A Wee Bit of History

The members of the Military Ordinariate Provincial Council of the Catholic Women’s League of Canada are fundamentally like the members of any other provincial or diocesan CWL council except that our members are located anywhere in the world where Canadian military personnel are stationed. With numbers hovering just above the 300 mark, we are a small but strong group of women, with ties that are among the closest in the League.

Our story began long before 1965 with active CWL councils on several bases in Ontario, Quebec, PEI and Nova Scotia. When the Holy See established a separate diocese for the Canadian military, a request was made to the National Council of the CWL to allow councils on military bases to form their own Diocesan Council.

At the National Convention in Charlottetown in 1964, the National Executive approved the application to organize a diocesan council that would have the status of a provincial council for organizational purposes. Membership was open to all Catholic women stationed on Canada’s military bases, at home and abroad. This council was known as the Military Vicariate. Kathleen McCrossin was an amazing woman whose goal was to bring all military councils together in mind and body. She was the first President of the Mil Vic and deeply dedicated to the success of this new council. The first Mil Vic Convention was held in June 1967. Read more…