A look at 100 years of CWL history

Friday, Feb. 12, 2016

Catholic women who have wanted higher education and a professional life outside the conventional roles of raising a family and running a household have always had religious vocations they could accept in a multitude of orders offering almost any kind of life one would want. Lay women have been much less fortunate in their available options, for the Church has provided many fewer outlets for activities outside the home.

The second Bishop of Salt Lake, the Right Rev. Joseph S. Glass, was keenly aware of that lack of opportunity, and on March 20, 1916 he called a meeting to organize a Catholic Woman’s League. The need for such an organization was apparent in the fact that no fewer than 137 women attended. Emma McCornick Bird and three other women were appointed to draft a constitution and by-laws. Eight days later, at a meeting in the Cathedral of the Madeleine basement attended by 170 women, those documents were approved, a slate of officers was elected with Bird as president, and the Catholic Woman’s League was off and running.

It was also Bishop Glass who suggested that the name of the organization be the Catholic WOMAN’S League rather than Catholic Women’s League, stressing the importance of the individual woman, with her obligation to develop her own spiritual life and contribute to the extension of Catholic values into the larger society, rather than her submersion in an organization.  

As CWL Custodian Cece Holt emphasized in a 90th anniversary speech, Bishop Glass was “truly a clergyman ahead of his time” in foreseeing the increasing importance of lay ministries in the Church, a development that has much accelerated since Vatican II.

From the beginning, it proved to be a wildly successful idea, unleashing a veritable avalanche of energy from the female segment that constitutes over one-half of both the general population and of the Church. Within 10 years membership had grown to 623, and during the CWL salad days in the mid-twentieth century, their annual luncheon would draw some 900 participants, sometimes including their spouses as well. Bishop Glass himself was in regular attendance, as have been subsequent bishops, some of whom have used CWL functions as opportunities to introduce newly ordained clergy.

 What kinds of endeavors have CWL promoted? A staggering variety, a mere listing of which could not be contained within the available space here. One of their ongoing functions has been an annual tea for the purpose of supporting Catholic girls interested in participating in Girls State.  Another has been a monthly First Friday rosary, Mass and breakfast both for fellowship and for prayer for a specified need. But the largest and the quintessential function has been the annual luncheon and fashion show to raise funds to support some worthy organization or cause.  Anyone seeking such support is encouraged to submit a proposal to the CWL board, which then makes a selection.

As one would expect in an organization almost a century old, CWL has experienced problems as well as successes. One inherent problem has been the demands upon the time of lay women who want to be active in outside organizations but who still have domestic obligations. Accordingly, CWL has seen a shift in membership from younger to older women who are retired or whose children are grown. Another problem has been that over the years, and especially since Vatican II, many other outlets have emerged for women’s charitable and philanthropic ambitions, both within parishes and in the society at large, and CWL has felt some competition. But CWL has not acquiesced in that competition and has adapted to present itself as attractive to women of 2016 as of 1916: service projects, for example, like a Leukemia Walk and a clothing drive for needy children have been proposed by the board as alternatives to simply raising funds for such projects.

As we approach the century mark, the future of CWL seems as bright as its past is inspiring. CWL members still have a sense of being a part of something vital in the life of the diocese.