Continued...
ACCW Community Concerns Chair
Reflects on History of Commission System
“I believe that the Community Concerns Commission areas of Human Dignity, Conservation and Safety, Our Lady of Good Counsel Home, Prison Ministry and Rural Life tell the whole picture of who needs us.
“It was my privilege to be at the NCCW Convention when the Commission system was introduced. I was appointed as the first Community Affairs commission chairman and continued to be the second Community Affairs chairmen under the next president. The commission program was set out to help people. It was my task to outline a program which would enable Council members to work in nine avenues to help Council women to help all. We were taught to see the face of God in each human being. Mother Theresa was with us (as an NCCW convention speaker) and helped us greatly. Little did we know she would become a saint. We called ourselves the Commission of Love.
“I will never forget Mother Theresa. There was a heavenly aura about her. She was only five feet tall – and so kind in word and thoughts. Her humility was outstanding and her message powerful.
“Years passed and we Council women worked toward our goal “love they neighbor.” I believe the St. Paul & Minneapolis Council of Catholic Women was successful in giving NCCW great leaders as presidents, officers, commission chairmen and members.
“Karen Painter is our new Service Chairman. Soon we will be given our new direction. Her early message was “Follow the NCCW Mission Statement.”
“Until further discussion we will work in our old fashioned way of loving and giving. We are living Minnesota woman willing to serve and help our neighbor. We are the Commission of Love. It has been my further privilege to continue to serve ACCW all these years. Let’s keep on loving and giving. I believe it’s the best medicine to keep holy and happy.”
May 6 ACCW Conference
honors Lay Women, Priests
New ACCW officers installed were Marcia Simon, St. Dominic Church, Northfield as First Vice President and Elaine Monitor, St. John the Baptist, Hugo, treasurer. Deanery presidents who were reaffirmed after Mass included Mary Gunderson, Minneapolis; Olive Hupf, Southeast; Judy Beaudry and Mary Helen Swartzer, Northwest, and Carol Shukle, West.
Commission workshop speakers were Church, Fr. Erich Rutten who spoke on keeping the faith alive in our youth and young adults; Community Concerns, Sr. Fran Donnelly, BVM, on the Sunset of Life; Family Concerns, Peggy Reagan on Autism and Mary Ann Maggi on Veterans services; International Concerns, Deacon Mickey Freisen on the Venezuela Mission; Legislation, Christopher Leifeld on voting the Catholic Faith, and Fr. Paul Fruth on changes for parishes with megers, closings and clustering.
Bishop Piche` in his remarks after lunch, spoke with warmth and humor about the role of women in the church from the early church to the present. Speaking of the women who went to Christ’s tomb on Easter morning to find it empty, he said “The holy women who had been recreated in hope and joy were the first to announce to us the resurrection.”
Archived...
WUCWO
The World Union of Catholic Women’s Organizations (WUCWO) will mark its Centennial in the coming year at the 2010 General Assembly in Jerusalem Oct. 5 though 12. A tour program that includes attendance at all General Assembly major events and a sight-seeing itinerary in Jerusalem is being offered by George’s International Tours.
Participants will arrive in Tel Aviv Oct. 5, 2010. The General Assembly will begin the next day and run through Oct. 11 with half-day tours that will take in the Old City of Jerusalem including the Church of St. Anne, the Pool of Bethesda and the Chapel of Flagellation; following the Via Dolorosa to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Golgotha and the Tomb of Our Lord; Mt. Zion, King David’s Tomb, Dormition Abbey, the place where Peter denied Christ, the birthplace of John the Baptist and the site of the Visitation. Participants will depart on Oct. 12, 2010 or embark on an optional tour to Galilee Oct. 12-14, 2010.
The optional tour will visit Jericho, Elisha’s Fountain, the Mt. of Temptation, the Jordan River Valley, Sea of Galilee, Capernaum (for a visit to the synagogue where Jesus taught,) the site of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, the Mt. of the Beatitudes, Cana, Nazareth, and the site of the Transfiguration.
Cost of the tour is $1,700 per person, double occupancy, for the Jerusalem portion of the tour and $500 per person, double occupancy, for the optional tour to Galilee. The price includes General Assembly registration fees, hotel accommodations, all meals, hotel taxes, land transportation for tours and professional guides. Airfare is not included.
For further information, please contact Joann Hillebrand, WUCWO Treasurer General, 54 Derby Court, Oakbrook, IL 60523 USA, 630-789-8460.
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