Mangalore: DCCWA - A Forum for Catholic Women

With input from Lily Pereira
 
Mangalore, Sep 6: The DCCW Mangalore (Diocesan Council of Catholic Women of Mangalore) is an organisation dedicated to and for the cause of Catholic women. It's territory sprread over the entire jurisdiction of the Bishop of Mangalore. Geographically the two districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi in Karnataka State and the Kasaragod district of Kerala State make up this Diocese.

The DCCW is an organisation  whichis recognised by the diocesan hierarchy. Being established in 1960 it is a coordinating body of all Catholic Women’s organisations in the Diocese of Mangalore with the main purpose of providing a common banner for Catholic Women to express themselves, make their presence felt and act in collaboration on socio-political, religious, and other platforms, with the government and the Church.
 
The DCCW has had ups and downs which organisations go through normally. However it has been re-vitalized from time to time and continues to function as the body representing the women of the Diocese. Until the mid eighties it functioned only as a coordinating body. Changing its policy gradually, it undertook direct action in the parishes by keeping
 
Contact with women’s groups and by raising awareness on women’s status and the changing roles. A core group got itself trained for conducting sessions with women in parishes and for giving talks on subjects of interest to them. These programmes generated sufficient involvement to enable the DCCW to undertake the hosting of the Silver Jubilee National Conference of its national body the Council of Catholic Women of India (CCWI). 500 delegates from dioceses all over India participated in this conference held in October 1990. The theme studied was “National Development: Perceptions and Perspectives of Catholic Women”.
 
Membership of the DCCW:

Two members from each parish of the Diocese are on the General Body. These members represent all the Catholic Women of the parish that are above the age of 18 years. There are a total number of 153 parishes in our diocese . A group of parishes form a Varado(Deanery).
 
There are 15 Varados in the Diocese. The DCCW has divided the Varados into four regions and the regions elect their representatives to be on the governing council. Representatives of the other Catholic Women’s groups and organisations in the Diocese are also part of the governing council. Once in three years the General Body elects the President and members of the Executive Committee. The 4 Vice Presidents to represent the regions, the Secretary and the Treasurer are chosen from among these.

In the year 2000, as part of the Yesu Christa Jayanthi Jubilee Project the strengthening of the Diocesan Women’s Organisation was one of the ten projects planned by our Bishop. In order to be able to reach out to all the women of the Diocese, a campaign was launched on January 1st, 2001, named “’Woman’ “She too is human””. This campaign helped us to start women’s groups in various parishes of the Diocese.

The attempt is to install Women’s groups in all the  parishes of our Diocese. Various programmes are held as per the local requirements of each parish such as awareness programmes on different topics related to women’s development and empowerment.Workshops on Women’s role in family, Church and Society are conducted quite regularly. Our vision is to see that women live as full human beings with self respect and confidence and work hand in hand with their male counterparts and carry on their duties towards their family, Church and Society and build a world of fulfillment. 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
A newsletter in Konkani is being published quarterly from January 1st, 2001, in which the activities of all the parish women’s groups of the Diocese are published.
 
The topics used for action involved are as follows:

1.      Women and poverty
2.      Education and training of women
3.      Women and health
4.      Violence against women
5.      Women and armed conflict
6.      Women and the economy
7.      Women in power and decision making
8.      Institutional mechanism for the development of women
9.      Human rights of women
10.  Women and the media
11.  Women and natural resources
12.  Environment and the girl child
13.  Self employment sources for women
14.  Aids Awareness Programme
15.  Wholistic health programme for middle aged and senior citizens.
16.  Concern and care of the senior citizens
17.  Gender sensitisation of children, Schoolchildren, college youth.
18.  Training women leaders for public speaking (Workshop)
19.  Training women Journalists (Workshop)
20.  Identifying and listing of resource persons available in Mangalore
21.  Identifying and listing of all the women’s organisations working for empowerment of women in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, and Kasargod Districts.
22.  Awareness on Indian Constitutions regarding equality of women
23.  Political participation of women in local bodies, legislative assembly, parliament, challenges and strategies.
24.  United Role of men and women in building a just society.