St. Gabriel Parish
Burlington, Ontario
October 20, 2014 – 7:00 p.m.
Present: 20 Members, 1 Guest
Presentation
The evening opened with a presentation by Deacon Randy Matters on the Role of a
Deacon. Although he is a very private person, Deacon Randy kindly shared his personal story of being called to the permanent Diaconate. His parents had a strong Catholic faith and a belief that you learn your faith at home. During time in a seminary he realized it was not the right fit for him but years later, when Bishop Tonnos announced that
Hamilton would have a permanent Diaconate, he looked into it. He prayed and asked
God if this was right for him. He is sure that it was God’s help that made things work out with his employment and paved the way for him to make it through the four years of study in the program without interruption.
The Diaconate is an ordained ministry and deacons wear a collar, especially for outreach ministry. Deacons do not receive any payment from the church but sometimes receive stipends. A deacon’s role includes preaching, doing baptisms and witnessing weddings but they cannot consecrate hosts, absolve sins or anoint the sick. During their preparation deacons are asked to consider what area of ministry they are interested in and might be best suited for. Deacon Randy was attracted to both ends of life – the beginning and the end. He likes to spend time visiting nursing homes and his family involvement in Pro-
Life led him to look into ministry with maternity homes. While exploring this option he discovered that there was no maternity home in Halton and was encouraged by others to do something about it. He was able to pull together interested individuals and start up
Shifra Homes, which has now been offering support and a loving environment to young women and their babies.
Deacon Randy was happy to answer questions that members had and also respond to additional questions over refreshments during social time.
Business Meeting
Anne Walden , Co-president, welcomed everyone and asked if anyone had good news to share. It was agreed that our fabulous mother and daughter breakfast the previous day was good news.
Anne brought the following to the attention of members:

The Ontario Hockey League and Canadian Mental Health Association teamed up to launch “Talk Today” a program that will help its more than 400 players recognize and deal with mental health issues.
Nov. 1 – save the date – for a Day of Spirituality with Bishop Tonnos.
On Nov. 12/13 there will be a workshop about grief at the Chancery office.
Anne received copies of the Diocesan CWL newsletter, Spectrum, for Fall and indicated they can be passed around for reading.
The Spring conference report can also be circulated .
Minutes
The minutes of the September 15, 2014 meeting were previously distributed and posted on the website. They were approved on a motion by: Jane Michael and seconded
Marguerite Birette.
Treasurer’s Report
Treasurer Helen Crooker provided members with a report on the current account balances.
Presidents’ Reports
Anne Walden
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provided her updates when she opened the meeting.
Gloria Nardi-Bell
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Gloria gave recognition to Patti Huschilt for organizing a very successful
Communion Breakfast. Gloria also thanked the organizing committee for all their work. Patti thanked everyone for helping with the event.
– Jenny Dobrec asked Gloria to make an announcement about the White Mass being celebrated at St. Gabriel’s on Fri. Dec. 12. She is looking for help with baking and putting on coffee after the mass.
– Gloria has a CD to share re contraception and respecting our body. Members can borrow it if they would like to listen.
Correspondence – Elaine Herod, Corresponding Secretary, was absent but told Anne W. that she had no correspondence.
Convenor Reports
Membership – Betty reported that there are currently 102 members
Health – Pearly Chan was absent.
Spiritual - Marguerite Birette – encouraged everyone to read the new CWL magazine, especially the National President’s report.
Community Life - Morag had nothing to report
Communion Breakfast
- Jane reported that her daughter, Scarlett, told other girls in attendance that she is a CWL member. It is hoped that, after hearing our excellent guest speaker, Anne Jamieson, they may be encouraged to join.

- Gloria noted that she liked how Anne drew the girls into the conversation telling them to talk to their mothers, grandmothers.
- Helen reported we had about 90 people for breakfast – some were late ticket sales at the door when a few who bought tickets did not attend. Helen indicated that $1109 was taken in and expenses totaled $726 (speaker, violinist, food etc.). The profit on the event was $383.
Bazaar
The date being held for the bazaar is Nov. 22/23. As no one had volunteered to be the convenor or co-convenor of the bazaar we discussed a suggestion of having a committee coordinate the event. Helen Crooker made it clear that everyone on the committee must commit to working all three days – Friday, Saturday and Sunday. There was discussion around all the work involved in preparing for the bazaar and how a lot of it should have been done long ago. One suggestion considered was to have a scaled back bazaar without the penny sale, which requires a lot of work to canvass prizes, set up and work the booth and follow up with winners. If we recruited a smaller number of prizes we could have a silent auction instead of the penny sale. Given the number of members available to commit to working all three days, Gloria noted that it would not be enough help to pull together a bazaar for November 22/23, which is only a few weeks away. It was agreed that we should let the parish know we did not have enough help to do it this year. We talked about the possibility of doing something in the Spring instead.
Plan B – Jane moved we forego the bazaar for November 2014 and let the parish know why in the bulletin. If we are going to resume the tradition of having a November bazaar we would need to strike a committee, from the parish, by May or June. The committee would do all the work to organize and run the bazaar and the CWL would look after all the legal work to set everything up. Marguerite seconded the motion and all were in favour.
Other Business
CPR/Defibrillation Training – Anne W. asked Anne C. to provide an update on the training session that several members attended at St. Stephen’s church on September 24.
Anne C. gave a summary of the highlights, noting that our church will not be getting a defibrillator as we originally thought. There is a unit available at St. Stephen’s and one at
St. Gabriel school that can be used if needed but access could be an issue if those buildings are not open. Anne told members that the most important thing to do in an emergency situation is to call 911 immediately. It is better to call from a land line if possible as the location would automatically be provided to 911 but with a cell phone 911 cannot see the location you are calling from and you would have to give clear directions for where you are. Someone must watch for the emergency responders to arrive and direct them to the victim. People should never attempt to drive the victim to the hospital themselves. We were told that doing chest compressions to keep circulation going is more important than stopping to provide mouth-to-mouth breathing. Keeping the circulation going offers a higher chance of survival.
Programming
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November 17 – we do not have a speaker lined up and agreed that we would just

have our business meeting and socialize
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December 15 - will be our Christmas pot luck
Pop can collection - Gloria thanked everyone for the pop cans we have been collecting.
The organization has been thrilled with our response.
Retreat at the School Sisters of Notre Dame - Patti reported that she and Anne Cholewka went to the retreat at the SSND mother house in Waterdown with some members from St.
Patrick’s CWL. It was an excellent retreat, facilitated by Sister Harriet, who reminded us how deeply we are loved by our God. We had an opportunity to explore the many different ways we can regularly make prayer a part of our everyday lives.
Adjourn
The meeting was adjourned on a motion by Betty Holland.
Minutes by: Anne Cholewka