Habemus Papam! It has been an exciting few weeks with emotions ranging from sadness at Pope (Emeritus) Benedict retiring to the joyous election of Pope Francis. At his Sunday audience after the Angelus on March 17th, he ended his speech with “Don’t forget…remember this…the Lord will never tire of forgiving us, it is us who tire of asking for forgiveness.” Beautiful comments to remember as we prepare to enter the solemn time of Holy Week, the Triduum and the Easter season.

This beautiful video clip of Pope Francis (telling the story of how he chose Francis) shows his humility, holiness and humor:

The date of spring has come and gone, although up here in Canada, snow and frigid temperatures have been constant reminders that spring has not yet arrived. I have seen the occasional courageous robin so I know warmer temperatures are coming soon.

In CWG news, plans are under way to organize the Catholic Writers Conference Live to be held in conjunction with the Catholic Marketing Network Trade Show August 7-9, 2013 in Somerset, New Jersey. Once again, I will be coordinating the CWG Booth. Ann Lewis, CWG Treasurer, will be Conference Coordinator. It’s still five months away, but I hope you will consider attending.

More information on our Catholic Writers Retreat, to be held in October, will be forthcoming.

On behalf of the Catholic Writers Guild Board, I wish every CWG member a Blessed Holy Week and Easter Season.

As always, if you have any concerns or questions, please feel free to email me: president(at)catholicwritersguild.com

Blessings,

Ellen Gable Hrkach
President, CWG

Ellen Gable Hrkach is an award-winning, Amazon bestselling author. Her five books have been downloaded over 620,000 times on Kindle. Currently, she works as the Marketing Director for Live the Fast, a non-profit Roman Catholic apostolate based in Boston. She does freelance writing and editing for a variety of other websites, she blogs at "Plot Line & Sinker" http://ellengable.wordpress.com and is also self-publishing book consultant and a publisher. She and her husband are the parents of five sons ages 16 to 28 and live in Pakenham, Ontario. In her spare time, Ellen enjoys playing board games with her family, watching classic movies on TCM and reading on her Kindle.