Diocesan Council of Catholic Women plan April convention with speakers and leadership workshop

Intermountain Catholic

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Sister Maria Nguyen is one of the speaker at the convention

SALT LAKE CITY - The Diocesan Council of Catholic Women (DCCW) will host its annual convention April 29 through May 1 at the Sheraton City Centre in Salt Lake City. This year a team of trainers from the National Catholic Council of Catholic Women (NCCW) will offer a leadership training development program during the convention.

"The NCCW leadership training workshop offers participants practical skills for women's councils and for life," said Pat Voorhees, DCCW leadership commission chairwoman. "Each program is custom-designed from a wide variety of subjects that will improve skills in many areas including, but not limited to: understanding the needs and techniques to create a strong foundation for an organization; learning or enhancing leadership skills; improving skills to gain and retain membership; and cultivating a level of communication that truly reaches the intended audience. Women who have attended in the past have been surprised how informative the workshop was and by the amount of hands-on activities and exercises."

The conference also will offer speakers throughout the two days.

Tony Magliano, a Catholic News Service syndicated columnist, will be the keynote speaker. His column topic, "Making a Difference," is peace and social justice. In his keynote address, "Advancing the Kingdom of God in the 21st Century," he will explain how prayerful reflections upon the ancient teachings of the Gospel, and the modern principles of Catholic social teaching, can effectively guide a consistent, logical and life-affirming approach to the moral issues facing humanity in the 21st century. Magliano has been a pastoral associate at the Shrine of the Little Flower Parish in Baltimore, Md. for the past 11 years.

Father Rick Sherman has a particular interest in Catholic social teaching and sacramental theology and will speak on the "Right Relationship and the True Essence of Becoming One." Fr. Sherman is pastor of Saint Elizabeth Parish in Richfield, Saint Jude Mission in Ephraim, San Juan Diego Mission and the Correctional Facility in Gunnison and Saint Anthony Mission in Torrey.

Daughter of Charity Sister Maria Nguyen and her team, including Province of San Francisco director Mary Adams and two students, will speak about her program, "Give Me a Chance." The program offers women who are unemployed or under employed the opportunity to develop self-esteem and at the same time learn a skill to earn a living. What they find after 40 hours of training is beyond what they expect and they will share their stories.

Sr. Maria was born in Vietnam and after three failed attempts at escaping her native country, she was sponsored to come to the United States in 1992. She joined the Daughters of Charity in 1998. Her ministries are working with children, the homeless, as executive director of a Vietnamese senior citizen center and with women who fell victim to human trafficking. She received a master's degree in business administration from Loyola Marymount with a social entrepreneur emphasis, which helped her with her current program.

Sisters from throughout the Diocese of Salt Lake City will give a presentation about their ministries on Sunday.

Full registration for the convention is $99. Saturday only is $45 and Saturday for the Woman of the Year banquet only is $40. Sunday only is $30.

To register for the conference and the leadership training workshop, download forms from the DCCW website, http://home.catholicweb.com/slcdccw. Submit the forms to your parish Catholic Women's Council by March 15.