The St. Vincent de Paul Council of the Catholic Women's League honoured several of its members, recently, for their many years of service, including two national awards.
The highest honour awarded by the national Catholic Women's League (CWL), the Bellelle Guerin Award - named for the league's first president, was presented to local member Jeanne Procknow for demonstrating her love of the league through her words and actions. This award is for members who have served at the parish, diocesan and/or provincial level.
Procknow has been an active CWL member for 48 years and is a recipient of the league's second highest national honour, the Maple Leaf Service Award.
At the local level, her efforts have included organizing various fundraising fairs and bazaars. She organized the church fair booth for four years- a fundraiser for CWL, Knights of Columbus and the church youth club.
Procknow has held nearly all positions with the CWL at the local council. She has spent a total of 14 years at the diocesan level and six years at the provincial level.
The second highest honour in the league, the Maple Leaf Service Award, went to local CWL member Jean McNaughton. She has been a member of CWL for 35 years and said that being a member of the league has given her the opportunity to work with people with similar interests.
"It gives you an outlet to do things for your church and associate with people that think the same as you do and it's a friendly place to be," said McNaughton.
She became a member of CWL in 1964 and served five of those years with St. Regis Parish in Halbrite because they were desperately short of members. It was here that she honed her Bingo calling skills. Today, in the local council, she can still be found working at many Bingo nights, when it is CWL's responsibility to supply workers.
McNaughton was one of the first people to be a Communion server at the local parish. Today, she assists Father Gerry Bauche with the Communion Services at local senior homes. Once a month she visits and distributes Communion to patients in the Weyburn General Hospital.
As CWLs Corresponding Secretary, she sends cards for many occasions - special birthdays, anniversaries, sympathy and Masses Offered. On their birthdays, CWL members can expect a special greeting from McNaughton on the council?s behalf. At Christmas and Easter she personally distributes cards to shut-ins.
Local CWL members that were honoured for their years of service at the October 18 meeting included Eunice Henheffer - 70 years; Helen Kot - 60 years; Nel Milatz, Margaret Lazurko, Mary Klein, Hilda McGowan and Naomi Atkins - 50 years; Marion Brown and Babs Lauf - 40 years; Lydia Hewitt - 25 years; Gaye Fenwick, Eileen Ganczar, Fran Messer and Lise Soles - 10 years.
CWL is one of the few women's groups that is given a regular meeting with the federal government to put forward resolutions that suits their motto of "God, family and country." Currently, the league is calling on the federal government to cease funding the mining, promotion and exportation of chrysotile asbestos to developing countries.
CWL communications convenor Sandra Marcotte said that the CWL supports not only the local parish but also global causes such as protection of life from conception to natural death, and ending elder abuse and the exploitation of children.
"CWL is a grassroots program that gives a voice to Catholic women at a national level," said Marcotte.
CWL is inviting the public to hear an expert talk about Autism Spectrum Disorder, a condition which affects one in 100 children. The event will take place on November 15 at 7 p.m. at McKenna Hall.
