Annunciation of the Lord Parish CWL Newsletter

Transcription

1 June, 2014 Please Pass this on to a friend Annunciation of the Lord Parish CWL Newsletter Dear Sisters in the League, Here we are at the end of another year! I am so proud to be a member of this council. You women are amazing! Let me recap a few of the highlights since our last newsletter as we have gone forth to serve the Lord. We started this year off by practicing the Corporal Work of Mercy Burying the dead. I include Joan Lariviere in our remembrance of our deceased sisters, followed by Ruth Rance, Gabrielle Shane, Joyce Cook, Sylvia MacLeod, and Lucille Dufour. We remember Jim Dunne, Deacon Ed Webster and Serge Dufour, spouses of our sisters, Mary Dunne, Marjorie Webster and Lucille Dufour. We participated in prayer services, attended funerals and hosted receptions. It requires the assistance of between 25 and 40 women to put a reception together. These figures include sandwich and sweet makers, those who prepare fruit and vegetables, and those who do the set-up, serving and clean-up at the reception itself and as well as those who take part in the Honour Guard, where applicable, keeping in mind that some of these ladies do more than one service. Thank you all for your generosity when the call goes out. In the middle of all this we hosted a grand reception for Fr. Matthew Keshwah at St. Theresa s following his first Mass as a priest. I offer a special thank you to Michele Hundertmark for coordinating this event and making it seem so effortless. In all 25 participated in this event that served 200 people. Michele s chocolate fountain was a hit. In response to the call to Clothe the Naked, you provided with great eagerness for the women who are served by St. Joe s Women s Centre. (See pictures of my van and the youth who helped me load it the evening before convention.) mental challenges. Lunch is served by a different group each week. A week after our turn, they celebrated their 40th anniversary of service: Quite an accomplishment! We recognized the sanctity of life with our Diaper Drive, thanks to Monica DeRomer, and our Anti- Pornography Postcard Campaign, thanks to Theresa Steller. Both events encouraged parish participation as will the Baby Bottle Drive in the fall. Our Confirmation Retreat lunch was a great success. The young people gobbled up Michele s Macaroni and Cheese and Rice Krispie Squares. We supported these young people in their faith by serving this meal and in our gift of a Catechism of the Catholic Church. We also supported our first communicants with a gift of a rosary and prayer card of St John Paul II and St. John XXIII. Convention, League Development Day, Advent Retreat, World Day of Prayer and the Feast of Our lady of Good Counsel are all opportunities to come together with our sisters across the city to pray and grow in faith. I urge you to take advantage of these opportunities in the coming year. And lastly, there are the social events the Christmas Dinner and our Strawberry Social. Now I present you with some homework over the summer months: a course of study to prepare for the upcoming Synod on the Family in October. I made reference to this at our last general meeting. Let us review what our faith teaches about family life, and why she teaches what she does. We will be touching on all the core issues of life, a phrase used by Bishop Riesbeck. Fr. Dennis will be eager to answer any questions you may have. We will call this, Ask the Padre. Let us see Jesus in everyone we encounter. We recognized the human dignity of all people everywhere when we served lunch at High Horizons in April. Each Tuesday, from September to June, volunteers provide a day of activities, such as crafts and choir, to those who have physical and May God bless you and keep you strong in your faith. Janet Warren, President

2 Father Dennis, Father Yves, special guests, granddaughters, husbands their presence added to our gentle afternoon. We would be remiss if we did not mention a table of women in various shades of pink. Another Wow! Strawberry Social By Elizabeth Gauthier Wow! Wow! What an event our gracious CWL hosted Saturday June 7th strawberries, spring hats, fascinators, white gloves, and dresses in striking colors and fashion. Our women looked as if they were ready for the New York runway. There were garden flowers adorning the tables, silver tea services, and silver trays, honourable women pouring tea, music, china tea cups, whipped cream, chocolate, hospitality and all of this to create a perfect afternoon for our CWL and parish community. Many volunteers were so generous of their time in creating the magic that happens for an event. We are so-o-o-o grateful. We all know how tired our feet get; but we have fun as well in the time spent working together. Hope each of you enjoyed our new addition to our afternoon. Thanks to Cheryl Bradley, the strawberry themed silent auction was a huge success. Thanks everyone. Edith Mockler takes a turn pouring tea Linda Huard having fun at the social Pat Lepine takes a turn pouring tea Mike and Maura Strivens enjoying the afternoon at the Strawberry Social.

3 Dear friends in the League, Spiritual Advisor s Corner As I approach the end of my first year at Annunciation of the Lord, I am filled with gratitude to be part of such a vibrant and wonderful council as the one found here in our parish. The warmer weather has finally arrived, the long winter months almost forgotten and we all look forward to times of summer leisure and rest. Our CWL executive has prepared an excellent compilation of summer spiritual reading in anticipation of this fall s extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family. The synod will be held at the Vatican from October 5 th to the 19th. Here below is how one Catholic periodical summarized one principle issue at hand for this fall s synod where the theme will be: The pastoral challenges of the family in the context of evangelization Initial reviews of responses from around the world on questionnaires about church teaching on the family in advance of this fall's extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family show that the teaching is misunderstood, said a cardinal who will run one the synod's sessions. Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila, Philippines, told Catholic News Service he found the responses "shocking, if I am allowed to use that word." "Shocking because almost in all parts of the world, the questionnaires indicated that the teaching of the church regarding family life is not clearly understood by people, and the language by which the church proposes the teaching seems to be a language not accessible to people," Cardinal Tagle said in an interview May 16 at The Catholic University of America. "So this is my hope, not for change -- how can you change the biblical teachings? But maybe a real pastoral and evangelical concern for the church: How do we present the good news of the family to this generation, with its limitations, with its greatness, with its unique experiences? - National Catholic Reporter May 22, 2014 Let s pray along with Pope Francis for the success this fall s synod on the family. He said back in February of this year: Indeed, in our day the Church is called to proclaim the Gospel by confronting the new and urgent pastoral needs facing the family. [This] important meeting will involve not only bishops and priests, but also consecrated men and women, and lay faithful of the particular Churches of the entire world. Because the Synod is dedicated to the topic of marriage and family, the Holy Father wrote to families, I ask you, therefore, to pray intensely to the Holy Spirit, so that the Spirit may illumine the Synodal Fathers and guide them in their important task. -Letter dated February 2, 2014, and published by Vatican News on February 25 I want to wish all members of our council a summer filled with delight, good cheer, family fun and the many blessings of the Lord. Sincerely yours in Christ, Fr. Dennis Hayes

4 shared stories, the laughter, the praying, Lectio Divinio ("wake up sweet buttercups"), meeting with CCO people, and marvellous guides; the feast QUEBEC S HOLY DOOR days that we celebrated the Visitation on the day we passed through the Holy Door of Notre Dame de Quebec, and the Ascension on Sunday, June 1st, By Donna Verner. all this within the novena of the Holy Spirit, as we We were 36 pilgrims prepare for the coming celebration of Pentecost. We prayed the rosary, had the opportunity for Conplus Fr. Dennis Hayes, CC, our spir- fession, daily mass, Stations of the Cross, venerated relics of many saints, especially Canadian maritual Advisor and Jose Manuel Cerrud, tyrs, and St. Peregrine, patron of cancer patients. our tour guide. The following are some We experienced first-hand the crisis of our churches in Quebec and sensed the echo of "rebuild my reflections on our church" that St. Francis heard. pilgrimage. PILGRIMAGE TO CAP DE LA MADELEINE AND A Spiritual Journey: How many spiritual "kisses" did we receive on our 3-day pilgrimage? - the perfect weather, the safe travel, the friendly companions, the wonderful videos on the bus, the cordial welcomes, the delicious meals, the Reflections on Our Lady of the Cape By Joan Wills What a wonderful experience it was to travel together to learn more about Mary, the Mother of Jesus and his Saints. There were so many things I did not know about the first of the Marian Shrines in Canada. I did not know that in 1694 a Confraternity of the Holy Rosary was founded at the Cape and that through these prayers a new parish was established in From 1729 to 1844 there were no resident priests at the Cape and gradually people abandoned their practice of attending church. Amazingly it was not until 1867 on the eve of the Feast of the Ascension, Fr. Désilets saw a pig chewing on a rosary enter the church! Such a sight renewed his devotion to the Rosary and the parishioners returned. Now a larger church was required and as The Cape does not have rocks, it was decided to bring rocks from the South shore over the ice in the winter of 1879, however, the river did not freeze that winter. Again rosaries were offered to Mary which resulted in the miracle of an ice bridge to enable the transportation of stones over the open waters. In My favourite part? It s a tossup between the impromptu adoration service at St. Peregrine s Shrine, and Father Dennis's home spun stories that he shared with us. It was wonderful to get to know better so many from our flock. Someone from another parish was heard to say how wonderful it must be to belong to such a vibrant, caring, hospitable, prayerful parish as AOTL Parish! I have to agree. 1881, the new church was dedicated to the veneration of Our Lady and the statue of Mary above the main altar opened its eyes in the presence of Fr. Désilets, Blessed Fréderic and a handicapped parishioner! Kneeling at the Shrine of Our Lady of the Cape one is transported to a world of peace before Mary who welcomes us with open arms. The trip was an experience of a lifetime for me and one that I will always remember because I have come to know Mary better and I shared the experience with my brothers and sisters.

5 Fron Top Left: Jane Gratton on pilgrimage; group picture from the pilgrimage, CWL members helping at High Horizons; Newly ordained Fr. Matthew Keshwah with members of Annunciation CWL who helped with a reception celebrating his first mass; Cheryl Bradley and Sharen Reynart enjoying the lovely weather on the CWL sponsored pilgrimage

6 The Ottawa Diocesan Council of the Catholic Women s League of Canada By Edith Mockler, Life Member The 91st Annual Convention of the Ottawa Diocesan Council was hosted by St. Philip s Council in Richmond. Their hospitality and their meals were exceptional. the Lord in what they accomplished throughout the year. There were two speakers. One showed a video and then talked of the good work done by Catholic Missions in Canada. The other told us about the assistance given to women and families at St. Joe s Women s Centre and about their needs. This place was the recipient of the clothing that we contributed in April. Each Council s contribution, whether it was baby things, toiletries or clothing, matched ours with the result that Marsha Wilson, the Speaker and Executive Director of the Centre was overwhelmed with the quantity of items she would be taking back. Needless to say, she was most grateful. The theme of the Convention, "We Have Seen the Lord" flowed through the day's events, the prayers, The last invocation in the closing prayer of the the reports and the speakers. Each Parish Council business sessions was, We have seen the Lord President reported her Council s experience seeing seen Him in our CWL sisters. How true that is! Top Left:Members of our council, with Fr. Dennis at Convention Top Right: Youth load our donation of gently loved clothing, for St. Joe s Women centre From L-R: Sharen Reynart, Edith Mockler, Sonya Laroque and Lynn Leduc represent Annunciation of the Lord at the Diocesan Convention 8 7 9

7 2014 Service Pins New Members Darlene Tier Monica Chagoya Elaine Simpson Margharita Buscema 25 Years Mary Ajersch Lea Attrux Theresa Matteau-Sit Catherine Peel Sheila Whalley 10 Years Lynn Leduc Katherine LeLievre Genevieve Provick Nancy Richardson Helen Roberts Aline Sirois Tess Sturgeon Louise Wood 50 Years Clara Trainor MAPLE LEAF PIN Michele Hundertmark Greetings from Consuelo To all my sisters from CWL, I hope all is going well for you. I'm busy as usual with CWL and choir at the Corpus Christie parish. I think of you often, especially at our CWL functions. You are all in my prayers. God Bless, Consuelo Kelly

8 YOUR CWL EXECUTIVE FOR Interim President - Janet Warren jpwarren@rogers.com Secretary - Dawn Roach jeanwilfrid@sympatico.ca Treasurer - Holly Huard holly.huard@ic.gc.ca VP, Organization - Sharen Reynaert sharen4@rogers.com Spiritual Development - Terry Thibert terryt3@rogers.com Education and Health - Bonnie Lalonde denisbonnie.lalonde@sympatico.ca Communications - Danielle Breffitt sosickofbeingtired@hotmail.com Community Life - Monica de Römer monica.deromer@ottawa.ca Resolutions and Legislation Vacant ONGOING ACTIVITIES Our Prayer Shawl Ministry meets the 2nd Thursday of each month in the Parish Hall from 1-3 pm. Victoria Quilts meets the 3rd Thursday of each month in the Parish Hall from 1-4 pm. ANNUNCIATION OF THE LORD PARISH 2414 Ogilvie Road, Gloucester, ON K1J 7N5 Phone (613) Fax (613) parish@annunciation-ottawa.com Christian Family Life - Theresa Steller thestellers@ncf.ca Council Coordinator - Linda Huard jakal@rogers.com Spiritual Advisor Vacant Calling all Cooks! CWL Cookbook needs you! Our CWL council is aiming to create a cookbook to be put out in the fall. If you have a favourite recipe, or a recipe that everyone is always asking for, now is your chance to share it! Submit recipes to Darlene Tier at darlene.tier@gmail.com CWL LINKS click on media to get the latest newsletter and The League magazine for all the news from our provincial CWL check out the new Ottawa Archdiocesan website