By A Staff Reporter
The Catholic Women's League must tackle recruitment problems if it is to truly represent Catholic women.
This is the conclusion of an article by Mrs. Catherine Riddell which appears in the latest issue of the C.W.L.'s Magazine.
Mrs. Riddell, a member of the Peterborough Section, warns that the League may take its 'recognised value' too much for granted, and she prescribes wider publicity, a recruitment campaign and a more interesting programme of events as a corrective.
The aim of the C.W.L. is 'to promote religious and intellectual interests' writes Mrs. Riddell.
She goes on: "In sonic parishes the name of the League is synonymous with church cleaning and tea making, thus a completely incorrect image of the League is presented ... this is not the be-all and end-all of the League, but merely a sideline," The social and moral problems today are different from those in existence when the League was founded 66 years ago, as the article makes clear: "The League was formed during a period of national upheaval which emanated among women who demanded their right to vote and to be recognised as individual citizens rather than simply be regarded as the chattels of their menfolk.
"Margaret Fletcher found that she had a great struggle on her hands to establish the League and to gain recognition from the Hierarchy and the clergy in general, who at first mistook the C.W.L.'s aims and objective as being merely an offsheot from the Suffragette Movernf:nt."
Mrs. Riddell feels that successful action must be founded on unity: "Instead of merely charity, work and loyalty, let us add unity too — something lacking today among all Christian denominations when they individually speak out against the evil confronting us."
The League's greatest adver-. say. the article concludes, is apathy.