2009 Annual Report – International Relations
International Relations Standing Committee
Danielle McNeil-Hessian, Chairperson
2009 Annual Report
In March, I travelled to Rome to attend the First International Conference on Life Family, Development: The Role of Women in the Promotion of Human Rights. There were four delegates from North America. A sister from Africa spoke for women living in other lifestyles in the developing world and stressed that decisions are made by the privileged. There was a lack of translation of reports. A letter to the delegates from Pope Benedict XVI, in Africa at the time, was read. The conference was seen as a start and not an end to discussions. The League’s inclusion was important. The new catechumenate is part of the new lay movement for evangelization.
Honorary Life Member Agnes Bedard continued as the North American vice-president of the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organizations (WUCWO) and had started planning for the conference being held in Israel in 2010.
To replace Agnes Bedard as her term of office would be over in 2010, the national executive asked for a nomination for a Canadian board member from the Ukrainian Catholic Women’s League of Canada. Once the name was received and ratified it would be forwarded to WUCWO.
Some councils spent time studying the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights.