Rules for Delegate Selection

State Holding Courts are made up of members where no Local Court exists. A Local Court member is assigned to the State Holding Court where the member currently resides when a Local Court is dissolved and cannot be merged into a nearby Local Court.

Fraternal benefit societies are legally required to have a representative form of government. This means that all members must have the right to participate in the governance of Catholic Order of Foresters (“COF”). Since the COF governance process involves election of delegates to each Jurisdiction Convention by Local Courts belonging to said Jurisdiction and some members only belong to State Holding Courts, the COF National Constitution & Bylaws (“C&B”) provides at Section 66 that delegates and alternates from State Holding Courts shall be selected in accordance with rules and regulations adopted by the High Court. To that end, the following rules shall apply for the selection of delegates and alternates from State Holding Courts to the applicable Jurisdiction Convention:

1. The Home Office of COF shall publish in the Official Publication of COF (“Catholic Forester magazine”) these rules for selection of delegates and alternates from State Holding Courts (“Rules”).
2. The Home Office shall publish on a page on the COF website (catholicforester.org), these rules.
3. COF adult members (“Members”) belonging to a State Holding Court located within one of the following Jurisdictions are eligible to be selected as a delegate or alternate to their respective Jurisdiction Convention: North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky or the New England Jurisdiction (consisting of Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Maryland). 
4. Each State Holding Court shall be entitled to the number of delegates and alternates as provided in Section 65 of the C&B based on the number of Members in good standing in the State Holding Court as of September 30, 2023. (1 delegate for a State Holding Court having no fewer than 20 Members and no more than 150; 2 delegates for a State Holding Court having 151 Members and no more than 300; 3 delegates for a State Holding Court having 301 Members and no more than 550; 4 delegates for a State Holding Court having 551 Members and no more than 800; and 5 delegates for a State Holding Court having 801 or more Members).
5. To become a candidate for selection as a delegate or alternate to their respective Jurisdiction Convention, eligible Members shall complete an application and submit it to the Home Office.
6. The application will be posted on the COF website by September 1, 2023, and must be completed and submitted online. Successful submission will be confirmed via email sent to the address provided by the Member completing the application. If confirmation is not received, the Member should call the Home Office to verify receipt.
7. All applications must be submitted on or before November 1, 2023, (“Due Date”).
8. All applications submitted by qualified Members of State Holding Courts by the Due Date shall be included in a drawing for delegates and alternates for the applicable Jurisdiction to be held on or before December 31, 2023.
9. The High Court shall supervise the drawing of names of the delegates and alternates for each Jurisdiction from the applicable pool of candidates.
10. Names will be blindly drawn one-by-one until all entitled delegate positions are filled. Subsequently, the same process will be used to fill alternate positions.
11. If there are not enough candidates to fill all positions, unfilled positions are forfeited.
12. The Home Office shall notify each delegate and alternate of their selection by January 31, 2024.
13. The Home Office shall notify Jurisdiction Officers of the names of qualified selected delegates and alternates from their respective State Holding Courts in the same notice that includes the names of qualified elected delegates and alternates from their respective Local Courts by January 31, 2024.

At-Large Jurisdictions are made up of members who either 1) belong to a Local Court that has no Jurisdiction Court, or 2) do not belong to a Local Court and reside in a state without a Jurisdiction Holding Court. These members can apply to be a National Convention delegate or alternate through a selection process by the High Court.

Fraternal benefit societies are legally required to have a representative form of government. This means that all members must have the right to participate in the governance of Catholic Order of Foresters (“COF”). Since the COF governance process involves election of delegates to the National Quadrennial Convention by a Jurisdiction Convention and some members belong to Local Courts that have no Jurisdiction Court or do not belong to a Local Court and reside in a state without a Jurisdiction Holding Court, the High Court previously created an At-Large Jurisdiction for all such members. Section 5 of the COF Constitution & Bylaws (“C&B”) that the National Convention’s membership will include members of the High Court, all members of the National Convention Committees, and all Accredited Delegates from all Jurisdictions. To that end, the following rules shall apply for the selection of delegates and alternates from the At-Large Jurisdiction to the National Quadrennial Convention:

1. The Home Office of COF shall publish in the Official Publication of COF (“Catholic Forester magazine”) these rules for selection of delegates and alternates from the At-Large Jurisdiction (“Rules”).
2. The Home Office shall publish on a page on the COF website (catholicforester.org), these Rules.
3. COF adult members (“Members”) are part of the At-Large Jurisdiction Court if they belong to a Local Court located within ANY STATE OTHER THAN one of the following Jurisdictions: North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky or the New England Jurisdiction (consisting of Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Maryland) or if they do not belong to a Local Court and they do not reside in one of the aforementioned Jurisdictions.
4. Members of the At-Large Jurisdiction Court are eligible to be selected as a delegate or alternate to the National Quadrennial Convention.
5. The At-Large Jurisdiction Court is entitled to the number of delegates and alternates as provided in Section 81 of the C&B based on the number of Members in good standing belonging to the At-Large Jurisdiction Court as of September 30, 2023 (1 delegate and 1 alternate for each 500 members or for a major fraction of members within the At-Large Jurisdiction).
6. To become a candidate for selection as a delegate or alternate to National Quadrennial Convention, eligible Members shall complete an application and submit it to the Home Office.
7. The application will be posted on the COF website by December 1, 2023, and must be completed and submitted online. Successful submission will be confirmed via email sent to the address provided by the Member completing the application. If confirmation is not received, the Member should call the Home Office to verify receipt.
8. All applications must be submitted on or before February 1, 2024 (“Due Date”).
9. All applications submitted by qualified adult Members of the At-Large Jurisdiction Court by the Due Date shall be included in a drawing for delegates and alternates to be held on or before February 28, 2024.
10. The High Court shall supervise the drawing of names of the delegates and alternates from the applicable pool of candidates.
11. Names will be blindly drawn one-by-one until all entitled delegate positions are filled. Subsequently, the same process will be used to fill alternate positions.
12. If there are not enough candidates to fill all positions, unfilled positions are forfeited.
13. The Home Office shall notify each delegate and alternate of their selection by March 31, 2024.

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