Joyce has been a member of the Catholic Women’s League for 29 years and for 27 of those 29 years has served on the executive of different levels of the League.  This organization has been one of the best things that has happened in her life.  It has helped her grow spiritually, step out of her comfort zone and be not afraid of most any task.  She feels fortunate to belong to a group of women who love each other, comfort each other, share with each other and pat each other on the back when you do something great.

 She became a Catholic when she married her husband Paul.  He is a great source of encouragement and support.  They have 4 children Paula, Noella(Sean) children Madison and Emily, Derrick(Jill)children Blake and Julia, and Carrie(Chris).  They are a wonderful example of what our future holds; Joyce and Paul are very proud of them as they make their way in the world.

 Through the League, she has been given the opportunity to attend many retreats and workshops.  Father Ralph McCrae has told her that ‘when you make a sacrifice you receive a blessing’.  Even though you may be giving up a Saturday or Sunday afternoon with your family, the retreats and workshops have been truly a blessing to her.  By being in the presence of others presenting workshops, she has gained confidence and started presenting workshops.  During her days as parish Community Life Chairperson, she led her parish council through the 5 session workshop ‘Breach of Trust, Breach of Faith’. In her first year as diocesan president she was blessed with time to travel and learn with Vivian Bosch Past National President when she came to New Brunswick to give workshops on Discovering My Story and Mentoring.  They traveled from Saint John to the Miramichi and back to York-Sunbury Region St. Ann’s, Kingsclear on weekends with a retreat at the Villa Madonna in the middle.  Vivian prayed over us Pam Shields, Anita LeGresley and me and sent us forth to do the same workshops in the Johnville area and Fredericton.  Without the mentoring of Vivian Joyce would never have had the confidence to go forward.  Joyce was asked to speak at the Moncton Archdiocesan Convention in May 2008, she spoke about ‘Why I Love the League’ and a bit about her story. One of her loves of the League are the resolutions and their process, sometimes frustrating, but in the end rewarding to see them come to the floor of the national convention and hopefully pass.  She has assisted in preparing resolutions on:  Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Protection of Human Life, Universal Day Care, and Toxic Substances in Household Products.  She also assisted Anita LeGresley in presenting a ‘Resolutions Workshop’.  In May 2009 Mary Dobbelsteyn and Joyce presented the ‘One in the Spirit’ workshop to 6 councils and 2 ladies who were not Catholic Women’s League members.  We hope they will consider joining us.  They told us they had no idea the Catholic Women’s League did things like this.  The week before the 2009 provincial convention our provincial president Jackie Waye called me and asked her to present the ‘Words of Peace and Hope’ mini workshop at the provincial convention.  Just a few short years ago Joyce would have thought this an impossible task, but with a little encouragement, it happened and with Mary Dobbelsteyn’s help and the participation of the members in attendance the workshop went very well.  In June 2010 at the 63^rd provincial convention, June Brown and Joyce Green presented a mini workshop on Annual Reporting.  We tried to inject a little humor to a rather dry subject.  The lively discussion that followed, we hope, was in part due the interest we stirred up in our workshop.

 The next 2 years will be busy ones for Joyce as she has taken on a new challenge, the job of  New Brunswick Provincial President.  She held the first fall executive meeting on the weekend of September 10, so her journey begins.

 We are truly ‘Women of Peace and Hope’ everything we do seems to revolve around those two words.  The new theme that begins in January 1, 2011 will be an extension of the present one:  Women of Peace & Hope Centred in Faith & Justice.  Joyce is proud to serve the League and will continue to do so with God’s help.

 Joyce Green-Provincial President