ACCW’s all about ‘women helping women’

Mary Ann Rosso has been active in the women’s club in her parish, St. Francis Borgia on the far Northwest Side, for nearly 40 years. This year, she took over as president of the Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women, the umbrella organization that helps bring together members of nearly 200 parish-based and other groups, offering them resources and helping them share their support with the archdiocese as a whole.

Members of the council will gather Oct. 26 for the annual Fall Luncheon at the Chicago Hilton & Towers, 720 S. Michigan Ave. For information, call (312) 751-8330.



The Catholic New World: What do the parish women’s groups do?

Mary Ann Rosso: I know most of it looks like it’s the cookie-baking and coffee-serving, but we really are much more involved. I would think just about every facet of parish life is covered by women who are connected with ACCW.



TCNW: You said people often think of “cookies and coffee” when it comes to the ACCW. I’m wondering if you see a role for some kind of separate “women’s work” in parishes, and what that work should be.

MR: I don’t know that I really see a separate job because women are becoming involved in all aspects of parish life now. We’re not the cookie bakers anymore; we’re the lectors and the eucharistic ministers, we’re the bereavement, we’re the arts and environment, we’re the whatever. I know we just got a new pastor in May, and he said about me, “Everything I go to, there she is!”



TCNW: Then why do we need separate women’s groups?

MR: I think it could be the camaraderie and the support we give one another. I was talking to one woman not too long ago, and she was saying “I don’t know if I could be a eucharistic minister.” Well, of course you could. So there’s support for all the efforts we put forth. … Women are coming from a different perspective, and there are a lot of angles. You don’t feel like you’re fighting the battles alone. You can go together and say “We see this need and we would like to have it taken care of.”



TCNW: What does ACCW bring to the women in the parishes?

MR: Women in deanery meetings or vicariate meetings get to meet other people. They can compare problems or successes, and it’s nice to know that if you’re having a problem, somebody else is having the same problem.

Plus, too, our various programs—we cooperate with Peace and Justice on the Work of Human Hands campaign. It’s actually women helping women; women in Third World countries make products, and we sell them, and then the majority of the money goes back to the women. Our community commission is very involved in the Children’s Health and the Environment program—that’s an interfaith program that deals predominantly with the spraying of chemicals in our air and water. … We’re working very hard to make people aware and help clean up some of that. National (NCCW) also has a program called Spirituality and Service, which ties together a lot of social justice issues and spirituality right along with it, why you’re doing what you’re doing.



TCNW: Does the emphasis on supporting women extend to your national and international projects?

MR: Definitely. Women supporting women is what we’re all about. Part of the national mission statement is “to support, empower and educate all Catholic women in spirituality, leadership and service.” Part of our mission statement in the archdiocese affirms every woman’s unique gifts and talents and provides opportunities for their use in the areas of evangelization, education, communication, spirituality and service.



TCNW: As a representative of women’s groups in the church, which some people see as a male-dominated hierarchical institution, do you feel that your voice has been heard and listened to?

MR: Personally, yes. I’m sure there are people who don’t, but I have had some wonderful pastors that I have worked with, and they have always been willing to listen. … Women are glad to finally have a voice in the church, which years back, we didn’t. You made the altar cloths and the cookie baking, and that was about the extent of it.



TCNW: What challenges are parish women’s groups facing?

MR: The majority of the groups are getting older, and the younger women are not joining, either because of family responsibilities, or most of them are working. If they do have any spare time, they spend it where the children are. The children today are much more involved that my children ever were. I think sometimes my daughter meets herself coming and going, if the two (of her children) are both playing baseball or something. So they don’t have the time. If they do, they do something that’s involved with the children, like a parents’ club. That’s when we started having problems, when parishes started having parents’ clubs. When they didn’t have them—that’s why I got involved, because I wanted to know what was going on. I’m very, very happy that I did.

One of the new programs that national has put in is a mentoring program, which was presented by the Chicago Archdiocese. It’s the experienced women taking a new member under their wing and guiding them along. That’s really how I got where I am.

Some of the suburban parishes, like St. Joseph in Libertyville and St. Mary in Buffalo Grove, have started groups for younger women. At St. Mary, they do it by interest, so there will be one group for women who like to read, and they get together, and another group for women who like, say, art museums, and then they get together as a large group four or five times a year. Their membership is 400 or 500 women, because they pull women in by interest.

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