National Council of Catholic Women at 200 N. Glebe Road, Suite 703, Arlington, VA 22203 US - NCCW'S KAREN HURLEY ELECTED PRESIDENT-GENERAL OF WUCWO

June 12, 2006

Contact:  Andrea Schellman, NCCW

703-224-0990, ext. 104

 aschellman@nccw.org

AMERICAN WOMAN ELECTED NEW PRESIDENT­-GENERAL OF

WORLD UNION OF CATHOLIC WOMEN’S ORGANISATIONS

Arlington, Virginia—Karen Hurley of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, is the new President-General of the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organisations (WUCWO).  Ms. Hurley, WUCWO representative for the National Council of Catholic Women (U.S.A.), was the outgoing WUCWO Vice President for North America.  As President-General she replaces Mrs. Maria Eugenia Diaz de Pfennich of Mexico, whose term expired at the organization’s General Assembly in Arlington, Va, which concluded June 7.  This international gathering, convened under the theme, “Women Peacemakers: United in Faith and Action,” brought together more than 600 women representing national Catholic women’s organizations in 44 countries from all continents and some island nations. 

Mrs Hurley’s credentials include ten years’ experience on the WUCWO Board, including five years as WUCWO Vice President and leadership roles promoting the interests of Catholic women in the U.S. and world-wide for more than 20 years.  She has emphasized WUCWO’s ministry of service to the Church and to the world, especially women and children and those in most need of care from conception to natural death.  “Our actions, she said, “are grounded in spiritual formation, evangelization, and the social doctrine of the Church.  WUCWO’s collaboration and dialogue with the Vatican is a gift to women and to the Church which we must nurture and care for.”

Speaking to the Assembly participants, Karen urged WUCWO members to use “our time, talent, and treasure as good stewards of all the gifts which God has entrusted to us. Our strength lies in the faith and action of our members; let us focus on membership growth and development. We need to find ways to communicate better with each other and the world and work to achieve financial stability to fulfill our mission.”

The Assembly opened with a reception at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington, DC, where National Council of Catholic Women (U.S.A.) President Ellen Bachman welcomed participants saying, “We have been preparing and waiting for this day for over five years, and we rejoice in your presence.”

“World Situation in Relation to Justice and Peace” was the topic of the first address, which was presented by Dr. Maryann Cusimano Love of The Catholic University of America.  Dr. Cusimano Love urged Assembly participants to consider the work of peace-building by beginning with the words of Scripture, particularly Jesus’ words, “Peace I leave with you.”  We are to be peace-builders, not the way the world understands peace as the absence of war, but by understanding that peace is intimately connected with issues of justice and issues of poverty.  Peace depends on right relationship, the most perfect expression of which is found in the Triune God.  Dr. Cusimano Love pointed out that “much discussion about peace focuses on the macro level—what government is doing—but peace-building fails at the micro level—what happens in our homes and communities. . . . We must believe,” continued Cusimano Love, “that nothing is impossible with God.”

Father John Jai-Don Lee of Korea addressed the Assembly on “Peace and Environment,” noting that “achieving peace requires us to protect the natural environment. . . . We need to distinguish our need from our greed.”  He urged greater recognition and development of thought relating to “eco-theology,” “eco-ethics,” and “eco-economics.”  For humankind to have peace with God, requires us to have peace with all creation.  “Religion,” said Fr. Lee, “should teach right relationship between humans and God and between humans and all creation.”

On June 2, Dr. Flaminia Giovanelli, of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, addressed the Assembly on “Social Doctrine of the Church,” urging participants to consider the paradox that Jesus offers in the Beatitudes—that the poor, the afflicted, the persecuted are the blessed ones—not because they are afflicted but because God offers the gift of joy to all who put themselves in the hands of God.  In talking about the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, Dr. Giovanelli reminded participants that Jesus came to serve, not to be served.  “By following the Lord,” she said, “we are required to go beyond the Golden Rule.  Forgiveness must be without condition; mercy must be absolute.  In this new understanding, balance and proportionality are thrown ‘off course.’  The Golden Rule is the basis for a civil society, but we [Christians] must go beyond this.”  In conclusion, Dr. Giovanelli noted that “Solidarity is not a vague feeling of compassion but a determination to work for the common good of all. . . We must look at the signs of the times, then analyze them, then act.”

In other business concluded at the Assembly, WUCWO is now officially a public international association of the faithful, which means it works in close collaboration with the Secretariat of State at the Holy See to implement its mission to improve the conditions and status of women in accord with the teachings of Church.

The final adoption of this new statute followed a thorough process of consultation with its member organizations and with the Pontifical Council for the Laity before presentation at the General Assembly.