The Jurisdiction Convention Officers include:

• Jurisdiction Spiritual Director,
• Jurisdiction Chief Ranger,
• Jurisdiction Vice Chief Ranger,
• Jurisdiction Secretary,
• Jurisdiction Treasurer, or
• Jurisdiction Secretary-Treasurer, and
• Jurisdiction Trustees.

The Jurisdiction Officers’ term of office begins January 1 following the Jurisdiction Convention and continues until their elected successors are duly elected and qualified at the next Jurisdiction Convention. Any regular member in good standing is eligible for any elected Jurisdiction office (Jurisdiction Chief Ranger, Jurisdiction Vice Chief Ranger, Jurisdiction Secretary, Jurisdiction Trustee) or National Convention delegate or alternate position. You can nominate yourself or others to be on the ballot for Jurisdiction Court Officer or Trustee by completing the required form packet returning it and a photograph of yourself to the Home Office before the deadline.

All current Jurisdiction Convention Officers, elected delegates, and High Court members of the Jurisdiction in good standing are entitled to attend. All members belonging to the Jurisdiction who are in good standing are entitled to admission to their Jurisdiction Convention sessions but do not have a voice and cannot vote.

The individual in the Jurisdiction Secretary position will forward to the High Court all the required documentation within 30 days following the Jurisdiction Convention.

A geographic area as determined by the High Court for the purpose of electing delegates to the National Convention.

Current Jurisdiction Courts

Jurisdiction Conventions are held quadrennially (every four years) and may convene at any time as determined by the High Court and the jurisdiction officers. Jurisdiction Conventions may be held in person or by an electronic (online) meeting.

The purpose of holding a Jurisdiction Convention is to elect new Jurisdiction officers, elect delegates and alternates to the National Convention, and to meet and discuss petitions and resolutions to the High Court and National Convention that it believes necessary for the Order’s advancement and best interests.

Jurisdiction delegates attend business meetings to vote for delegates to send to the National Convention, some jurisdictions may have Mass, a dinner or banquet, and a fraternal activity (preferably service-oriented).

According to Section 66 of Catholic Order of Foresters’ (COF) Constitution and Bylaws, 2024 Jurisdiction Convention delegates and alternates will be elected from the COF membership at a Local Court’s regular meeting. Details about the Jurisdiction Convention dates and how to access Local Court meeting information were published in Catholic Forester magazine, directing members to visit the catholicforester.org website. Online, each eligible Local Court’s meeting date, time, and location was posted. The High Court has specified the Local Court meetings must be held in October, November, December 2023, or January 2024.

Local Court members elected as delegates and alternates in 2023 must continue to be a regular member in good standing with their Local Court in the Jurisdiction Convention year (2024). A regular adult member in good standing is defined as an individual who is 18 years old, a Catholic in union with Rome, and carries a current Catholic Order of Foresters insurance policy or annuity certificate.

To meet guidelines of the Constitution and Bylaws, the High Court specified the Jurisdiction Conventions to be held during March, April, or May 2024. According to Section 67, Jurisdiction Conventions may be held in a city designated by the preceding Jurisdiction Convention or by the Jurisdiction Court Officers.

The Jurisdiction Convention membership includes:

• the Jurisdiction Spiritual Director,
• elected Jurisdiction Court Officers and Trustees,
• Delegates or alternates serving as delegates elected by the Local Courts,
• Delegates selected from the State Holding Court within the Jurisdiction Court, and
• current Jurisdiction High Court members.

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 the member cannot be transferred into a nearby Local Court.

Each State Holding Court is entitled to the same number of delegates to the Jurisdiction Convention as the Local Courts based on the number of members assigned to each State Holding Court.

If you are in a State Holding Court for one of the following states, we offered an online form to complete and apply to be eligible to be a delegate or alternate to the Jurisdiction Convention:

• Illinois
• Indiana
• Iowa
• Kentucky
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• Nebraska
• New England (Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Maryland)
• North Dakota
• Ohio
• South Dakota
• Wisconsin

None of the following may serve as Officer or Trustee of a Local Court, Jurisdiction Court, or High Court, or be appointed as a delegate or alternate to a Jurisdiction Convention or the National Convention:

• Any registered representative or financial advisor,
• Any licensed insurance agent, or
• Any broker.
• Full- or part-time COF employee.

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.

Using September 30, 2023, as a deadline, the High Secretary will determine the number of adult members in a Jurisdiction and communicate to each Local Court the number of eligible delegates and alternate delegates to elect for attending the Jurisdiction Convention.

Each Jurisdiction Court with an adult membership numbering 500 will elect 1 delegate and one 1 alternate delegate to the National Convention. An additional delegate and alternate will be elected for each additional 500 insured adult members or for a major fraction of adult members in the Jurisdiction, as long as that Jurisdiction is entitled to at least one delegate.

The National Convention delegates and alternate delegates will hold their respective terms of office for 4 years, beginning August 1, 2024, and continuing until their successors are duly elected and qualified. They must have the same qualifications as Jurisdiction Convention delegates and alternates.

What is an At-Large Jurisdiction?

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 will not meet at a Jurisdiction Convention but can complete a form to join a pool of members interested in applying to be a National Convention delegate or alternate delegate through a blind 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. The COF National Constitution & Bylaws (“C&B”) provides at Section 5 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 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.