“I’m always amazed with the resolutions dialogue,” said CWL National President Velma Harasen. “The many ideas that come forward are really quite encouraging.”

While the resolutions dialogue took centrestage throughout a large part of the convention, the four days were also filled with “faith, fun and fulfilment.” The convention began with an opening Mass at St. Paul’s Basilica, concelebrated by Toronto Archbishop Thomas Collins, and featured daily prayer and liturgy. Members also heard from keynote speakers Nancy Reeves, psychologist, spiritual director and author, Linnea Good, a Catholic musician, and Sr. Sheila Fortune, CSJ. In addition to business meetings and annual reports, city excursions and a day trip to the Martyrs’ Shrine in Midland, Ont., were also available to members.

Participants gathered this year not just as CWL members, but as Women Against Poverty, the name of a campaign the League has begun. In an attempt to tackle poverty, CWL members from across the country have organized a collection of different initiatives, including parish “change for change” collections, raffles and even a group of members who dressed as homeless people and begged outside their parish.

“(Poverty) seems to be a focus that all councils can latch on to,” said Harasen. “Poverty is everywhere.”

That focus on poverty carried into the convention as well. During the meeting, members donated more than $3,000 in an impromptu African famine relief effort. During the past year, the League donated more than $170,000 to a variety of different Catholic charities.

The convention gives members “spiritual enrichment,” said Harasen, and reminds them of how they have contributed and made a difference over the past year.

“It doesn’t matter where you go,” she said, pointing out that she attended 11 different CWL conventions across Canada this year alone. “When you meet these women, it’s a real sisterhood.”