Newsletter 2017 Sep-Oct

Bazaar Planning Mtg. Monday September 18th 7:00 p.m. Room 3

You are more than welcome to join in the planning of this event. Bring your ideas as to how we can improve and make this event successful.

Square Dance Social Saturday September 23rd at 7:00 p.m.

In the Parish Hall. Once again, we will be hosting an evening of Square Dancing. This is a very popular and fun event it is FREE of charge and is open to all families in our Parish community and guests. Refreshments will be available. So spread the word and let’s have some fun! Great exercise too!

Membership Renewal – Due to National before January 1, 2018

The November/December Newsletter will include the Membership Renewal Form for 2018. The form will also be available at our General Meetings. If you are receiving your Newsletter by email, please ensure that you print the form which will be a separate attachment. If you have moved, are in the process of moving or have had any change in your contact information, we need to have your correct information for our records and for the National Office. This will ensure your receipt of your League Magazine.

Annual Apple Pie Making – Come and join us.

Our Apple Pies are always a hit at our Bazaar. We are continuing our tradition of making our famous Apple Pies. We welcome and encourage new members to join in and learn, in order to ensure our reputation of St. Joseph’s having the Best Apple Pies. If you are already an expert in making these pies or you would like to help in any way or just simply have never made a pie before and would like to learn, we welcome you.

Here are the dates for our Fall 2017 apple pie making sessions:

• Thursday, October 5th 10:00am – 3:00pm
• Thursday, October 12th 10:00am – 3:00pm
• Thursday, October 19th 10:00am – 3:00pm
• Thursday, October 26th 10:00am – 3:00pm

Please contact Lucia Vacca 416 283-3536 or Ingrid Hart 416 282-8775

Thank you for your continued support in this annual project. We look forward to seeing you there! It’s a great time to connect with your sisters in the League.

Scarborough Region Fall General Meeting – Tuesday October 17, 2017

Beginning with mass at 7:00 p.m. followed by refreshments and meeting at our St. Joseph’s Parish. All members from Scarborough are invited to attend. We are the hosting Council for this meeting and Mary Tuccitto (our Past President 2009-2010) is our new Scarborough Regional Chair. Let’s us welcome our sisters from Scarborough. We are looking to you for some goodies/refreshments for this meeting.

24th Interfaith Celebration

We will once again be the hosts for the Annual Interfaith Evening Celebration. This event brings together our many faith communities in our area. We invite all of you to join in this Annual celebration and bring a friend to a Spiritual and Social celebration. Friday, October 20th at 7:30 p.m. at St. Joseph’s Parish our focus this year is in sharing “Inspired by the Spirit Women Respond to God’s Call”. Your contribution of finger foods to share would be greatly appreciated. Let us be welcoming to our community our St. Joseph hospitality.

CWL Masses for the Living and Deceased Members

Masses have been booked for the members of our St. Joseph’s Council. Please make every effort to attend these masses as they are for YOU (the living) and our members who have gone before us (the deceased). Wear your CWL scarves, pins, nametags etc… proudly and visibly for all in our parish community to see.

Mass dates:

• Saturday, October 7th 5:00 p.m.
• Saturday, November 4th 5:00 p.m.
• Saturday, December 2nd 5:00 p.m.

We would like to extend a huge thank you to our sisters Linda Estrada and Pat Wilson for their leadership and initiative in leading the prayers on for the 12 Hours of Prayer for Palliative Care

Betty Anne Brown Davidson Award of Honour

The Betty Anne Brown Davidson Award was initiated by our Council in 2013 to honour Betty Anne Brown Davidson who became a CWL member here at St. Joseph’s Council in 1973, and continued her CWL journey to become National President in 2012.

We would like to continue this Annual Award and if you (our members) have someone in mind that you feel will meet the Criteria for Eligibility, we need to hear from you. For your information and to eliminate duplication, in 2013, the first recipient of this award was Pat Sheehan, in 2014 the recipient was Anne Rode, in 2015 Delma Alphonso and in 2016 Lucia Vacca. For your convenience, attached to this Newsletter, you will find the Guidelines and Criteria for Eligibility and the Nomination form which can be printed, filled out and returned to your Executive committee for consideration. Please place your nomination in a sealed envelope marked: “CWL – Betty Anne Brown Davidson Nomination”. This may be dropped off at the Parish office or in the collection basket at any Mass.

Please note: the Deadline for submissions for this Award is October 30th, 2017. If you need to contact me for any questions in this regard, please call 416-282-8775 or email at: ingridhart@sympatico.ca

Heritage Day this year was once again a resounding success — thanks to all the dedicated Sisters in the League. Special thanks go as well for the assistance extended by our Brothers at the Knights of Columbus. May God reward you all ten-thousand fold for having shared your time, talents and treasures. Thanks to all who volunteered and heart-felt thanks to the ladies who helped in the various areas of our Annual Fundraiser. We were able to raise roughly $5,700 in net revenues this year. God bless you in all that you do for His Kingdom!

A summary of the gross revenues from each area are as follows:

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Bake Table|$1,046.70
International – Caribbean|484.00
International – India|524.10
International – Philippines|531.00
Plant Sale|851.70
Raffles|485.00
Tea Room|893.00
Treasure Table|816.35
Vendors’ Tables|300.00
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Because of your hard work, dear Sisters, the following Charities received our support

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Sisters of Life|Salt and Light Catholic Media Foundation
Covenant House|MaterCare International
St. Francis Table|The Spiritans
Society of St. Vincent de Paul|Refugee-Outreach Committee
Toronto Right to Life Association|Coady International
Homeward Family Shelter / Juliette’s Place|Catholic Missions In Canada
Good Shepherd Ministries|Development & Peace
Tony Stacey Centre|Bishop Bernard F. Pappin Memorial Bursary Fund
Save A Family Plan|St. Michael’s Scholarship Fund
Sleeping Children around the World|Hope for Children Foundation Scholarship Fund
Missionaries of Mary Mother of the Poor|Family of Faith
Chalice|
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For thousands of years, First Peoples have held the Great Lakes as a sacred gift to be revered. The roots of every culture that came to join the Canadian mosaic reveal an abiding connection between water and their deepest selves, a connection that should make honouring the Great Lakes obvious and essential.

An Objibwa grandmother would like to invite you to join her for the Great Lakes Water Walk, a free public event on Sunday, September 24, 2017 along the Toronto waterfront.

It will be a very special day. Anishinaabeg Grandmothers will lead thousands of participants in a ceremonial water walk along Toronto’s waterfront trail, with blessing stops at Toronto’s four river deltas (Credit, Humber, Rouge, Don). At the close of the walk, respected Elders Dr. Shirley Williams and Grandmother Josephine Mandamin, will lead a multi-cultural water blessing of the Great Lakes assisted by Elders and Leaders representing all facets of the Toronto community.

By sharing the Indigenous practice of honouring our waters, the Great Lakes Water Walk is an invitation to pause and reflect upon what we can do individually and collectively to ensure the health and well-being of our waters for generations to come.

Participants are free to join or leave the main walking groups at any point, with times and distances that best suits them. Everyone is welcome. The walk is to renew relations with each other and the waters we love.

For more information please check out this website.

Great Lakes Water Walk – Nibi Mosewin Onji Nayaano …

www.greatlakeswaterwalk.ca

Many hours of work and research go into preparing a Resolution. It begins with an idea from the Parish level and it is presented at the various levels of the League. Once they are presented and passed it is up to us to continue to support the Action Plans as outlined in these resolutions.

The following are Resolutions which our Provincial and National Executives bring to our Government. This is the strength of the Catholic Women’s League. We must act on making a change for these important issues.

The following Resolutions were presented and passed at the 70th Annual Provincial Convention in Thunder Bay.

1. ON.17.01 Full implementation of the Supreme Court’s Gladue Decision (1999) for Indigenous women offenders
2. ON.17.02 Grant GST zero-rated status to all child safety products listed in the Canada Consumer Safety Act (CCPSA)
3. ON.17.03 Inclusion of nurses in Provincial Bill 163 (The Supporting Ontario’s First Responders Act 2016)

Please go to www.cwl.on.ca for detailed context and action plan.

The following four resolutions were adopted at the 97th Annual National Convention in Prince Edward Island in August, 2017.

2017.01 Full Implementation of the Supreme Court Decision in R. versus Gladue for Indigenous Offenders.

• In its ground-breaking decision, R. versus Gladue, the Supreme Court of Canada recognized that pursuant to the Criminal Code of Canada, there are mitigating social and historical circumstances that should be considered when sentencing Indigenous individuals, whether they are on or off reserve. Judges were also mandated to consider an Indigenous person’s life path before sentencing. This mandate should carry forward for use in all future correctional decisions for each Indigenous offender. A Gladue report is case-specific and is written and used at any time where liberty may be lost, for example at bail, sentencing, discipline and penitentiary assignment. Gladue reports contain information on the unique circumstances of Indigenous people accused of an offence. The court can consider these reports during sentencing. Sentencing in the Gladue court focuses on restorative justice and community justice programs, while also making sure that offenders receive fair sentence.

2017.02 Mandatory Age Verification Mechanisms for Adult Pornographic Websites

• In Canada, illegal images such as child pornography are already blocked. There is no filter for adult pornography. With 420 million web pages containing pornographic content and in Canada no national regulatory framework in existence, the Internet has greatly increased the ease of access to sexually explicit material, making pornography accessible to everyone, including children and adolescents.  Today’s youth are exposed to pornography at a much younger age with 11 years of age reported as the average age a child is exposed to pornography. There are ways that adult websites can be made less accessible to children. Some possibilities would be to require sign-up with a credit card or with government issued identification such as social insurance number, driver’s license etc. We urge the federal government to introduce legislation requiring pornographic websites to introduce a valid mechanism to verify that their users are of legal age to view adult material.

2017.03 Zero Rated Status Under the Goods and Services Tax Provisions of the Excise Tax Act for Child Safety Products

2017.04 Protection from Coercion of Conscience for Healthcare Professionals.

Please go to www.cwl.ca for detailed context and action plan.

Hello sisters in the League! I hope that you all had a great summer and were able to put to use some of the information provided last time on the benefits and advantages of WALKING!

This month I would like to talk to you about the importance of good gut health! Gut health is a popular term but let us first examine what it really means! Essentially it can allude to different things, but in general, it refers to your digestive system and its functionality. The digestive system is made up of a number of organs that work together to change the food you consume into energy and nutrients, and plays a large role in your overall health. Often referred to as your body’s ‘second brain,’ there are millions of neurons that line the gut and release chemical messengers called neurotransmitters. When gut health isn’t optimal the neurotransmitters won’t work to the best of their ability, causing your health to suffer in various ways.

For instance, serotonin, a neurotransmitter that helps us feel happy, is found in highest concentration in the gut. When the gut is not functioning properly, the neurotransmitter won’t be able to fire off serotonin to your brain, which can impact mood and mental health.

In addition to impacts on your mental wellness below are common symptoms that may be linked to poor gut health:

• Chronic bloating
• Chronic gas
• Constipation
• Diarrhea
• Nausea and vomiting
• Stomach pain
• Weak immune system
• Allergies
• Skin conditions such as eczema

Through testing, it’s possible to identify what issues your digestive system might be having. When the issue is determined you can take the proper course of action and adjust your nutrition and supplement intake accordingly, which will work to make any necessary repairs. If you’re experiencing any of the above symptoms visit your doctor or nutritionist to discuss what the problem may be. In order to keep your overall gut health in tip top shape here are a few things you can try:

• Chew slowly and completely, this can make a major impact on digestion by breaking down food so it’s easier to digest · Determine if you have any food allergies or sensitivities that are negatively impacting your health
• Ensure you are properly hydrated by drinking enough water
• Avoid alcohol, caffeine, and very spicy foods if they affect your digestion, instead opt for water and fermented foods like yogurt, kombucha and pickles
• Avoid processed foods as much as possible, opt for seasonal, organic foods that hydrate
• Increase your fiber intake as it improves regularity, it can also help create an environment for healthy gut bacteria.

Here’s hoping that a better combination of healthy eating and exercise will help improve our overall health as long term functioning of the human body is paramount to overall happiness and well being.

It’s hard to believe that summer is ending and we’re heading into fall. Labour Day always feels more like New Year’s to me than January first – a time when kids are going back to school, some with major life changes like Kindergarten, High School and University. This is the time that I always think about making changes in my life – working harder, praying more, helping more. There are a number of special events happening in our region that would be a great opportunity for your resolutions.

40 Days for Life Vigil

This is an annual event with an opportunity to help women who are about to make a major mistake or at least show you care. It starts at Sept 27th – Nov 5th – for the Toronto area for your participation. You can learn more and sign up at this website: https://40daysforlife.com/local-campaigns/toronto/ – Public right-of-way across the street from Women’s Care Clinic, 960 Lawrence Avenue West, Toronto, Ontario

Life Chain

The Annual Life Chain will take place on Sunday October 1st. St. Joseph Parish will gather at Lawrence and Kingston Rds at 2:00 p.m. My family makes this an annual event. It doesn’t take a lot of time and it would be great to see more of you this year. We need to show our support for this important Social Issue. Be the Voice of the Voiceless.

Annual Mass to End Woman Abuse

The Catholic Family Services of Toronto Foundation and Precious Blood Parish invite you to attend the annual mass offered to End Woman Abuse. It will be held on Wednesday October 4th at 7:00 pm at Precious Blood Parish (1737 Lawrence Ave. E). Everyone is encouraged to attend.

I look forward to seeing everyone again at our meetings. Please remember to bring Milk Bags and pop can tabs.

Here you can see the efforts of many with the finished product of crochet milk bag mats ready to be sent out for shipping.

This amazing quilt was created to celebrate our Canada’s 150th Anniversary by Suanne O’Neill

Welcome back!!! As you will see from some of the pictures here, we have had a few events before summer. It would be lovely to have some more of you come out to these events. It is always a fun and enriching experience to just be in the company of each other.

Bake Table

Milk bags cut and rolled into a ball ready to crochet

Philippine Table

Treasure Table

Indian Table

Making crafts – Angels for our Bazaar

CWL Book Club

The 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:

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Month|Book|Author|Year|Pages
Sept. |The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street|Susan Jane Gilman|2014|512
Oct.|Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand|Helen Simonson|2010|358
Nov.|The Little Giant of Aberdeen County|Tiffany Baker|2009|341
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