Below is a copy of the News Release we are sending to local and national media to encourage press coverage of our Convention.
We encourage you to use it as background if you send stories and pictures to your local diocesan or secular media about your presence at Convention
1600 Catholic Women Convened in New Orleans
to Elect National Leaders and Conduct New Business
Thursday, August 22, 2024. Sixteen-hundred members of The Catholic Daughters of the Americas, formed in 1903 and now one of the largest organizations of Catholic women in the Americas, gathered in New Orleans from August 14-18 for their 60th Biennial National Convention.
The organization elected a new National Board, proposed and voted on new resolutions and by laws, announced their Woman of the Year and conducted a beautiful candles and white rose Mass of Installation for the newly elected National Board. The Convention held Opening, Memorial, and God and Country Masses and a Clergy and Men’s Luncheon.
The Convention theme, “Faith as Small as a Mustard Seed,” has been the guiding principle of National Regent Emily Guilherme’s two-year tenure. This theme, referenced in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, emphasizes the power and potential of even the smallest amount of faith.
The Keynote Speaker was Johnette Williams who hosts EWTNs Women of Grace, an appropriate choice for a national organization of Catholic women. Women of Grace “encourages and affirms women in their dignity as daughters of God and in their gift of authentic femininity.”
National Regent Emily Guilherme said “Conventions are a time for learning, sharing, and networking. We will have the opportunity to make new friends and greet those we know from previous conventions,
share ideas, goals, and activities with Catholic Daughters from other courts.”
In a letter welcoming the Catholic Daughters to New Orleans, Most Reverend Gregory M. Aymond, Archbishop of New Orleans, wrote: “By living your mission and integrating your two-fold purpose of ‘spirituality and service,’ you bring Christ to others, helping to heal and transform our broken world, beginning in our families, parishes and communities. By your love, compassion support and sacrifices Christ is made visible and experienced.”
The Catholic Daughters of the Americas is a national organization of Catholic women formed over 120 years ago in 1903 numbering over 55,000 dues-paying members in 1,150 courts (local chapters) across 45 states across the country, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Guam. The Catholic Daughters provide local spirituality, sharing and activity under the support of a vibrant national organization. Members donate to charities, administer scholarship programs and strive “to be helping hands where there is pain, poverty, sorrow or sickness.” They embrace the principle of faith working through love in the promotion of justice, equality and the advancement of human rights and human dignity for all.
Visit their website at www.catholicdaughters.org