Council of Catholic Women offers many benefits

Friday, Mar. 20, 2015

SALT LAKE CITY — Fellowship and advocacy, spiritual education and leadership – these are the reasons that Bonnie Siegrist has continued to be involved with the Diocese of Salt Lake City Council of Catholic Women since she first attended a convention in 1989.

At that convention, she shared an elevator with Bobbie Hunt, who was then DCCW president. “She was nice and friendly and she was an inspiration, but never did I ever dream that I would be up there,” said Siegrist, the current DCCW president. 

After that first convention, a fellow parishioner invited Siegrist to a parish CCW meeting and offered to meet her at the door. That began a long journey with  the CCW, Siegrist said.

“It just takes one person at the parish level to bring you to a meeting, especially when you’re new,” Siegrist said.

After being involved at the parish level, Siegrist moved to the deanery level and was asked to serve as chairman of a commission. 

The women already in the DCCW leadership “encourage you and support you,” Siegrist said, adding that she receives personal satisfaction from being able to support social actions, be more involved in her Church community and be a voice for issues that are important to her.

“For me personally it’s probably been more about leadership and service and education – the DCCW has fulfilled all that for me,” she said. 

The Utah DCCW was founded in 1928, eight years after the creation of the national organization of which it is an affiliate. The NCCW was founded in 1920 under the auspices of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to respond with Gospel values to the needs of the Church and society.

In Utah, the CCW has almost 30 affiliates in parishes throughout the state, and “the DCCW works to unite Catholic women’s organizations and individual Catholic women of the state of Utah in purpose, direction and action in spiritual, educational, social and economic fields; to stimulate and develop their leadership potential, and to motivate and assist them to act on current issues in the church and society,” according to Amy Kennedy, immediate past president of the DCCW, who wrote a brief history about the organization.

Each parish in the diocese belongs to one of the five regional deaneries. The leadership of the local affiliates meet at the deanery level, and each deanery has a president who also serves on the DCCW Board of Directors. 

“Its strength still resides in parish-based women who serve the poor, the elderly, and the forgotten, advocate at state and national legislatures, support one another in the various circumstances of their lives, and join voices in prayer and worship,” Kennedy wrote.

Siegrist agrees. “The work is done at the parish level; that’s where the Marthas and Marys really come out” – volunteering to serve in resettlement programs, collecting donations for various charitable efforts, coordinating Thanksgiving baskets to be donated to the needy, running thrift stores, and offering various parish ministries such as bereavement, music and lector, she said.

The upcoming DCCW convention is an excellent opportunity to meet members of the DCCW and learn more about the organization, Siegrist said.

For information, contact your parish women’s group or DCCW President Bonnie Siegrist at utahbonnie@comcast.net or 801-580-6960.