St Anne’s Head Elected To International Board

by Erin Carelse · October 21, 2019

Fikile Motsa, former national president of St Anne’s Sodality, has been elected to the board of international Catholic women’s organisation WUCWO.

The former national president of St Anne’s Sodality in South Africa has been nominated and confirmed as a World Union of Catholic Women’s Organisations (WUCWO) board member.

“It’s through God’s grace and honour that I have been appointed to the board of WUCWO, I feel very blessed,” Fikile Motsa said.

Every four years, new board members are appointed to WUCWO, one from each country. South Africa is a member country of WUCWO, and currently, has two organisations registered, St Anne’s Sodality and the Catholic Women’s League (CWL).

In South Africa, the two organisations alternate each term. Jennifer Hammond from the CWL was the board member from 2014-18.

Ms Motsa was nominated by her sodality to stand for the new term. The CWL approved her nomination and she was confirmed in Senegal during the WUCWO general assembly, which took place in October 2018. Her term will run until 2022.

At the assembly, among resolutions passed by the delegates was one calling on its members to recognise their collective responsibility, as participants in the human race, to care for the planet that God created and to take steps to reduce and reverse the damage already sustained.

The four WUCWO resolutions are:

Let us recognise that a healthy planet depends on all of us.
Let us take care of the family in difficult situations, especially its most vulnerable members.
Let us eliminate discrimination and violence against women.
Let us educate to respond to the call of holiness.

As a board member Ms Motsa will attend board meetings organised by the international office, write reports and send them to the secretariat, and make sure that WUCWO resolutions are implemented.

“We are currently in a process of formalising the South African Union of Catholic Women’s Organisations (SAUCWO),” she explained, adding that a proposal has been drawn up and they are awaiting approval by stakeholders, after which it will be presented to the bishops for approval.

“My mission is to make sure that by 2022, almost all Catholic women in South Africa are fully aware of WUCWO and SAUCWO and are involved in WUCWO activities,” Ms Motsa said.

WUCWO, whose head office is in Rome, was established in 1910. It now represents almost 100 Catholic women’s organisations worldwide, is active in around 60 countries including all continents and some island states, and counts on more than eight million Catholic women of every walk of life.

In 2006, WUCWO was made a Public International Association of the Faithful by the Holy See.

The organisation aims to promote the presence, participation and co-responsibility of Catholic women in society and the Church, in order to enable them to fulfil their mission of evangelisation and to work for human development.

“It is my wish and my prayer that all Catholic women in Southern Africa will be united, regardless of sodalities, organisations, or the colour of their skin, and that we work together towards one goal of serving mankind,” Ms Motsa said.