Thursday, December 19, 2019

The Knight's Shield - January 2020

As you visit church, the construction on our church continues. The classroom and pantry addition roof has been installed as the interior work begins. The main entrance canopy is beginning to take shape. This results in the loss of use of our church social hall until further notice. So as a reminder, our General Meetings are scheduled to be held at the JFK Council Hall located on 33320 Kelly Road. This means we will not be able to have any Pancake Breakfasts or Euchre events until after Easter. We will also have to cancel our fish fry events. Our Planning Meeting will remain in the conference room at SPOT.

As we enter a new decade, Karla and I would like to wish you and your family a Happy and Healthy New Year! Thank you for all you do!

At the end of November, we were helping our friends at St. John the Apostle Church with the annual MCREST event. Thank you Ray Coughlin for chairing this very worthy community event and all of you who volunteered to help those in our community who have fallen on hard times get back on their feet.

We have had another Brother called home to the Lord. Neil Norat was called home on November 25. Thank you Phil Mularski for leading the rosary and Tom Pardo who also attended.

On Monday December 9, we had a candidate go through the Admission Degree before our general meeting at JFK. Please welcome to our council: Brian Wills, Mike Hartel sponsor. This was a rather significant Degree Ceremony, since our worthy District Deputy announced after the degree was completed, there will be a new Degree Ceremony starting in 2020.

We are just beginning to receive the details on the new ceremony. This is a short explanation of the new ceremony. The ceremony will no longer be held behind closed doors. They are open to the family and general public. All three degrees will be provided at the same ceremony. The ceremony will take an hour or less to complete. The individual council will perform the ceremony. It has been suggested that the ceremony be held after a Mass at church. So, stay tuned, more information will be given as we receive more of the details. Keep up the good work and continue the effort to ask your Catholic brothers to consider joining the Knights and help us with our charitable works and fraternity while strengthening your faith.

Thank you for helping our chairmen Jerry Hund, Ted Czarny and Ray Coughlin and supporting our annual Christmas Ham and Kielbasa council fundraiser.

Our Worthy Financial Secretary has mailed out our 2020 renewal notices. Please consider supporting Vocations with a voluntary $6 contribution to the Endowed Scholarship Fund when renewing your membership. You will need your 2020 card to attend any meetings. Thank you!

Looking ahead to January has our annual casino trip to Soaring Eagle and Little River on MLK weekend. Jeff Gapczynski has reported the bus is full! Thank you! Proceeds from the trip support Casey the Teddy Bear which are the stuffed animals we provide Henry Ford Hospital for kids who need surgery.

Please note that a District Corporate Communion will be hosted by St. Thecla on January 19 at the 11:00am Mass. A Holy Rosary is scheduled at 10:30am before Mass. Please show support for our sister council in our new district by attending.

Please consider signing up to receive the Holy Family Statue at Mass in support of Vocations. The list is very short. We need some more families to sign up. Most importantly, our prayers are needed to support voca-tions! Please note that this is open to all families of the parish. Mention that to the people you sit next to at church. The binder is located in the church gathering space. Thank you!

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

Sunday, December 1, 2019

The Knight's Shield - December 2019

The construction on our church continues. The classroom and pantry addition roof is being installed. An asphalt base course has been placed for the west parking lot and the main entrance canopy is beginning to take shape. This results in the loss of use of our church social hall until further notice. So as a reminder, our General Meetings are scheduled to be held at the JFK Council Hall located on 33320 Kelly Road. This means we will not be able to have any Pancake Breakfasts or Euchre events until after Easter. We will probably also have to cancel our fish fry events. Our Planning Meeting will remain in the conference room at SPOT.

As the holiday season is upon us and we give thanks, let us remember to Keep Christ in Christmas! Karla and I would like to wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Since our November newsletter was released, we held our seventh annual trunk or treat on Sunday October 27. The weather cleared just in time as we had over 100 kids with 23 Trunks handing out candy, haunted hay rides, costume contests, hotdogs and games for the kids. Thank you for all the help given to our chairman Art Krygowski, Steve Kargenian (loaned us the hay ride wagon), Phil Mularski (pulling the hay ride), Janice Krygowski and the confirmation kids helping with the games, Ray and Lori Coughlin (food and gift cards), those who had trunks, participated and attended! Well done everyone!

Carol, Hank, Karla and I attended the Memorial Mass at Sacred Heart on Sunday 11/10 to honor our Brothers who have been called home by the Lord. This annual event is always a great opportunity to attend Mass at Sacred Heart Major Seminary.

Our council handed out coats at Erie in our annual ‘Coats for Kids’ event. Thank you to Phil Mularski, Hank Leflere and Karla who helped the Erie Social worker Katie and I distribute coats to the children at Erie Elementary School on Thursday November 14.

We hosted our first, District One Corporate Communion, on Sunday 11/17 at 11:30 Mass. We had a number of Brother Knights attend from the other councils in our district. Thank you to George Loewen for being an acolyte, Rick Okerhjelm and Phil Mularski for being lectors and all who attended. Please make a note on your calendar when our Corporate Communion Mass is scheduled and try to attend. If you are at the Mass, please celebrate Mass together and sit with your Brother Knight’s and their families! You do not have to have a coat and tie or your K of C shirt to celebrate Mass together!

We held our fall membership drive during the first two weekends in October. To date, we have received six new applications. On Wednesday November 20 we had five candidates go through the Admission Degree at St. Peter’s in Mt. Clemens. Please welcome to our council: George Adamski, Joe Kish sponsor; Michael Burke, Phil Mularski sponsor; James Harla, Rick Okerhjelm sponsor; Tom Loria, Rob Tusset sponsor; and Gordon Wesley, Phil Mularski sponsor. Our sixth candidate is scheduled to attend the Admission Degree at our next council meeting at JFK. If you have not attended a degree ceremony recently, it is a great opportunity to experience the updated nicely done and relatively short ceremony. Keep up the good work and continue the effort to ask your Catholic brothers to consider joining the Knights and help us with our charitable works and fraternity while strengthening your faith.

The MCREST event, where we help our friends at St. John the Apostle Church, is scheduled for November 24 through December 1. You can still check with Ray Coughlin if you have not signed up to help. For all of you who have volunteered to help, thank you for this very worthy cause which helps those in our community who have fallen on hard times get back on their feet.

Our annual Christmas Ham and Kielbasa sale is here. Please check for the order form in the bulletin and place your order. Christmas will be here soon! Thank you in advance for helping Chairmen Jerry Hund and Ray Coughlin with this council fundraiser.

Looking ahead to January has our annual casino trip to Soaring Eagle and Little River on MLK weekend. It is a fun event with proceeds supporting Casey the Teddy Bear which are the stuffed animals we provide Henry Ford Hospital for kids who need surgery. See flyer for more information.

Our Worthy Financial Secretary will be mailing out our 2020 renewal notices soon. Please consider supporting Vocations with a voluntary $6 contribution to the Endowed Scholarship Fund when renewing your member-ship. Thank you!

Please consider signing up to receive the Holy Family Statue at Mass in support of Vocations. The list is very short. We need some more families to sign up. Most importantly, our prayers are needed to support vocations! Please note that this is open to all families of the parish. Mention that to the people you sit next to at church. The binder is located in the church gathering space. Thank you!

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

EASTER EGG HUNT COMING UP!!!