Introduction
(CCW Organization Services Notebook provided by the Joliet Diocesan CCW)
This notebook of one-page sheets on various topics that come under the ‘umbrella’
of Organization Services was created by Marianne McKeague in her 2006-8 term as Organization
Services Chairman to help Parish CCW Presidents. Knowing how busy they are making
sure that the spiritual, educational, service and social events of their parish CCWs
happen, and how difficult they find to get to area-wide meetings, this notebook was
published as an alternative to the ‘Organization Services’ Commission Days that had
been held in prior terms. There is much value in these because of the quality of
speakers and programming that can be provided to a large diocesan-wide group, the
sharing that is done, and the associations that are made; future boards will certainly
consider returning to this format. However, for 2006-8, this notebook on the many
aspects of Organization Services was mailed – one page a month - so parish presidents
were not daunted by an entire manual to read.
Each sheet contains background and/or “how-to’s” on one topic of concern to Parish
CCWs. It was hoped that Parish CCW presidents found it useful to distribute these
sheets to their boards – or at least those members concerned with a particular topic
- and that they considered collecting these ‘notebook’ sheets to serve as an ongoing
resource for their boards.
The first resource for Parish CCWs for answers, help, and general information is
their Deanery. Wider and wider resources are available from the Joliet Diocesan
Council of Catholic Women, and the National Council of Catholic Women (http://nccw.org/)
Deanery Presidents serve a dual role; they not only serve as the leader of their
respective Deanery, they are also officers (actually Vice Presidents) on the Diocesan
Board. They attend Diocesan CCW board meetings to represent Parish CCWs and bring
their questions and concerns to the Diocesan CCW.
The Joliet Diocesan CCW, like many other agencies of the Diocese of Joliet,
has an office at St. Charles Borromeo Pastoral Center in Romeoville, 402 S Independence
Boulevard, Romeoville, IL 60446. The Diocesan President and the Administrative
Secretary are in the office on certain weekdays, but the office number: 1-815-834-4080
has an answering machine on which you can leave messages at any time.
Both the Diocesan CCW and the National CCW maintain websites which are excellent
sources of information for Parish CCWs and their members. The award-winning Diocesan
CCW website, in particular (www.dioceseofjoliet.org/ccw), is a very user-friendly
site with much well-organized information.