The Knight's Shield - July 2022

 Happy Independence Day!

    We are also starting a new fraternal year. I would like to thank the outgoing and incoming officers for your service to our council. It takes a team effort for a great council like this to do all we do, and I appreciate all your efforts!

    Mike Hartel and I were our councils’ delegates to the State Convention on Mackinaw Island. It was an important election year with two seats open on the state board. There was also an important resolution to vote on. The resolution moves the money previously taxed for Holy Cross Services to support seminarians tuition at Sacred Heart Seminary.  The states goal is to provide the undergrad tuition to all seminarians. Below are your 2022-23 state officers:

    We hosted a Rosary rally on the lawn June 11th. There were around 20 people to pray the rosary on a beautiful day. Thank you to all who helped with this event. There were many, and all the help was greatly appreciated. On the same day we also hosted the Deaconate formation luncheon. Deacon Marc and his wife, Sue, were hosting this event for prospective Deacons. Thank you to Rick Okerhjelm, Ron Marrese, and Joe Kish for working this.

    We are all looking forward to our new parish priest Father John Kiselica starting July 1st!

    We have the ice cream social coming up July 23-24. We will need help setting up the tent on Friday the 22nd at 7pm. We will also need men to work the Masses. There will be some setup before Mass, handing out ice cream after Mass and cleaning up afterwards. We will need to take down the tent after 11:30 Mass.

    There is also our camping trip July 29-31 with a pot luck dinner on the 30th. This is a fun event, with great food and company. We are at Algonac State Park this year so come join us!

Now a short reflection for Independence Day:

    True liberty is not essentially constituted in freedom from oppressive restrictions imposed on one's way of life by an unjust authority, but rather is found in the eternal possession of God's love. Man's natural desire for happiness is of "divine origin: God has placed it in the human heart in order to draw man to the One who alone can fulfill it" (CCC 1718). The second sentence of the Declaration of Independence echos that desire: "We hold these truths to be selfevident,  that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Vivat Jesus!

Tom Gray