Women from across the diocese came together to explore pathways of faith and serving God by serving others during the 73rd annual convention of the Sacramento Diocesan Council of Catholic Women held April 28-29 in Sacramento.

Cristina Mendonsa, KXTV Channel 10 news anchor, in a keynote speech titled “Women United in Faith and Service,” noted that women are uniquely equipped for answering the call to serve.

“I think we as women are bound by our DNA to be multi-taskers,” she said. “It is not a far leap to be thinking of our faith and our service all at once. They are joined.”

Mendonsa, a member of St. John the Baptist Parish in Folsom, said “stay-at-home moms, single executives, mothers and grandmothers working outside the home” share a common mandate of Christian service.

“We show God we’re serving him by serving those we love and care about…through little and large acts,” she said.

One woman making a difference in the lives of others, Mendonsa said, was featured on a News 10 “Good People” segment.

Sue, known affectionately as “the hamburger lady,” decided that instead of driving past homeless people she saw every day she would to buy them hamburgers and hand them out every night on a Sacramento street corner.

“People took notice of her goodness and the simplicity of her service and soon she had a lot of company,” Mendonsa said. “She united with people she didn’t even know, battling hunger on a city street.”

A news anchor at Channel 10 in Sacramento since 1995, Mendonsa has earned numerous professional honors, including two Emmy Awards and a Murrow Award for coverage of the late Pope John Paul II’s trip in 1993 to World Youth Day in Denver.

Of her decision to become a journalist, Mendonsa said “telling stories about special people doing remarkable things” was a joy and the best way to share her gifts.

The popular journalist also finds time to support a number of charities, including Mercy Hospital in Folsom, Sacramento AIDS organizations and working as a strong proponent of organ donation.

A service project of high priority in the Mendonsa family, which includes two young daughters, is a friendship with a 19-year-old woman currently serving with the Armed Forces in Iraq.

“I believe we please God when we do our best for him,” Mendonsa said. “How we choose to spend our time, I believe, defines us.”

Another highlight the first day of the convention was a family concerns commission workshop presentation by Marivic Mabanag, executive director of the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence.

The partnership is a collaborative effort of the California Alliance Against Domestic Violence and the California Coalition for Battered Women.

In an interview with The Herald, Mabanag said church communities can be powerful forces in efforts to combat domestic violence.

“People have tremendous trust in the church, which holds an almost invisible contract with each member of a congregation,” she said. “We need spiritual solutions to ending violence.”

Mabanag added that she would like to see a strong role among all Christian women in ending violence against women and children.

“First we must break the silence,” she said. “We need to educate ourselves and in education we learn that domestic violence touches every ethnic group, every culture, every age and economic class. It touches everyone.”

Statistics published by the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence indicate that in 2004, 138 California women were killed by their husbands, ex-husbands or boyfriends, and 26 men were killed by their wives, ex-wives or girlfriends.

“Violence is learned, so it can be unlearned,” Mabanag said.

The SDCCW chose Casa de Esperanza in Marysville, a domestic abuse prevention center, as the organization’s special project this year.

Highlights on the second day of the convention included a church commission workshop presentation by Mercy Sister Kathleen Doyle, Mass celebrated by Bishop William K. Weigand, and presentation of the “Woman of the Year” awards.

The SDCCW Deanery honorees are: Delores Martinez, Marysville; Louise Laing, Sacramento; Mary Beth Schrader, Siskiyou; Ann Smith, Solano; and Barbara Goyette, South Gold Country.

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