President's Report 2013

From the 2013 Daughters of the King Assembly
All Saint's Church, El Paso, TX
August 2-3, 2013

Building on the good work so ably done by Sandy Martin has been the role of Cindy Davis and the DOK Board, consisting of Peggy Way, 1^st VP; Anna Marie Dugan, 2^nd VP; Carol Ast-Milchen, Secretary; Brenda Restivo, Treasurer; and the Rev. Jeanne Lutz, Chaplain. We met in January to review the bylaws regarding our duties and start planning for this Assembly and other events. The Board identified communication across the long distances of the Diocese and support between Chapters and Daughters as of utmost importance to keeping us connected in our Sisterhood.

An e-newsletter and blog have been the first steps to greater communication. Regular e-news bulletins and blog updates are readily accessible to Chapter Presidents and any Daughter in the Diocese. Since some Daughters do not like to use computers, we still do periodic ‘snail’ mailings, such as Assembly Registration. Regular articles in the Together, the Diocesan newsletter, share DOK news on a regular basis with Daughters in the Diocese and others who might be interested.

To bring Daughters together for events other than Assembly, two holiday gatherings were held last year. One was a Christmas brunch at the Bosque Center in Albuquerque, hosted by the St. Agnes Chapter and the other an Epiphany luncheon at Holy Mount in Ruidoso, hosted by the Maranatha Chapter. Weather played a factor is low attendance at both, but those who were present expressed delight in the idea of gathering for fellowship occasionally. In 2013, these events will include a ‘Who Are the Daughters’ component for women interested in DOK. Each chapter president is encouraged to identify one or 2 women (maybe younger women!) in their parish and invite them to the event closest to their parish.

Sadly there were 5 chapters in the Diocese with only one member at this time last year. After follow up with these women and their parish priests, the difficult decision was made to disband three chapters. The good news is that there are also new seeds. The Chapter at St. Bede’s, down to one member, is on the road to revival, with 3 women interested in starting discernment in the fall. Five ladies in Taos will be beginning the discernment process, which was put on hold when their parish priest left; and the priest at St. Francis on the Hill in El Paso has expressed interest in forming a chapter. The Jr. Daughter directress team at the Cathedral is interested in pursuing the idea of a city-, or even diocese-wide Jr. group, since some parishes don’t have the ‘critical mass’ of girls needed for a Jr. Chapter.

Daughters have always been in the forefront of women’s ministry in the Diocese and are active in the newly formed DRG Women’s Ministry, too. A Lent retreat in El Paso was attended by 40 women of the Diocese, more than half of whom were Daughters. Daughters were also present at the Body, Mind, Spirit Retreat in Taos last month and several are on the Women’s Ministry Council.

Chapter Presidents are encouraged to come to “Leadership 101” next summer, part of the Women of the DRG ministry, as a way to be empowered as stronger leaders in their chapters and parishes. The Board is exploring ways to use technology to help connect our far-flung chapters, with things like the blog, perhaps a Facebook page and/or a Google group, and even taping event speakers to post on the blog.

Please feel free to contact me with any ideas, questions, and concerns you have about Daughters of the King.  On the ‘DOK Info Ladder’, questions start at the chapter level, if the Chapter Pres. cannot answer, the question bounces up a rung to the Diocesan Pres., if she cannot answer, she asks the Provincial Pres., who in turn contacts the National Office if she doesn’t have an answer. (The idea is to help the National Office staff by not overwhelming them with details that could be dealt with more locally.)

Mark your calendars for Assembly 2014 (August 1-3) at Holy Faith in Santa Fe. The theme will be “We are One in the Spirit…and We Serve.” See the reverse for other opportunities around the Diocese for spiritual growth. I am looking forward to working with and for each Daughter in the Diocese of the Rio Grande, and with Presidents from around the Province.

FHS

Cynthia Davis

Dues and News

Registration info for the August 2-3 Assembly at All Saint's, El Paso is on its way to you and available here. 

The Theme for Assembly is "...and We Pray". Our speakers will be the Rev. Melinda St. Clair (Rector All Saints) and Sister Emily Louise! There will be a (short) business meeting and interesting retreat time. We are starting on Friday evening in hopes that more of our working Daughters can attend without having to take as much time off.

If you haven't already signed up for the monthly National DOK email Newsletter: Cross Links, you should do so! This month features information about our International Daughters. The Newsletter is a great way to keep up with National happenings between the Quarterly issues of the Royal Cross! There's a link on every page of the National website. Just enter your email address.

Looking forward to seeing you all in El Paso!

And-It's that time of year again. Chapter Presidents and Treasurers will be collecting Dues!

Remember the annual dues is $40 for this fiscal year. (Jr. Daughters are still $15.) Dues should be paid by mid summer, so your chapter can be current at the start of the Fiscal year: September 1!

You MAY pay your dues online. For Chapter members it is probably easiest to give your Chapter Pres. or Treasurer a check so one check can be sent in with everyone's payment. If you do pay online, be sure to inform your Chapter Treasurer so they can mark you paid on the list!

If you have missed a year (or 2) of dues, you can become current by paying the $40 this year. When you become 3 years past due, there's a new 'reinstatement' process that has to happen before you can be officially a Daughter again. So, it pays to pay! The By Laws say: When a Daughter has not paid her dues for two fiscal years (the fiscal year runs from Sept 1- Aug 31) she is dropped from the records at the National Office. For the purposes of the reinstatement bylaws, "not in good standing" means "dropped from the membership records." Your Chapter President has a list of who the National office shows as in danger of being dropped for non-payment.

Dues Abatement: There's some confusion about this new piece of the Bylaws. Here's what the Bylaws say: Chapter Relief Status: Upon reaching the age of 85 a Daughter may apply through her chapter or diocesan assembly president for relief of the obligation to pay dues. Upon approval of her application she would be relieved from paying national, provincial and diocesan dues for the remainder of her life. NOTICE it is MAY APPLY THROUGH CHAPTER or DIOCESE. The part not spelled out is that this is not automatic and that it should be used ONLY for Daughters who really have financial issues. If everyone who's 85 uses the offer, our Daughter's coffers will soon be empty.

Did you know that the Diocese gets $10/paid Daughter? We have 330+ Daughters in the Diocese of the Rio Grande. If everyone pays, that gives us $3300/year to use for things like grants, which are voted on at Diocesan Assembly.

Getting to Know-Shepherd's Daughters, Good Shepherd, Silver City

The Daughters at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Silver City, NM report:
We have a small chapter, here at Good Shepherd, but have been quite active during 2012. Two of our parishioners have been honored by baby showers by the chapter. Regular meetings are scheduled on third Sundays. Several times they extended the meeting time to lunch at local restaurants with Rev. Fran included.

Two lovely lunches were done to honor a visit by [incoming rector], Fr. Paul and a going away patio party for Rev. Fran. In 2012, one Daughter gave a very interesting presentation on her pilgrimage to Spain, to which the entire congregation was invited.
Individually members are involved in all aspects of parish work, including, but not limited to Vestry, Choir, Acolyte instruction, Lay readers, Rector search committee, and as LEMs at the Long Term Care Center in Silver City.
Members are looking forward to the guidance of Fr. Paul and to working with his wife, Karisse, who is a Daughter.
Good Shepherd, Silver City will be hosting a Cursillo Ultreya on May 31 at 4PM. Members of the 4th Day and anyone interested in Cursillo are invited.