VERO BEACH | Members of the Council of Catholic Women throughout the diocese and beyond are a powerful witness of living the faith and putting it into action. Their joyful service of helping wherever and whenever there is a need in parishes and communities is contagious and may inspire people to explore the Catholic Church.
Women from six CCW affiliate parishes and one non-affiliated parish (St. John of the Cross) attended the northern deanery end-of-year event March 28 at St. Helen in Vero Beach. “This is our only event in the year for fundraising,” said Julie Ann Farrell, emcee and northern deanery vice president.
“We have six affiliation councils: St. Helen, St. Sebastian, Holy Family, St. Bernadette, St. Lucie, St. Christopher,” she said. “We have almost close to 50 women here today from St. John of the Cross, and we want to make sure we get them.”
The agenda was for fun and laughter mixed with generosity, friendship and camaraderie. The once-a-year event included bingo, money raffles, designer handbags and baskets filled with goodies. Lunch was included.
“I think what is very important to know is that all of the baskets and all of the purses, all of our giveaways, have been donated,” Farrell said. “The CCW affiliations within the northern deanery are the women who donated the designer purses and made the beautiful baskets.
“Our funds do go to help the seminarians, help the religious, help the women’s care center in Fort Pierce, help build wells, Water for Life (providing clean water). Education is important to us. Our funds go to scholarships for young Catholic women,” she added.
Father Clem Hammerschmitt Memorial Scholarships are awarded every year at the PBDCCW convention to three deserving young women, one from each deanery, who will attend a Catholic high school in the diocese. This year’s diocesan convention is set for May 23.
“The list goes on and on and on, and without your help today, we would not be able to help any of those individuals or organizations,” Farrell told the women.
The Florida Catholic asked Deacon Tom Nowak, who serves St. Helen and is spiritual advisor for the northern deanery, “How do you like serving as the northern deanery spiritual advisor?” He said, “I love working with the women, and they are such an inspiration on my own spiritual journey,” adding, “we work hand in hand and guide each other.”
Asked about being a CCW member, Lana Sininko, Holy Family parliamentarian, said, “You know what? It really is great. We have such a great time.”
The Diocese of Palm Beach is divided into three CCW deaneries: northern, central and southern. The CCW southern deanery had an event March 28 at St. Joan of Arc in Boca Raton. The deanery president, Lily Potito, explained in an email what their meeting was all about: “Attendees included the presidents from all six parishes that make up the southern deanery PBDCCW: Ascension, Holy Spirit, St. Joan of Arc, St. Luke, St. Mark and St. Matthew.”
Potito told the council women that she had attended “both the vespers service and the ordination and installation Mass for Bishop Manuel, pointing out the beauty of the coming together of different groups in the diocese for those events.”
She expressed gratitude to their vendors and “urged all the members to support the southern deanery’s upcoming fundraiser with their caterer, Bud’s Chicken and Seafood, on April 15 at their three locations in Boynton East, Boynton West and Greenacres.”
The southern meeting also included keynote speaker Ed Kosiec, “whose nonprofit organization works to raise awareness of training and availability of both CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and AED (automated external defibrillator).” She explained that Kosiec’s presentation “helped all in attendance to understand that, yes, they can learn to perform CPR,” and to “advocate for training and the installation of AEDs in all of our parish public buildings.”
Within the central deanery, there are six CCW affiliate parishes: Our Lady Queen of the Apostles, St. Clare, St. Jude (Tequesta), St. Patrick, St. Rita and St. Therese de Lisieux. Their end-of-year meeting Saturday, April 25, will include Father Frank D’Amato giving a presentation on Our Lady of Lourdes at St. Clare in North Palm Beach.
For more information on CCW affiliate parishes, visit https://pbdccw.org.
