"AMASC General Assembly "

There is NO CONGRESS in 2006 but an AMASC General Assembly will be held in New York from Friday, April 21- Sunday, April 23. This meeting is only for the AMASC Board Members. National Presidents, Emeritus Members and Nominees for the next four-year term (2006-2010).

"Conforming to the Constitution of AMASC, Article 9, section 9.2, Meetings Notice, we will have in April 2006 a meeting of the "General Assembly," consisting of the current and nominated President's Team, i.e., the President, Vice-President, Secretary-General, Treasurer-General, Religious Councillor, and Archivist; the current and nominated Administrative Councillors; National Presidents (who are the voting members); and our Emeritus Members."

Invitation from the AMASC World President
Olga Rome

February 3, 2006

Dear Sisters Clare, Kathy, Shirley, AMASC Board Members, National Presidents, Emeritus Members and Nominees,

While we are very saddened that there will not be an AMASC Congress, we are deeply grateful to Marion Glennon, AMASC Vice-President and Conference Coordinator, Sister Joan Magnetti, Headmistress, Greenwich Convent of the Sacred Heart, and the New York and Greenwich alumnae for hosting the National Presidents Meeting and Home Dinners, which are always a highlight of our alumnae/i gatherings. We are also very grateful to the Associated Alumnae of the Sacred Heart throughout the United States for their generosity in helping underwrite some of the costs of the meeting and assisting us throughout the Conference.

We are eagerly anticipating this gathering of the AMASC General Assembly, the details of which are as follows:

The meeting will be held Friday, April 21- Sunday, April 23 with arrivals on Thursday, April 20. The meeting of the newly elected President and her board will be Monday, April 24.

The group will convene at the Hilton Rye Town in Rye Brook, New York. All hotel reservations must be made directly with the hotel. As this meeting is limited to the aforementioned and one accompanying member of each National President’s administration, we have reserved 45 rooms. Room rates are: Single and Double Rates $159.00; Triple Rate $179.00; Quad Rate $199.00. Since AMASC is a 501C3 tax exempt organization there will be no room taxes.  Quoted rates will be offered, based on availability , to our attendees three days before and three days after the above dates for those wishing to arrive earlier and/or stay later than the dates of the meeting.

When calling (1-800-445-8667 or 1-800-Hiltons) to register, ask for Rye Town Group Code AMASC to obtain the above quoted special rates. The telephone number directly to the Hotel is 914 -939- 6300. FAX 914 - 939-4760. The address of the hotel is:  699 Westchester Avenue, Rye Brook, New York 10573.

JFK is the International airport. There is a limousine service, “Red Dot Airport Shuttle” from JFK and La Guardia. For reservations call: 1-800-673-3368 or 1-800-6-RED DOT.

One thing must be made very clear. AMASC only pays the transportation for the present board members. AMASC has never paid the transportation for the National Presidents. In most cases, the individual associations pay the transportation for their presidents. We mentioned this in our Summer letter three and one half years ago, when we announced the site of the Congress.  This policy is stated in our Constitution.

Jennifer Mackenroth Nicholson, Irene Mackenroth’s daughter, will be our Reservations Chair. We are in the process of determining what the registration fee will be. You will receive that information in the near future along with the details of how to register.  Because the number of registrants will be considerably lower than they were for the Congress, we will not have the discount advantages that a larger group has.  Our major expenses (simultaneous translators, AV Equipment, etc.) are similar, thus, the registration fee will be almost the same, perhaps a little less than it was for the Congress. We are doing the best we can with this.

Crescent City Consultants, the company that handled reservations for the Congress, assures us that all refunds will be in the hands of former registrants within the next few weeks. Their building suffered extensive damage! Your patience and understanding is sincerely appreciated!

We are sending a copy of the agenda for your perusal. You will note that on the first two days, meetings will be held at the hotel. Sunday, following a Continental Breakfast, we will go by bus to Greenwich CSH to have our meetings, elections, closing Mass and commissioning of the new president.

We are happy to announce the following candidates who have offered to serve during the 2006-2010 term:

President’s Team:

President- Hermine van Asten Wennekers                                     The Netherlands
Vice-President- Claudia Taylor-East                                              Malta
Secretary-General – Sylvia Gilliam (Gillie) Collyer                      England
Treasurer-General – Patricia Lauwers                                            Belgium
Archivist – Jacqueline Klomp-Verhoeven                                      The Netherlands
Religious Councilor- Chantal de Jonghe, rscj                                 Belgium

Administrative Councilors listed in alphabetical order by country:

 NINE TO BE ELECTED

         Name                                                                                        Country

1.  Ana Cecilia Drisaldi                                                                    Argentina
2.  Anne Lissoir De Broglio                                                             Australia
3.  Penelope (Penny) Sturrock Frost                                                Australia
4.  Beatrice Keleher-Raffoul                                                            Canada
5.  Paulina Ramos Vergara                                                               Chile
6.  Silvia Wollersheim                                                                      Germany
7.  Cerena de Sousa                                                                           India
8.  Kimiko Hotta                                                                               Japan
9.  Carmen de Villalobos Ortega                                                      Spain
10. Claudia Nicolaije                                                                        The Netherlands
11. Barbara Brown Lopiccolo                                                           U.S.A.

We thank all of these wonderful women for agreeing to serve.

We are happy to announce that there are two nominations for Emeritus Members.

 Article 5.3, By-Law 3, of the AMASC Constitution, defines an Emeritus Member as, “Any person who has rendered exceptional services to AMASC, and who has been nominated by an Effective Member as Emeritus Member and so approved by the General Assembly”. (N.B. All National Associations are Effective Members).

The nominees are:

- Maryliz de Vito Ruhl Lincoln – (Posthumously) – Former Vice-President and Secretary- General of AMASC – Nominated by the AASH, U.S.A.
- Maria del Carmen Gomez Madraza  - Former  President of AMASC - Nominated by EXASAC – Mexico.

We are very grateful to Ellen Gambel Simon who served several years as Secretary-General as part of our team, and has retired from this position. We are deeply grateful to Mary Jane, (Janie) Meyer Smith, former AMASC Congress Secretary, for accepting this position.

Claudia Taylor-East has kindly agreed to place her name in nomination as the AMASC  Representative to WUCWO ( World Union of Catholic Womens Organizations).We sincerely appreciate Claudia’s willingness to serve and know that she will do an outstanding job! The deadline for nominations was January 31, 2006. We are sincerely grateful to Camille Farrell for her years of dedicated service in our behalf!

At a meeting of the Board of Directors, April 2004, the National Presidents voted to have each National President give a three minute report during the April meeting. ALL REPORTS MUST BE SUBMITTED IN WRITING. Because of time constraints, we would like to offer the option of allowing the presidents who so choose, to simply submit their written report to the President. Those who would like to give a THREE MINUTE oral report may read this to the convocation. All reports can be sent out with the minutes of the meeting. PLEASE let me know your preference, as soon as possible, so that we may adjust the agenda accordingly.

Thanks to all of our associations that responded to the Study Plan. Kathleen and Ellen Simon are in the process of collating them for presentation during the April “Continental Discussion” sessions. Congratulations to this great mother-daughter team for the many long hours they spent and are still spending on this very important project.

The Europeans have compiled a Questionnaire which we are sending to all of you. Please study it carefully and return the completed forms with your comments and suggestions to Hermine Wennekers. (This information is on the Questionnaire.)

We would like to express our appreciation to Mme. Gilberte Raucq, Jacqueline Klomp, Kathleen Dor, and all of our alumnae who helped facilitate the Constitution amendment process in order for us to meet the deadline and maintain our corporate status. Jacqueline will report on the meeting during our April session. A real highlight of our brief visit was meeting Sabine Van der Plancke, former AMASC President and Emeritus Member who was present at the signing and hosted a lovely luncheon for all . We are sincerely grateful for the beautiful hospitality of our Belgian alumnae.

 We can never thank you enough for the outpouring of love and prayers during the past rather difficult months. Because of you and through the grace of God, we are truly strengthened!

Love in the Sacred Heart and prayers for peace in our troubled world,

Olga

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