Members and our Spiritual Advisor Bishop Philip enjoy a moment together after the Jubilee Mass
Anne celebrates our dynamic founder Margaret Fletcher:
In 1906, the world was a very different place. There were no smartphones, the Titanic hadn’t even been built yet, and for a woman to speak publicly about social reform was considered, by many, to be ‘unbecoming’. Yet, in a small room 120 years ago, a woman named Margaret Fletcher looked at the changing world and made a radical decision. She decided that Catholic women would no longer be “silent spectators of history”.
Who was Margaret Fletcher? Before she was our founder, she was an artist. She studied in the bohemian circles of Paris and the Slade School in London. She was an intellectual convert who didn’t just want to ‘belong’ to the Church; she wanted to *work* for it.
Margaret saw that the secular world was moving fast. The suffragist movement was gaining steam, and social problems were mounting. She realized that if Catholic women didn’t organize, they would be left behind. She famously said that ‘Piety is no substitute for technique’.
She believed that being a ‘good person’ wasn’t enough—we had to be educated, organized, and professional. She founded the CWL not as a sewing circle, but as a powerhouse of social action. She wanted CWL member’s to be the best-informed women in the room.
Since 1906, the seeds Margaret planted have grown into a forest. Think of what our League has seen:
- Through Two World Wars CWL members were there, providing canteens for soldiers and support for displaced families.
- In the Fight for Dignity: Long before modern social services, the League was protecting vulnerable women and children and fighting against the trafficking of persons.
- In the Global Community:What started in England reached across the oceans, helping to form the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organisations, representing millions at the United Nations.
But the real history of the CWL isn’t just in the big archives; it’s in the quiet rooms. It’s in the countless cups of tea served to the lonely, the thousands of pounds raised for charities, and the quiet prayers offered for those in need. Every CWL member today is a living chapter of Margaret Fletcher’s vision.
Margaret Fletcher once said, ‘Our business is to fit ourselves for the world as it is’.
The world ‘as it is’ today in 2026 presents new challenges. We face a digital age that can be lonely, a climate that is hurting, and a society that often forgets the value of the most vulnerable.
If Margaret were with us now, she wouldn’t tell us to rest on our laurels. She would ask us: ‘What is the great need of your neighbour today? And what are you doing to meet it?
Margaret would remind us that the CWL is not a monument to the past, but a movement for the future. We are still called to be ‘educated, social, and religious’—the three pillars she built for us.
As we blow out the candles on 120 years, let’s carry Margaret’s torch a little higher.
Let us be women of prayer, yes, but also women of action. Let us be women of tradition, but also women of progress. We stand on the shoulders of giants like Margaret Fletcher, but we look forward with the same eyes of faith that she had.
Happy 120th Anniversary to the Catholic Women’s League. May we continue to serve with love, lead with wisdom, and act with courage for the next 120 years and beyond.