MISSISSAUGA, ONT. - At St. Francis Xavier parish in Mississauga, women have the Catholic Women’s League, men have the Knights of Columbus and boys have the Columbian Squires. But there was nothing for the girls in the parish.

Some parishioners felt it was time to start something for the girls, said Olivia De Souza, chairperson for family and community life in the parish’s Catholic Women’s League. So they started a Catholic Girls’ League.

“It is the first Catholic Girls’ League in the archdiocese of Toronto,” said Mary Hawkley, president of the Toronto diocesan council of the Catholic Women’s League of Canada. “Our aim is to have Catholic Girls’ Leagues in many parishes where we have CWL councils, but to date, this is the only one.”

During a Mass held at the parish last month, pastor Fr. Bob O’Brien officially inducted the Catholic Girls’ League of 28 members into the Church.

The Catholic Girls’ League is targeted at girls aged 10 to 18. Under the leadership of the members of the CWL and encouraged by inquiries made by girls in the community, the Catholic Girls’ League aims to unite girls in their Catholic faith through bonds of friendship and promoting their spiritual growth by embodying the Christian values of prayer and love.

Months prior to the official induction, the Catholic Girls’ League was already participating actively in the parish community. Last December, for instance, the girls participated in the parish’s annual talent show to raise money for the Vita Centre (a centre for young and pregnant single women) and raise money for gift hampers for people living in retirement homes. And as Mother’s Day neared, the girls were handcrafting cards for sale to raise funds as they prepared for yet another talent show. The girls also volunteer their time as part of Totus Tuus, a parish-based summer camp program for Catholic youth.

Ramona Leitao, president of the Catholic Girls League, believes that so far they have been able to reflect the organization’s founding principles of faith, friendship, fun and formation while they develop as a family of sisters.

But like many other new clubs, the League also faces its own challenges, said Leitao, a Grade 12 student at St. Aloysius Gonzaga Secondary School. In their case, it is increasing awareness about the organization so that girls in their immediate community are given the opportunity to learn more about the organization.

Juleena Suvaminathan, a Grade 12 student at St. Marcellinus Secondary School, agrees.

“Right now the club is new so we haven’t achieved our potential yet because not that many people know about us…. We need to make ourselves more popular because that is the only way for girls to know that this opportunity is available to them,” she said.

Katherine Athaide, a Grade 5 student at St. Gertrude Elementary School in Mississauga, is one of the younger members of the league.

“(The league) teaches you what it means to be a Catholic girl… before I didn’t have as many friends and it helped me make a lot of new friends.”

De Souza hopes the organization will not only help the girls serve their community but also make them develop leadership skills necessary for them to become good members of society.

Meetings are held at the parish on the second Saturday of the month. These meetings usually have themes to go with the season (October was costume-party themed) or the occurrences in the Catholic calendar at that time (September was Our Lady’s theme and different girls led the rosary at the Church every Saturday).

Preparations are currently underway for this year’s talent show on Nov. 12 in support of the Vita Centre. For more information on the Catholic Girls’ League, email cglxaviermiss@gmail.com.

(Chigbo, 17, is a communication, culture and information technology student at the University of Toronto Mississauga. Read more about her at youthspeaknews.org)