Arlington Diocesan Council of Catholic Women at 12018 Cheviot Dr., Herndon, VA 20170 US - Newsletter
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Spring/ Summer Editon 2008 New Horizons Newsletter of the Arlington Diocesan Council of Catholic Women
Arlington Diocese Council of Catholic Women (ADCCW) co-sponsored by the Diocese of Arlington Office of Family Life held its Spring Conference March 8, 2008 "Commitment: Is It a Lost Concept?" at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More.
The day included various outstanding speakers ;
Lariane Bennett "Appreciating the Gift of Temperament "
break out sessions , Christina Haapala, "Too Proud to condsider Metanaoia? Reflections on Seven Virtues , ADCCW Church Chair &
JoEllen Murphy Marriages's Language of Love ,ADCCW International Chair .
Mass -Celebrant Bishop Loverde & Bishop presented "Three Women Docotros" medals to outstanding women from diocescan parishes.
Luncheon speaker "The Challenge to say Yes" Sr. Gabriella Petttitirossi F.S.E. M.F.T. and
Keynote speaker Mother Miriam Seiferman , F.S.E., M.S.N., A.P.R.N. "The Feminine and Dynamic Relationship"
Dear Ladies of the Arlington Diocese
I feel privileged to be a member of The Arlington Diocesan Council of Catholic Women (ADCCW) . We are committed to helping you in conjunction with the diocese and The Office of Family Life in every possible way to meet the ever-growing needs of women in the parishes. ADCCW with the blessing of Bishop Loverde has developed many programs based on surveys and feedback to meet the needs of Catholic women throughout the Diocese – educational and spirituality tools for the “Women in the Pew”. Currently ADCCW provides programs on the Three Women Doctors of the Church and study guides (includes study, prayer, and spiritual renewal); Celebrating the Uniqueness of the Woman and the Feminine Genius – based on Pope John Paul II; Couple Spirituality; Day/Morning of Reflection Discerning Your Vocation; “Divine Mercy at Our Doorstep” Evangelium Vitae; Familiaris Consortio; Finding Balance in the Midst of Chaos, Life Choices; Maturing with Grace, Spiritual Friendships; Stress Management; Theology of the Body; Time Management – Where is God in My Life? ADCCW and the National Council of Catholic Women (NCCW), work together to develop materials to nurture women’s spirituality with authentic Catholic teaching. ADCCW is on the cutting edge with six DVD’s – Feminine Spirituality and the Women Doctors of the Church; John Paul II and His New Instruction On the Faith by Father Richard Hogan; A Practical Application of John Paul II’s Theology of the Body by Terri Laird; Evangelium Vitae – The Gospel of Life – Dr. John Bruchalski and Liz Schiavone; – A Contraception Conversion Story – Dr. Marie Anderson M.D. of the Tepeyac Family Center; and Celebrating the Feminine Identity --Our Cultural Need for Authentic Women Voices-- Camille De Blasi Pauley DVD. Please visit ADCCW’s website home.catholicweb.com/ADCCW for upcoming events and information. ADCCW is a member organization of the NCCW, which was formed by the American Bishops in 1920, to support and educate Catholic women in spirituality, leadership, and service. Today NCCW is the recognized voice of Catholic women and represents U.S. Catholic women in national and international forums. NCCW has a strong history of inspiring women with outstanding role models: case in point - Mother Theresa was the keynote speaker at the 1960 NCCW convention. In September five members from the Arlington Diocese & Vicar General & ADCCW moderator Fr Frank Ready attended the NCCW. Convention in Columbus, Ohio. Congratulation to Wendy Sellier for continued success as the Baltimore Province Director.
Also ADCCW is available for speaking at various parishes on the Feminine Genius , Three Women Doctors anbd Apostolic Role of Today's Catholic Women in Society and various other topics. We are truly blessed in this Diocese to have such a richness of faith and dedication of our priests. AND last but certainly not least please remember to pray for Bishop Loverede and all our priesdt daily. You may want to use the prayers from our website.
Many thanks for all you do and please keep me in your prayers.
May God Bless You Liz Schiavone eschiavone@msn.com 703-471-4047
FROM FATHER READY, OUR MODERATOR
Dear Ladies of the ADCCW,
As your role is more clearly seen in the Church, you are called upon to increase your spirituality. Growth in the spiritual life is supposed to go hand in hand with a soul's responsibility . This does not necessarliy mean that one must increase our number of devotions, nor should one add to an already heavy schedule of multiple spiritual practices. It does mean that we need to be aware of how to improve our spitiual life in and throught our daily rountine.
I recently had the occassion to speak to a group of truly dedicated persons who were interesed in fur thing their reaction. Ihad really found a sensitive spot. there was a strong sense of resistance to such a suggestion. it seemed as though they felt that they had a "right" to have a pet peeve or tow. After all they ere doing so much for Christ and for His Church that they should be able to indulge in a little peeve now and then. They had the idea that they would and could do anything the Lord might ask, so long and they could keep their pet peeve.
But in surrendering our will to the Lord we are asked to make it a complete gift. We are to hold nothing back. Could this be a sign of our fragile sense of security? Was this stemming from our lack of trust in the Lord? What was so terrible about maintianing one or more pet peeve?
Yes if we were to work to overcome that pet peeve, we would be free to follow His will more clearly. Is it worth the effort and sacrafice? We all Want to be humble, noble, generous and forthright. But, this step calls for maturity as well as these other virtues. Am I ready to go the whole way, to surrender my free will, to accept the Lord's Way in all thing...without exception?
May we continue to strive to say Yes to the Lord
The Peace and Justice Commission meets regularly during the year. It works closely with Bishop Loverde to establish its mission, vision, goals and areas of concern. The Commission has assisted Bishop Loverde with his annual Labor Day statements, the diocesan legislative agenda and Faithful Citizenship statements to the diocesan community.
The Commission develops and distributes several Resources for Parishes Packets, with special focus on the Pope’s annual Day of World Peace (January 1) marking the month of January as a month for peacemaking, anti-violence and respect life. The Commission also produced (February) a Resource Packet that provides guidance and ideas for use during Lent, which is distributed to parishes.
September 22th the Commission held its Four Annual Confernece, "The Many Faces of Our Human Family: A CAtholic Perscptive on Immigration Cardinal McCarrick at sta Anthony's of Pauda in Arlington, VA
January 21st the Commssion co-sponsored with Los lationos Unidos de la Iglesia de San Carlos Borromeo "A Discussion and Training for the 2007 Virginia Catholic Lobby Day"
Jsanuary 22nd March for Life
January 29th The Commission sponored a bus to Catholic Advocacy Day at the General Assembly in Richmond . Commission members and other advocates went to Richmond in support of Catholic Advocacy Day to meet with Senators and Representativies.
February 4th Steve Collecchi will be speaking on Catholic Teaching On War and Peace at St Ann's Parish Arlington 7:30pm-9:00pm
Feb 24-28 Catholic Social Ministry Gathering --NCCW once again co-sporing
April10th 2008 Catholic Advocacy Day in our Nation's Capital
Celestine Person-Greene
INTERNATIONAL CONCERNS REPORT Lobbying at the United Nations on social issues is not for the faint-of-heart. An institution begun to prevent a third world war is now involved in social engineering, and whether the topic is food, housing, women, disabilities or children, the one continuum is that birth control, condoms and sexual freedom, especially for women and girls, is a right that deserves protection. What about global right to abortion? So far in the poorer countries, the Bush Administration’s representatives to the U.N. and the pro-life/pro family coalition have been successful in keeping it from becoming an international law. What I find most troubling is that there is no language in these “conclusions,” “resolutions,” and various other technical names for documents that are debated in an effort to attain consensus, which uphold, defend or support motherhood. Earlier this month I had the opportunity to lobby at the 50th Session for the Commission on the Status of Women. The Draft Document had two parts to it, and I followed the section that addressed, “Enhanced participation of women in development: An enabling environment for achieving gender equality and the advancement of women, taking into account, inter alia, the fields of education, health and work.” The assumption is that women face health issues that prevent them from achieving equality and advancement. Now, there are some very real health issues that face both men and women which hinder them from escaping poverty: malaria and tuberculosis to name two. However, upon reading the health section of the Draft Document, the only specific health concern that was expressed was the lack of sexual and reproductive rights. The International community feels that this is the primary health problem that women face worldwide that keeps them from attaining equality with men. During the days of debate, language was both added and subtracted based on various amendments by different country delegates. The poorer countries argued that listing only one health concern was not right and the reference to sexual and reproductive health needed to be removed or else all the concerns needed to be listed. The Sudan proposed mentioning treatment for HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. India wanted “nutrition and anemia” added. Syria proposed the addition of “particularly in the area of maternal and child health care which are essential to saving the lives of women and children.” Egypt wanted to know how the countries could speak about the health of women without mentioning these poverty-driven deadly diseases. The pro-life/pro-family coalition passed out a flyer to the country delegates the second to last day of debate, highlighting the fact that 89% of women’s mortality comes from a cause other than maternal mortality. One country also pointed out that while the U.N. says it is interested in reducing the maternal mortality rates by providing sexual and reproductive health services, the fact is that their efforts have produced no results. The maternal mortality rate has not declined in the last ten years. In the final moments of the two-week debate, agreeable language was found and consensus attained among countries. The final Agreed Conclusions included two paragraphs on health which called on Governments to “ensure women’s access to…health care services, including sexual and reproductive and maternal health care…and recognize that the lack of economic empowerment…increases women’s vulnerability to a range of negative consequences…contracting HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other poverty related diseases.” The second health paragraph dealt exclusively with HIV/AIDS. Jo Ellen Lambert, International Concerns
IN AND ABOUT THE ARLINGTON DIOCESE
From Fundrasing to Faithraising
Holy Spirit
Fundraisers: "Outback Restaurant Luncheon" to rasie monies to support Tepeyac & Divine Mercy Care
selling of Christmas cards & greens to support local council
Faithraising --Lenten Morning of Recollection
CD's and pamphlets are testimonials by some of the best and most inspiring Catholic Speakers in the United States, including Bishops, Priest and eminent Caatholic lay persons.
St Mary's in Frederickersburg many functions to Celebrate Parish Anniversary refer to parish
Amy Speetjens of St. Joseph’s in Herndon suggests that CD’s and pamphlets are testimonials by some of the best and most inspiring Catholic Speakers in the United States, including Bishops, Priests and eminent Catholic lay persons. St. Joseph’s has designated this program as a “faithraiser, not a fundraiser”. They are providing the following list of CD’s and brochures to help deepen your faith and also to help you answer Pope John Paul II’s call for a New Evangelization by sharing them with love to your friends, family and co-workers:
CD’s: · Why do we have a Pope? – Dr. Scott Hahn · The Holy Eucharist –
Fr. Bill Casey · Anger & Forgiveness –
Deacon Dr. Bob McDonald · Which Came First, The Bible or the Church? –
Matthew Arnold · Why a Protestant Pastor Became Catholic –
Dr. Scott Hahn · How to Apply Faith to the Family –
Kimberly Hahn · Making Sense Out of Suffering –
Dr. Scott Hahn · The Spirit of Sacrifice in the Family –
Fr. Benedict Groeschel · How to Keep Your Kids Catholic –
Ken Hensley Brochures: · How to Make a Good Confession – Sunday Visitor ·
How to Pray the Rosary – Sunday Visitor ·
The Top Ten Questions Catholics are Asked – Sunday Visitor Any questions,
Any questions please call Amy Speetjens at 703-318-7311 or Julie Laytham at 703-404-9106. ************************************************************************
CONVENTION REPORT
In September Rev Frank Ready V.G. Moderator and five memebers from the Arlingtion Diocese attended the NCCW Convention in Columbus, Ohio Congratulations to Wendy Sellier for being the Baltimore Province Director.
At a large biennial Convention , nearly 1100 members and friend of the National Council of Catholic women (NCCW), Bishops, Priests and Religous met September 20-23, focusing on program ideas for serving women, young adults, families and communities and exploring practical ways to share communicate our faith through the National Organization as well as arch/dioceasan, deanery, and parish councils of Catholic Women.
The National Council of Catholic Women (NCCW) Convention Matthew Kelly, internationally known Catholic speaker and author was the keynote speaker, Susan Conroy , author of Mother Theresea's Lesson's of Love and Secrets of Sanctity , and NCCW book club selection, was the luncheon speaker. NCCW's new spirituality resource, Enhancing Our Spirituality: A Collection of Prayers and Reading for Personal or Group Reflection was premiered. Many thanks to Kay Elliott, M. Jane Mueller, Elizabeth Schiavone and Helen Silvestri for giving of their time and talent in preparing this beautiful booklet. It sold out at convention but will be available from the National Office . ADCCW's Three Women Doctor's program was chosen to be part of the booklet.
