Sunday, October 28, 2018

The Knight's Shield - November 2018

As we enter the last week of October, our council is in the final preparations for our 6th Annual Trunk or Treat. Our Youth Director Art Krygowski and his wife Janice along with Ray and Lori Coughlin do much of the planning and coordination for this big council event. Thank you!

Our council was very busy during the month of October. We started out the month with a few Knights helping to move hundreds of cases of books at the Macomb County Library across the street from church. This was to help the library prepare for their annual fall book sale. I would like to especially thank Leon Berdy and George Schulte who did much of the heavy lifting. Ken Krause mentioned that the library and staff were very appreciative of the Knights help.

The next October event we had, was a successful euchre party. Forty four players participated and raised $120 for Abigayle Ministries! Thank you! A big thank you also to Ted and Sherri Czarny and my wife Karla for helping the card games run smoothly! Next euchre party is scheduled for January 26, 2019.

We had our Fall Pancake Breakfast in mid-October. The council served delicious pancakes, French toast, eggs and sausage. Proceeds will go to St. John MCREST which is one of the charities we are participating in again this November. Thank you to Steve Kargenian for chairing the pancake breakfast and everyone that helped Steve picking up supplies, setting up, cooking, serving, cleaning up and to those who attended. It really is good to see so many pitching in to help! Well done! The next pancake breakfast is scheduled for February 10, 2019.

We also had our fall road clean-up along Canal Road from church to Garfield Road. Ten brother Knights helped our event chairman Greg Csernai who needed Rick Okerhjelm to fill in as chairman for Greg on Saturday. We were done in about an hour and a half. Thank you to Bruce Arnold, Ray Coughlin, Steve D’Onofrio, Tom Gray, Tony Guido, Jim Perreault, Ralph Pullis, Craig Thompson and Mike Hartel for helping Rick on Saturday. We could use some additional help next time. Note, you do not require Protecting God’s Children for this event.

Moving on to November, for anyone who has not taken the Protecting God’s Children class, two classes are coming up early this month. The first one is right here at St. Paul of Tarsus on Saturday November 3rd at 9am. Please refer to the more comprehensive list in this newsletter. Remember, you must take this class to help out at many of our council events.

Please consider helping our Membership Director Phil Mularski with the membership committee we are forming. We need everyone to help with encouraging our brother Catholic men to consider joining our order.

If you have children or grandchildren, there is still time to sign up for the District Free Throw Contest on Saturday November 10th 10:00 am (St Clement of Rome - Romeo). Please contact our Youth Director Art Krygowski for more information.

Art and I will be handing out coats for kids soon at Erie Elementary School.

I would like to thank Leonard Gutkowski for his many years of service for raising and lowering the American flag for the parish on the church flagpole. Leonard has advised he is slowing down and is retiring from these duties. Please contact me if you are interested in taking over this volunteer position.

Note that the meal for our November General Meeting is scheduled to start at 6pm due to the Admissions Degree.

As in the past Holy Cross Services are requesting holiday donations. They are asking for:

Sweatshirts (with or without logos): Sizes L, XL, XXL, XXXL, and XXXXL In a box marked boy or girl and size.

Bath baskets (1 gallon plastic bag) Dollar store bath room items with max $10.00 limit.

Hats, Scarves, Mittens, Twin bed sheets or Hotel samples

$5 Gift cards: Meijer, Target or Walmart

Please bring these items to the November meeting, and our District Deputy will deliver to Lansing at the Winter Meeting.

Jeff Gapczynski is taking reservations for the upcoming annual casino trip. Please see the newsletter article and flyer for additional information.

Please provide your support to John Minicuci, who has volunteered to help Joe Roehrig and Ray Ignatowski with our Spring MI Drive!

Our next Corporate Communion will actually be a District Corporate Communion on November 18th at the 11:30am Mass. The council is also sponsoring coffee and donuts after the Mass!

During the week of Thanksgiving we will be helping at St. John for MCREST. Please see the article by our chairman Ray Coughlin for additional information. Please consider volunteering to help for this very worthy cause to help those in our community who are in need at this time!

With the support of Father Jerry, Deacon Marc and the Worship Committee, we are going to reintroduce presentation of the Holy Family Statue at Mass in support of Vocations. The purpose of the program is to help promote Vocations with a show of public support and to help remind us to keep vocations in our daily prayers. There will be a sign up binder placed in the gathering space for parishioners to sign up to receive the statue. We plan to begin with a monthly presentation of the statue initially. The kick off date will be during Advent. The presentation frequency will be adjusted depending upon parish participation. Please consider signing up for receiving the Holy Family Statue to help get the program off to a good start. Look for more information in upcoming church bulletins.

As we begin to prepare for the hustle and bustle of the upcoming holiday season, let us remember to Keep Christ in Christmas! If you need a new Keep Christ in Christmas lawn sign or button, we will have some available during our Ham and Kielbasa order dates after Mass. Also, look for our district sponsored “Keep Christ in Christmas” sign on the electronic billboard along M53 at 29 Mile from Thanksgiving through Christmas.

Thank you to all of you who have been at the meetings regularly. Please consider calling someone you haven’t seen for a while and ask how they’re doing. See if they’re in need of a ride or friendly reminder when the next meeting takes place.

Vivat Jesus
Mike Hartel

Tuesday, October 2, 2018

The Knight's Shield - October 2018

Please welcome our newest Brother Knight, Richard Motta to our council. Richard became our latest council member by taking his Admission (1st) Degree at St. Lawrence on September 13th.

Also, please welcome two Brother Knights, David Wisnewski and Michael Mitrowski, who have transferred to our council.

This past month was a difficult month for our council. The Lord took home Three Brother Knights from our council alone. Brothers Bill Gowland, Thomas Hayes and Tony Valentine were called home by the Lord. Please remember to keep them and their families in your prayers. A total of seven Brother Knights from our council will be honored with a Memorial Mass hosted by the Knights of Columbus Detroit Archdiocesan Vocation League (DAVL) at Sacred Heart Major Seminary on November 4th at 10am. This is open to all Knights and their families. If you are interested please let me know by October 22.

Thank you to everyone who attended our Corporate Communion in September. We had a nice turnout. Most wore our grey polo shirts. If you need to pick up a grey polo be sure to see Craig Thompson. Our next Corporate Communion will actually be a District Corporate Communion on November 18th at the 11:30am Mass. The council is also sponsoring coffee and donuts after the Mass!

There were over 100 golfers who participated in the September DAVL Golf Outing at Sycamore Hills. I counted at least a dozen golfers from our council. The weather was a little refreshing. However, no rain gear was needed! Thank you for supporting vocations!

Be sure to review the calendar for upcoming October events and sign up at our next General Meeting which just happens to be on Columbus Day! We have Pancake Breakfast, Road Clean-up and Trunk or Treat.

The next euchre party is also coming up right away on October 6th. Call me to save a spot.

Thank you to all of you who have been at the meetings regularly. Please consider calling someone you haven’t seen for a while and ask how they’re doing. See if they’re in need of a ride or friendly reminder when the next meeting takes place.

Vivat Jesus
Mike Hartel

HAPPY FALL!!!