The Grouard-McLennan CWL in 2025
President of the Diocesan Catholic Women’s League reflects on the highlights of the past year
By Linda Vandenberg
November 2025
As Diocesan President, the experiences of this past year were plentiful. They varied from meetings, conventions, presentations to service awards. It was time well spent with sisters in the League in service to God and Canada.
One of the perks of being president is the opportunity to meet with fellow members across the levels of the League, parish councils, diocesan and provincial executives, and national working groups. If you are blessed enough to also be a life member, there are also opportunities to work with other life members on projects to improve the League and its resources.
Especially enjoyable were the ABMK (Alberta-Mackenzie) provincial meetings at the Star of the North Retreat House in St. Albert. We have been meeting there bi-annually for quite a few years now. It is central to the province and territories, relatively near to an airport for those who fly in, and it is a beautiful spot to hold meetings and retreats. This past June, our provincial Faith committee was inspired to hold a pilgrimage to the Grotto in the St. Albert parish, which to our good fortune is situated near the retreat house. For the weekend, we were pilgrims of Hope and our prayers and faith were grown through our time at the Grotto, which was designed with Our Lady of Lourdes in mind. In this year of the Jubilee, the Grotto was a perfect place to hold our opening and closing prayers of the ABMK provincial meeting.
Usually, each year, the diocesan executive holds a Faith Retreat or workshop in February and an Education workshop in the Fall. The diocesan executive, including the council presidents, are involved in the planning and execution of workshops and retreats. These are the favorite activities of many members.
These retreats and workshops take place at one of the parishes in the archdiocese, and this parish hosts the event. In February 2025, the Spiritual Workshop was held in Berwyn and was hosted by the nearby Grimshaw council. Leah Perrault, author, inspirational speaker, and leader, was our guest speaker for the day. Already inspired by her talk at the Provincial Convention, many had read her books: Theology of the Body for Everybody and My Heart of Flesh: Choosing Life in the Midst of the Mess. She did not disappoint and throughout the day there was laughter, tears, and growth in faith.
On October 18th, St. Mary’s Church in Beaverlodge hosted a three-part Education Workshop for our CWL members. The workshop covered three topics: Resolution Actions, the Joy of Leadership, and “R3 to 1” Unity. Although each of these topics could have taken a full day, our team leaders – Christine Becher, interim diocesan Social Justice committee chair, Diocesan president Linda VandenBerg, and Life Member Donna Prevost, managed to give enough information to intrigue and inspire the councils present to go home with further plans and initiatives to discuss with their members.
The day started with our opening prayer – the Mary, Exemplar of Hope prayer chaplet, led by President Linda VandenBerg. The first session went over the six resolutions passed at the CWL’s provincial convention, presented by Social Justice Chairperson Christine Becher. Christine went over the resolutions and led us in discussions of actions we could take as a council on each resolution. Each parish council present came away with ideas for what they could do to act on a particular resolution that they chose.
Session two presented by President Linda VandenBerg on the Joy of Leadership gave us food for thought on our own personal skills and sharing our time with our local CWL parish council. She also brought to our attention the new forms coming down from National Office of the CWL that each council must be aware of.
Session three was on the R3 to 1 Unity, presented by Life Member Donna Prevost. This was based on a task force created by the National Office of the CWL to help address declining membership, with R3 standing for “recruit, regain, retain”. This talk helped bring us back to our roots and helped us examine why we first joined and stay in the CWL. By understanding ourselves we can better explain to others why we love the League, and wish it to flourish in our parishes.
At the end of the day, Beaverlodge won the award of the Madonna and Child Certificate for the greatest amount of their membership in attendance at the workshop.
On April 12th, the 99th Grouard McLennan Diocesan Convention and Annual Meeting of Members was held at St. Paul’s Church in High Prairie this year with our Archbishop Gerard Pettipas as guest speaker. The title of our convention was “Hope” and the theme was “Here I am Lord, send me.” The Archbishop spoke about his life and how he answered God’s call as a young priest and bishop. He also spoke about retirement and his plans for the future. St. Paul’s Parish Council president, Leovina Bolanos, presented the title person, Phyllis Marx, with a bouquet and many thanks for her service to the Catholic Women’s League and the parish. Eleven of sixteen councils of the archdiocese were represented.
Other joyful occasions as president included pin presentations in McLennan and Grimshaw, the installments of executives across the diocese, and membership talks at Slave Lake, Grimshaw, Sexsmith, and a discernment/leadership talk at Peace River.
Other occasions present bittersweet feelings of loss and pride. The St. Charles CWL council in Nampa disbanded this year and CWL members helped them with preserving their archival material. Time was spent reliving special moments over the years and visiting with the St. Charles council remaining members, Alice Zimmerman, Wanda Boucher, Eleanor Krahl and Agnes Gach.
