Winter 2012 Newsletter

CWL Newsletter
St. Paul’s, Airdrie
Catholic Women’s League
Winter 2012
Volume 6, Issue 1
Courageous now available
In This Issue
Chalice
Tanzania Fund Raiser
Getting to Know the Executive
Parish Activities
Christmas Party Aftermath
Legislation
Christian Family Life
New Little Gifts
We now have two movies on DVD available for you to
borrow. Despite efforts by member Marlene Rodriguez
and our CWL, the Roxy Theatre was unable to come to
an agreement to show the movies in their venue. At our
January meeting, members decided to purchase the
DVDs of Fireproof and Courageous. These are wellproduced films supporting the important role fathers have
within their families and society. They support Christian
values. You may sign either DVD out by visiting our
Spiritual Articles counter in the church foyer.
World Day of Prayer
Archives
CWL Scholarship
Courageous Now Available
What is Retrouvaille?
Our Lenten Twilight Retreat at Mt. St. Francis in Cochrane this year
is on Tuesday, March 13th. The cost is $25.00 and includes a delicious
dinner. Carpooling is available at the Church with a 5:30 pm
departure. All women in the parish are welcome. R.S.V.P. by the 6th of
March to Ann Marie Urdal at 403-912-1783 or [email protected]
2012 CWL CONVENTIONS
Our Calgary Diocesan Convention will be in Brooks the first weekend in May. Guest speakers are Rev. Dale
Lang from Taber who will speak about Restorative Justice. Rev. Lang's son was shot and killed by a fellow
high school student on a shooting rampage. Ron Semenoff, a minister of the 3rd Order of Franciscans, who
works as a pastoral psychologist with the Calgary Counselling Centre, will also address CWL members.
Our Provincial Convention will be in Whitecourt, June 01 – 03, 2012.
CWL National Convention will be in Edmonton, August12-15, 2012.
St. Paul’s CWL Executive:
President – Ann Marie Urdal
President-Elect – Paulette Curtis
1st Vice-President – Karen Woolsey
2nd Vice-President – Rachelle McIntee
Secretary –
Treasurer – Leona Kowalick
Past President/Archives – Stephanie Drebit
Chairpersons of Standing Committees:
Spiritual Development- Kirsty Sanesh
Christian Family Life – Trudy Pool
Community Life – Sharon Hagel
Education & Health – Laura Jacyk
Legislation – Muriel Bostick
Resolutions – Doreen Thibeault
Parish Activities – Ann Marie Urdal
Community Life submitted by Sharon Hagel, Community Life Chairperson
CHALICE
At our January meeting, it was decided to end our sponsorship with Save A Family Plan; the family we
were sponsoring is no longer with the program and there have been communication difficulties in the past
year. We decided to request a child through the Catholic organization Chalice which is headquartered in
Nova Scotia.
The CWL’s new sponsor child is Chitra, a 12-year-old girl, from Madurai, India. She lives with her parents
and her four sisters in a one-room hut belonging to her grandmother. Her parents earn their living
working as daily wage labourers and struggle to provide the basics for their family.
Chitra attends Government School where Tamil is her favorite subject. She
hopes to become a software engineer. Chitra’s parents must pay school
fees and buy school uniforms and supplies for their children. If parents
cannot afford these costs, children end up working at a very young age to
help support their families.
Chalice supports community initiatives in developing countries. One of the
highest priorities at Chalice is to ensure that administration costs are kept to
a minimum and currently 90% of revenue goes directly to supporting community project and sponsor
sites. It was given an A ranking in 2011 by Money Sense magazine for its operational transparency and
accountability.
For more information please see their website www.chalice.ca or call 1-800-776-6855.
Tanzania Fund-Raiser March 3rd
It's just about time for the Tanzania Water Projects Annual gala fundraiser. For a number of years now,
students and young adults from our community have been involved with building windmills and digging
water wells in Tanzania under the direction of CPPS Mission Projects. For six weeks in the summer they
travel to Tanzania assisting the Missionaries of the Precious Blood with their work. CWL enjoyed a
presentation from three students a few years ago. The funds raised at the Gala go towards the cost of
supplies to build the windmills and dig the wells.
rd
This year’s Gala will be Saturday, March 3 at the Town & Country Centre. Tickets are $75 with a $40
tax receipt and include an excellent dinner, a silent and live auction, balloon burst, a complimentary glass
of champagne, door prizes and finish with a dance to live music. For tickets please contact Sharon Hagel
at 403-462-4279
Students working on behalf of the CPPS Water
Projects have offered to pick up bottles monthly
from your home as another means to raise
funds. If you would like to avail yourself of this
service, please contact Adam Pratt at 403-8634735.
Organization
Getting To Know your Executive
Muriel Bostick
Born in Limerick, Ireland, red-headed Muriel grew up in Cork and attended the University of Cork where she studied social
sciences with the intention of doing research and "solving all the world's problems." She was considering pursuing a career in
social work when she decided to come to Canada for one year in 1971 "just to try it out." Arriving in Prince George, she rented a
house owned by the Catholic Church there and became acquainted with other young people -- lots of Irish, and a few Scots,
English and Americans -- involved with a program called Frontier Apostles. These plumbers, teachers and physiotherapists,
among others, got free room and board and $25/month spending money in exchange for donating their salaries to the Church.
Many ended up marrying each other. But not Muriel! She decided to head to Kelowna with two of the young women from
Frontier Apostles and met her husband, Conrad, while working at an Easter Seals Camp for the mentally and physically
challenged. They married in Kelowna and began a travelling life together, living first in Kamloops and then Rainbow Lake,
Alberta where she first met another CWL member Corinne Ramler. (Who would have guessed they'd meet up again in Airdrie?)
Muriel had her two sons at the hospital in High Level. She continued to work on her social work degree. From 1980 to 1987,
Muriel lived in Rocky Mountain House, and then spent three years in Airdrie followed by eight in Lloydminster. In 1998 the
Bosticks returned to Airdrie.
Muriel began working in the field of career planning and employment preparation while living in Lloydminster and for 11 years
now she has been employed at Bow Valley College's Airdrie Campus doing this work. She and her husband own Euphoria
Salon & Spa. Muriel has been Coordinator of Eucharistic Ministers at St. Paul's for many years and ran the Renew & Relearn
program, a course designed to deepen one's knowledge of the Catholic faith. With the latter group, she volunteered for several
years with the community-wide Inn From the Cold at St. Francis of Assisi Anglican Church. She has been a CWL member for
many years, but this is her first time serving on our Executive. Muriel has "three gorgeous grand-daughters," one in Edmonton
and two who live in Airdrie. And like all grandmas everywhere, this is her favourite job of all!
SECRETARY WANTED!
Regretfully, Aileen Carney-Brown has had to resign from her position on our Executive.
Responsibilities include taking minutes at meetings and handling any correspondence.
Please contact Ann Marie Urdal at 403-912-1783 if you would consider taking this on.
Welcome New Members and
Transfers
Gail Roth, Janie Hollman, Jeannine
Bray, Jacqueline Scott, Lee Ross,
Julie Vallée, Roxann Cullen.
Adoration submitted by Sacha Kimball
St. Paul's Catholic Church is pleased to offer an additional
adoration time for all parishioners who are unable to attend Friday
mornings! Everyone is encouraged to come and spend some time
with our Lord Wednesday, February 15th between 7 - 10 p.m.
Signup sheets will be available after mass this week.
St. Paul's CWL website: www.airdrie.cwl.ab.ca
Calgary Diocesan CWL: calgarydiocesecwl.cloudaccess.net
National CWL: www.cwl.ca
Friendship is like a BOOK. It takes years to write, but a few seconds to burn.
From that raucous auction at our Christmas Party conducted by the illustrious Ms. Suzanne Rebeiro, we raised
$2400 which was split between the Airdrie Food Bank and the Bethany Care Centre. Thank-you to the many
members who came out and spent their money! Who will forget Florence Tester's reaction to her new knitted
water bottle cover? We loved the participation of Mrs. Claus, aka Lise Blanchette. A special thank-you to Sacha
Kimball for her beautiful singing accompanied by St. Paul's parishioner Myrna Lopez.
Archives
St. Paul's CWL photo albums are all up to date now.
However, we don't have any photos of the following
events:
 Our 2006 joint Rummage Sale with the
Lutheran Church of the Master. This was the
year St. Paul's was under renovation and
expansion. The Lutheran ladies graciously
allowed us to use their church space and we
sold our goods together.
 Our June Wind-up parties in 2007 and 2008.
Did anyone have a camera at those events?
If you have some photos, please contact Cathy
Buchanan at 948-2921. She'll scan them and return
your originals to you. (Anything from 2011 on goes to
Karen Woolsey, 945-0715.)
Ann Marie presenting $1200 cheque to
Randy Bourassa of the Bethany Care Centre
Parish Activities
Luncheon Service Back-up Needed
Our CWL provides a luncheon service for funerals, smaller weddings or any other special occasions. We charge only the
cost of food for members when funerals are involved, but do accept a suggested donation from non-members. These
funds help us with operating costs as well as providing funds for the donations we make to many worthy causes. Karen
Woolsey, our 1st Vice-President, is presently our Luncheon Coordinator. She needs someone to volunteer as a back-up
for her should she be sick or out of town. Many members have assisted with this valuable community service over the
years. Please consider helping out so that Karen isn't scrambling when she cannot be here. Give her a call at 403-9450715 or e-mail her at [email protected].
Believe it or not, it hasn't all been a chinook . . .
Thank-you to all who donated baking, items for our raffle baskets, and for your time and efforts volunteering to put on St.
th
Paul’s annual Fall Bazaar on November 19 . It was a bitterly cold day – no amount of planning can predict the weather.
Still, we managed to make more than $2000. CWL members who contributed knitting earned us $210 on that alone.
We were able to donate $650 each to Community Links and to the Airdrie and District Hospice Society. The remainder set
aside for donations was sent to the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development & Peace.
May the leprechauns be near you,
To spread luck along your way.
And may all the Irish angels
Smile on you St. Patrick's Day.
Christian Family Life
.
New little gifts from God are on their way among CWL members:
Lindsey & Jeremy Miko are expecting their second child February 29th. Grandma Cheryl and
Aunt Haley George can barely contain their excitement. Charity & Dave Wiens are expecting
baby #3 in June and Carol & Spencer Sinclair are awaiting the arrival of the seventh
wonderful Sinclair to join their family any day now. Let's keep all of these families in our
prayers for safe deliveries, healthy babies, and a minimum of sibling rivalry!
Other happy baby gossip: Corinne Ramler is a grandma for the second time. Daughter-in-law,
Donna, gave birth to Evyn Zoey Maura on January 24th.
What is "Retrouvaille"?
If your marriage is in trouble or you know someone whose is, the Retrouvaille program is a non-denominational program
developed by the Catholic Church that can help. Retrouvaille means "rediscover" and the focus of this program is to help
couples rediscover what brought them together in the first place and then to help them discover practical tools to bring
intimate communication to their relationship. The next session begins February 17th to 19th. For more information call
403-218-5504 (days) or 403-616-4976 (evenings). Visit www.helpyourmarriage.com.
Law Needed on Gender-Based Abortions
Here's a topic begging to be researched and become a CWL resolution:
Post media News reported in the January 28th edition of The Calgary Herald that 60% of Canadians, of those 2/3's
women, believe there should be laws to deal with the use of abortion as a means of sex selection. 75% of Albertans
favour such laws. Canadians appear to be questioning Canada's lack of any abortion laws now that it has become clear
that many parents, particularly those in the Asian community, are choosing to abort female foetuses once they learn the
sex of their child from ultrasounds. The interim editor-in-chief of the Canadian Medical Association Journal, Dr. Rajendra
Kale, is suggesting doctors conceal the sex of the baby for the first 30 weeks of pregnancy in order to stop this trend.
While this is likely not the solution as it is fraught with implementation and regulation difficulties, "there appears to be
broad agreement that female feticide should be eliminated", the article stated. Does this not beg the question, "And what
about male feticide?"
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Most+Canadians+back+gender+based+abortions+poll/6059708/story.html
Marriage Enrichment at St. Albert the Great
A two-evening reflective workshop for women to discuss this question
Thurs, Feb 23rd and Thurs, Mar 1st from 7-9pm (Cost: Donation)
For registration contact the Life & Family Resource Centre at (403) 218-5504
or via e-mail: [email protected]
Education and Health
CWL Scholarship
St. Paul's CWL has set up a sub-committee to look into establishing a scholarship or bursary for graduating students in
our parish. Cathy Buchanan has to act as chair and so far Muriel Bostick and Sacha Kimball have agreed to help with
this. The goals of the committee are to investigate the differences between scholarships & bursaries, and to make some
recommendations to our CWL Council on who would be a candidate; what qualifications we'd require; what the reward
would be designated for; etc. We approved a motion made by Sacha to do this, but have not yet done so. If you're
interested in being part of this, please contact Cathy at 948-2921 or [email protected].
Relay For Life: CWL has a team in the annual "Relay For Life" event again this year on June 23rd. We are
the "CWL Blue Jays." If you'd like to join, contact Lise Blanchette at 945-3534 or [email protected] and
she'll explain how to do so. If not, we'll be looking for sponsors. Once again, we'll be walking for CWL members
who have battled cancer along with other loved ones among our families and friends.
Please pray for Daniel Brown,
son of Aileen Carney-Brown;
Florence Tester; Anne Funfer; Jo
Roche; and the grandson of
World Day of Prayer at St.
Francis of Assisi Anglican
Mary Blackwood.
On March 2nd at 7:30 PM, the annual World Day of
Prayer service will be celebrated in Airdrie at St.
Francis of Assisi Anglican Church at 130 Albert
Street. Our CWL will be participating in this interdenominational service written by the World Day of
Prayer Committee of Malaysia. This year's theme is
"Let Justice Prevail" which just happens to sound
similar to our national CWL theme, "Women of Faith
and Justice." Come and learn about Malaysia, a
multi-racial country of diverse cultures and religions.
Worship with others in the Airdrie community as we
pray together for peace and justice throughout the
world.
Need a babysitter? I'm 13, love children, and
have the Red Cross babysitting course. Please
call me, Cheyenne MacDonald, at 948-2921.
My rates are negotiable.
Your Newsletter Editors are: Helen Callihoo, Cathy Buchanan, Corinne Ramler
We are looking for submissions for the next newsletter as well as new editors. E-mail to
[email protected].