Upon our arrival at the Seattle Airport on Friday, April 3, our region's coordinator, Gabino Cabanilla met Linda Rieder and me, and then the three of us met Tom Kaun, our region's director. We drove to the home of Paula Lavallee and Tish Charette (Paula is a Seattle delegate to the region). Some of the members of the Seattle chapter had prepared a delicious dinner reception for all of us arriving for the day-long meeting to be held on Saturday, April 4.

At the reception all of us out-of-towners were introduced to our drivers and our hosts for the weekend. The Seattle chapter is to be commended for an outstanding job of hosting all of us, and for the professional manner in which they arranged for our meeting.

Saturday's meeting was a long and productive one. Larry Dunlop of the Long Beach chapter gave the opening prayer, followed by a report from Bob Miailovich, Dignity/USA President. Bob reported the following:

• Sean Fucci, Dignity/USA's administrative assistant, can be reached by phone on Monday evenings up to 9:00 p. m. Eastern time.

• Bruce Jarstfer and Marianne Duddy are co-chairing Solidarity Sunday this year.

• The registry of Holy Unions is growing.

• Dignity is grappling with how to accommodate the needs of transgendered and bisexual person as mandated by our "Statement of Position and Purpose." There is a need for education and awareness.

• It was noted that some of the political queer organizations, such as the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, are recognizing more and more the importance of queer people of faith and their organizations.

• Bob reminded us that we are called by our faith to evangelize (including working for justice).

• Dignity will be working more with Latino groups.

• Dignity will participate in a mass rally in Washington in April 2000.

• Bob shared his experience with the "We Are Church" event in Rome.

• There is discussion at the national level of Dignity as to what we should be doing as part of the new millenium in the Church.

• We continue to pursue our relationship with the National Association of Catholic Diocesan Lesbian and Gay Ministries.

• In matters of finance, Bob reported that Dignity/USA is currently running at a deficit. Charles Cox, Dignity/USA's Executive Director, is focusing much of his attention on raising money through grants to the organization. The Pax Nidorf Fund needs donations.

• New membership software is up and running in the national offfice. Bob noted that increasing and retaining members is a constant challenge to Dignity. We need to push the concept of "supporting" Dignity.

• The Defenders is our most dynamic subgroup within Dignity to date.

• The Basile Ryan Report is still a motivator for Dignity/USA.

• Bob stressed the need for more activism, "evangelization" on the local level.

• And finally, he urged everyone to attend the next Dignity convention in Denver in 1999.

During a question and answer period, Bob noted that Charles' salary is $44,000 and Sean's is $24,000.

John Butkis and John Nangle of Los Angeles pointed out that there is a need to invest the Pax Nidorf Fund more aggressively, and that there should be national and associate membership categories. Pat McArron conveyed the request from the San Diego chapter president that consideration should also be given to a family category of membership. Bob pointed out that anyone who wishes to be a member of Dignity will never be turned away for lack of funds. Anyone who sends money to Dignity is automatically considered a member of the organization. Pat McArron also pointed out the need for more emphasis on our Internet presence, and suggested that we make better use of that tool as a way of increasing membership.

Tom Kaun, the national director for the Pacific Region, reported that a preliminary Vision Statement for Dignity had been drafted. He urged us to make more use of the 800 number in contacting the national office.

Gabino Cabanilla, our regional coordinator, reminded us that extra complimentary copies of the Journal are always available upon request for use by our chapters. And he further noted that there is a limited number of Spanish versions of the "Always Our Children" pastoral letter. More copies can also be ordered directly from the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.

John Butkis, the region's reporter to the Dignity/USA Journal, urged all of us to provide him with as much information as possible from our local chapters. He asked that we make clear those things that we want noted in the Journal.

Tom Kaun spoke briefly about Dignity's level of participation in the upcoming Call to Action West Coast Regional Conference at the College of Notre Dame in Belmont, California. There was also a written report prepared by Kevin Shellooe.

Rogelio Zepeda gave a verbal report about preparations for this year's Solidarity Sunday. He will, once again, be our region's coordinator for this event.

Pat McArron then gave a report on our region's website. He noted that it is already generating a lot of interest, and as a tool for Dignity it has tremendous potential. Pat stressed the importance of every chapter publishing their website addresses on all correspondence. The delegates are all very enthusiastic about the Dignity regional website. It was noted that ours is the first such website in the Dignity organization.

We then broke for lunch.

Following lunch, we had a report from the Outreach Committee, which generated some discussion and a motion to further clarify the funds available to the committee. It was agreed by all of the delegates that the committee is carrying out its duties very well.

Paula Lavallee talked about the CWC retreat held last November in San Diego, which she attended.

Following Paula's report, we heard from each of the chapters and then we broke up into area discussion groups. In the Southern Area, it was agreed that we will meet again before the next regional meeting. Los Angeles will be the host for the next area meeting, to be held on September 12.

Saturday night was the big night for Seattle. We enjoyed a sumptuous buffet dinner at their 25th anniversary celebration at a restaurant overlooking one of the lakes in the area. A great time was had by all.

On Sunday, some of us were treated to a guided tour of Seattle, compliments of some of the chapter members. This was a very memorable weekend for the Dignity family.

Next Regional Meeting will be in Las Vegas, Nov 14! See you there.