is some information on the National Bursary Fund.

National Bursary Fund
The bursary fund is used to provide financial assistance to members pursuing studies, courses, seminars, workshops
and diploma/degree programs in areas of, spiritual growth, adult faith formation, youth ministry, ministry to patients
in palliative care, ministry to shut-ins, parliamentary procedure and literacy tutoring.

Bursary applications are available upon request from national office or can be downloaded from cwl.ca. The form
may be downloaded by accessing Resources, 500 Series: Forms and clicking on item 552 under member forms.

An update on our Youth Awards – All four schools in our parish have been given their youth awards packages, and
we hope to encourage our youth to express themselves and discuss important ideas through these opportunities. Dates
and deadlines can be found in the dates to remember section of this newsletter.

Ontario Provincial Council On-Line Newsletter
This newsletter is produced monthly to highlight the Diocese across Ontario. You can subscribe FREE of charge just by simply going to www.cwl.on.ca on the home page lower right hand side and go to subscribe. Each month you will receive a newsletter with so much information from the various CWL councils. We encourage you to do so to become familiar with what Councils are working on across the Province of Ontario.

Toronto Diocesan Council – Newsletter
The Toronto Diocesan Council Newsletters are available for purchase to all members. In it you will find reports, directives and many items of interest from our Toronto Diocese Council. If you are interested please take a look at the website for subscriptions: www.cwltoronto.ca or call Lucia 416-283-3536 (TDC Newsletter Editor) if you wish to subscribe the cost is $12.00 for three issues per year deadline is January 30th for 2020 subscriptions

CWL Websites as your resources:

National www.cwl.ca
Provincial www.cwl.on.ca
Toronto www.cwltoronto.ca

As well as our own Parish www.stjosephstoronto.org for upcoming events also check us out on

Facebook: CWL St. Joseph Highland Creek and REMEMBER to view these websites on WEB WEDNESDAY!

Monday, February 10th is Family Day! Plan something exciting to do together. Build those special memories.

Ordinandi Dinner

Tuesday, March 3rd, 2020 it will be the 30th Annual Ordinandi Dinner. The Ordinandi Dinner is a dinner to hear the vocation stories of transitional deacons who will be ordained to the Priesthood this year. At the Ordinandi the CWL offers a Spiritual Bonquet (prayer pledges) prayers, masses, rosaries, stations of the cross, sacrifices etc… We are collecting your spiritual offerings. Please be generous in supporting our Ordinandi with your prayers. If you are interested in attending the dinner, please contact us to make arrangement and payment before January 31st.

Laudato Si’

The “Laudato Si’ is a new social encyclical written by Pope Francis. Its focus is on “Care for our Common Home-Earth”. As we all know the Catholic Women’s League is using this rich encyclical to focus on this very topic. Our Pope was inspired by St. Francis of Assisi’s Canticle of the Creatures which should “remind us that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us.”

Live Laudato Si’.org along with The Global Catholic Climate Movement have put together 10 suggestions on how Catholic Families can Live Laudato Si’.

The following are three of the suggestions:

PRAY WITH AND FOR CREATION
“Our relationship with the environment can never be isolated from our relationship with others and with God.”

Include a prayer of thankfulness for creation, and that we will protect our common home, in your family’s
daily prayers.
Pray with the news or incorporate people impacted by climate or ecological issues into your daily prayers.
Pray together outside.

The Resolution and Legislation is an area of activity where research and action is involved. Many Resolutions are listed in the www.cwl.ca National, www.cwl.on.ca Provincial and www.cwltoronto.ca Toronto Diocese which have been presented and passed at these levels at conventions. Do take a stand by following the action plans in each. We try to review and introduce Resolutions as they are presented to us from the Diocese, Province and National at our meetings. If you are interested in any particular Resolution or Legislation please come forward so that the Council will work together on these issues of importance.

One of the Resolutions which is of importance is, Resolution 2014.02 Electronic Cigarettes. These electronic cigarettes or vaping, have been in the papers and news for their dangers to young people using these. These are the sort of issues to write to our Prime Minister and the Minister of Health requesting them to act on getting them off the market. Read https://cwl.ca/resolution-2014-02-electronic-cigarettes/

The Catholic Women’s League of Canada will be celebrating 100 years in Montreal in August 2020. Our celebration of the Toronto Diocesan Council for the 100th Anniversary is in 2021. The Committee is working to make this celebration a success. They are looking to each Council to come up with ways in which we can remember this milestone. A time capsule, a special mass, a prayer booklet, a photo display… Our Council will be 67 years old since it was chartered on November 5, 1953. What shall we do? Any ideas would be great.

This year (2020) is an Election year for a New Executive to be nominated and elected by November 2020. This is the time of personal discernment and evaluation of your personal God given gifts. Are you being called to make a difference in our St. Joseph CWL Council? Say YES when asked. If you have any questions, give me a call.

National Strategic Planning Update
In keeping all of you informed, the National website www.cwl.ca has on the home page a section dedicated on the new Strategic Plan which is updated monthly to keep members across the country in the know of the steps and actions the various teams are working on. Your participation is also valued and when you are asked to do a survey, please do so. You have a say in the future of the League. https://cwl.ca/implementation-of-the-strategic-plan/

Reminders for General Meetings:

Members are encouraged to bring their own mugs to meetings, so please remember to “Lug A Mug”.

We are also collecting the following items:

Pop Tabs for Wheelchairs
Donations of extra blank cards and birthday cards are welcomed and appreciated.
Donations of your extra Rosaries or Religious items are welcomed.
Milk bags (clean/dry) are being collected to be used in the project of making sleeping mats and sent to Africa for those in need through Dr. Simone.
Collecting your used postage stamps being sent to Development & Peace and Dr. Simone.
We continue to make pneumonia vests for the premature babies. If you have extra wool or would like to make these vests give us a call and we will forward the pattern to follow.

We are also collecting non-perishable food items at each of our General Meetings to support our St. Joseph Outreach Program. Many are in need, please be generous.

The following is a Prayer for us to encourage all of you, the members to recite for the successful completion of the Strategic Plan Implementation.

CWL Prayer for Renewal

God of new beginnings, ever faithful God,
we thank You for your constant care for
the women of The Catholic Women’s League of Canada.
We have sought to serve You in faith by service to your people.
Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and with the help of Our Lady of Good Counsel,
we continue to discern Your call to seek justice
and build Your Kingdom on earth each day.
We ask your guidance as we plan the evolution of
The Catholic Women’s League of Canada.
Grant us wisdom, the grace of discernment, and strength.
May each of us open her heart and mind to Your will and welcome the new life You bring to the League.
We ask this through Jesus, Your beloved Son and Our Lord, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
God forever and ever.

AMEN. – Sr. Susan Scott, CAF

[easytable th=false colwidth=”25%|75%” delimiter=”|” caption=””]
January 18 (Saturday)|Recollection – CANCELLED
January 25 (Saturday)|Scarborough Region Winter Event –9:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. –Our Lady of Fatima Shrine – open to all members to attend. $5.00 – bring a lunch –encourage members and executives to be present at this event.
February 1 (Saturday)|CWL Parish Executive Course – This is open to all members in the Scarborough Region to better understand and learn about the CWL -9:30 to 2:30 at Annunciation Parish (3 Combermere Dr.) If interested in attending call Lucia 416-283-3536 for registration – Membership Development, free of charge for our members.
February 13 (Monday)|DEADLINE for Schools to submit the –Mary Dobell Literacy Essay & Poetry Contest & Jean McCann Service Award
February 13 (Monday)|Deadline for Schools – to Submit students for – Mary Matthews Public Speaking Contest
February 10 (Monday)|General Meeting – Rosary 7:00 Meeting 7:30 – Budget Review and approval for 2020
February 22 (Saturday)|Toronto Diocesan Council — Development Day 8:30 Mass – 3:00 Blessed Trinity. Registration is a must by January 10th
February 24 (Monday)|Planning Meeting for Bazaar – 7:00 p.m. Board Room
February 28 (Saturday)|DEADLINE – for Scarborough Region Mary Dobell Pro-life Poetry & Essay and Service Award Submissions
February 28 (Saturday)|DEADLINE for Service Award to Scarborough Region Council Jean McCann Service Award
March 1 (Sunday)|St. Joseph Parish level – Mary Matthews Public Speaking Contest Room 2 from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Come and support our students
March 3 (Tuesday)|Ordinandi Dinner – Pearson Convention Centre, 2638 Steels Ave. Brampton – tickets required
March 6 (Friday)|World Day of Prayer – Country featured is Zimbabwe and the hosting Parish is St. Martin de Porris – all of you are invited to attend
March 7 (Saturday)|Lift Jesus Higher Rally –Metro Convention Centre
March 9 (Monday)|General Meeting – Rosary 7:00 Meeting 7:30
March 21 (Saturday)|Scarborough Regional Mary Matthews Public Speaking Contest will be held at Precious Blood Parish (1737 Lawrence Ave.) from 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.– all invited to attend and support the students.
March 28 (Saturday)|Toronto Diocesan Council – Mary Matthews Public Speaking Contest –1:00-3:00 p.m. all are welcome to attend – St. Roch Parish
[/easytable]

CWL Newsletter 2020 Jan-Feb

2019-2020 Executive

A Message from the Spiritual Advisor – Fr. Oliver Iwuchukwu

A Message from the Presidents – Kim Deans and Marla Tanuan

Organization & Membership – Lucia Vacca

A Message from Treasurer- Clare Gotera

A Message from Spiritual Development – Patricia Hall

A Message from Community Life – Tania Mascarenhas

A Message from Education & Health – Cheryl Mascarenhas

A Message from Communications – Ju-Ann Miranda

A Message from Christian Family Life – Nancy Jane Martineau

A Message from Resolution & Legislation

A Message from Past President/Historian – Lucia Vacca

NEW SPECIAL COMMEMORATION PIN FOR THE 100th ANNIVERSARY OF THE TORONTO DIOCESAN COUNCIL $10.00 each – if you are interested in ordering one call Lucia 416-283-3536

Dates To Remember