Cathy Buchanan
O God I know You are near
Standing always at my side
From one of my favourite hymns,"You Are Near" are words that I tend to forget too often and need to keep coming back to. I guess I will need to really focus on them for the next two years, having just agreed to become part of your Calgary Diocesan Council as the new Legislation Chairperson. I believe God is present in each one of us as we are a people of the Eucharist,and, just as I did when president of St. Paul's CWL Council in Airdrie,I will rely on my sisters in the league to help me in this new role.
I was born in Toronto some time ago and grew up in Toronto, Paris, Winnipeg and Ottawa. I earned an Honours degree in History and Political Studies from Queen's University as well as a B.Ed and was a mostly junior high teacher. After marrying my husband nearly 29 years ago, I moved to Calgary. Two years later we bought our first home in Airdrie. I have three grown children: Fiona, 26, Peter, 22,and Ian, 19. We are presently having lots of adventures with our "acquired" child, Cheyenne, age 12.
I have been a CWL member for just over ten years but wasn't really active in my Council until a good friend and I decided we should get involved and see if we could shake things up a bit! I served as the Community Life Chairperson first and served in the role of President for 2007 and 2008. And just when I felt like I was getting the hang of it my term was up. My goals have always been to make the CWL, with its strong faith foundation, a relevant and meaningful place for all women and to invite them to join the League as a gift to themselves. We have grown from around 80 members to over 140 over the past eight years. The women in our council are among the most supportive, nurturing and funny women I know; it really is all about faith, fun and fulfillment