Council of Catholic Women - a great opportunity for lives to intersect

by Ellen Nester

DCCW President

We are so connected. My daughter teaches at a school in Golden Valley and the cook at her school is a good friend of Grandma. We traveled to Orlando in October to coincidentally meet a family from Willmar. The speaker scheduled for our Council of Catholic Women Spring Convention - a noted Biblical scholar from St. John’s University, happened to be my son’s mentor for one of his theology classes. There is something very reassuring knowing that our lives often intersect. It happens in our Council of Catholic Women life too.

The National Council of Catholic Women is an organization of over 5,000 Catholic women affiliates representing hundreds of thousands of Catholic women across the country. A major focus for NCCW has been support for vocations.

Since 1988 the New Ulm Diocesan Council of Catholic Women has been involved with a Shepherds of the Field program. Today 86 priests and 20 parish administrators and deacons have at least one individual praying for them and sending them cards of encouragement. And support for vocations is apparent throughout the country.

So many people are united in one cause. The Kansas City Diocesan Council of Catholic Women have a wooden prayer box that travels from parish to parish to promote vocations.

The Lincoln Diocesan Council of Catholic Women have over 1,000 women pledged to spend one hour a week in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament "praying for a Christ-like response" of their youth to vocations.

The Seattle (WA) Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women presented $16,500 to the Archbishop in February 2002 to educate seminarians and plan to give an additional $10,000.

The Great Falls, Billings Diocesan Council of Catholic Women joined with the Knights of Columbus to sponsor an annual dinner honoring the clergy and religious.

The Harrisburg Diocesan Council of Catholic Women give the bishop $2,000 annually to use at his discretion. Recently he used these funds to have vestments made for priests in the diocese to be used at the Cathedral.

There are so many ways to lift up vocations. Now, more than ever, we need to be vigilant in our prayerful and vocal support of our clergy.

A great way to begin would be by participating in the Shepherds of the Field Project. Every parish in the diocese has been assigned a Shepherd... find out who yours is and perhaps write a note or say a prayer.

Our lives are very connected.