CWL Newsletter 2020 Mar-Apr

Posted On 8th Mar 2020

We have come to another Season of Lent, that special time of the year when we are encouraged to take a critical second look at our lives to be sure we are going in the right direction, and that the life we are living is the life we should be living as children of God. Experience teaches that we cannot take this second look at our lives if we are always so busy that we have no time to listen to God, no time to pray. It is indeed necessary that we spend with God daily if we are not to waste the opportunity this Season provides us to position ourselves well before our God. We do not want to end up like those proverbial people who invested all their time, talents and resources climbing the ladder of success only to realize when they reached the top that the ladder was leaning against the wrong wall. Do we?

I wish all of us a successful journey through this great Season of grace.

The Season of Lent has come upon us once again. It is that time of year when we most reflect on the Cross – remembering the suffering of Christ and bearing our own crosses in union with His. The Church teaches us that the Cross, more than just being a symbol of our faith, has many hidden meanings. One example is that the Cross should be a reminder to us of the two Great Commandments: love God and love our neighbour. The vertical beam, traversing up and down, represents our relationship with God — to know him and love him. The horizontal beam, crossing from left to right, represents our relationship with one another and serving God through serving our neighbours.

Too many of us forget that the horizontal beam cannot be hoisted without the vertical beam. Hence, we end up “serving” but without love and joy; complaining whenever we don’t get compliments; and we actually end up getting physically sick.

This Lenten season, let us ask the Lord to strengthen that vertical beam. Let us keep close to Him; get to know Him Who is the Resurrection and the Life. Once we have come to know Him and love Him, we can easily hoist that horizontal beam of loving and serving others and it becomes light and we carry it with joy because we do it out of knowing and loving Our Saviour.

Once we do this, our Easter will be happier than any we have ever celebrated. May God bless us all and grant us the desire to get to know Him, love Him and serve Him.

Welcome to our new member: Emelda Rodricks

Toronto Diocesan Development Day was well attended by members from across Toronto. The speaker focused on the new National theme “Care of our Common Home” as the theme with the Justice Stations of the Cross, discussion and workshop. Keynote speaker Deacon Gary Johnson, of the Archdiocese of Toronto. Our members in attendance from St. Joseph were: Lucia, Mary, Kim, Delma, Patricia, Nancy Jane and Tina

Scarborough Region Spring Meeting – Monday April 2nd Mass at 7:00 p.m.

This CWL meeting of the Scarborough Region will take place at Our Lady of Fatima Shrine (3170 St. Clair Ave. East). All members are welcome and encouraged to attend and be counted. Meet the members of the 12 Councils in the Scarborough Region as well as the Toronto Diocesan Council Executives and hear all about the Toronto Diocesan Convention in April.

99th Toronto Diocesan Convention – Thursday April 30th and Friday May 1st

The 2020 annual Toronto Diocesan Convention will be held at the Marriott, 901 Dixon Road on Thursday, April 30th and Friday, May 1st. There will be keynote speakers, Presentation of Youth Awards, lots of spirituality, learning more about the League and sisterhood, with masses (opening Mass Thursday April 30th at 1:30 p.m.), Prayer Room, presentation of reports by the Toronto Executive, Regional Hospitality Room and Closing Mass at 3:00 p.m. on Friday May 1st and a ticketed Banquet etc…. The Resolutions Dialogue will take place on Thursday April 30th at 9:30 a.m. it is a very popular portion of this convention, please register early if you are interested to learn more and participate in this process and attend any portion of the convention.

Attending convention with your League sisters from across Toronto Diocese is a wonderful opportunity to spend time with like-minded women in an atmosphere of unity, love for the League and sharing in the great work we do “For God and Canada”. The cost to attend this convention is covered for you by our St. Joseph Council. If you are interested in attending either both days, one day or the banquet only, please call Clare at 647-880-7762 ASAP so we can get you registered early. Registration deadline is April 4, 2020.

Patricia Beattie Memorial Award Nomination – Deadline for Nomination is April 5, 2020

A copy of the nomination criteria and forms, including the criteria to apply when selecting can be found on the Toronto website, the link is: https://www.cwltoronto.ca/index.php/forms

Lent

As practising Roman Catholics we have just experienced Ash Wednesday. The ashes that are placed on our forehead symbolize that God created us from ashes and back to ashes we will return. As the priest applies the ashes in the sign of the cross he speaks the words repent and believe in the Gospel. The ashes that we receive during holy mass are made from blessed palm branches which are gathered from the blessed palms that are distributed to the congregation from the last year. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent. Officially Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Thursday. Lent is a time of fasting and abstinence in the Catholic Church. The liturgical colour for this season is purple. During Lent the altar Crucifix and the statues in the Church are veiled in purple. This is a time for believers to prepare for Easter by performing acts of almsgiving, fasting and a repentance of our sins. I pray that each one of us experiences the power of the Holy Spirit that raised our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ from the dead on Easter Sunday.

Feast of Our Lady of Good Counsel Televised Mass Taping April 6th– all are invited

The taping of the Feast of Our Lady of Good Counsel Televised Mass will take place at Loretto Abbey, 101 Mason Boulevard North York, on Monday April 6, 2020 at 5:00 pm. The mass will be televised on Vision TV on April 26, 2020 on the Feast Day. All CWL council members are encouraged to attend and to wear their CWL scarves.

Our Lady of Good Counsel Mass & New Members Ceremony Saturday April 25th at St. Joseph’s

We will be celebrating the Feast of our Patroness, Our Lady of Good Counsel, with mass celebrated by our Spiritual Advisor, Fr. Oliver Iwuchukwu, at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday April 25th at St. Joseph Parish. At this event we will also welcome seven new members to our Parish Council. Show your support and solidarity to all, especially the new members by attending this special mass for our Patroness. Reception of light refreshments to follow.

Virtue of the Month: March is Humility and April is Meekness

Links to some inspirational sites: www.bustedhalo.com www.wordonfire.org

Holy Virgin, moved by the painful uncertainty we experience in seeking and acquiring the true and the good, we cast ourselves at thy feet and invoke thee under the sweet title of Mother of Good Counsel. We beseech thee: come to our aid at this moment in our worldly sojourn when the double darkness of error and of evil plot our ruin by leading minds and hearts astray.

Seat of Wisdom and Star of the Sea, enlighten the victims of doubt and of error so that they may not be seduced by evil masquerading as good; strengthen them against the hostile and corrupting forces of passion and of sin.Mother of Good Counsel, obtain for us our most urgent need….. (here mention your request) and secure for us from thy Divine Son the love of virtue and the strength to choose, in doubtful and difficult situations, the course agreeable to our salvation.

Supported by thy hand we shall thus journey without harm along the paths taught us by the word and example of Jesus our Savior, following the Sun of Truth and Justice in freedom and safety across the battlefield of life under the guidance of thy maternal Star, until we come at length to the harbor of salvation to enjoy with thee unalloyed and everlasting peace. Amen

Say the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be, three times each.

After some brainstorming at our January general meeting, we decided to reach out to the St. Joseph Outreach program to see how we could help. Carmela who is part of that group invited me to come over on the last Saturday of the January which is when they distribute food, toiletries and clothes – it is indeed an amazing commitment and dedication from that group!! They told me that they would be happy to receive toiletry articles like soaps, shampoos, conditioners, body wash, deodorant, toothpaste and toothbrushes because they do not get too many of those items. So we are reaching out to all of you for your donations of the same. Please bring your donations to our March and April meetings, drop it off to me (or I can collect the same) or drop it off directly on the last Tuesday of any month between 2&4.

We also passed a motion during the February General meeting to donate $500 towards the CNEWA (Catholic Near East Welfare Associate) Project: Pieta Bhavan, support for a drinking water well in Kerala, India.. As this is the second year focus for Care for Our Common Home, all councils are asked to take part in the Pieta Bhavan Project and donate to this worthy cause. I am glad to say that this motion was approved by members in attendance at our General Meeting in February.

To give you a background; Pieta Bhavan, located in Kerala, India, is a Christian home for more than 60 women with intellectual disabilities. Established by the congregation of the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration, the home provides food, clothing, shelter and medical treatment, and additional care for some residents unable to care for themselves. Some women receive skills training and make items such as rosaries and soap.

Unfortunately Kerala experienced severe flooding during the monsoon season for the past 2 years, it caused significant water contamination. It is vital to have wells to keep the water clean and drinkable for daily use. Currently, Pieta Bhavan has an open well in need of repair. The rusted cover fell into the well and needs replacing. The residents of Pieta Bhavan depend on this well for drinking water and it needs to be fixed to prevent any contamination from flooding. I am sure that our contribution is going to an extremely worthy cause.

The Mary Matthews Public Speaking contest scheduled for the 1st of March 2020 at St Joseph’s will not be held as there was no response from the schools. As we are all well aware that these are difficult times for the teachers and coordination of this event to conduct preliminary rounds to send up one student in these circumstances must have been a challenge. We hope that next year as before we will have this contest to encourage our youth.

Each month has many areas to focus on Health

Go to this link to see the full calendar of dedications of health promotions in Canada https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/calendar-health-promotion-days.html

March is Liver month and April is Oral Health month.

2020 World Communications Day is May 24th

World Communications Day is on May 24th 2020 as released by the Vatican on the feast of St. Francis de Sales – patron saint of journalists. “So that you can tell your children and grandchildren, Life creates history.” this is the theme for 2020.

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!

Ordinandi

This year our Ordinandi Spiritual Bouquet for the seven soon-to-be-ordained-priests was extremely generous. We collected from various ministries in the parish, our parishioners and three family of schools. The total prayers for St. Joseph’s Parish Family was 198,631.

I wish to thank all CWL members who assisted at the various masses collecting prayer pledges, to the CWL members, Knights of Columbus, Prayer Group and the 50+ Club for their kind offerings and finally to Cardinal Leger, St. Brendan’s COOL KIDS and St. Dominic Savio for your enormous commitment to these men each year. Your support will have a lasting impact.

Laudato Si
As mentioned before in the January/February newsletter Laudato Si is Pope Francis’ new social encyclical dedicated to “Care for our Common Home.” I mentioned in the previous newsletter 3 ways families can “PRAY WITH AND FOR CREATION.”

This newsletter will look at 3 ways families can ‘LIVE SIMPLY”.

“There is nobility in the duty to care for creation through little daily actions.” Laudato Si 211

4. Before anyone in the family purchases something ask, “Do I need or want this?” If your children want something new discuss if it’s important.

5. Go without meat one day a week.

6. Agree on family time you’ll spend together in a way that doesn’t use electronics.

Special Home Visit

Doris and myself went to visit Frances as a dear friend and on behalf of the CWL sisters. Prior to our visit I went to select a lap quilt that I felt might bring Francis comfort. I must say I was in awe of the beautiful creations our humble ladies are sewing, knitting and crocheting for our members who need to know they are being prayed for and thought of during their challenging times.

When we arrived at Francis’ sister’s home, Francis was so pleased we came for a short visit. After listening to Francis and understanding her upcoming medical visits I took out the quilt and explained to her that this was a gift from the CWL sisters. I then read her the CWL message sewn on the back of the quilt. At that moment I certainly felt the presence of the Holy Spirit while wrapping her in the quilt. If you are not familiar with the message it assures our sister’s that they were prayed for as the handmade item was made for them. Reading to Francis that she is loved and not alone during this time brought tears to her eyes.

We do not often see directly God’s loving presence touching other’s through the work of our hands, but it certainly was so clear during this visit.

Francis was filled with gratitude and appreciation, so thank you all!

Resolutions:

The Toronto Diocesan Council will be presenting and discussing two draft resolutions at the annual convention.

2020.01 Promoting a Holistic Parish-Based Theology of the Body Lifestyle and Procreation Teachings
2020.02 Canada Needs a National Strategy to Address Loneliness

We, our Council will be reviewing these resolutions at our general meeting in order for our Parish to send our representative of voting and accredited delegates at the convention with an informed vote from our council. Be informed by attending the General Meetings for these important discussions.

Legislation:

We need to be the voice in action of the resolutions place and the social justice to the vulnerable.

Here are some suggestions:

Familiarize ourselves with the terms used in legislation
Write letters, these are what makes the action plan have a positive impact.
Get to know our local politicians both the Member of Parliament (MP) and the Member of Provincial
Parliament (MPP) in our areas.
Make an appointment to speak to them

Here are some helpful websites: www.parl.gc.ca www.parl.gc.ca/legisinfo www.canada.gc.ca www.cpac.ca

The Lenten season is upon us and many of us over the years speak of “giving up” something. Perhaps we need to “pick up” or “set up” and new habit of taking this time to “pick up” the phone and call our sisters and be present to them with a little chat. So many are lonely and a phone call can make all the difference. Another way is to “set up” time to visit those members who are ill or we have not seen in a while…reconnect to build a closer sisterhood.

The National Implementation Committee for the Strategic Planning has been very busy with gathering and sort out ways to better position the CWL Organization for the future and continue the journey. Seven working groups have been created and are asking us to be involved in this process. Go to www.cwl.ca under Home Page – Implementation of the Strategic Plan to see the monthly updates.

Here are some of the Goals and National is looking to you to fill and assist in these positions to help:

Goal 1 Strategic Leadership – help members grow in faith and develop leadership skills.
Goal 2 Catholic Social Teaching – educational programs about Catholic social teaching.
Goal 3a League Misconceptions – focus on outreach and service
Goal 3b Encourage Diversity – increase participation of individuals from diverse cultural and generational groups.
Goal 3c Toolkits – to increase awareness and opportunities
Goal 3d Spiritual Formation – develop spiritual programs
Goal 4 Parish Councils – focus on issues affecting the operation of the League

The time commitment for these groups is from March 2020 to February 2021

If you Want to Become Involved? Here is how to apply:
Submit the application online at https://kimscammell.typeform.com/to/Jl6Iwk by March 20th

WANTED!!! From within the St. Joseph CWL Council members:

Looking for anyone of you who would be interested in taking over and be the lead for the Apple Pie Making
Project. Instructions and some equipment are available. Need to know ASAP.
Looking for someone with Excel skills who would be interested to be a backup as assistant for the Online
Administration of the annual membership renewals and general administration of membership. This is an
online process as well as detailed work dealing with all members. ASAP
Looking for any members who are interested in archival process. Review the current archives and make
improvements for future. ASAP
Looking for members interested in home visits of our members who are not well or just need some company.
This is something that we need to expand on as many of our members need to know that they are not alone.
Looking for someone to be involved in ways to market the League at St. Joseph. We need members who are
creative and forward thinking, looking to increase the profile and visibility of the CWL. What can we do? Any ideas are welcome.

If you feel called to anyone of the five areas above, please contact lucia.vacca@sympatico.ca

EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU MEMBERS ARE CRUTIAL TO THE SURVIVAL OF THE COUNCIL…. WE NEED YOU TO BE ACTIVE AND ATTEND MEETINGS, MASSES, EVENTS, ETC…FOR OUR COUNCIL TO CONTINUE THE JOURNEY OF SO MANY SISTERS BEFORE US.

The CWL Book Club

C.W.L. Book Club meets the third Wednesday of the month at 7:00 p.m. Please contact: Jackie (416-266-4604) for more details. These are the books we will discuss:

Month	Book & Author	Year	Pages
Mar	The Island of Sea Women Lisa See	2019	374p.
Apr	The Alice Network Kate Quinn	2017	503p.
May	A House in the Sky Amanda Lindout	2013	384p.
Jun	A Gentleman in Moscow Amor Towles	2016	462p.

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.

March 21 (Saturday)	Scarborough Regional Mary Matthews Public Speaking Contest will be held at Precious Blood Parish (1737 Lawrence Ave.) from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.– all invited to attend and support these 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
April 2 (Monday)	TDC Patricia Beattie nomination deadline date
April 2 (Monday)	Scarborough Region Spring General Meeting – 7:00 p.m. at Our Lady of Fatima Shrine (3170 St. Clair East) – mass followed by refreshments and meeting – all are invited and encouraged to attend this meeting.
April 6 (Monday)	Taping of the TV daily mass at Loretto Abbey (101 Mason Blvd. North York) for the Feast of Our Lady of Good Counsel 4:00 p.m. – all invited to attend. This taped mass will be shown on April 26th.
April 14 (Tuesday)	General Meeting /Rosary 7:10 Meeting 7:30 p.m.
April 25 (Saturday)	Our Lady of Good Counsel Mass & New Members Ceremony at St. Joseph 11:00 a.m. – Refreshments to follow – all of you are invited to attend
April 30 & May 1 (Thursday / Friday)	99th Toronto Diocesan Convention – Marriott Hotel, Toronto Airport – members encouraged to attend this Convention. Be sure to register
May 11 (Monday)	General Meeting – Rosary 7:00 Crowning of Mary Meeting 7:30 – Mother’s Day Meeting – special prayers/hymns
May 31 (Friday)	Deadline for Applications – St. Michael’s Scholarships to Toronto Diocese
June 8 (Monday)	CWL Social – Pot Luck Dinner – Hall – 7:00 p.m.
June 19 (Friday)	Setup for Heritage Day Bazaar 2:00 to 9:00 p.m. – many hands make light work
June 20 (Saturday)	Heritage Day Bazaar – Plant Sale, Tea Room etc… 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. – need your help for this day during the event and after for cleanup.
June 21 (Sunday)	Indigenous Mass – TBA Toronto Diocesan Council… All are welcome to attend.
June 24 (Wednesday)	Wrap up Meeting for Heritage Bazaar – 7:00 Board Room

CWL Newsletter 2020 Mar-Apr

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 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