President’s Outings – November
November was a quieter month for outings though online meetings quickly filled it up. On November 2nd, National First Vice-President Betty Colaneri and I travelled to Minneapolis, Minnesota, for the National Council of Catholic Women (NCCW) convention. It was a great gathering of nearly 500 Catholic women from across the United States. Betty and I enjoyed spending time with World Union of Catholic Women’s Organisations (WUCWO) Vice President General Maribeth Stewart Blogoslawski, Past NCCW President Jean Kelly and meeting the current president, Patricia Voorhes. We were treated to great hospitality and met many provincial representatives from varying states and directors of numerous American Catholic organizations. On the first day, we were blessed to be part of a relic veneration of Blessed Carlo Acutis, who died at the age of 15 years in 2006. A faithful servant of God, Carlo designed and created an international exhibition of the Eucharist miracles of the world.
Every morning, the day began with mass in the conference hall celebrated by a bishop with sometimes lengthy but inspiring homilies. I was pleased to bring greetings from Canada, and one morning, Betty and I were guests at the Friends of NCCW for WUCWO breakfast as 20 years of service to the NCCW was celebrated. Speaker Elizabeth Kelly had us taking copious notes on “Loving Like a Saint.” The exhibits, silent auctions, live auctions and entertainment kept us busy. One resolution—Daily Rosary and First Saturday Devotions—was adopted. We took advantage of the beautiful meditation room and ended our time at the closing banquet. The four days went very quickly, though we were able to squeeze in a couple of meals at a local restaurant across the street—so good!
On November 13th, I was moved to be able to participate in the mass at St. Joachim Parish, followed by breakfast in celebration of the 110th anniversary of the first CWL meeting ever held that led to the start of our beloved League.
Settling down a bit with the start of Advent and working on even slower times to come, my December started with a Christmas supper at St. Dominic Savio Parish Council. That will be my only outing except for a couple of coffee dates to recruit new members.
May your Advent be a time of joyful anticipation of the birth of our Lord and Saviour.
“And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.” (Luke 2:7).
Fran Lucas
National President and Chairperson of International Relations
Fran and Betty at NCCW conference in Minneapolis
Fran Lucas at NCCW
Fran Lucas, NCCW President Pat Voorhes, and Betty Colaneri
Veneration of the Relic of Blessed Carlo Acutis
Veneration of the Relic of Blessed Carlo Acutis
St. Joachim Parish Anniversary Celebration
Photo by Chanele Bouchard – Calgary
Clover Oryschak, Fran Lucas, Mary Hunt (3 levels of Presidents)
Christmas supper at St. Dominic Savio Parish Council
Christmas supper at St. Dominic Savio Parish Council