For Fran Lucas, the Catholic Women’s League of Canada is more than a parish organization—it is a national voice for faith and social justice.
After nearly four decades in the League, including serving as national president from 2021 to 2023, Lucas believes the organization’s future lies in continuing its advocacy work while inviting new generations of women to join its mission.
“The CWL gives women a voice where it counts,” Lucas says. “Together we can make a difference.”
Lucas’s own journey with the League began in 1988 at St. John Bosco Parish when a fellow parishioner approached her after Mass and invited her to join. A year later she moved to St. Joseph Basilica, which remains her parish today.
For more information on the CWL, contact your parish office.
That simple invitation shaped a path that eventually led to national leadership and international travel on behalf of the organization.
Today the CWL remains one of Canada’s largest Catholic women’s organizations, although membership has declined from its peak. Membership reached 140,000 in 1964 and remained strong for decades, with 112,000 members in 1977 and 108,681 in 1996, according to statistics from the league’s 100th anniversary book.
National membership stood at 55,549 in 2025, including 7,717 members in the Alberta Mackenzie provincial council and 3,705 in the Edmonton Diocese.
Despite the decline, Lucas says the league’s mission—faith, service and social justice—remains as relevant as ever.
A key part of that mission is advocacy. Each year CWL national officers meet with federal government representatives to raise issues identified by members across Canada through resolutions passed at conventions.
Among the issues currently being discussed are Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) legislation, further development of the federal Office of Palliative Care, and amendments to the Criminal Code, which defines when a child becomes a human being. Members have also called for the creation of a unified national cybercrime reporting system to better address online crime.
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Several of those priorities — including the calls related to palliative care, cybercrime reporting and the Criminal Code definition — were adopted as resolutions at the League’s 2025 national convention.
“Our ability to meet with government is a key draw for many of our members,” Lucas says. “It means each of us has a voice where it counts.”
Lucas believes this advocacy work is also one of the ways the League can connect with younger women who are passionate about social justice.
“Anything dealing with social justice is a draw for younger women,” she says. “It shows them they can be part of something that makes a difference.”
Conversations about women’s leadership in the Church are also continuing at the global level. In 2026 the Vatican released the final report of Synod Study Group 5, The Participation of Women in the Life and Leadership of the Church, which explores how women exercise leadership and how their participation can continue to grow in the Church’s mission.
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The League’s outreach extends beyond Canada as well. The CWL works with international partners including Catholic Near East Welfare Association, the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organisations and Development and Peace.
Lucas witnessed the impact of those partnerships firsthand while travelling internationally as a CWL representative. One particularly meaningful experience was visiting the Philippines with a Development and Peace delegation to see the results of Canadian donations following Typhoon Haiyan.
“What I saw and experienced will stay with me always,” she says.
“A lot of devastation was still visible but the people were driven to change that and rebuild. Their faithfulness was stronger than anything I had ever observed to that point in my life. I came away with a greater respect and acknowledgment of what I had and what I needed to strive to be.”
Lucas also represented the CWL at international gatherings of the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organizations and travelled to Senegal, where she learned more about the challenges faced by women in parts of Africa. During a visit to Rome she attended a general audience with Pope Francis and visited places connected to the CWL’s spiritual heritage.
While those experiences showed the global reach of the organization, Lucas says the League’s strength remains rooted in parish communities across Canada.
“CWL members are involved in almost every ministry in many churches,” she says. “Priests often say they don’t know how their parish would function without them.”
During her time as national president, Lucas focused on strengthening communication within the league and encouraging members to recruit new women.
Her Unity Outreach initiative sent members of the national executive across the country to meet directly with local councils, listening to concerns and gathering ideas.
“Communication was one of the biggest things we heard about,” she says. “Members wanted to know they were being heard.”
Lucas also encouraged members to host informal gatherings—often over tea—and invite women who were not CWL members. Many councils reported that the conversations led to new members joining.
“Sometimes all it takes is an invitation,” she says.
Looking ahead, Lucas believes the league’s advocacy and service will continue to resonate with younger women who want their faith to translate into action.
She also encourages councils to consider forming Catholic Girls Leagues for girls aged 10 to 15, programs that introduce young women to faith, leadership and community service.
Her vision is a renewed League filled with women of all ages committed to faith and public service.
“Our numbers will come back,” Lucas says. “But we need to keep telling our story and showing women that they have a place here.”
For Lucas, that invitation remains as powerful today as it was when she first heard it after Mass nearly four decades ago.
