UNITY & CHARITY
SOUTH DAKOTA
CATHOLIC DAUGHTERS
OF THE AMERICAS
Who Are The Catholic Daughters?
The Catholic Daughters of the Americas is one of the oldest and largest organizations of Catholic women in the Americas.
They donate to charities, administer scholarship programs and strive “to be helping hands where there is pain, poverty, sorrow or sickness.”
The CDA motto is “Unity and Charity.”
The CDA was formed over 100 years ago and today numbers 66,000 dues-paying members in 1,150 courts (local chapters) in 45 states across the country and in Puerto Rico, Mexico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, Kenya, and Peru.
Catholic Daughter women enjoy each other’s company at meetings and work hard for their parishes and communities.
Deeply spiritual, together they share faith, love of God and a distinctly feminine spirituality alluded to by Pope John Paul II when he spoke of the necessity of “feminine genius” in today’s world.
The program includes concerns of today’s church and society as well as issues that affect the well-being of women and children.
The Legislative Program encourages interested members to learn about laws that may influence their faith and to contact their state representatives to make their personal positions known through Operation Morning Star [The Catholic Daughters of the Americas does not endorse political candidates].
Girls and young women ages 6-18 can join the Junior Catholic Daughters of the Americas.
Young college women can become members of Campus Courts at some universities.
ABOUT US
The purposes of the organization are to participate in the religious, charitable and educational Apostolates of the Church. Catholic Daughters of the Americas engages in creative and spiritual programs which provide its members with the opportunity to develop their God-given talents in meaningful ways that positively influence the welfare of the Church and all people throughout the world.
“Catholic Daughters of the Americas strives to embrace the principle of faith working through love in the promotion of justice, equality, and the advancement of human rights and human dignity for all.”
Catholic Daughters of the Americas provides its members with updated programs to serve the current needs of church and country.
The programs cover a vast scope of activities beginning at the parish level and expanding into all concerns of today's church and society.
Regular meetings of the local courts are held once a month, with a minimum of 10 meetings a year.
We encourage all Catholic women 18 years and older to join the Catholic Daughters of the Americas to share their responsibility.
OUR PURPOSE
The Beginning of a New Century and a New Women's Organization
The Catholic Daughters of the Americas (CDA) was founded in Utica, New York in 1903 by John E. Carberry and several other Knights of Columbus as a charitable, benevolent and patriotic sorority for Catholic ladies. It was originally called the "National order of Daughters of Isabella," and is dedicated to the principles of "Unity and Charity," the order's motto. They were originally called the national order of the Daughters of Isabella, and Carberry served as the first Supreme Regent. The Knights established our two standards of Unity and Charity.
CDA had 90 courts by 1908, and had grown from a membership of less than 100 to more than 10,000. The membership encompassed 69 cities in 18 different states. In March of 1913, the Daughters of Isabella purchased a building in Utica belonging to the Knights of Columbus for use as its official headquarters.
OUR HISTORY
