I mentioned in a previous blog entry that I would be celebrating Mass and attending the Annual Bishop’s Banquet of the Diocesan Council of Catholic Women on Tuesday of this week. The Mass was celebrated at four in the afternoon at St. Francis parish in Seffner and  the annual convention was held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Sable Park (east Tampa). The DCCW ladies provide valuable support to their parishes and assist the diocese in many ways, most especially by traveling to Tallahassee once a year at the beginning of the legislative session to inform our elected state representatives of the priorities of the Church in the public square. It is a challenging time for this Council of Catholic women and their counterparts throughout the country because membership has been on a steady decline. Caught between a membership which has a hard time driving at night and coming to evening meetings and younger women who work during the day, transport their kids to a variety of early evening activities after work, and just can not even think of coming to a luncheon meeting, try as hard as they do there seems to be little light at the end of the tunnel for this traditional apostolate and presence of Church ladies.

I sat next to the national president of the National Council of Catholic Women who was the convention speaker for the evening (Roberta “Bobbie” Hunt from Salt Lake City, Utah) and she indicated that the same phenomenon is largely being played out throughout the country. Older Catholics may easily recall that in our youth, the Rosary and Altar Society and Council of Catholic Women were the major church outlets for women and the Holy Name Society and the Knights of Columbus were the men’s social gathering spots. Only the K of C seems to be weathering the changing attitudes and church culture and growing in membership. Some of our parishes, like St. Timothy in Lutz, have active parish men’s clubs with a good number of men from across the generations. The women’s group while very str0ng and active have chosen not to affiliate with the DCCW and NCCW.

Each year I am here I am grateful for the spirit of these “Church Ladies” who with loyalty and devotion to the Church and its bishop carry on. The leadership changes every two years and I am very grateful to Jeanette DeBonville of St. Joan of Arc parish in Spring Hill for her service in this role the last two years. She was elected State-President-elect at this meeting and will be serving the whole state as a coordinator beginning in two years. St. Petersburg has the opportunity to elect a state President once every fourteen years as its rotates among the seven dioceses. If you are interested in doing good for your Church, you might seek out a local Council and join it, even if your parish does not have an affiliate. There is plenty of work to be done.

Diocesan Chaplain , In-coming President , and National Council of Catholic Women President

+RNL

Update: Please note correction in “ERRATA, CORRECTION, OR JUST OOPS!“

Tags: Catholic Days at the Capitol, Council of Catholic Women, Fr. Bob Schneider, Mass, Photo

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